𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐️⭐️

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

This one just didn’t work for me.

I wanted to love it—there’s a lot here that should be in my wheelhouse: layered female friendships, past trauma, secrets, guilt. But instead of feeling pulled into the story, I felt like I was watching it from a distance. The pacing dragged, especially in the middle third, and I found it hard to stay emotionally invested in the characters. The emotional stakes felt muted when they should’ve been sharp.

I kept waiting for the story to build to something bigger, more devastating or cathartic, but it stayed mostly flat for me. I appreciate the themes Dahl was exploring—memory, survival, the tension between who we were and who we become—but the execution felt uneven. There were moments of clarity and power, but they were scattered and too infrequent to carry the whole narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan, and Julia Dahl for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I Dreamed of Falling is available now.

This book was such a fun ride and it kept me entertained the whole time! Characters are very relatable and I overall enjoyed it. At one point I was at the edge of my seat. Highly recommend this book!

I'm going to be honest, I wound DNFing this story at 80 %. The story has a great concept, which is what originally attracted me to the story, but ultimately, the story is lacking a lot. The story is too slow for my taste, and I wound up getting bored with it. Plus, all Rory does is mope and whine through the story. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all especially since his partner just died. I guess I was just half expecting him to take some initiative. Part of me was hoping that it would go along with some other thrillers where the main character takes action to figure out what happens, but that doesn't exactly happen. He does go out and question some people whom he thought would have been involved, but it was all just so....flat. Maybe I'll give this story another try one day, but it's going to be a long time before I do.

Thank you NetGalkey for the read!
I enjoyed I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl. This mystery thriller starts off with a strange death and so many questions. Along the way you become invested in the characters and their lives. I loved the way this book was written and would recommend it to most people that enjoy mysteries and easy reads! Look forward to reading more by Julia Dahl.

I Dreamed of Falling by Julia has some nice writing and interesting ideas about dealing with emotions and finding yourself. Some parts are really pretty, but the story moves a little slow and can be hard to follow. It’s a decent book with some good moments.

While this was well written - it was just so boring and predictable. I kept waiting for all hell to break lose and once we finally got there it was over as soon as it started. I did really enjoy the handful of chapters from Ashley's point of view leading up to her death - I actually thought they were journal entries until the last one. The ending wrapped up nicely but this just wasn't the book for me.

Good points? Dual points of view so you know the whole story as Roman is unreliable narrator. 2. Explores societal matters like what it means to be a family these days and how there is a new definition to extended families. Ashley deserves better in that sense.
Not so great? For a thriller with a un-a-living (can’t say the M word) it is painfully slow. And that either in audio or written format, that is going to drag down the suspense to a shoulder shrugging level of meh.

So this one was tough for me. I had to make myself finish, but I did. Ashley is found dead at the bottom of a cliff and her basically baby daddy must figure out how she died. He uncovered so many different secrets but at the same time, they aren’t really secrets because they are things she had done in the past and he knew about them, but he just wasn’t aware that she was doing them again. It was quite weird and very mellow dramatic. Tara, his mom, basically takes care of their son and is a bit obsessed with him. Lots of talk about Covid and the pandemic. Overall, I just didn’t like it.

Triggers: covid/pandemic, non-monogamous relationships, drug use, black mail, repetitive lying,affairs, and f2f relationships.

Thanks to netgalley for my electronic advanced reader, copy in exchange for my honest review.

While the pacing is generally strong, some readers might find the initial setup a bit slow. However, the intricate layers of the mystery and the nuanced exploration of faith, family secrets, and identity ultimately make "I Dream of Falling" a rewarding and thought-provoking read. It's a solid choice for those who enjoy character-driven mysteries with a unique cultural backdrop.

I Dream of Falling by Julia Dahl has an interesting premise with a focus on family secrets and small-town life, but it didn’t fully connect for me. The mystery about Ashley’s death and Roman’s investigation is solid, but the pacing felt really slow at times. The characters and their relationships were well-developed, but I found myself wanting more action or excitement to keep me hooked. It’s a character-driven story, and while it’s not bad, it just didn’t grab me the way I hoped. I can see it working better for readers who enjoy more reflective, slower-paced mysteries.

Real talk: I was not super impressed by this mystery. In general, I struggle to enjoy novels in which I do not relate to any of the characters and/or I find them unlikable, and unfortunately that was the case with this book.

The beginning of the story was promising, however. The book is set in a small town in upstate NY. Roman is a reporter for the local paper and learns that the dead body of his partner, Ashley, who is mother of his son, has been discovered. The death is suspicious and it leads readers on a journey of what happened to Ashley during her last night and why, as Roman investigates her death. Overall, the book had promise, but the plot and characters just missed the mark.

Thank you to the NetGalley, the author, and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝕀 𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘
𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐡𝐥

This mystery kept me guessing until close to the end. The characters seemed real but weren’t relatable or likable. The relationships were questionable, and the parenting left something to be desired. All of this was done purposely, as this story focused on negative issues.

The story is definitely character-driven, with offsetting characters. I Dreamed of Falling isn’t all daisies and roses; it shows the raw side of this family’s life.

I feel that the plot moved rather slowly, and there wasn’t a lot of action or excitement as the investigation progressed. Even so, I wanted to continue reading to see what happened.

Overall, this story shows that lives can be messy and that sometimes we don’t know people as well as we think we do.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with this ebook to read and review.

Recently literature has gone from setting everything in 2018 to avoid talking about the pandemic to talking about COVID as a theme or to an extreme.

I've had a run of mediocre thrillers .

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Minotaur and Netgalley for the arc.

This was a slow-moving and predictable thriller that didn't really add anything new to the genre.

I have a soft spot for stories that explore new motherhood in some capacity. I can relate deeply to the overwhelming feelings that our FMC, Ashley, experienced. Told from multiple points of view and multiple timelines. Ashley experiences a traumatic birth in the midst of the covid pandemic. Afterward, she suffers from depression and the difficulties of being home with a newborn, then young child. It’s hard to put into words unless you’ve experienced it yourself, but being a stay-at-home mother full time is a whole different level of draining. Though it’s wonderful too, it’s like you lose yourself and you don’t use your brain the same way. When you are experiencing depression or anxiety on top of being home 24/7 caring for someone who is completely dependent on you, with often little to no support, it’s no wonder that so many mothers find themselves feeling like Ashley did.

Roman, our MMC, is left to pick up the pieces and is shocked to find out the parts of Ashley that he didn’t know. Throughout the entire story, the theme of desperation - for Ashley, for her mother-in-law Tara, then her partner John - plays a big role. Desperation to get to the truth, and desperation to do what is best for a little boy, this suspenseful tale also tackles the subjects of grief, mental health and addition. It is multilayered, fast paced and although I was able to predict the ending, I still couldn’t put this one down.

“I Dreamed of Falling” is out now. This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

This novel has a compelling premise and delves into some thought provoking themes. The pacing can be a little uneven at times with certain sections feeling rushed. Overall it was an interesting and enjoyable read.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'll be honest with you guys, I almost dnf this book. But something urged me to power through, and I must say that the ending shocked me. I found the first half kind of dragged on, but once the twists and turns started to come at a faster pace, it grabbed my attention. Once I wanted to find out what happened, I devoured it.
So it's a solid three stars. The reason I didn't rate it higher is the redundant Covid mentions that were a bit unnecessary to the plot, in my opinion. I know the author meant to include the characters' struggle with dealing with the effects of the virus. It was part of their personality, but to me it seemed a bit over the top. That's my opinion, so I'm sorry if it offends anyone.

I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl is a gripping and thought-provoking thriller that combines elements of crime fiction with an emotional exploration of family, secrets, and regret. Set in a small Hudson Valley town, the story begins with the tragic death of Ashley, a young mother who leaves behind a grieving partner, Roman Grady, and their young son. Roman, a reporter for the local newspaper, soon finds himself unraveling a web of secrets that were hidden from him during Ashley's life.

What begins as an investigation into her death soon spirals into deeper questions about Ashley's past, including her ties to a troubled ex-girlfriend and a web of lies and hidden truths in a town where everyone seems to have something to conceal. As Roman digs further into Ashley's final months, he discovers painful and dangerous secrets that threaten to tear apart not only his understanding of her life but his own sense of self.

Julia Dahl's writing is sharp and immersive, capturing the suffocating atmosphere of a small town where everyone knows each other's business yet manages to hide the most important truths. The novel skillfully balances the suspense of a crime thriller with a moving portrait of a family in mourning, as Roman and his mother confront their own grief while peeling back layers of deception.

I Dreamed of Falling excels in its portrayal of complicated emotions—grief, love, regret, and forgiveness—while delving into the darker aspects of human nature. Dahl's unflinching exploration of these themes is both heartbreaking and thought-provoking, making this novel not only a compelling mystery but also a profound meditation on the consequences of secrets and the difficulty of letting go.

This book is perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven mysteries with rich emotional depth. Dahl has crafted an unforgettable story that will leave readers questioning how well we truly know the people we love.

Rating: 4/5
I received the eARC for my honest opinion.

This book will lead you down a road of wanting answers, but all you really get is more questions. You will find yourself wrapped up in finding out who did it, why they did it, and what happens next. I liked that the author gave the readers a good mystery/murder story, it has twists and turns, betrayal, a lot of action, and of course some romance. I liked that the author gave us a great world building book, that also gave the readers a real feeling of living in a small town where a murder/mystery has happened. The pace of the book is perfect with the right amount of intrigue, and action throughout the book. I know a lot of readers might not like that there is a lot of different characters, but I promise that you will be loving it once you start going down the rabbit hole on what really happened to Ashley.

In this book, you will meet Roman Grady and Ashley, they’re not married but have been together for years. They have a small son who they have raised in a small town called Hudson Valley. In the beginning of the book, you will find out that Ashley was killed, and now it’s up to the police and her partner to try to figure out if it was an accident or murder. You will go down different holes throughout this book on who did it and you might find yourself going back to someone who was on your top of the list but now it’s changed.

I loved getting to understand Ashely’s side of all of this while Roman was piecing together what happened. It really helped me to understand her more and to see a different side of her as well. I loved seeing all the flaws that the main characters had and how they were trying to better their lives, but at the same time a few of them were just happy where their lives are now. I loved that I thought I had the person down on who did it but the way this author writes the book with all the twists and turns it will leave you going “well, maybe it was this person”. This was my first Julia Dahl, and it will not be my last book I read.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin Press for the opportunity to review this book.