Book Review for If I Fall by Anna Cruise

If I Fall
by Anna Cruise

  4 stars

Reviewed by:Tonya
Format:Kindle

Published: Mission Bay Publishing 
Source:Purchased 
                      Gene:Young Adult 

About Book

Meg Calloway is at the edge.
Reeling from her parents’ sudden divorce, fifteen-year old Meg has never felt more alone. Her father is about to marry a woman she can’t stand and her mother’s only companion is an endless supply of alcohol. When Aidan Westwood, an older boy at school, shows interest in her, she grabs on and doesn’t let go, thinking he’s exactly what she needs to help stem her loneliness and despair. She quickly learns that Aidan lives a darker, more dangerous life than she does and the more isolated she feels from her family, the more willing she is to step into Aidan’s world.
As Meg drifts further from her friends, she tries to find comfort with a boy who is opening her eyes up to new things, none of them good. Will she listen to those around her who are warning her that she’s headed down a path of self-destruction?

Or will she fall too far…too fast…too deep?

Excerpt

“All I’m saying is I think you deserve better,” Case said. “From my point of view, anyway. You deserve better.”
I threw my head back on the sofa and laughed. It was a harsh laugh with no mirth. “Most of the time, I don’t think I deserve better.”
“Everyone deserves better.”
“Not me.” I didn’t look at him. “No one else would want me. I’ve royally fucked up. Everything. There isn’t anything better out there. Anything or anyone.”
“Yeah, there is.”
“Oh, really?” I brought my eyes back to him. “And where exactly would I find better?”
It was quiet for a moment. Then he said,“Well, you might start with me.”
My eyes widened. “With you?”
His cheeks flushed just a bit. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”
I immediately felt bad. “That’s not what I meant. Sorry.”
He laughed. “It’s fine. I’m kidding. About you being surprised. Not about being better.”
“Well how would I know you were better?” I said. “It’s not like you’ve ever asked me out.”
He thought about this for a minute. “So if I asked you out, you’d go?”
I honestly had no idea where the conversation was headed. He was confusing me like crazy and I wasn’t sure what to say to him. I thought maybe he was just screwing around with me.
“Yeah, I would,” I said, calling his bluff.
“What about Aidan?” he asked.
“What about him?” I said, shrugging. “You just pointed out all the reasons I shouldn’t be with him. Maybe you’re right and I’ve just been too dumb to see it.”
I didn’t know if I believed what I was saying but it felt like the truth was on the wall, some message that everyone had deciphered but me. And I was going to try my hardest to translate it, however I could.
He stared at me for a long time. I didn’t say anything, just stared into those eyes that were always friendly, always honest.

My Thoughts

I felt such an instant connection to Meg. Going through a divorce and having children, one of them being a daughter I instantly connected. I could close my eyes and see my daughter. No I am not saying my daughter did the things that Meg does in this book. But the pain she was feeling, the confusion, feeling of being unloved, not sure which way is up or down at any given moment. I remember my kids especially my daughter going through many of those very same feelings.
When Meg meets Aiden and what happens the first time they get together I am already on momma alert yelling “RUN GIRL ~ GET OUT RIGHT NOW WHILE YOU CAN!!!” but alas yelling at my kindle does no good. Meg falls and she falls pretty hard. She goes through some serious stuff, does some stupid things, sex, drugs, alcohol, ditching her friends for a new, not-so-good, ground, breaking rules that normally she wouldn’t.
Her dad has left for another woman, her mother has shut herself in her room and alcohol is her best friend leaving Meg to try and manage through this upheaval in her life and figure out what to do. Through the outburst with her father and his new wife, the final crashing of her mother, the loser Aiden (and boy is he a loser), the loss of her best friend Jada, there is one bright and shining star that is always consistent – Case, sweet, adorably cute, always there – Case.
This book is a good hard look at the reality of teenage life, drama, choices both good and bad and the consequences that come from those choices. Of broken hearts, broken trust, growth and realization.
I loved this book – 4 Stars all the way