The Year They Fell

by David Kreizman

[Sam@WLABB]

They bonded in pre-school, but over the years, the "Sunnies" slowly, but surely, grew apart. However, their parents remained friends and vacationed together each year. It was that yearly vacation, that would forever change the lives of these five teens, and also, lead them back to one another.

I was reading this on emoji day, and when prompted to describe my current read using only emojis, I replied as follows: 🛩️😭😭😭😭😭

I shed quite a few tears while reading the first part of this book. To have so many interconnected people simultaneously suffer such a huge loss, tears were inevitable. But, I got to spend a year with these characters, and though the undercurrent of pain and loss was always there, they also experienced a lot of growth, happiness, and hope.

Each character had something they needed to come to terms with in addition to the loss of their parents.

• Archie was the adopted black son of white parents, who was trying to decide if he should seek out his biological mother.

• Harrison lived his whole life according to his mother's exceedingly high standards, and was now left adrift without her guidance.

• Josie had reinvented herself after she was sexually abused, but her abuser's reappearance had her shaken.

• Jack was always made to feel as though he was never good enough, and he struggled with the guilt that he was unable to protect his sister.
• Dayana saw herself as an outsider, and being the only one, whose parents survived, reinforced those feelings.

But, it was together, that they worked through their past and present. It was together, that they recognized their strength. It was together, that they celebrated their hopeful futures. I mourned all the years they lost with one another, but I loved seeing these characters reconnect. They were so much stronger together than apart, and I was glad they finally realized that.

The tears I shed in the beginning of this book were due to the profound sadness I felt for these teens, but those tears at the end, they were happy tears. The ending was filled with so much hope and joy, and I deemed it a payoff worthy of all my tears.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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