BOOK REVIEW by Michelle 29th JUNE 2013:RATING: 3.25 CARTER & JOSH STARS!This was a good read. I enjoyed it for the most part. I read an awful lot of contemporary’s and I have certain expectations. I want to connect with the lead guy and the lead female and believe in the drama that often brings them together.I had this thing with this book where I really liked Carter but I wanted Heather to give me more depth of character with Carter. I think he is a gorgeous guy, a very likeable guy who is very hard on himself and I needed more from that. I felt like I was watching the percentage mark on my kindle until I found out the BIG reason for his guilt and this BIG secret everybody else knew about but the girl involved.I understood that Holly didn’t want to know about the death circumstances of Adam, which I didn’t truly understand. But when it finally came to the tell all, it was not anything really that Carter should have been feeling at fault over. Nobody else held him at fault. I felt like he needed and should have been offered/given counselling. I think there were several things Carter needed counselling about.Carter and Josh make up a team of volunteer mountain rescue guys. So they are volunteers, not paid. It is a dangerous job. People die. People need rescuing. They know what they sign up for.Holly’s boyfriend of two years is killed on his first volunteer rescue. What I didn’t understand is there was no mention of Adam’s family. Holly appeared to take on his death as the only person who loved him. Which was not true. We get a hint of Travis and his anger over his best friend’s death. I would have loved Travis fleshed out a bit more too and brought more into the story.I think what I am trying to say is I needed parts of characters and story line fleshed out more.The story starts of slowly but picks up pace. Carter & Holly both are hurting, we get the reason for Holly, it is Adam’s death. I would have liked to know how much Holly had loved Adam via some back story or something or examples. I only really got the bit of Prologue and as the reader we have to believe how much she loved him. One minute he is alive and must leave for his first rescue....then shortly later he is dead. Few months later she is still suffering. Some memories would have cemented their love and Holly's deep loss.Carter we slowly find out about. I think what I am trying to say is I needed his character to be more powerful for me. His character has a whole pile of potential to pull the reader in. Of course this is just my personal opinion, others may not feel the same as I do about Carter.I think I found Carter’s secrets a bit of a let down with all the build up. They were out of his control, all of them. I really love him and I love Josh, his best friend and roommate. Josh is funny and very endearing as a character. What I didn’t get was Holly’s initial drama with Carter. Not after knowing she cried in his arms for an hour at the hospital. To me you should be thanking the guy. You should be asking what happened? You have been dating Adam for two years it was your anniversary night. I didn’t feel like it was a natural reaction to not want to hear anything.I like Holly but I found she was all about her drama and I would have liked her character to have been thinking about Carter more. They become friends but it is all about her drama. Jenna, Holly’s bff, I liked her most of the time, but I really got annoyed every time she thought it was her place to be all up in Carter’s face. I get she is protective of Holly, but it got a bit much sometimes.Carter and the lads are volunteering their time, with little thanks, as a rescue team who are on call to drop everything and at risk to their own life, in dangerous weather, climb a mountain and rescue people.Josh and Carter were the hands down characters I liked the most in this story. I think I would have liked more time spent on Carter and Holly without Jenna getting in Carter’s face. Holly isn’t a baby, she is twenty one years old.I really like Jenna and Josh as a couple. When she is with him, they are playful and very loved up. They are a great couple. I liked Jenna when she was getting Holly out the apartment, coercing her into living again.I did enjoy this read, I don’t want to sound like I am being hard on the story line, but I read a lot of contemporary and I personally felt this one was enjoyable for me, but I needed a bit more from it. I can see all the 4 star and 5 star ratings on Goodreads, so that is why I say this is how I felt. I will always write an honest review about my thoughts and how a book made me feel.I have to admit I am looking forward to reading a contemporary where the parent isn't dying or has died of a disease. It would be nice for parents to be fit and well and nice. Contemporary's like to use mean parents, dead parents, ill and suffering parents as part of the drama. It becomes a bit monotonous. That being said, it is obviously part of a recipe that makes for a good contemporary. So I gather authors are going to keep knocking off parents and having evil relatives. LOL! It makes me nervous in real life, am I due for an illness?Michelle ** I received a copy of this book for free in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own. A bittersweet story of tragic loss, healing, friendship, love and forgiveness.When Holly's college boyfriend of two years goes out on to his first mountain mission on the eve of their two year anniversary, Holly never imagines that it would be the last time she sees him nor that her world is suddenly ripped apart. The pain of losing a loved one so fast had left her hollow and dismissive towards her friends until the wounds slowly start to close up with the help of her best friend Jenna.Ever since the night Carter held Holly in his hands while she cried and pounded on his chest, he cannot forgive himself for what happened on top of the mountain. Part of that nights rescue team, Carter feels like he should have done a lot more then night in hopes of protecting Adam - even if people keep telling him that it's not his fault - the broken look in Holly's eyes is enough to make him feel like it is.The last person Holly ever expects running into on her first day out is Carter, the one person that brings back terrible memories of that night that she has a hard time facing.Okay, I really enjoyed this book. The pace seemed just right. It started out with a bang. It breaks you, heals you, crumbles you then staples you back together. I admit, after just reading another NA novel about a loss, this one was held a softer blow for me because I felt ready for the punches, still reeling in emotions.I liked Holly, I couldn't help but feel so bad for her and everything she went through. But I also had a bit of a hard time understanding why she treated Carter so badly after that night and was unable to see him or talk to him when he came up to her. I kind of understood it was because he was part of the night that everything went so wrong, but at the beginning of the story Holly doesn't know the details of the events - something all of her friends are apparently keeping from her.Carter was just as broken. He feels death is following him everywhere he goes. Just dealing with death himself before the accident, he cannot help but feel responsible. Even if I and the other characters in the book did not feel that there was more he could do about it. Seeing Holly happy was like a release from his own skeletons in his closet. Watching her smile, lifted his own mood. I found that I loved his character.The romance in this story starts slow. The two first become friends cautiously and then it blossoms into something more. I really liked the pace with this one because it didn't jump into things and it made sense due to the circumstances. I liked that Carter struggled taking the next leap because he didn't feel like he could do it without telling her what happened first. When the details of the night finally come out, it threatens the delicate ground the two had build to walk on.Loved the story, was beautiful, touching, sad and lovely. I really enjoyed Heather's writing and am looking forward to more of it.The story was also from both Carter's and Holly's POV's which I really enjoyed because they got to tell us a bit about that nights from their points of view.
Do You like book Fall From Love (2000)?
A little slow, a little frustrating (in the steam department), but good writing and definitely cute.
—virginiachan
Nice story .. They just took to long to get together then it was over .. But overall it was good :)
—courts
This was a great story, loved the characters so much. I hope there will be another book.
—swaqqa
