Saturday, February 12, 2011

Falling Under-Gwen Hayes

Falling Under
Gwen Hayes
NAL, Mar 1 2011, $$9.99
ISBN: 9780451232687

In Serendipity Falls, California, seventeen years old Theia Alderson is taken back when she sees an inferno containing a man fall from the sky; when he crashes on her family’s lawn, he disintegrates into nothingness. Soon afterward at high school Theia sees Haden Black for the first time. The newcomer has been the star of her recent dreams, but she never thought he was real until now.

He makes it clear from that first encounter that he wants her, but for every time he makes a move towards her he pushes his Theia away. She knows she should fear this teen who she met in her sleep time before she met him awake, but though frightened of how that could be and what he may be, Theia feels they belong together.

This is a fascinating early teen romantic gothic fantasy starring two wannabe lovers who are unsure they should be together as forces greater than either of them try to pull them apart. Readers will appreciate the lead protagonists who will remain separated unless they learn geometry that the loving whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Although there are some odd seemingly misplaced support characters and scenes, young adult fans will relish two intelligent individuals struggling with their mutual attraction to one another.

Harriet Klausner

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