Review: Tumble & Fall

Title: Tumble & Fall
Author: Alexandra Coutts
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: September 17th 2013
Source: Netgalley & Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

★★★★

Four stars.

The end of earth as we know it is coming. An asteroid named Persephone is headed towards the Earth, and there's only a week of time left. An impending doom such as this reveals a lot about a person, and raises so many questions. What do I believe in? What will I do with my last remaining time? Who will stand by me as the world comes crashing down?

Tumble & Fall follows three such stories, which are loosely entwined; Zan, whose dead boyfriend leaves a mystery behind for her, Caden, whose family is keeping secrets that he hadn't even imagined, and then there's Sienna, who struggles to come to terms with herself, and the changes she's missed in her time spent away from home.

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There's something in the prose of this book that's so haunting that it sticks to your thoughts even after you've closed it.

The first thing, admittedly, that drew me to this novel is the cover. It's stunning, and I think is a subtle way to connect the design to the plot of the story. I also like that this book is on a fairly topical subject. Of course, there's no asteroid headed for Earth in a week. But NASA funding is being cut, and that's what leads to the ultimate trouble in this book.

I like the way that this book is organized. It's divided into days, helping the reader remember just how much time is left on the clock. This book also follows three different points of views. I often have a problem switching between characters, but that wasn't the case for me in T&F. Because the characters' personalities were so different, and because the chapters were labelled with their names, I had no problem weaving their stories.

This book does have its cheesy moments, and has kind of a rushed happy-ever-after vibe. Normally this would bother me too, but it's a book about a limited time. Of course things are going to feel a bit rushed- there's only a week left. The writing itself was beautiful and fluid, and conjured up great images of the Massachusetts setting.

My favorite plot line was that of Zan, and my least favorite was Caden. Caden's story came off a bit strange and almost uncomfortable at times. Zan's story made me cheer for her, and I hoped for her sake that she'd find the closure that she was searching for. I think the end scene was a great way to pull the stories together, and to leave an ending open to the reader's interpretation.

I recommend this book to those who don't mind a bit of teen/young adult summer romance or happy endings. If you don't like insta-love or open ended books, then this might not be for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for my copy.