Title: Before I Fall
Series: Falling Book #1
Author: Jessica Scott
Genre: Romance/New Adult
Blurb: Stay focused. Get a job. Save her father’s life.
Beth Lamont knows far too much about the harsh realities of life her gilded classmates have only read about in class. She’ll do whatever it takes to take care of her father, even if that means tutoring a guy like Noah – a guy who represents everything she hates about the war, soldiers and what the Army has done to her family.
Noah Warren doesn’t know how to be a student. All he knows is war. But he’s going to college now to fulfill a promise and he doesn’t break his promises. Except he doesn’t count on his tutor being drop dead gorgeous and distracting as hell. One look at Beth threatens to unravel the careful lies Noah has constructed around him.
A simple arrangement turns into something neither of them can deny. And a war that neither of them can forget could destroy them both.
Thoughts: I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this Before I Fall by Jessica Scott – particularly since New Adult is a bit of a hit or miss genre for me. There were quite a few things that kept me compelled to keep reading this one, however – one of them being the down-to-earth, but oh-so-admirable characters. I loved Beth’s dedication to her father, who is a wartime vet who is constant pain – yet due to a ‘label’ they smack on him, he falls in a category where he can only get limited help from the VA – which leaves them struggling more often than not. Then there is Noah – again, an ex-military soldier who she winds up meeting at college and is asked to tutor – who suffers from PTSD (something that too many of our military are struggling with these days). I admired the author’s attempt at tackling these hard topics – PTSD, addiction, etc.
However, as with most New Adult I think there is just a shade too much of naivety to it – most addiction is not so easy to kick as all that, most PTSD is a little more extreme than that – it all seemed a little like a watered down version when it comes to these issues. However, that seems part and parcel with this genre, and that’s part of my issue when reading New Adult – there are moments of utter realism and then moments of immaturity and it’s difficult sometimes to find the balance, although that was less of an issue with this one than in most. Still, it was ‘real’ enough when it came to the everyday, in and out struggles of life and a healthcare system that all but finds excuses to turn people away and pretty much say, “Fend for yourself” that it was easy enough to overlook. All in all, I really enjoyed this one, and I look forward to trying out more books by this author.
Rate: A-/B+
