Reviewed by lindsey on
Emily witnesses an assault on Belinda, a student with special needs, at a football game. She panics, and instead of yelling to try to stop the attack, she walks back to the bleachers. Before walking away, she sees a football player walking by, and she assumes he will help. Before returning to her friends, Emily does try to tell a teacher about what she just witnessed, but the teacher is unable to hear her over the roar of the crowd, and Emily doesn't make much of an attempt to be heard. When she sees the football player rejoin his teammates on the field a few minutes later, she still assumes he got help for Belinda. When she hears the sirens, she figures everything will be taken care of now that the police have arrived, without much harm done. That knowledge, however, doesn't ease her guilty conscience.
She soon learns that Lucas, the football player she spotted approaching the scene, also failed to help Belinda. As punishment for failing to at least attempt to help, Emily and Lucas must do community service by volunteering at a center for people with disabilities. While volunteering there, they begin to learn things about themselves.
Belinda is a huge fan of Pride & Prejudice, and the author uses that as a clever way to get her point across. A Step Toward Falling is all about first impressions, and how an initial judgement of a person may not always reveal the truth.
This is an extremely well-written book, with wonderful character development. I enjoyed the author's last novel, Say What You Will, but I loved this one even more. She takes delicate subjects and handles them so well. Hours after finishing this book, I was still thinking about the characters. This is a story of bravery, standing up for others, and learning to do the right thing.
I would highly recommend this, and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 8 July, 2015: Finished reading
- 8 July, 2015: Reviewed