This was an interesting read about the consequences we sometimes face trying to hide trauma that we are unable to process. After the death of a possible partner, seventeen-year-old Nina finds herself lost and wondering what to do next. Her parents seemingly ignore her sadness around losing an important person. Then there's her older sister Carmen, who is acting different, and Nina can't seem to figure out what to do about that.
This book does a good job presenting the different sides of depression and the lengths we may go through to protect those around us.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC!

I can't say I enjoyed reading this book because this isn't that type of book; instead of a feel-good comfort read, it's more one of those feel-bad realistic stories. I read the whole thing with an ache in my chest. This is a very dark contemporary YA following a sheltered Chinese American teen, Nina Yeung, as she processes her grief after she lost her first love to suicide.

I wish YA like this had existed when I was a teen in the 90s because I might have read more of it. This book deals with unsettling, triggering and sometimes taboo topics like mental health, abuse and addiction, but teens are dealing with these issues and it's important to see their real lives in all their gritty messiness represented on the page.

Yeungs don't make a scene - one of the many family rules. Nina is shriveling under the weight of rigid family expectations in a very relatable way. I remember what that was like, when you couldn't see the ways your parents cared for you and only saw the ways they controlled you and didn't listen to you. I was angry with her family for most of the book but it ends on a heartwarming, hopeful note.

This is an unconventional narrative structure where not much really happens and it is a slow pace to start. At first you think Ethan and Nina have your standard complicated friendship where neither can admit their feelings until the unthinkable happens. But as Nina works through her grief, she learns she never really knew Ethan all that well, or her family, especially her sister, Carmen. The perfect one, who followed all the rules and did everything right. Until she needed Nina, too.

I loved how Nina was a violinist applying to music colleges and the touches of orchestra nerd moments adding color to the story and teenage life. I'd love to see more band nerds in YA.

The second half picks up the slow pace of the first half and careens into a fast-moving story arc.

Overall I thought this was an important, gritty and well written book. It was a meditation in how everyone handles grief differently and the rocky journeys of families who learn to see each other.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This Side of Falling was definitely an emotional read. But it also left me feeling a little mixed about the story as a whole. I thought the premise was really strong, and I appreciated how the book tackled different themes like grief, mental health, and generational pressure. I found Nina’s love for music, as well as some of her thoughts about performing and self-expression relatable. However, there’s a lot of back and forth between the past and present, which sometimes left me a bit confused. I wish we were able to see more of Nina and Ethan’s relationship before his death. We’re told it mattered a lot to her, but I didn’t really feel that through the flashbacks. It left the emotional weight of his death a little bit underdeveloped. And although I liked the ideas the story was exploring, the ending felt a bit rushed.

Its a book that felt more than romance and how a person picks up their own pieces and starts to live their life again. The first few chapters threw me out a bit because I just could not understand what was happening, but slowly I started catching on with it.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
This Side of Falling releases June 17, 2025

3.5

Nina returns to Davis High from winter break to the news of Ethan’s suicide — the artist at her school with a checkered past whom she was falling for.

Chan’s debut provides an intimate look at grief and closely examines the regimented lifestyle of an Asian American household harbouring lofty expectations.

Nina’s endeavor to pursue music was really familiar to me, but I found myself wanting so much more from this story.
What was Ethan thinking in those last hours while he was texting Nina? Why weren't there any flashback scenes between Ethan and Carmen to convince us that they really were each other's person?

I love emotionally raw, coming-of-age stories, but I feel conflicted with how unfinished the ending was.

cw: suicide, drug overdose, rehab, implied SA

The way I feel about this book is… complicated. On one hand, I liked the way it was written, with a narration taking a slightly different, more poetic approach than most traditional YA. I also enjoyed how Chan handled the heavier themes of depression, growing up, and the pressures others put on us and the way they affect us.

Unfortunately, where this book loses me a little is in the timeline of all the events. There are a lot of time jumps and flashbacks, and after a while, it was hard to keep track of how much time has passed between some pivotal scenes in the book.

Furthermore, while I understand this isn’t a romance and the story between Ethan and Nina wasn’t meant to be the main focus, their scenes left me feeling confused. I wish we could’ve seen more of their romantic relationship rather than just being told about it. Or was what we got really all there was between them? Honestly, I’m not sure.

All in all, it’s an interesting coming-of-age story, perfect for high school seniors who are struggling to balance the expectations of others while trying to figure out what they really want out of life.

Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for granting my wish and providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out in June. This was heartwrenching and haunting. I cried. I got completely lost in it. This book deals with heavy themes like generational trauma, suicide, drugs, grooming and SA and it does it well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for an eARC of Eunice Chan’s This Side of Falling! This was such a beautiful, heartbreaking story.

The main character, Nina, is a violinist and as a fellow violinist myself, this really hooked me into the story. I found a lot of her thoughts about music in general extremely relatable. There’s not a lot of specific music terminology, so the music aspect doesn’t really interfere with understanding the plot! I really liked the ending and I felt that it was quite symbolic.

Overall, this book was 4 stars for me. At times, I felt that the switching of the narratives between present and past tense was a little confusing. It didn’t really impact my understanding of the story in the long run, but sometimes, it took me a while to get my bearings. I did really enjoy the pacing and this was a multilayered, emotional YA that I will be recommending!

Thank you, Soho Press, Soho Teen, for providing the copy of This Side of Falling by Eunice Chan. What a sad and beautifully written book. Nina’s pervasive sadness made me really feel for her and wonder why her parents didn’t notice and help her. I loved how the characters felt real, so I cared about them. I couldn't stop reading until I knew how everything turned out. This is a book I will think about for a long time. 5 stars

"Yeungs don't make a scene" is one of those rules in Nina's family that keep her being the top of her music class and just overall a good student. After her first love Ethan dies by suicide, she still tries to apply it by putting on a mask even though her inside is broken. She thinks she can handle it until Carmen, her all-star sister, comes home in an unlikely manner, shocking everyone. And when she discovers Carmen's relationship with Ethan, she needs to do something before it's too late.

The first chapters didn't entice me right away. They were jumbled, too 'right-onto-the-action' with very little context, so it was hard to connect with the situation and empathize with Nina's feeling. We find out that Ethan just committed suicide and Nina's crashing out by repeating 'not real' but the reason why he means something to Nina is told much later, back and forth from flashback to present days and vice versa. The confusion dissipated after chapter 10, and Carmen situation started to pick up the pace at chapter 21. This is where the real story starts.

After that, I could begin to enjoy and understand what it feels to be Nina Yeung with all the pressure and expectations, with love that's mistranslated and words that wait to be spoken. The writing style might be choppy for those who get used to long poetic sentences, but it helped me keep up with the flow. Clues started to pop up, dots were connected, and I personally liked the twist and the build up before that. It was saddening to see that parents can be blind to what happened to their own children, making me hope for the opposite for myself. It resolved quite neatly in the end.

The way Nina retrieves and receives information about Ethan, Carmen, or her family is embedded nicely with the plot. Maybe just one about her dad's start-up problem, because I don't think an employee or a business partner should disclose something about their work to strangers that easily. This is my first realistic YA after quite a long time so getting back to it feels like coming home, especially with the cover that resemblances late 2010s YA covers that I personally hold so dearly. It screams angst, and I expected angst, and it eventually delivered.

This Side of Falling tells not only about grief, but also finding a way to live again and face the music doesn't have to be on your own. As someone who grew up in Asian household, this book also serves as a reminder to break generational trauma and while it isn't an easy task to do, it is possible. I wish the first chapters were more accessible and organized, but thankfully the rest of the book made it up.

3.5 stars rounded down. Thank you to Soho Teen and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this novel, opinion expressed are my own.

Layered, complex, honest, real.

A wonderful YA novel from Eunice Chan, This Side of Falling follows Nina between the past and present after her “complicated” almost boyfriend jumps in front of a train.

Nina, expected by her family to be perfect - in the footsteps of her older sister - struggles with her grief, her relationships and what she wants music to be in her life. Her family struggles with what not succeeding means to a perfect on the outside life.

I devoured this book over a couple of days, and whilst the ending does feel rushed it’s a brilliant read and one I won’t hesitate in recommending.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Soho Press (Soho Teen) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows the story of Nina, a high school senior who loves violin who's life changes forever at the death of her boyfriend, Ethan. It also explores Nina's relationships with the members of her strict family, and what she chooses for her future.

I really enjoyed reading this book; I think it was paced really well and kept a nice balance of switching between the past and present. I hated seeing Nina go through such a sad time in her life, especially with problems with her family at home, so it was heartwarming to see her recover from these things throughout the book. She was a really likeable character that made me sympathise with her and become very invested in her story. I also liked how the author gave her an important relationship with music, and I think she described Nina's feelings while performing perfectly.

One thing I didn't love was that the ending seemed quite rushed to me: there were a lot of things that were revealed near the end that really could have been explored more to make the story feel more resolved, and instead, everything wrapped up quite fast and it didn't feel like a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, this book is a really good YA contemporary novel, and explores a lot of important themes with a story that flows really well.

A multilayered YA with complex themes, many of them quite dark and tragic. A snapshot in time of grief weaved with mystery as Nina wonders how much she really knew Ethan, her mysterious friend-but-more-than-friend. I enjoyed the subtle back and forth with past and present, which flowed rather than was jarring.

Wonderful, authoritative writing, leaving me excited for more Eunice Chan books! I read this in just under two days and the pace and plot was constantly intriguing. A really solid, heartfelt, and thought-provoking YA