Rules of Falling

Rules of falling starts of with a strong and addictive style and keeps it through the whole story. The story follows Erica, a teenager with a fainting condition, as she watches her best friend get involved with an older married man. Meanwhile a strange amount of fires start breaking out in the town. This is what makes the story so interesting. You watch the main character have to figure out how much she will tolerate and also watch as her gut feelings lead to much bigger things happening in her small town that no one else notices.

Erica is well written character. She has a lot of common sense but also feels like she has a duty to protect those who have looked out for her. She handles the struggles have fainting amazingly as well. As someone with a condition that causes fainting when standing too long and another condition that was actually brought up in the story I was really impressed how on point it felt. The author did an amazing job of really giving insight into it in a very realistic way while also writing an enjoyable and entrancing main character.

I would place this story in the young adult romantic suspense category if I had to place it. It's a mix of all three and a great story for anyone fifteen and up. Adults can definitely enjoy this one even with it being from a teenager perspective. it had a lot of twists I never saw coming. Rules of falling deserves the five star rating I'm giving it.

Rules of Falling is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a teenage girl with an unusual condition. Erica never knows when she is going to faint, and it severely limits her freedom and the independence a girl her age desperately needs. She is completely believable as a character, from her personal fears and desires to her interpersonal relationships, all of which are necessarily complicated by her condition. Her relationship with her mother and with her best friend Lindsay are especially layered and realistic, with all the tensions one would expect from such relationships.

At first Erica seems overshadowed by Lindsay, whose choices make her life more interesting than Erica’s from a plot perspective, but Erica comes into her own as the novel progresses, and readers will want to cheer on this highly sympathetic protagonist.

This novel is a page-turner, with some twists and turns I didn't see coming. Leslie Tall Manning has written a riveting tale that readers of all ages will enjoy!

A fascinating insight into the experience of a student with a chronic disease. Erica has syncope, which means she can faint for no reason. She’s got used to these absences over time, but as she gets older and starts to think about college, her condition feels more of a restriction.
Her best friend has, for years, supported her. Unfortunately, the relationship between them comes under pressure when Erica learns Lindsay has fallen for an older, married, man. The tension between them brews.
As we watch their relationship unravel it’s hard to tell whether Erica’s misgivings are caused by concern for her friend or whether there’s something to the feeling. Erica comes to rely on Adam, Lindsay’s ex, as she tries to support her friend…while looking for answers.
Things build to a dramatic climax, one which took us in quite a different direction to that expected.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to offer my thoughts on this in exchange for an advance copy.