This was well written but a little slow for me. The story is being told by Michah as she is driving to meet someone. The timeline goes back and forth between now and 10 years ago during the chapters. I like dual timelines but the way it was done it got a little confusing. If you like a slow burn read, then this book will be for you!

Great debut by author Allison Buccola.
Micah Wilkes is a senior in high school when her boyfriend is convicted of killing her best friend. Ten years later, having moved on from that trauma, she begins to believe things maybe didn’t happen the way everyone believed them to. Everyone becomes a suspect, and Micah feels she may be next.

What a thrill of a thriller! Catch Her When she Falls was so much fun! Just when I thought I knew what was going on I got another twist thrown at me! Great writing and interesting characters. I absolutely can't wait to read more from Allison Buccola

Alex killed Emily, didn't he? Micah was certain for so long especially since he was convicted of the crime. Now, ten years later, a true crime podcast and true crime fans are making her question her memory about the night they all went to a party in the woods. She's been living with Alex's best friend Ryan. Should she look at him differently? Why did Alex's brother Josh disappear? Parts of the plot might be familiar but Buccola has added unique twists. You'll go spiraling with Micah, who becomes an unreliable narrator. Or does she? Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good debut.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It is hard to believe that "Catch Her When She Falls" by Allison Buccola
is the author's debut novel.
It's a story about secrets, lies & murder in a group of teenagers in a small town.
The execution of this story was very creative & original, the chapters are a countdown to the main character driving to meet someone.
I will definitely be on the lookout to see what Ms. Buccola decides to write next.

Ten years ago Micah’s best friend, Emily (an aspiring ballerina), was found dead in the woods after a high school party. Micah’s boyfriend, Alex was convicted of her death and has been incarcerated ever since.

When Micah returns to her home town, she opens a coffee shop and moves in with Alex’s best friend, Ryan.

When a patron in her coffee shop chokes and no one helps her, Micah’s new life starts to unravel. A popular blog has picked up Alex’s case and there is much speculation that he is innocent of the crime.

When Julia, Alex’s new love interest approaches Micah, Micah starts to lose it. Completely paranoid, she starts her own investigation into the death of Emily and everyone becomes a suspect. She joins the forum, but only causes more trouble for herself. She’s determined to find Emily’s brother Joshua, he must know what happened that night! As Micah spirals downward, her actions are not pretty, but she’s not going to stop until she gets the answers she seeks.

While this book was well written, the story itself was lacking and the ending was a complete disappointment!

I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way.

This one just wasn't for me. It is very slow getting started and I got to the point where I DNF because I was finding excuses to do other things rather than try this book again. If you like a slow burn this might be for you but it was too slow for me.

This was an interesting story. I really enjoyed the idea of this slow buildup to meeting someone at the end. It created some suspense and a lot of questions! I did feel that it was a bit slow at times, and I would have liked to see a bit more action, but it was a good story overall.

Catch Her When She Falls begins with a tragic death at a high school camp out, and the fallout from everyone surrounding the immediate friend group. Micah Wilson is not only the best friend of the victim, she is the cheated on girlfriend of the accused murderer. The story pulls the reader in, feeling sympathy for Micah, but begins to turn as you continue reading. Is Micah telling the truth? Is she mentally ill? What really happened that night in the woods? Interesting ending!

Its high school and everything is going great. Micah is enjoying it with her boyfriend Alex and her long time bestie Emily at her side-but then Emily dies tragically and Alex goes away for her murder. Micah has always trusted that it really was Alex that killed Emily but now 10 years later a series of events has her doubting whether he was really guilty. Catch Her When She Falls held my interest but was a bit slow in spots. Micah is not a character you gravitate to and her personality and the actions she takes make it hard to identify with her. I mean, you feel bad for her but she's kind of a train wreck. The chapters are a countdown to Micah driving to meet someone and I really did like this setup. I liked this one but didn't love.

3.5 STARS - Ten years ago, my boyfriend killed my best friend. How's that for a first line to hook you in?!

Catch Her When She Falls is the debut from Allison Buccola and is a story about secrets, lies and murder in a group of teenagers in a small town. The plot focuses on Micah, a young woman who returns to her hometown a decade after her best friend Emily was murdered by Micah's boyfriend Alex, who is in prison for the crime.

This is a slow burn read and it was the decades old murder and complicated relationships which began in childhood that pulled me in. I enjoyed the eerie feel and how the author had me constantly questioning the identity of the culprit. Buccola uses three timelines to tell the story and admittedly, that's a lot of balls in the air but it worked for me as long as I had long chunks of time to read and could go with the flow. But if I only read for short spurts, I found the format disorientating as I tried to get back into the story that often jumped between three time frames without giving the reader any warning.

The story centres on the unlikeable, yet interestingly unpredictable main character, Micah. She's pretty sketchy, makes some erratic and ridiculous decisions, but this unpredictability of her character adds to the unbalanced tone of story. You just don't know what she'll do next or if you can believe her take on things. There's a large secondary cast to keep track of which gives readers a gaggle of possible perpetrators and left me feeling like I suspected everyone at some point! The energy finally ramps up in the last quarter as things fall into place, but while the ending was unexpected, after that great build-up it felt a bit lackluster and had a slight After School Special feel.

Overall, this is an impressive debut with a good sinister feel. I enjoyed how the author was able to make me question whodunnit over and over and I look forward to reading more from Allison Buccola in the future.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for my advanced copy of this title provided in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

3 stars for a decent thriller that started off slow but gained momentum in the second half. The timeline was confusing, especially in the beginning, because the author would shift between past and present within the same chapter, making it hard to follow. I wasn't super attached to any of the characters, but the mystery surrounding the murder was interesting enough to keep me invested.

This is the sort of book that draws you right in. Case in point, the first line: "Ten years ago, my boyfriend killed my best friend." I will add, if you love character-driven novels, this book is for you. As a reader, I was immediately drawn in to Micah's head, although I did wonder how reliable she was as a narrator.

Micah has finally built up a decent life for herself, but thinks take a turn for the worse when she starts receiving threatening notes. Throughout the book, we are in present times, along with flashbacks. The author does a good job of this dual timeline, and it kept the forward momentum of the book going.

I won't ruin the end, but I would recommend you pick it up!

Micah, Ryan and Alex are high schools friends, each dreaming about what the next steps in their lives will look like. Then Emily dies and Alex is found guilty of murdering her - primarily because Micah, supposedly Alex's girlfriend refuses to provide him with an alibi. Fast forward 10 years and Emily's murder still haunts Micah. She has returned to her hometown, bought a coffee shop, and is living with Ryan, who is now her boyfriend. But when a blog about the murder starts to speculate that Alex is not the killer, Micah starts to spiral. the only way she has survived Emily's death is by fervently believing that Alex is guilty and that she did the right thing by refusing to lie for him. When someone breaks into Micah and Micah's apartment, it is more than Micah can take and she starts to take steps of her own to end the harassment and make sure that Alex stays in prison. Buccola does a truly excellent job of showing us the paranoia and anxiety that Micah is feeling and keeps us guessing about what really happened the night Emily died. The ending was quite disappointing, though. It ended abruptly and without a true resolution for Micah. I can only think that Buccola plans to write a sequel to make everything clear.

"Ten years ago, my boyfriend killed my best friend."

That sentence was all I needed to tempt me to read this. I just wish the rest of the book was nearly as interesting.

Micah's boyfriend Alex is accused of murdering her best friend Emily back in high school.

Fast forward to today and she is living with her boyfriend, Ryan, who was Alex's former best friend. She owns a coffee shop and generally has a decent life. That is until she starts receiving threatening messages.

Oh, Micah, you are one unlikable lady. Her paranoia so strong that she screams and yells at patrons in her coffee shop that she feels are talking about her. Or, better yet, when a customer begins to choke Micah saves the day and when other customers congratulate her she looks at them and asks why none of them helped, why none of them did anything but sit around watching.

The book drags on and on and on with her paranoid thoughts only to be brought to the silliest of conclusions. Like, really? THIS! This is what actually happened. Le sigh.

I will say that this book is competently written but the story itself was disappointing. 2.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for my complimentary copy.

Enjoyed this domestic drama. Great POVs and characters. I loved the timeline between current day and the previous 10 years. The unraveling of it all was perfect!
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

Micah Wilkes has returned home to Calvary after she moved away ten years ago to forget the horrible memories of when she found out her boyfriend Alex not only slept with her best friend Emily, but was also accused of murdering her.
Now grown up and in a relationship with Ryan who was also part of her school set during that awful time Micah has learned to deal with the betrayal and guilt and is now owner of a coffee shop back in Calvary. Life with Ryan seems to be ok until renewed interest in what happened that fateful night of the murder begins surfacing in an online crime blog fueled by another former classmate Julia, a weird, mousy girl who has always had a thing for Alex and who has always proclaimed his innocence. After flyers begin appearing with Emily's picture and a break in at Micah's apartment leave her unsettled, Micah sets out to give the person she suspects is behind this a taste of their own medicine only to realize she also needs to find out what really happened in the moments leading up to Emily's death.
This was an engrossing, riveting debut that surprised and haunted me at it's conclusion. Recommended.
Thanks very much to author Allison Buccola and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for my review, all opinions are my own.

Catch Her When She Falls
By Allison Buccola
Random House, 1 February 2022


“In this thoroughly propulsive (Kimberly McCreight) debut thriller, a young woman questions everything she thought she knew about the shocking murder that changed her life when she was in high school.”


Ten years ago, Mikah Wilkes boyfriend murdered her best friend, Emily. Mikah has done her best to put the past behind her, but her new life starts to crumble when she receives a mysterious text about Emily’s death. The text and other unnerving events lead Mikah to begin investigating Emily’s murder. As the past takes control of her life, is Mikah losing her mind? Or is she in danger of losing her life?

I mostly liked this book. It was slow at times and I found myself skimming through parts of it, but other parts were nail-biting page-turners. I also found myself endlessly irritated with Mikah; I don’t think she made one good decision throughout the entire book. Spoiler alert – I did NOT like the ending. That said, this is a decent book from a first-time author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While the premise of this title was good, it didn't grab my attention soon enough and I abandoned it after 33%. Perhaps it picks up, but it just wasn't interesting enough for me.

This book was not for me, and it was challenging to get into. The beginning of the book was slow and lagging, and I felt that there were so many characters and side observations/stories that were unnecessary. DNF. Thank you, NetGalley, for the early copy.