Falling is Book 2 in the Fading Series by EK Blair.
In order to review honestly, i have read and reviewed Fading, which is Book 1.
These reviews follow:
In order to review honestly, i have read and reviewed Fading, which is Book 1.
These reviews follow:
Fading (Book 1)
Synopsis
Can a guilty conscience keep wounds from healing?
Fine arts major, Candace Parker, grew up with a mother who thinks image is everything, and her daughter’s perfection will never be good enough. About to graduate college and pursue her dreams of becoming a professional ballerina, Candace decides it’s time to let go and have a little fun. But fun is short-lived when a brutal attack leaves her completely shattered.
The memories that consume and torment Candace are starting to destroy her when she meets Ryan Campbell, a successful bar owner. He feels instantly connected and tries to show her that hope is worth fighting for. But is Ryan harboring his own demons? As walls slowly begin to chip away, the secrets that are held within start to become painful burdens.
At what point do secrets become lies?
Kota's Review
EK Blair tells the story of Candace and Ryan. After Candace decides to do things a little differently, and live a little – life turns on a pin head and she ends up living through an extremely traumatic and violent event that changes the course of her life.
Candace is best friends with Kimber, who is also her roommate, but her purely platonic soul mate, Jase is the one she turns to in her time of need. Jase is the best friend a girl could ever need or want, and of course he is gay – so there are no thoughts of their very intimate relationship crossing the line to friends with benefits.
Ryan enters the scene on two fronts, but begins to get to know Candace after being introduced by their mutual contact, Jase’s boyfriend, Mark.
Ryan is older than Candace, but is intrigued by her – with patience and or perseverance they begin seeing each other. The romance is sweet, their connection is deep, and the drama starts to unravel.
This story is a really sweet story. The plot has been told before in a variety of ways, but EK Blair’s delivery is quite good. She manages to capture the essence of an extremely traumatic event respectfully, and while it is hard to read about, has you empathising with Candace and co in every possible scenario.
This story is very easy to read, and the pages keep turning. However, Goodreads has this book at 456 pages.. a huge book! Given the length of the story – it seemed like nothing happened. I don’t mean that as brutal as it sounds, because evidently things happened, but it seemed like a short window of time was explored in an extremely lengthy manner. This to me made the storyline seem like it dragged, and every element was explained in explicit details. This left room for no doubt, but also took away the opportunity for my imagination to be engaged.
The emotional journey Candace went along was very personal and intense for her and those around her, but unfortunately I did not feel the emotion in its rawest sense, which was a disservice to the storyline. I also struggled with the point of view the story was told in – feeling confused between the first and third person narration. Considering these issues, for me I did however like the plot concept and EK Blairs tone in her writing.
This story is not bad, it is a nice read, with heartache, tragedy and a happy ever after, it just didn’t get my heart rate up… 3 ½ hearts.
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Falling (Book 2)
Synopsis
Sometimes it takes someone else to show us what we are truly capable of becoming.
Suffering from years of violent abuse, Ryan Campbell has learned how to keep people from getting too close. But when you shut yourself off, people get hurt along the way. Never caring much about others, Ryan creates a world in which he doesn’t have to feel.
When Ryan meets Candace Parker, all of his walls slowly begin to crumble. Not sure of the truth of who she is, he feels his mind is playing tricks on him. Unable to force out the thoughts that consume him, Ryan is haunted by visions that torment him every time he looks at her. He finds himself swallowed by guilt and blame, but he’s unwilling to turn his back on the one person that could possibly save him.
You’ve heard Candace’s story in Fading, now hear Ryan’s.
Kota's Review
As the synopsis outlines – this is Ryan’s POV. This review is hard to write for me, because essentially I have said everything in the review for Fading.
I will disclose that I read Fading in order to review Falling. I think reading them this close has been a disservice for EK Blair and for Falling. Because unfortunately, no matter how much I like the tone and prose that EK Blair writes in, I continually asked – how many times can the same story be told?
I understand the different Points of view, and being able to expand on the story from that alternate perspective, however, due to the explicit detail contained in Fading, reading Falling was almost a verbatim account all over again. (This also came after reading a good chunk of Freeing – which as a companion novel – was the story in Jase’ POV).
Ryan is a man with a past which has affected the way he engages with people, particularly women. In Ryan’s account we learn a little more about this behaviour and the rationale for it – but not enough for me to think this needed the expansion of another book. We gain more insight into the relationships with his family which is nice, and we see the struggle that Ryan faces dealing with his feelings for Candace, his past sexual attitude and relationships and his own inner struggle with Candace being ‘that girl’.
I will rate Falling a 3 and a ½ hearts as well – for the reasons that it felt like I was re-reading the same story – the variations were personally not enough to capture and intrigue me in this story all over again, but as with Fading – EK Blair does a good job of a tough topic, and ensures the empathy of the reader.
I would suggest however, either reading one or the other, but if you want to do both – do them justice by having some time in between reads.
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| 3 1/2 Hearts |
Falling Trailer
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author and International Amazon bestselling author, E.K. Blair takes her readers on an emotional roller coaster with her FADING series. A former first grade teacher with an imagination that runs wild. Daydreaming and zoning out is how she was often found in high school. Blair tends to drift towards everything dark and moody. Give her a character and she will take pleasure in breaking them down, digging into their core to find what lies underneath.
Aside from writing, E.K. Blair finds pleasure in music, drinking her Starbucks in peace, and spending time with her friends. She's a thinker, an artist, a wife, a mom, and everything in between.
EK Blair's Social Media Links
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i hav enot read none of book so i can not give review
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