Review: Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

4 of 5 Stars

Publisher: New American Library (Penguin)

 A review copy provided by Goodreads First Reads Giveaways.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Theia Alderson has always led a sheltered life in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, Theia knows she's seen Haden before- not around town, but in her dreams.
As the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her closer one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is stronger than her fear.
And when she discovers what Haden truly is, Theia's not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul.

Review:

[Contains Spoilers!]

I won an ARC of this on goodreads before it came out, and I read it not long after I received it, which was a while ago. It sounded interesting, but I didn't have high hopes for it. It sounded like a lot of other books coming out during the Twilight high, and I didn't think it was going to be all that different. And so I was pleasantly surprised.

The story starts with Theia watching a burning man falling from the sky. She's dreaming, of course, but this is an interesting start all the same. It starts out kind of slowly, aside from that. Theia keeps dreaming about this boy, and then he starts going to her school and she's confused and intrigued. Haden, the boy, is of course mostly nice and charming in her dreams, but is distant in real life. She's confused by this, but of course she's attracted to him and so she pursues him. This part of the plot line isn't all that original. I enjoyed reading it like I enjoyed reading the other ones. Which isn't really to say that I didn't, just that it wasn't all that different from them.

Haden, though, is a demon. (Or is he half? I can't remember...) And his mother is like queen of the underworld. Haden and Theia end up going down there, I believe they're summoned by his mother. It's all very interesting down there, the creatures are neat, and his mother is done very well. She's a very good antagonist. She's good at being terrifying, and intimidating. This is one thing that's different from the others: that there's actually a good enemy.

The one thing that really made me like the book, though, is the big thing that happened near the ending. The big twist that was thrown in, in which Theia sacrifices herself for Haden in a big way. This doesn't really accomplish anything, it just switches their places. Now she's under Haden's mom, and he's up on Earth. I liked Haden before this happened, but I liked him even more after it. He was so sweet and clueless. It was so adorable. And that's more my type, so there's that.

Theia was alright. She wasn't particularly a strong character, but she wasn't weak. She stood up to Haden's mom, and after being stuck with her, she hardened up even more, kind of like Haden had been.

The writing and the story did keep me captured, as I read the book kind of fast. In a day or two, I believe. The writing was pretty, and I liked it.

I really quite liked this book. I'm looking forward to the next one, and I hope that it's just as good, if not better.