Dare to Fall by Estelle Maskame

Dare to Fall

by Estelle Maskame

MacKenzie Rivers seems like she has it all figured out. She has great friends, she’s doing well in school and her handsome ex-boyfriend is desperate to win her back. But something is missing from her life in Windsor, Colorado. And as much as she hates to admit it, that something might be Jaden Hunter. Tall, blond and athletic, a year ago Kenzie was falling fast for him and his crooked smile.

Twelve months later, everything has changed. A tragic accident has destroyed Jaden’s family and, despite the way she feels, Kenzie has no idea how to talk to him anymore. She is all too familiar with the impact family tragedy can have on the people she loves, and she can’t bear to go through it again with Jaden. She does the only thing she knows how to do: walk away.

When the pair meet again by chance one night, Kenzie realizes that she can’t ignore her feelings for him any longer. But as she is drawn back into Jaden’s life, she finds herself caught between her increasingly volatile best friend, her interfering ex-boyfriend and her own fears about opening up to Jaden.

Will Kenzie dare to fall for the one person she’s so afraid of growing close to?

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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Rating: 3.5 Stars

When the Hunter twins' parents were killed in an automobile accident, Kenzie abandoned them. Not because she was heartless, but rather, because she was already drowning in her own family's grief, and could not handle anymore. But she made a choice, after a year, she thought it was time to reconnect with the twins, and this effort might actually open her pathway to healing.

This was a really beautiful portrait of grief and mourning. Both families were dealing with loss, but they were coping in very different ways, which was really realistic. Though Kenzie's family suffered their loss before the Hunters, they never really faced their loss, and it was a ghost, which was keeping the family from moving forward.

Kenzie and Jaden were really the stars of this for me. While they rekindled their romance, we learned more about how they were coping with their pasts. Jaden's openness and vulnerability was something that drew me to him, and I thought he and Kenzie shared a really special and wonderful bond.

The whole time, I was holding my breath, because I knew there was something we didn't know about the Hunter parents' accident, and I was taken aback when I learned the truth. It was tragic and sad, and my heart broke once again.

I really did enjoy this book, and I feel like if the ending hadn't been so rushed, I would have rated it higher, because I loved the characters, the character growth, and the romance.


*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 14 November, 2018: Finished reading
  • 14 November, 2018: Reviewed