Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway: The Moment We Fell by Kelli Warner

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway: The Moment We Fell by Kelli Warner

Title: The Moment We Fell

Author: Kelli Warner

Publisher: Wave Runner Publishing

Published: June 25, 2019

Pages: 258

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Source: ARC

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Nothing good happens when people keep secrets.

Paige Bryant’s dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer died along with her mother. Drowning in grief and plagued by guilt, Paige is blindsided by a provision in her mother’s will that sends her to live with the father she never knew. Forced to start over in a new town and at a new school where she's now the principal's daughter, Paige is convinced that her life can’t possibly get more complicated—until fate throws her into the path of the only boy her guardian tells her is off-limits.

Despite two years on the straight and narrow, Cade Matthews can’t escape his time as a juvenile delinquent. With his dad behind bars, Cade’s feelings of anger and betrayal are as relentless as the rumors he’s trying to outrun. The only person not listening to the gossip is the new girl with her own set of troubles, including a father who will never give Cade a fair shake.

As Paige tries to adjust to her new life and an uncertain future, a set of unopened journals reveals a dark family secret. When tensions rise to a boiling point, can Paige and Cade make peace with the past before it destroys them?

Goodreads | Amazon

MY REVIEW

DISCLAIMER: I received an ARC of this book at no cost from the publisher/author. All opinions expressed in my review are my own.

This is a very touching story about coming to terms with loss and being accepting to change. I was really touched by this story. Both of the main characters experience and deal with loss and changes in their lives in different ways. I loved the overall theme of how much choice -- both the choices that we make in response to our pain and the choice that we make to either accept or reject our pain -- can play a determining factor in how far one can fall down the rabbit hole or how high one can rise after a fall.

I enjoyed the voices of both main characters. I didn't feel overly connected to them, but they weren't bland by any means. They actually had quite a lot of depth. I was certainly interested in their story. They each had similar issues that ran deep. They had both lost their mothers and then had their lives turned upside down afterward. I loved the impressive character growth for both characters over the course of the story. They each have to deal with their suppressed feelings and learn to let go of the pain that is holding them back. It is beautiful how they both help each other do this through the other. They are certainly very much changed people from the start of the book to where they end up at the close of the book. I also enjoyed the side characters. Macy and Quinn were delightful. Shawn and Connie were so likable. I loved Tanner and Lily. I even liked Jay's character, though it is hard to understand his motives in the beginning. All of the characters flowed well with each other.

The plot of the story is good, but I can't help but notice the similarities in the plot of this book and the 2001 movie, Save the Last Dance. They both basically have the same premise, though not everything is exactly the same. A high school girl that dances ballet has to move in with her estranged father and uproot her life when her mother is killed in a car accident that she feels responsible for. I couldn't help but immediately think of the similarities, unfortunately. While they are both similar, this book did stand out in the emotion that the weaving of the plot produces.

The romance was okay, not great. It seemed like the romance in the story took a backseat to the overall theme of dealing with grief and loss. I liked both main characters together and apart, but their romance felt a little rushed to me. It wasn't exactly instalove, but the introductory period when you get to know someone felt like it was skipped over. I did like that when they were together they really talked and seemed to get to know each other on a deeper level that way. While they definitely worked as a couple and I enjoyed their story, I didn't feel passionate about their romance at all.

Overall, touching and emotional read that was impossible to put down! While I didn't love it as much as Warner's first book, Not with the Band, it is still a well-written story with very realistic characters. It was a pleasure to read this and I can't wait for Warner's next book!

Kelli Warner writes humorous and relatable young adult and contemporary romance novels, the kind of stories that get your insides so wound up in an ooey gooey mess that you forget about the un-fun stuff in life. She's passionate for a good cup of coffee (even a bad one on a desperate day), enjoying time with friends and family, and spending lazy Saturday mornings watching the Food Network. Kelli and her husband live in Oregon with their two teenaged children and an outstanding border collie named Lucy.