Even If the Sky Falls

by Mia Garcia

One midsummer night. Two strangers. Three rules: No real names. No baggage. No phones. A whirlwind twenty-four-hour romance about discovering what it means to feel alive in the face of one of life's greatest dangers: love. Who would you be if you had one night to be anyone you want? Volunteering in New Orleans was supposed to be a change, an escape from the total mess Julie left at home and from her brother's losing battle with PTSD. But building houses surrounded by her super-clingy team leader and her way-too-chipper companions has Julie feeling more trapped than ever. And she's had enough. In a moment of daring, Julie runs away, straight into the glitter, costumes, and chaos of the Mid-Summer Mardi Gras parade-and instantly connects with Miles, an utterly irresistible musician with a captivating smile and a complicated story of his own. And for once, Julie isn't looking back. Together Julie and Miles decide to forget their problems and live this one night in the here and now. Wandering the night, they dance on roofs, indulge in beignets, share secrets and ghost stories under the stars, and fall in love.
But when a Category Two hurricane changes course and heads straight for NOLA, their adventure takes an unexpected turn. And, suddenly, pretending everything is fine is no longer an option. Richly evocative to the heart-racing end, Even If the Sky Falls is a swoon-worthy debut to indulge in to the very last note.

• ISBN10: 0062411802
• ISBN13: 9780062411808
• Publish Date: 16 June 2016 (first published 10 May 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 15 October 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Katherine Tegen Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Julie thought she could escape the situation back at home by joining her church youth group for a service project in New Orleans, but what she really needed to do was escape herself. While fleeing herself, she finds "Miles", and was swept away by a whirlwind romance.

This was quite an emotional journey for both Miles and Julie. Both were trying to reconcile their feelings for something major, that was happening in their home lives, and they slowly got there during this 24 hour adventure.

I thought it was sort of brilliant the way Garcia let the story unfold. It started with a light rain and a light mood, the early stirrings of attraction, but as the night wore on, the storm grew stronger and stronger, as did Miles and Julie's emotions.

Not only did I ride out a hurricane in New Orleans, I also got a grand tour of the city. Garcia brought me to many of Miles' favorite places. She took me to Mid-Summer Mardi Gras, let me listen to a live music, had me join a ghost tour, and even treated me to beignets. She enveloped me in the sights, sounds, smells, and spirit of NoLa, and I really enjoyed it.

I fell in love with both Julie and Miles, and man! Did I ship them. The air between them crackled with sparks, and I thought they brought out a lot in each other. As with most of these all-in-one-day books, I wanted to know what happened after. I sort of always beg for epilogues, but in the case of a book that takes place over a 24-hour period, I need it. An epilogue would have let me know know how the romance panned out, as well as how things back home went for both Julie and Miles.

Other than that, I found myself fully immersed in this story, and I was rooting for these two the whole time.

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[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


Even If the Sky Falls is about two teens who meet in New Orleans and for the course of one night, they won't share anything personal about them—no baggage at all—not even their real names.

"No interruptions, just you and me and New Orleans."

I was intrigued by the beginning of the story and how Julie escapes the missionary trip and ends up in Mardi Gras. When she met Miles, I was definitely liking him and his smile. I don't know why but his smile in my head was perfect. From then on, it kind of took a downhill for me in terms of the characters plus the going back-and-forth between chapters.

[...] This guy is pure charm.

I had problems with the characters because even though this story spans over one night, there wasn’t much depth to the characters so I couldn't feel any form of connection towards them. I was actually expecting the connection to happen because my thought was, "It's one night so the character's lives will go into a lot of detail and a lot of depth." Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, which led me to struggle with liking the characters and enjoying the story.

As I said, this story goes back-and-forth between chapters, meaning flashing back to the past and then back to the present but there's no indicator in the chapters title to let you know when it's talking about the present or the past. I had to guess a few times and this also led me to struggle with it.

What I did like was the vivid description the author gave of New Orleans. I could picture myself being there, listening to the noise, enjoying the view of the festivity. At times, it got to be too much and that's why it took me a while to finish this story.

"[...] And New Orleans—she's alive, she's a person. Hard to settle on how to describe her, but once you're in it, once you're here, you get it."

Overall, this one had the potential to be exponentially great, but the lack of depth of the characters and the story took away from my enjoyment. Still, if you're in the mood for a New Orleans story, then I recommend this one for you.

I received this eARC for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.