Today I had actually scheduled a WWW Wednesday post, but after accidentally finishing both my “currently reading” and my “what I’ll read next” yesterday, it made no sense anymore. Luckily, The Upside of Falling is part of my Books About Books Challenge, so I get to review it!
The Upside of Falling by Alex Light is a lighthearted, cute, YA romance novel. If you know me, you know that I basically never read romance or contemporaries, so I’m honestly quite shocked I finished this book in one sitting. It was just so cute! A quick synopsis, made by yours truly:
To save face in front of her ex-best friend, Becca lies about having a boyfriend. Football team captain Brett overhears her, sees his chance, and quickly jumps in the role of “fake boyfriend.” After all, having a girlfriend will stop his father from pestering him about being single. But both have secrets, and the lines between what’s real what’s fake become blurrier by the day.
Like I said, this book is part of my Books About Books Challenge, but it’s only thanks to Emma from Never Judge A Book By Its Cover that it made it on my TBR. She made a lovely post listing books about books as well, so check it out if you can!
Where the books come in in this story, is that Becca uses them as a distraction ever since her dad walked out on her and her mom. Romance in novels might be fictional, but at least it’s safe. Books play a large part in this book in that they distract the main characters from the pain of the real world. I think we all do that sometimes.
What I liked
There are a lot of things I like about this book actually. The entire book is one gigantic, American high school stereotype, and I was 120% there for it. It low key made me miss my own high school days a little, even though Dutch high school is absolutely nothing like American high school. Which is probably why I liked this setting so much. There’s football, school spirit, teenage feuds that mean nothing in the end. It’s all still so innocent, but you’re still feeling part of something bigger than just yourself and your education.
I really enjoyed reading from Becca’s and Brett’s perspectives. Their story is so cute. I think my favorite part about this book is that there is none of that “withholding information as a plot device” bullshit. Becca and Brett were honest with each other throughout the book, and I loved to see how their friendship blossomed because of it.
I also enjoyed how it was so typically teenager. Drawn out vowels, and lots of but moooooooom. It’s all very dramatic. And let’s be real, we all had out drama phases.
What I liked less
I can’t actually pinpoint what exactly I liked less about The Upside of Falling. It just doesn’t feel like a five star read. I was initially going to give it a 3.5 star rating, because even though I was entertained, I wasn’t blown away. And let’s not forget that 3.5 stars is way above average on a 5 star scale. The reason why I bumped it up to 4 stars, is that it made me tear up a little. Any book that makes me cry deserves half a star extra.
With that said, I thought there was very little angst between Becca and Brett. Which is not necessarily bad, but I kind of expected more bumps in the road of their relationship. They were there, I just expected more. I would’ve liked their story to be just a little bit more drawn out.
Final Rating: ★★★★☆
In all I thought The Upside of Falling was a wonderfully cute love story. It could’ve been longer, but I’ll take what I can get.
Don’t forget you can check out other books I reviewed for this challenge here!
