Review: Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts

Tumble & Fall is an intriguing book. And it pains me to say that I did not enjoy it at all. I've wanted to read it ever since I saw that beautiful cover, which really is amazing. Thought it sounded like an amazing book with a great plot. The cover made it look like an epic love story, which was what I was expecting. But I did not get that. At all. And that made me so sad. I'm sorry if this review will sound a bit negative, but I just need to share my feelings about this book :) And be honest too.

I wanted to love this book. I really did. I just could not. It wasn't anything like I thought it would be, and while that didn't really matter, what it ended up being just wasn't good enough for me. First I'll talk about the writing. I did not like it. It's good enough, but I found so many things that annoyed me and I couldn't overlook it. And the way the characters talked. Sigh. Did not like that either. Or the way they were thinking.

This book is told from three different point of views. Read that someone found that a bit hard to understand, but I didn't have any problem with that. I just had problems with the characters. And the way they acted and spoke and just everything. At first I didn't, but then I got into the book and I started to get to know the characters and I just didn't like them. It tells the story of three different teens. Thought they would be friends or something, but they aren't. Thing is, it's told in just 7 days. That was the biggest thing that I disliked.

Just a warning. A bit of my review will be spoilery. I won't spoil the ending. Or some other important things. But yeah. I have to talk about things that happen in this book, and it will be spoilery. If you are planning on reading it, you might not want to know these things already. But then, I kind of wished I had known. Not sure I would have read it if I had known. Sigh. But I am glad I did read it, somewhat, even though I didn't enjoy it. It was interesting to read, and I kind of liked it a tiny bit. Maybe. Perhaps not.

I didn't think I had any feelings about insta-love. I thought I liked it, even. But in this book it's worse than insta-love. There is even insta-sex between someone. Which I didn't understand at all. It didn't make sense. And it just made my head hurt. Sigh. Problem might be that I didn't feel anything for these characters. Nothing at all. They didn't make me feel for them, and there weren't really enough drama or action for me to enjoy this. Summary mentions end of the world. True. But not shocking enough.

Going to talk about some of the characters. There is Sienna, who I kind of liked at first. Except that we didn't truly get to know her at all. She had a past I could have loved, if it had been done better. I just found her to be boring and her family drama too. She suddenly falls in love with Owen. Which I did not get at all. There was no romance there, to be honest. Nothing that I felt at least. That depressed me, since it was the only couple who could have had some romance in this book. A bit sad about it.

Then there is Zan, who I didn't like at all. Her boyfriend died ten months ago, and she's kind of crazy about it. I didn't like it. Didn't feel like we got to know her either. Didn't enjoy reading about her family either, because it was kind of depressing, in a bad way. I thought there would be romance between her and Nick, but there wasn't. Or it was. A bit. And it sucked. She was too obsessed with her dead boyfriend. They have an adventure. It was boring. Sigh. I tried to enjoy it and I failed. I'm sorry.

Then the third main character is Caden. Whom I almost hated. At first I felt sorry for him, but then he changed and I didn't enjoy reading about him at all. We has this weird life that we get to know some things about, and I didn't understand how his mother changed so much in 4 days. Not realistic. You see, he gets kidnapped. By his dad. And my god. It was so fucked up and I didn't like it at all. It was just weird and Caden was even weirder for not trying to "escape." I disliked Sophie a whole lot. Gah.

There is just a lot of weird in this book. And I'm sorry for being a bit negative, but I'm being honest about my feelings for this book and I do not feel like lying about it. I did not like it. I didn't enjoy reading about the characters. I found the things they did to be either boring or stupid. The whole end of the world thing wasn't done very well either. Felt like it could have been so much more. The way the people reacted didn't seem real to me either. Might just be me, though. But still. My feelings about it.

I don't have anything else to say about Tumble & Fall. It could have been an amazing book, like its amazing cover. But it wasn't. Not at all. Not for me, at least. I gave the book many chances to make me love it, but it just failed every time. I'm just happy that I actually managed to finish it, because I wanted to give it up so many times. Still. I sort of liked it a few times, which is why it's a two star and not a one star. It had too many bad parts for me to enjoy it. Hopefully others will like it more than me :)

When I first started this book yesterday I thought I would end up giving it a four star. Because even in the beginning I had some issues with the writing and connecting with the characters. And then later I changed my mind to a three star. And then just a short few pages after that I settled on a two star rating. I could say a two point five, but it wouldn't be true. I did not enjoy this book. Despite reading the whole thing. That doesn't mean that you won't, though, so you should give it a try in September :)

I want to thank Macmillan Kids and Ksenia for the review copy of Tumble & Fall. <3 Despite not loving it, I am happy that I read it, and so happy to own such a pretty copy. Thank you so much for the chance.

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