"I love him. Then. Now. Always. In a movie, it would be enough to undo every bad thing. Out here in the real world, though, love isn't enough. "

High school parties are supposed to be fun. Nights of hot cocoa topped with a gallon of marshmallows, a Harry Potter movie marathon, and frequent dance breaks to Queen songs played at reasonable volumes sound like the best parties.

However, the lives of Paige and Theo, at their last senior party, are jumbled after Theo's fight with his classmate Chase sends Paige to the emergency room. Diagnosed with ADHD and ODD, Theo has always been labeled as trouble, but his mistake of punching Paige in a jealous rage haunts him. Paige, on the other hand, has had a crush on Theo for ages but has decided to pursue someone else when her feelings for Theo are not returned. Or, so she thought?! Now, since the accident, Paige is expecting to enjoy her newfound freedom from her overbearing parents (and Theo) as she attends a summer research program at her local college; however, as the program progresses, Paige's anxiety and paranoia worsens, especially as memories of that dreadful night return. The only thing that Theo and Paige can deduce is the bad energy from the party is rooted in the history of the haunted bridge it was hosted on. Together, they recount their individual experiences on their town's bridge and set a plan to stop the hauntings before it's too late, all whilst rebuilding their friendship into possibly more.

Richard's paranormal and psychological thriller was just that: a thrilling read with self-destructive, deeply flawed characters and a plot that leads you in various directions. Both Paige and Theo have been diagnosed with mental disorders and are not the most trustworthy narrators, particularly as both of them are experiencing flashbacks and hallucinations regarding the previous party. In Paige's case, she is uncompliant with her anxiety medications and paranoid of anyone potentially communicating with her parents in regards to this. Theo, on the other hand, is taking a large number of medications to help with his insomnia, ADHD, and now his hallucinations. Although Theo is trying to resume his life by working with his uncle, I wondered periodically if Theo's perspective could be trusted or if the voices and otherworldly spirits were imagined. Richard's fast pacing moved the story along well and kept me entertained. From the alternating perspectives of Theo and Paige, each of their stories connect so well, painting each other as multifaceted people.

I especially enjoyed Richard's message, particularly as Theo and Paige support each other multiple times throughout their friendship and there is so much power in forgiveness. Although their relationship was toxic at times, Theo never intentionally meant to harm Paige; in the end, it was Paige that needed to apologize to Theo for several of her wrongdoings. They both just needed the right help, and that includes therapy.

The ending was a cute ribbon to end the story; however, Richard leaves several plot holes scattered throughout the book. For example, Richard stations Paige at her local college's research program in which she is assigned a science project. Paige and her lab partner Melanie, while testing water samples for chemicals, detect an elevated level of arsenic from their sample near the bridge. Paige does more testing and determines the bridge is damaged in one area, which is where arsenic may possibly be leaking into the main water supply of the town. No one alerts the town's government or a construction/architecture company to determine if the bridge is structurally sound or safe. Further testing by a professional laboratory is not conducted. Paige just goes ahead, gives her end-of-summer presentation, and gives the issue a rest. If the arsenic did not play a big part as forgiveness is the solution to Paige and Theo's problem, why would Richard focus a bulk of the story on a puzzle piece that is unnecessary? (Or at least should go to another puzzle set...)

Also, throughout the novel, this bridge is in its *spooky era*.



Denny, Theo's uncle, and a town kid who helps Theo research the bridge both recount weird, spooky experiences whilst on the bridge. Denny's weird encounters are not delved into, and the town kid's family drama is brought up to only leave a trail of questions. I wish more time was spent uncovering the powers of the bridge and less of Paige's arsenic science project.



In conclusion, Richard's created a memoir for Generation Z kid/adults but with a paranormal flair of ghosts and unknown voices. In the grand scheme, this book centers around the troubles of two codependent teenagers who are both dealing with mental illnesses and are on the verge of breaking down. So, it's definitely my type of party!

Also, for all the great readers of young adult fiction, a breath is not the only thing you can forget to hold.

"I turn as I hear his voice, my fingers uncurling from the fists I hadn't known I'd been holding."

Love,
newbookcats

I swapped my kindle back in 2018 and am unable to recover this title. I appriciate the opportunity that was given for review but sadly can't complete it for this title. Many thanks.

Read a finished copy from the library.


We All Fall Down is told in dual perspective of Theo and Paige switching between them each chapter.
Theo and Paige met in their early teens and since then have been best friends and helped each other. For Theo that was Paige helping him with his ADHD and for Paige it was Theo helping her with her anxiety. They are rather codependent on each other but don't realize it, nor does it seem to be a problem until a tragedy of sorts happens and they are no longer able to see each other.
This causes strange things to start happening to them as they both try to rebuild their lives and try to come up with new ways to live and look towards the future without the other person.

Overall I did enjoy this book. The part right after the tragedy happened and we were waiting to see what the mystery portion would be and if they would ever get to see one another did seem to drag on for a bit too long for me. After that, though it was full steam ahead of trying to figure out what had happened that caused them both to be experiencing these strange happenings. Was it really a ghost, was it one of them doing things they had no recollection of because of medicine, or was it someone else entirely messing with them I couldn't figure it out until almost the end. The paranormalist parts of this book were fascinating especially with how we actually saw Theo using his ADHD in a way that worked for him and sticking up for taking the medicine and all that. It really seemed like he didn't have any support system at all for the most part, and he was truly on his own it seemed without Paige. Paige on the other hand had parents that over-stepped a bit possibly (we never got a for sure answer on this part) and just really made certain things worse for Paige as time went on during the book.
We see Theo and Paige both grow up a bit an act responsible to a point and really show that why they both have these mental health problems they do have each other's backs and can help to a certain extent. Now if this is a good long-term relationship or not I'm not going to judge because we literally saw them in a couple of weeks times span with not a lot of beforehand details about things.

The mystery part of this book was good, just wish it had been more the focus instead of the relationship or non-relationship between them being the main focus.

We All Fall Down was a pretty interesting young adult novel. I definitely had my attention grabbed from the beginning. I love the unrequited love, especially if the characters don't know if it's unrequited. It's all a slow burn, and it grabs my attention every time. 

I think this book had five star potential. I really liked the development and how their troubled pasts really shaped how this book turned out. I was pretty curious on how it would be when I reached towards the end. However, I think that this book lost me a couple of times which is why I gave it four stars. There were times where I had to stop and go back and think "huh". Books like this generally intrigue me, but with this one, I didn't totally understand one-hundred percent. 

I really liked the concept of how this book was towards the end. It was a question of: is this a paranormal story or what's even going on here? I loved that it was making me think in ways that a book hasn't made me think in a while. 

I'm excited to read Natalie D. Richard's other books now. This was my first novel by her, but for sure not my last!

I am going back and forth between a 2 or 3 star rating. I’ve finally made it to the end of 'We All Fall Down', and I’m not completely sure how to feel.

One plus would be that I found it hard to put the book down, a little bit of a ‘page-turner’ I’d say. This was mainly because I REALLY wanted answers! Secondly the author doesn’t shy away from tackling the mental health issues faced by the characters, and portrays their struggles as realistically as possible.

However, other than that, I just felt the book lacked a lot of substance and drive. At the 70%+ point, the book seemed to be going in circles, and nothing was making sense. Even in the end, the way the book was wrapped up, I wasn’t completely satisfied and still had many questions.

This was better than I expected it to be. I thought it would be a thriller but it was actually supernatural. A quick read told from two perspectives, that also focuses on anxiety and ADHD.

It wasn't the best storyline in terms of the supernatural elements but due to the relationship focus of the two main characters and the issues they faced that began to create a volatile relationship for the both of them, I was pretty absorbed in it.

I liked the book but I wouldn't recommend for a class because I think it is more of a book you read on your own. I don't think it'd be good for a class because there isn't a lesson I can see using in a curriculum

An interesting book! I greatly enjoyed this one from beginning to end. Full review coming soon on my blog.

There were some aspects of this book that I enjoyed quite a lot, but there were other things that I just didn't feel worked quite as well, namely the paranormal portions. I thought the author did a great job of creating her characters and of making the relationship between them solid and believable. It was the portions of the book that lacked the paranormal stuff that I thought worked quite well.

This story has an interesting premise, wasn't difficult to read and keep up with and kept me turning pages, looking forward to finding out what was going to happen next. I liked the spirit that Paige displayed and her determination to get to the bottom of things and overall, thought this would be a great book for most readers, both younger and older.

I didn't love the ending that much, as I thought after all the strange events and build up that the final resolution lacked something--but I can't quite say what. Overall, it was a good book that will keep you guessing about what's going on and how the characters will get through it all. Recommended to those who enjoy suspenseful mysteries with a paranormal element.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I was excited for the release of this book. I read one other book by this author and I very much loved it. The premise of this story looked interesting and promising. I was very excited. Unfortunately, this book didn't reach my expectations.


This story is about a girl and boy who are friends, who started to crush on each other, who didn't have the nerve to tell each other, who had a night where things went wrong and their friendship broke. This is also a story about a bridge, lovers, carved initials, and hauntings. Mainly though, its a story about a boy and girl who find their way back to other when they are so desperately trying not to.


This story really had promise and at the beginning, I was intrigued. The story starts off good but then it just wasn't. It started off exciting than with each page turn I started to lose interest, the story lost its oomph. I was really just bored for most of the read. I did, however, want to know what was going on so I kept reading.

The pacing was slow for me, however, that wouldn't have bothered me if I liked the characters or if their angst made sense to me. The characters just didn't fit for me. I did;t feel a connection to them or feel a connection between the two. They were best friends on the verge of more and then once an accidental punch tears them apart. I understand how things got messed up but the continued distance, disconnect, and steady attempts to forget each other really bothered me. I don't see how this could have happened or made sense under these circumstances. The incident that tore them apart was an accident and something that shouldn't have happened but really wasn't all they made it out to be. I guess you would just need to read it and make up your own mind but, accidentally hitting your friend who attempts to stop a fight is not violence towards the friend. It's violence yes, and something that needs to stop yes... but I just didn't feel it warded for Paige to totally call off all relationship ties with Theo. Seemed immature and silly to me. All I felt from both Theo and Paige was way too much angst.

The mystery was okay, the hauntings and the bridge were interesting. Way more interesting than the fight between Paige and Theo but I don't feel like there was enough there for the story to be good. I feel this should have been the center of the story, the focus but it wasn't. I wasn't satisfied with the ending or conclusion of it all.

I did think the writing style was good. The setting and the tone felt perfect for the story of the bridge. Take away the teen angst and drama add a bit more to the mystery and the hauntings... would have been great. The story was there, the execution was not. I was in the mood for a great eerie and dark read but just didn't get it.






It didn't hit its mark with me. I needed more, wanted more.

Guys.
I really, really enjoy reading Natalie D. Richards books.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed We All Fall Down!
It tackles several topics including mental illness, hauntings, college, and friendship.

Paige and Theo have been best friends for years, but Theo finally wants more. Too bad Paige is trying to impress another boy... Something terrible happens the night of the party and their friendship is ruined. Bad things always happen on the bridge, but they never thought it would happen to them.
Paige begins questioning her entire friendship with Theo. She knows their relationship is toxic, it could never work. Especially since she put a lock on the bridge with their initials on it.... Could that have cursed them?
After 6 months apart, strange things start happening to them. Theo is hearing voices, voices reviving conversations he had during the night of the party. The party that quite literally, ruined his life. It must just be a side effect of his medication. But the more it happens, the more he questions his sanity.
Paige starts finding things she lost the night of the party. Things like her earring, purse, shoes, even her own teeth.... Maybe it's Theo playing a joke on her, but maybe it's more than that.

If we're being honest, the supernatural side was a little too much for me. I don't usually read books that have hauntings, ghosts, the unknown, etc.. It just seemed a bit far fetched and out of place for me. Sure, you could argue symbolism, but I just didn't enjoy that part. That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the story and loved reading about Theo and Paige.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me an advanced copy of We All Fall Down!
(Even though I just now got around to reading it, whoops!)

Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: This was another book that I couldn't put down!

Check out author's other books? Yes
Recommend this book? Yes

Notes and Opinions: Man this one was really good. Its a story about how one bad choice can change the world. I really loved how the writing style and the use of PTSD played out with this one it was a great prediction of how things change and how we deal with things that happen to us. This is one title that will take you for a loop with the mystery and twist it has, I won't tell you here because I want it to be a surprise like it was for me. The author did a wonderful job with it blending it together so well that it was perfect! If your looking for a new story to knock your socks off look no further than right here!

Go Into This One Knowing: Mental Health, PTSD, FABULOUS TWIST!

I liked the cover, and I thought I'd read something by this author before. Soon I started to feel like, what's with this bridge? It sucks you in, Theo and Paige, and what happened to them. There's a bit much of the woe is me, but I still found it good enough to read. I wanted to know the answers to all the questions. The characters issues cover ADHD and other mental aspects. I'm not sorry I read this one.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

Sorry, could not get to reading this book on time - thank you for the opportunity to review!

Part fated romance, part supernatural thriller, We All Fall Down is the story of Theo and Paige; two friends who are haunted by a night on an old bridge, where an argument between Theo and another classmate turned into a fight; Theo took a swing, but it was Paige who was injured.

Four months later, they're each trying to move on, but something at the bridge refuses to let them forget. Paige and Theo must work together to stop whatever energy is coming from the bridge.

I had higher hopes for All Fall Down, to be honest. It's an interesting look at two characters with varying mental illnesses - Theo claims to have "ODD, ADHD... I've got to be forgetting some letters here", and Paige suffers from severe anxiety. The story didn't really need a supernatural element added to it to be compelling; Natalie Richards had great material to work with, had she gone deeper into the characters, their relationship, and the repercussions of the night Paige was injured. It's an interesting thriller that started strong, but could have been unputdownable with just a slight change in focus.

I've read a couple of books from this author before, so when I found out about this one, I decided to give it a chance. And overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I really liked the fact that the book dove into mental health issues in teens, as it added a lot of depth to the characters and to the overall storyline of the book. There were a few chapters that were a little confusing and hard to follow, but for the most part it was a pretty solid read. The story was very complex and there were several twists and turns in it, and even when I only had a few chapters left I still had no idea how it would end. I would definitely give this book a full four stars, and I would especially recommend it to fans of Paula Hawkins, Eileen Cook, and E. Lockhart, all of whom are also very popular teen mystery novelists.

“Even thinking her name rolls chills up my back. I close my eyes and that night is unleashed…There were other people there but Paige is all I see.”

“Theo is good for me. And Theo is terrible for me. Those statements are both completely true and impossibly opposite at the same time.”

Paige and Theo, high school friends? Teenage crush? or Deadly match? One fateful night on the bridge, Something happened that will change Paige and Theo’s lives forever. A few months after that night, they are not speaking, are not friends, and do not step within a foot of each other. But, is it because they don’t want to? Because they’re told not to? Or because they both feel they have to?

Now, Paige is a college student full of anxiety, and Theo is full of dispair and on anti depression meds. Will they ever learn to face their true feelings? Is someone or something trying to stop them? Why are they reliving that night over and over?

“Strange things often have mundane explanations.”

For Paige and Theo, they are destined… but for what?

In this book, horrible circumstances separate friends and a force to reckon with is drawing them together to resolve a long ago wish with dire consequences.
This book will be appealing to those readers who love eerie and strange happenings, forces that work behind the scenes to create a gripping ending.

Top book of 2017 for me. Very fast paced and very intriguing. I enjoyed how it kept me hooked and it was an original story. Nowadays so many books read the same. Highly recommend

We All Fall Down by Natalie Richards is a book I was waiting to get my hands on since I read the summary. I love a good mystery and Richards always comes through with an interesting story that keeps me guessing until the very end. Also, the cover is perfect!

The book starts out introducing us to Theo and Paige. They have been friends for a while and Paige has always had a crush on Theo. It hasn’t been until recently that Theo has started to have the same feelings for her but Paige has come to a conclusion that Theo will never see her as more than just a friend, so she has set her sights on someone else. The night Theo decides he is going to tell Paige what he feels, is the same night that Paige determines she is going to put herself out there with another boy and Theo realizes he is too late. This is where things go incredibly wrong for them both.

When a fight breaks out between Theo and another character at a party on the riverbank, Paige attempts to intervene and ends up getting punched by Theo. As the scene plays out, Richards takes the reader into the fray with these characters and it was heartbreaking to see what ends up happening with these two. I wanted to be able to rewind everything for them both, so they didn’t need to go through this but if that happened we wouldn’t get the rest of the story.

Theo is an interesting character. He is a bit impulsive and high strung and Paige is the one person who gets him. Similarly, Paige suffers from anxiety and Theo is the one that helps her when she has her attacks. Their relationship is a bit co-dependent, but they can’t seem to give each other up. That is, until they are forced to. The outcome of the party is that Theo is put on medication and put on probation and he and Paige can’t be near each other.

Now I’m not going to say a lot here about what really is happening because I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone but there is something that continues to draw Theo and Paige back to the bridge where there happens to be a lock with their initials attached to it (along with a bunch of others). As Theo digs deeper into what is happening, strange incidents continue to pull them along to the end.

I enjoyed this one and if you are looking for a contemporary that delves a bit into the paranormal, consider checking this book out. I thought Richards did a wonderful job of building out these characters and their story and I will continue to look for more books from her in the future.