Review: Deeper We Fall (Fall and Rise, Book One)

Title: Deeper We Fall (Fall and Rise, Book One)

Author: Chelsea M. Cameron

ISBN: 2940016054926

Date Published: January 2013

Publisher: DRC Publishing

Pages: 453

 

★★★★★

Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.

Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.

Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie's face.

Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves "To Kill a Mockingbird" as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can't help but listen.

The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie's discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.

This is a really good book so we are just going to jump right into the review today! First of all, you need to know that this book is written from different point of views. This often just irritates me. Like, a lot. But not this time. I really loved the altering pov's. I can't see Deeper We Fall being written any other way. I don't think that the book would have worked if it was written in the "traditional" way. I really like seeing what is going on in the other characters minds - it offers invaluable insight into who they are and it really connects you to the story and the characters.

I was a pretty good chunk into the book and I was just itching for Lottie and Zan to interact in some way. I don't think I've ever wanted something to happen in a book so badly before. I'm pretty glad that our boys were at school when I was reading this because they would have been confused by my yelling, "COME ON!!". Unfortunately, I did that more than once. But it wasn't because I was getting irritated with the book - I can't say that enough. I just wanted it to happen so badly because Cameron had written these two characters in such a way that they had turned into my friends almost. She made them so realistic that it felt as if I was reading a diary.

I found myself becoming almost protective over Zan. The hand he was dealt really hit me. I've never known anyone involved in an accident like the one that the story was woven around, but it affected me. I wanted to jump into the book and shield him from any hurtful comments or actions and then maybe kick his brother's ass. 

Deeper We Fall was very, very, very close to getting five stars. There was only one thing that bothered me and it may not bother other people as much. It was the fact that To Kill a Mockingbird was brought up so much. Come on, I love that book as much as the next person but it was referenced constantly. To the point of being irritating. Now, that could just be because I have a 6 year old that incessantly repeats himself. Redundantly. It drives me up the wall. So I might be a little more sensitive to the repetitive references. On the other hand, the same thing that bothered me, really held the story together. I know, that doesn't make sense. But that's how it is. 

You know what ... after writing this whole thing, I think that I'm going to give the book five stars. It really does deserve it. When a book gives me a case of just-one-more-page-itis and keeps me up until 3am when I have to get up at 6am to get our boys off to school, you deserve five stars. FIVE STARS IT IS! 

I guarantee that this will not be the last you hear of Chelsea Cameron. Go grab some of her books before it becomes the cool thing to do. You don't want to be a follower, be the leader!