Review: Deeper We Fall (Fall and Rise #1) – Chelsea M. Cameron

Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron
Series: Fall and Rise #1
Published by All Night Reads on 24 January 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 453
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.

Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.

Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie's face.

Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves To Kill a Mockingbird as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can't help but listen.

The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie's discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.

*I received a free ARC of Deeper We Fall from All Night Reads via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

Deeper We Fall is a heart-breaking contemporary story, filled with guilt, and a very tentative path towards love. Lottie seems to think she doesn’t deserve to be happy, just because her best friend Lexie won’t ever have a chance at the kind of life they were both dreaming of two years before college. Lottie is very close to her twin-brother Will, and I enjoyed their banter and their friendship. Coming to college was supposed to be a new start for Lottie, but very soon after arriving in her dorm, she finds out that both Zack and Zan live in the same dorm as her and Will, and her room-mate Katie is actually dating Zack.

Having to deal with the fact that life now continues as normal for Zack and Zan brings back the fact that Lottie knows Lexie will never have that, and she spends a lot of her energy hating both of them. It is clear from the very beginning of the story, though, that something will happen between Lottie and Zan, that they both need to grow to get over their deep guilt and just live again. And while the story was a little predictable, it was still a beautiful story, and the way Deeper We Fall deals with abuse and bad relationships is very well done.

The full cast of characters was well developed, and I hope there will be many more stories in the Fall and Rise series, so I can get to know them all much better. Deeper We Fall is told in such a way that it is very easy to follow, both the story itself and the characters and their growth is well done. However, the editing could have been better – and it very well might be in the final version of the book. There are enough grammatical and spelling errors for me to have been pulled out of the story in different places, when I really should have just felt what the characters were going through. I was a little confused by some continuity errors, too, especially at the very beginning, where Lottie was supposed to have a sleep-over with Lexie, then talked about going home.

Deeper We Fall is definitely worth getting if you enjoy new adult romantic drama with angst, though, and that, I do! It was easy to get a feel of the characters, and the fact that the story is written from both Zan and Lottie’s point of view really made the readers know them even better than they got to know each other. Their honesty was refreshing to read about, and I look forward to returning to this college-town in Maine, where a new kind of family is made among new friends.

“How can you not see how delicious he is? I just want to put him on a stick and lick him on a hot summer day,” said Lexie as she watched Zack Parker chucking cans of beer out of a cooler at people, regardless of whether they were ready to catch them or not.

“That doesn’t mean anything.” “Um, I think it means she’s in a relationship, dumbass.” I moved the box of books with my foot and stretched my spine. I was going to sleep like a rock tonight. “Well, you could have found someone you knew to room with instead of playing Roommate Roulette, Charlotte.”

“What are you doing out here?” Will’s voice roused me. “Talking to our mother. You’d better call her tomorrow or else she’s going to drive up here and yell at you.” “Okay, okay. What did she say?” “What do you think?” “Mockingbird?” “Yep.”

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