Monday 17 June 2013

Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts (ARC Review)

WARNING: PROBABLE SPOILERS THROUGHOUT THE REVIEW!




Title; Tumble & Fall
Author; Alexandra Coutts
Source; NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Format; eBook
Publication Date; September 17th 2013
Publisher; Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Description; A novel about the end of days full of surprising beginnings

The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn’t how to save the world—the question is, what to do with the time that's left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand.

Alexandra Coutts's TUMBLE & FALL is a powerful story of courage, love, and hope at the end of the world.
Goodreads Average Rating; 3.71
My Rating; 1*

My Review; I didn't finish this book. I couldn't. Why couldn't I finish the book? Well, to be quite frank, it was boring. Not a whole lot was going on and I was 54% in.

I skipped to the ending of this book and I read the bit just after it says THE END and to be honest that little bit almost made me go back up and carry on reading, but it's not enough. You can't have a boring novel with an okay ending.

Okay, so let's discuss why this book was boring...and kind of ridiculous in places.

We have our three main characters. Sienna, Zan, and Caden.

Sienna has issues with depression and anxiety - well, that's what I got from it - and to be honest I thought that with a few of the things the author wrote, well, the depression and anxiety was described quite well. But I'm also kind of wondering if Sienna was actually bipolar because it didn't seem as if she was so anxious or depressed. But she had this sense of detachment from the world and her family, and yes, that's what happens. And then there was Owen, a childhood friend, and it's like he's suddenly there and she's more interested in him than spending time with her family and stuff. It's the end of the world, it doesn't really matter who you spend your time with, but wouldn't you want to at least try to connect with your family?

Zan's boyfriend, Leo, died a year ago. When we first meet her she is sat on a rock talking to him... It's where they used to sit and watch the sunset or something. We don't know he's not there at the time. And then Leo's younger sister comes to the rocks and she gives Zan this book. This book was Leo's favourite or something. So, his sister gives her this old and worn novel and then Zan finds this receipt in it at some later point and this receipt has a name and number on it. Vanessa. When Zan looks closer at the receipt she sees that it is from the night he died.
In the end she goes on a sort of road trip with Leo's best friend, Nick, and they try to find this Vanessa girl. I don't know how that ended up because I didn't get that far, but I'm pretty sure he was cheating on her.

Then we have Caden. Caden has probably got the strangest story in the book. Caden has a sister and a drunk for a mother. And Caden is some kind of skater, or he hangs with skaters and gets stoned and what not, but not drunk. So, when he's out partying on the beach with his friends, or rather on the way back, he gets...kidnapped. By his father. And when I had stopped reading the book...his father had gotten him a prostitute. Like...why? His father is a douche, we get that, but that just takes it too far.

These teenagers lives are supposed to intertwine in this book, but at 54%...they hadn't even met... Except for maybe Caden and Zan who already knew each other.

I just... I did not like this book and that really is a shame because I was really, really looking forward to reading it. Oh well.

Interesting premise...not so interesting book.

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