Falling

by Jane Green

[Leah]

I have just finished Jane Green’s latest book Falling, and I’m baffled and confused. Why? Well, I can’t actually tell you that because SPOILER ALERT. But suffice to say, a book that I was actually really, really enjoying, actually kind of lost me. And for those who say, “Surely the ending of a book can’t ruin a book for you,” have clearly never read a book before. Anything can ruin a book, and in this case, the ending made me want to hurl it against a wall with as much force as I could muster. I very much encourage you to go and read it and then come back and discuss it with me, please.

What I really liked about Falling, until that ending, was the fact that it is, quite simply, a love story. These days, authors don’t write just simple, easy-going, hard-to-believe-it’s-really-happening love stories. There’s always got to be tension or fights or an inconvenient ex who shows up at just the wrong time, and so I expected Falling to have none of those things, although sadly, it does get a check mark against the inconvenient ex, along with annoying, irritating parents, who really should keep their mouths shut. But, taking out all of the noise around them, Emma and Dominic were so cute. From their first meeting, there was just something special there and to just see it evolve and grow from there was pretty amazing. It was sweet, and lovely, and it just seemed like the most perfect romance in the history of romances (which was, perhaps, my first clue all probably wasn’t going to end well, but that pesky tag line had me pretty much gloating about the fact it was inevitably going to end well).

Emma and Dominic were a pleasure to get to know, although Jesse, Dominic’s son, kind of stole the book. He was amazing, he was so sweet (and I kinda thought his tantrums over Emma/Dominic were completely out of character) and again, like I said, it was all just so freaking easy. Clearly it was too easy, and Jane Green needed a way to shock her readers from their bubble of happiness, and so that ending. It’s the kind of thing you don’t forget in a hurry, so when Jane Green brings out her next book, I will very much pause before I even think of picking it up and reading it because with the greatest of respect to Jane, I actually feel cheated. I invested my time in the book, I loved the characters, the setting, Hobbes the kitten, and I’ve finished the book feeling like I’ve been slapped in the fact and had vodka slung onto my wounds. It’s genuinely amazing how just a few pages of a book can change your mind about the whole thing, but here it is. I went from loving this book, soaking it up, to feeling like I’d been cheated. Oh, Jane, why did you do it?