Review: No Place to Fall

Title: No Place to Fall

Author: Jaye Robin Brown

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Pages: 368

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: December 9th 2014

 

Synopsis Via Goodreads:

Amber Vaughn is a good girl. She sings solos at church, babysits her nephew after school, and spends every Friday night hanging out at her best friend Devon’s house. It’s only when Amber goes exploring in the woods near her home, singing camp songs with the hikers she meets on the Appalachian Trail, that she feels free—and when the bigger world feels just a little bit more in reach.

When Amber learns about an audition at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she decides that her dream—to sing on bigger stages—could also be her ticket to a new life. Devon’s older (and unavailable) brother, Will, helps Amber prepare for her one chance to try out for the hypercompetitive arts school. But the more time Will and Amber spend together, the more complicated their relationship becomes . . . and Amber starts to wonder if she’s such a good girl, after all.

Then, in an afternoon, the bottom drops out of her family’s world—and Amber is faced with an impossible choice between her promise as an artist and the people she loves. Amber always thought she knew what a good girl would do. But between “right” and “wrong,” there’s a whole world of possibilities.

 

REVIEW:

I had been anticipating this book for a while before it officially came out. First, I fell for the cover and then when I read the synopsis I got super excited for this uplifting and inspirational story. In the end the book turned out to not be what I thought it was going to be.

 

Like I said above from the synopsis I was expecting this motivational and feel good story. I did not find that in this book. I thought a lot of the book actually dwelled on bad things happening in the characters lives. The main character Amber does not seem happy for almost the whole book. I was thrown back by this because I was so in the mood for this go getter book (as the synopsis sounded hinted at) and that was far from the truth. I thought there might at least be some big "look what you have accomplished" ending but that is not how the book ends at all.

 

My one main problem with this book which really made me not enjoy the story was the characters. I found all of the characters very boring and I did not like a lot of them. I did not find them to be engaging characters. This led me to not being invested in the characters and as result did not really care how the story ended. This also made me feel very disconnected from the story the whole time.

 

I feel like No Place to Fall could have been a good book. Sadly, I found it to be deceivingly a downer of a book, slightly boring, and full of bleak characters.