Falling Into You Review

Book Review March 22

Falling Into You

by: Jasinda Wilder

★★★★★ 5 Stars

Blurb: I wasn't always in love with Colton Calloway; I was in love with his younger brother, Kyle, first. Kyle was my first one true love, my first in every way.
Then, one stormy August night, he died, and the person I was died with him.

Colton didn't teach me how to live. He didn't heal the pain. He didn't make it okay. He taught me how to hurt, how to not be okay, and, eventually, how to let go.

Let me just warn you. That blurb does nothing to prepare you for the accident that befalls Kyle and the heartache you will feel as your own. There is no preparing for it and even knowing what’s going to happen only makes it worse. But aside from all that Falling Into You is fan-freaking-tabulous and I would fall into this book and happily live forever if I could.

It’s so hard to let Kyle go. In many ways I’m with Nell and left wandering around aimlessly. Although once the relationship begins with Colton I found myself wondering if her and Kyle weren’t  just high school sweethearts. An infatuation that had yet run its course.  Then I got angry for dismissing Kyle so carelessly. Honestly, that’s how this book is. It makes you feel the blood pumping in your veins and every moment of pain chips away at your heart. 

Falling Into You starts with a young Nell and Kyle whom are both neighbors and best friends. As they get older their friendship turns into more and the two become an inseparable couple. They each learn to deal with teenage hormones and embarrassing kisses and touches that soon lead to more. They are each other’s first love. On what should have been a romantic getaway for the two soon becomes an evening from Hell and Kyle is killed. (And it’s rather harsh too. Cringe-worthy). Her grief became a tangible weight on my shoulders as if the pain was my own. 

Nell meets Kyle’s brother Colton at the funeral and though the two have never met, Nell feels a connection to him that isn’t because of his brother. The two don’t bond over the shared loss of Kyle but instead embark on a journey of love, forgiveness and grief.  A few years later, Nell runs into Colton in the park and neither can stay away. Neither can understand the attraction and try to run from their feelings rather than shame Kyle’s memory.

But oh, how true love has a way of slipping through the tightest defenses.

I give Jasinda Wilder serious props for being able to create such an emotional connection with Kyle in so few chapters. He’s soon gone but I felt his loss like it was my own. And Colton. O.M.G. He is not what you expect. At all. 

Colton’s life in New York is a mystery. Over time we learn more and more about him and the connection you felt with Kyle slowly starts to diminish just as Nell’s does. You can’t help but feel for Colton and his situation. Especially considering how hard he is trying to help Nell grieve and get over the loss of Kyle.  

Colton’s not perfect, but his family expected him to be. Basically disowned he sets out on his own and has to live on the streets doing any and everything he can to survive. (And he still does not blame the world or even his family for turning their backs on him.) When Nell asks him to read her acceptance letter I wanted to cry for him when he releases another secret.  I realize that Kyle was so young but didn’t he ever try to reach out to his older brother or was he just content being the perfect son when Colton left. 

I really enjoyed the relationship between the two. It didn’t feel rushed or as if they were pushed together. The two slowly begin to fall in love and it’s a real love not just a reaction to Colton being Kyle’s brother and Nell his ex. Colton shares his pain in order to help Nell. He never wants pity but understanding and recognition for the decisions he made. I’m glad he at least speaks to his family even if there’s no grand apologetic gesture for their harsh treatment of their first born son. I honestly wanted his father to suffer as he told him about the life he ended up leading. But Colton is not like that. He’s not ashamed nor does he need his father’s apology. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to be a young Colton working his ass off on every homework assignment and missing out on being a kid because his parents did not want to recognize his need for help. Their personal shame is what sends him away, and it’s sickening that any parent could treat their child that way, learning disorder or not. 

Besides Colton’s hotness and bad-assness, did I mention he plays guitar and sings. The song he writes and sings for Nell is an immediate panty dropper. You can feel his emotions in each word and the static flowing between the two enraptures readers as well. As if the pain these two have already gone through there is no end to the challenges they face. Nell is unsure how to rely on Colton and the two have to learn to work through life and it’s challenges as a team. Somehow together they become stronger together than apart and are able to see a promising future together full of trust, love and shared pain. 

“I’m not just falling in love with you, Nell. I’m falling into you. You’re an ocean, and I’m falling in, drowning in the depths of who you are. Like you said, it’s scary in a way, but it’s also the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced.” - Colton

I finished Falling Into You and I was like....

Overall
I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it. There's love, passion and pain in this emotional roller coaster that will have you wiping your eyes from both sad and happy tears every other page.