I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I thought I would. I guess the hype didn't live up to the writing. It's a good book, but not as great as people were making it out to be. The plot is fantastic and so are the characters. It really just has to do with the writing style. It just wasn't for me.

4/5 Stars for Even If I Fall by Abigail Johnson. This was the first novel I have read by this author, and I have to say it was a pretty great read! Love, secrets, emotions, everything that a good contemporary romance novel needs. The characters were very detailed and the plot of the story was "well thought out" in my opinion. I look forward to reading more from this author! Thank you for the chance to read an advanced copy.

Wow! This is an emotional, heartwrenching story of two family’s suffering, after the effects of a violent crime. One family lost a son to murder and the other to prison, and both families are torn apart in the same small town.

Seventeen year-old Brooke is miserable after her brother went to prison for the murder of his best friend, and Heath has been lost since his older brother died. The two have some heated encounters in town but soon realize they both could use a friend, and through that common need, they form a secret friendship.

Through their own grief and loneliness a relationship begins, but they can’t let anyone know or else they will each be betraying their own family.

This is such a complex story, I can feel the emotions of everyone involved and can see it happening all too easily. Once you are invested in that relationship how do you explain it to your family without letting them down? Is their anyway to handle this smoothly? I don’t think so. This is a wonderful YA story, of love amongst such loss.

It’s a beautiful Young Adult story that pulled at my heart strings, even up till the end Brooke continues searching for details of the night her brother murdered his best friend, so she can let it go. Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Teen, and the author, Abigail Johnson for this ARC, my opinions are all my own. This story will be published January 8, 2019.

I really enjoyed this book. There were a lot of typos and tense errors but I was able to overlook them for the content. The story is well-written in my opinion and I enjoyed the way the story was told. This particular story mirrors my own family's tragedy (for me the loss of a sibling) so I was able to easily understand Brooke's pain. The way something like this affects each member of a family differently is very real and I think Johnson did an excellent job of portraying those emotions to the reader.

I wish the ending had been more thorough. Personally, I like to have everything wrapped up. But I like to think it went the way I wanted.

This book was beautiful. Its a contemporary romance so you get some heat but nothing to drastic which I like. Our main character Brooke, and her family, are trying to heal after Brooke's older brother, Jason, did the unthinkable. The unthinkable being the murder of his best friend, Cal. The family moves to a new city and Brooke tries everything she can think of to stop from fixating on her brother's terrible crime. With everyone in town looking at her like she is a pariah she tries her best to stay out of the lime light. That is when she runs into Heath. Heath as it turns out was Cal's younger brother. The two don't have the best relationship in the beginning, especially after what happened with their siblings, and the anger rises from both sides. However after the two are forced to work together at the same job that is when they start to connect, their anger, and sadness helps express their connection that only the two of them can have. This book had a really good writing style to it, it really made you get involved in the story and the characters. I devoured this book in one
sitting it was so interesting, every page turned into the other and I got so wrapped up in what was happening in the book I didn't even notice how much I had read until the book was finished. The writing was simple but not enough to make it boring. It really made you view everything the way you wanted without being over saturated with unnecessary descriptions. I also liked how this book was in parts almost, the relationship between Brooke and Heath, what actually happened the night of Cal's murder, and the family dynamic both of the grieving family as well as the family dealing with their child/brother in jail. This book takes you on a roller coaster of emotions and I'm glad I got to be part of the ride. This is one of the best books that I've read in a while. Everyone needs to check this out, you will never tire of reading this story.

I really enjoyed this novel. There were so many surprises in the plot that were so unexpected and only added to the great story. Brooke and her family experience such a tragedy when her brother Jason goes to prison for the supposed murder of his best friend Cal. Everyone tries to cope with Jason's imprisonment in the best way they can, avoidance and denial. Brooke meets Heath, Cal's brother, and her world changes...

I highly recommend this book. Abigail Johnson did a wonderful job with character and plot development.

Oh! How I liked this one. And what is wrong with me? Because I cried! Again. I must have an excess of hormones or something.

Anyways, I found this book deliciously wonderful. I like the writing, the voice of the MC, the development of the romance (specially the development of the romance). I hate romance and all that insta love crap, but this story was not like that.

I liked that I knew what Brooke was thinking all the time and her reasons to do whatever she did. At first I was like, "what is wrong this family?" But I get that not all families are savages like mine.

I completely felt the emptiness that Brooke was feeling and the her need to feel a human touch. I was also thinking "why are people so stupid? His brother is murderer, not her or her family!" But I guess just a small part of the population would think like that. Most people are vicious and just waiting for an opportunity to show it.

There is nothing in this book that I did not like. Everything came together nicely; there was no quick, stupid fixes (like recording a conversation when someone confesses). This story was well thought and planned. I just loved it.

I loved Even If I Fall! It's an outstanding contemporary ya about Brooke, a 17 year old who has seen her family fall apart after her brother, Jason, was convicted of murdering his friend Cal. Brooke has given up on her dream of ice skating professionally to be with her her mother, who basically lives to see Jason once a week in prison, her father, who has thrown himself into his woodworking career, and her little sister, Laura, who has withdrawn from everything and everyone.

It's summer, and apart from her job at the town ice skating rink that she's barely managing to keep because her boss, alongside everyone else in town, despises her and her family, all Brooke has is her new (and new arrival to town) friend, Maggie, who she tries to keep from finding out the truth about her brother and his crime.

Then she runs into Heath...who is the younger brother of the boy her brother murdered. They should hate each other but as they start to talk, they realize that they understand each other. While the town pities Heath and his family and scorns Brooke and hers, no one sees the pain each of them are truly in except each other

A slow and utterly beautiful romance builds, one that's believable in all the complexity that's layered in. Over the summer, as Brooke and Heath fall for each other, both have to deal with their own demons as well as the lingering cracks in their families.

Brooke was such a great character--flawed yet relatable--and her growth towards understanding what her brother did and to realizing her dreams had me rooting for her all the way

Heath was swoon worthy. He was just so...awesome! He was smart and kind and sweet and not perfect, which made him even better. And he and Brooke together are Wow! Yes, they are capital letter good.

This is an incredibly well written and thought provoking novel. It would be a perfect fit for any Sarah Dessen fan or for anyone who loves complex contemporary YA. I'll be pushing this one hard at the store and in the library and will pair it with Ms Johnson's first novel, If I Fix You, and The Pact by Jodi Picoult for adults and with Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen for teens.

Tldr: A complex and beautifully written young adult novel that's heartbreaking and heartwarming--so good you'll want to read it more than once to fall back into it again.

To me, this book was perfect in so many ways. You have Brooke, a teenager who’s brother has been in prison for the last year. Her community has all but shunned her and her family. She happens to encounter the younger of the boy that her brother murdered. Together, Heath and Brooke are able to pick up the pieces of their lives and rebuild.
Brooke is able to find the answers that she needs to move on. In the process however, she hurts some people. I’d like to think though, that she was helping them find closure too. My heart broke for her little sister, Laura.
I did wish that we had a heard a little more of what she wrote in her journal about what had happened that night and the questions Brooke had surrounding that time.

Even if I Fall by Abigail Johnson

This story is about a family who is devastated after dealing with a horrible tragedy caused but their son. Their lives have literally fallen apart and functioning while in major denial is probably the best way to describe them.

Following the story through the voice of their daughter Brooke who is trying to support her parents and sister, while dealing with being an outcast in her town due to the tragedy you can’t help but think something good has to come from all this misery she endures.

Brooke becomes friends with someone no one would ever expect and you can’t help but keep turning the pages to find out how these tragedy forms their futures.

A wonderfully written story of heartbreak, suffering and what the love of a family does to encourage the future.

I'm definitely a mood reader: you have to be prepared for this one. It's emotional! I had a hard time liking the characters in the beginning - too much of your typical teenage angst and drama I thought. It's a deep, thought provoking book to say the least. It's not an easy topic to digest.

3.5/5 Stars

Even if I fall is a story about tragedy and how a family is dealing with it. This book is about a girl who's brother was murdered and the murder's brother and how they come together and lean on each other. This is a good read.

Rather Romeo and Juliet romance where falling in love isn't the biggest story line. Forgiving the people you love is hard; loving people who can't forgive you is harder still.

Captivating book about family relationships and how we all hang on to our visions of what we want our lives to be, even if the vision and reality don’t match. But it’s also about what happens when a person is strong enough to move beyond the perception of reality and try to grow in honesty and healing. I would recommend to readers who like gritty stories of characters who grow against all odds and don’t believe that happily ever after is a necessary or realistic ending.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. The loss of anyone you care about weighs heavy on the heart. Brooke wants to get to the bottom what happened when her best friend is killed only to discover it was at the hands of her own brother. Which cause a land slide of problems for her family. Brooke's only glimmer of light is the ice rink. That is where she meets Heath. He is the younger brother of her best friend Calvin. Each of them have a different way of dealing with the grief that has been forced upon them. Now they each has someone to talk to and deal with this since no one else would understand what they have been through but each other. It touched me and it makes me deal with my own grief.

Even If I Fall by Abigail Johnson started as a short story which eventually became this beautiful account of love, loss, grief, moving on and becoming whole again. It is a wonderful story with very relatable characters. Brooke has lost her brother to prison and feels a responsibility to stay home after high school to hold her family together. Heath’s brother was murdered. They share loss in different ways but come together to find a new beginning to their lives. Their family members are also relatable and real as they all struggle with loss in different ways. This is a definite ‘must add’ to your Young Adult shelf!

This title was provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Even If I Fall is a poignant story of two teens each harboring deep emotions stemming from the same incident, needing someone to listen, to hear, and to not judge. Brooke Covington’s brother confessed to killing his best friend. Heath Gaines is the dead man’s brother. Brooke lives under the judgmental scrutiny of their small town, alone and almost friendless, except for Maggie who knows nothing of Brooke’s brother. Heath lives in a family in denial that his brother is gone and only talks of the past and never of the present pain and grief. Together Brooke and Heath begin to heal while continuing to combat the daily struggles of their separate lives.

This is the first book that I have read buy this author. This book was so good. I stayed up all night reading it because I wanted to know how the story was going to end. Immediately after reading this I thought that it would be an amazing movie, because I don’t think that I have watched one like it.

While reading this I found that the characters were very relatable, Heath and Brooke have to mourn the loss of there brothers. In doing so Brooke is willing to give up her dream just to stay with her family and Heath feels trapped because now he has to take on the roll of big brother when he was perfectly fine with Calvin taking on that roll in the family.

Brooke is determined to find out what happed to her brother Jason that night and now he ended up in prison. The stuff that she goes though I can only imagine. While reading the book I did feel the pain that she went through right along with her. Because how can one deal with knowing that your brother murdered his best friend? I found myself thinking many times that I would help Brooke anyway that I can so that she can get the answers that she was looking for.

To see Heath and Brooke connect over something so tragic was heartwarming for me. They went though the same thing so why wouldn’t they bond over that?

After reading this I defiantly have to look into the other books that Abigail has written. If they’re anything like this one then I need to read them asap.

*I got this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Thanks to NetGalley for this book! I loved this book. It is so sad yet also surprisingly uplifting too. Brooke's brother is in jail for murdering his best friend. Her family is barely functioning. She sees Heath (her brother's best friend's brother) and they start a relationship, very wary of each other and the way they are so permanently connected, it somehow kind of works. Brooke begins to wonder more about her brother and what actually happened the night of the murder and after she delves into the details, she finds out way more than she had expected. Brooke and Heath are both so delicate and so needy and the way they find each other is so wonderful. They both need to move on from where they are stuck and together they look for the strength do do so. Also the bonds between Brooke and her brother in prison, Jason, & her younger sister Laura, both of whom she loves so dearly, are truly tested--and the strength of sibling love is shown through all three of their relationships. LOVED this book, so interesting and unique, great characters and story and loved the writing too.

Even if I Fall by Abigail Johnson is one of my favorite books this month. This is an emotional story, told from the perspective of a teenager who is clearly feeling very alone in her pain. Brooke has lost her older brother, not to death, but prison. This book is a winding tale of sadness, sorrow and coming into one’s own pretty much on her own. Her mother, father and sister are devastated by what has happened and it seems that Brooke has no one in which to turn. She cannot tell her best friend the truth and for a time, loses her too.

I read this book in less than two days and the story will stay with me for some time. I found myself wanting to help Brooke when no one else would or could – the book really drew me in. It is so well written and very descriptive on the subject of grief and how it’s handled so differently by all involved. I highly recommend this book.