I was hooked from the beginning with this book. I liked the characters right away even though they had their flaws. The story is told from two different points of view, Matt and Raychel. They are best friends even though Matt wants more. Raychel is dealing with a bad reputation, trying to help her mom pay the bills, and an assault. The author does a great job describing through Raychel the hardships of being poor and out of options. I also liked the conflict that occurs when Raychel starts dating Matt's younger brother, Andrew. There is a lot going on this book, which accurately describes the life of a teenager. This story is funny and sad and shows that life doesn't always turn out like we planned.

I have no idea where to start with this book. Honestly? It just wasn't my kind of book. The whole YA trope of the MC being irresistible to all who see her is exhausting, how convenient that Carson, Matt & Andrew all fell under Raychel's spell (and that's before we get into what Carson did which was disgusting and I kinda go back & forth how Raychel got herself into that position the second time? Even though she knew what he did the first time? But I don't want to be accused of blaming her, because I don't and I kinda wish there'd been more repercussion to it for Carson, because it was all very blase and glazed over, imo). How absolutely stupid of Raychel to fall for Andrew, and think it's okay to not tell her best friend - and Andrew's brother - that they're together because it's "not his business". Lol say what? If Raychel and Matt's friendship was as good as they both say, then you tell your best friend everything (although I do debate how real their friendship was - it seemed lopsided to me, but more on that later) and not only that, but they're brothers for Christ sake, so why keep it a secret? Why make it something bigger than it needs to be, especially considering what it lead to? You're just asking for trouble. Trouble that could have been so easily avoided.

Back to the lopsided "friendship". It was hopelessly lopsided and I kind of feel like Matt felt more for Raychel than Raychel could ever feel for Matt (although she said that if he'd confessed his feelings at 15 she'd be all for it? But that was never touched on again, that there *were* feelings there, that magically disappeared with no explanation), it was like she used him as a crutch, not a friend. You don't blow up at your friend constantly, because he might not say what you like, and Raychel blew up at Matt three or four times prior to the accident, and I never really understood why - and I felt for Matt. Was Matt perfect? No. Not at all. But Raychel treated him so poorly - as did Andrew. There wasn't any need, and here's the thing: when you have a friend and you also have a sibling, if the friend and sibling become friends, you get jealous. That's just how it works because siblings can be infuriating, and to see your friend slip away to someone else, is hard to take, and that's why I can sympathise with Matt. When you only have one real friend and you feel like you're losing them, you don't always act rationally. You get jealous, maybe a bit mean, and Raychel never even considered that. Matt was selfish absolutely, but I 100% see where he was coming from.

Honestly, the synopsis (especially this one on GoodReads "Raychel is sleeping with two brothers") really tells me that this wasn't going to be my kind of book. It's a shame, but I honestly couldn't warm to Raychel, she just had this Jekyll & Hyde personality and it was kinda like you have to walk on eggshells all the damn time, to keep her happy or she'd explode.

The only good thing in the book was Dr & Mrs R, the most awesome, kind parents you could imagine! People will love the book I'm sure, I'm just not a love triangle fan in the first place, never mind when two brothers are involved.

An honest start to this review would be to say that the cover drew me in far more than the description. It looks interesting. What was this girl doing on a cliff? What fall is the title referring to? It looks so peaceful. So starting to read i automatically realized that author Kate Hart had a great writing style. The story flowed nicely and had a lot of realistic nuances, behaviors, and personalities that you would see in typical teenagers. After the Fall follows Raychel as she navigates a love triangle, frienships, and tragedy.

While I enjoyed the style writing and the flow of the story, I found the main point of the story that was teased in the synopsis and in the title of the book took a long time to get to. I felt a majority of the book was "before the fall" rather than "after the fall" in the sense this book was referring. It was also a lot of repetitive actions by the teenagers. Typical teenage behavior consisting of hiding things from friends, secret crushes, parties, hating homework, etc. A good 60 percent of the book was the same stuff, although there was a building relationship intertwined in. However the final 40 percent seemed more rushed than it needed to be simply because the rest of the book was the lead up. I would have enjoyed reading more of the struggle following the turning point in the book and seeing how each individual character handled it. However, the time line was more rushed and I felt almost cheated out of those emotions.

Even with the rushed timeline, I felt the characters were an interesting array that matches many different personality types. I love this type of book because everyone reading it can relate to someone. That is one of the most important things for an author to do is give characters that people can enjoy reading about and compare their own life experiences to. While I may not have loved every aspect of this book, I respect Hart's work and writing and will definitely be looking forward to more of her work. Three out five stars for After the Fall.

Lovely and haunting. Hart's prose is dream-like and heartbreaking.

This will go live on my blog on Jan. 23. Kellyvision.wordpress.com

Raychel and Matt have been best friends forever. The two of them are inseparable and Matt has always expected that he and Raychel would end up together. Except something happens at a party (between Raychel and another guy) and then Raychel and Matt's brother hook up. Matt isn't told and, of course, finds out in a pretty awful way.

There's a lot going on in this book and yet it never feels like an issues book. Yes, issues of consent are brought up; yes, the idea of loyalty (what do you owe people?) is a factor. But there's a lot more to it than that.

Raychel and Matt are fundamentally good people who do horrible things. (Like most of us.) This is a book about that and about forgiveness and about moving on as best you can.

Highly recommended.

This was a beautifully moving book. I laughed, I cried. I had to take small breaks from it, and then couldn't stop thinking about it and had to pick it back up. I appreciated how raw and real it was. Would love to read more from this author. I gave it a 3.75 stars,