Children's Book Club

Friday 2 September 2011

Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie

After being buried deep in sci-fi and fantasy of late, this was a refreshing change. Falling Fast did seriously weird things to me, Sophie’s writing transported be right back to my 17 year old self.  I was immersed from the first page.
River is on her way to audition for a part in Romeo and Juliet. Well, not a part, the part. Not because she is desperate to be centre of attention or have the lead role, but because she can truly connect to Juliet. She’s a real romantic soul, but not at all in an annoying way. River craves love, to be loved. That sort of ‘worth dying for’ love that young girls (and older girls too!) can sometimes find themselves dreaming about. Their very own Romeo.
However, things don’t go to plan. She meets Flynn, a guy so brooding, intense and talented that she can barley concentrate on delivering the lines she learnt, never mind performing them well. He’s such a complicated character I was immediately intrigued to find out what made this boy so exceptionally unique, I read on as these two characters lives became inevitably entwined through quite real and difficult circumstances.
This isn’t one of those books that is set to make you laugh all the way through, it isn’t your average teen romance read. I think it is incredibly real. You could know the main characters, I sort of felt like I did. River, and Flynn especially, have different things going on in their lives that make being a teenager really hard. McKenzie captures all this angst perfectly. She mirrors hopes and fears which you can possibly remember having yourself and I’m sure teen readers will be able to relate to. The story is complex, so romantic and heart wrenching at times. I always like McKenzie’s books, they never disappoint, but Falling Fast is definitely my favourite. I think perhaps this is because there is potential for an epic romance here, a romance set now, in the real world. Plus Flynn is super hot, a real contender for the top of the YA male lead list. There are no superheroes, zombies or ‘end of the world’ chaos. Instead we’re faced with absolute emotional turmoil as two people fall fast for the very first time.

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