How I Fall by Anne Eliot
Page Count(e-book Edition): 379 pgs
Publisher: Butterfly Books, LLC
Released: June 15th, 2015
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
My Rating: 5/5 stars
Read: from 7/1/14-7/15/14
Source: An e-book copy was sent in exchange for an honest review. Thank you bunches Anne!
Synopsis:
ELLEN LIKES CAM * CAM LIKES ELLEN *
What if the one person you can't stop thinking about...
...can't stop thinking about you?
*CAM LIKES ELLEN *
What if during one long day you failed at everything because you met this
glitter-crazed new girl who practically ruins your life? Worse, she insists you
and your secret crush become best friends—with her?!! Only you don’t have time
to be friends with insane people, and you think your crush might need to stay
the way it’s always been: Distant. Impossible. In your head. This is because
you have problems and secrets a crush would never understand.
*ELLEN LIKES CAM *
But what if the three of you wind up assigned to a group photography project,
and rumors are already circling about the new girl being ridiculous? You know
she’s nice but alone, so you convince your crush to help protect the new girl.
Working on the project suddenly makes hanging out, texting, talking—and even
high school—seem completely normal when it’s anything but.
ELLEN LIKES CAM * CAM LIKES ELLEN *
What if you fall for each other just enough to kiss…and it’s perfect? You tell
secrets and make the kind of promises that might be impossible to keep when
you’re only sixteen. Which is why, long before it all falls apart, you already
knew nothing this beautiful could have been meant to be yours for long.
But what if…
(from Goodreads)
This book wasn't just your traditional high school love, it was so much more than that. It was the scary truth of falling in love with someone who is so different than you imagine, but somehow, it makes perfect sense. How I Fall was able to shed light on the easy and hard parts of falling in love, all while keeping it upbeat and heartwarming.
I so wanted to scream at Cam in the beginning when I learned that he has had a crush on Ellen for all these years. I know its hard to talk to your crush and all, but starting a conversation can get you places! So I was very happy with how they came about being able to talk! I found it so adorable how Cam, the jock and high school quarterback, was so down to earth and didn't fall for any of the queen bee admirer's. He had seen Ellen's beauty in her strength, from living with CP for all her life. Despite Ellen's Cerebal Palsy, she really seemed to be a normal teenage girl to me!! I loved how she never let her condition stop her from pursuing her dreams and living her life as much as she could. I admire her!
I'm sorry that this is a spoiler but I WANTED TO SCREAM WITH PURE JOY EXCITEMENT HAPPINESS ELATION ETC when they kissed!!!!!!! It was the most perfect surreal moment. I even made them a hashtag : #camllen
Although their relationship was not picture perfect, Anne made it work so, so well. Their love for one another is true and real and I was gripping my kindle for dear life while reading. Their twisted lives made the plot so very action packed. The plot twist in the end almost killed me. You'll know what I mean when you read this book, as I suggest you to go do NOW!
So I really need the 2nd book right now, as in this second right now. Waiting for it to magically appear in my hands. *prays to the book gods for it*
Author Interview:
Me : When did you first really begin to love writing?
Anne: I loved writing for the first time when I joined Romance Writer’s of America and met the first of my ‘future best friends’! Writing, for the most part fills me with doubt and I never quite think it’s good enough. But going to writing classes, and meeting other writers? Now that is love.
Me: Out of all of your books so far, favorite character and why?
Anne: Oh Haley, that’s a really tough question. I love them all because I spend so much time with them, but the names that jumped into my head was ‘best friend, Jenna’ because she did crack me up a lot. But…oh, then there’s Hunter and Vere and Jess and Gray, and Cam and Ellen, and…of course I have a crush on Patrick.
Me: How do you come up with the topics you write about?
Anne: The topics usually come up from my own life. Almost was about rape-related PTSD. That topic came about because when I was in high school a dear friend was raped at a party by an acquaintance of ours. Hunter Kennedy’s depression came about because I have 2 dear friends who were depressed as teens, and who both got better. One on her own, the other still needs medication to stay stabilized, and they are both such amazing moms and women now, I wanted to explore that time in life when you learn to love yourself and move on, despite what weighs you down. The topic of How I Fall, came about by an inspiring girl named Allison Winn who actually doesn’t have CP, but who has symptoms very similar to left sided CP. I wanted this girl to have a book about a girl who falls down some and who is tippy on one side of her body, but who still gets to have a normal love story. I settled on CP when looking for something to match her symptoms. The second book in this series, How I Fly, is about the same characters and we just switched the cover to green to salute CP Awareness because I’ve met such amazing teens like a girl called Chloe and and a young woman called Charisse who've really inspired me to work on spreading information about Cerebral Palsy awareness.
Me: Favorite part about writing and least favorite part?
Anne: My favorite part about writing is when fans tell me they liked the story, and the least favorite part is when I can’t quiet the voices in my head that make me doubt myself as I write.
About the Author:
Anne Eliot writes sweet, first-love stories. She was raised in the mountains of Colorado, but says she really learned about life, love and friendships from summers spent with her large, Italian immigrant family in Ontario, Canada.
Anne is grateful to have had schools with inspiring teachers and librarians who directed her to worlds she would not have found on her own. To this day, she adores school visits, teaching writing to teens, and is dedicated to making sure kids in need have access to books that will fuel their hopes and dreams.
While growing up, Anne hid her own anxieties by hiding and reading book after book. She developed an addiction to first love, first kisses and her favorite: the happy-ever-after story. This is what she writes today. Now she's a mom of two and happily married to her own first love. Anne works hard to juggle being a wife and parent while writing, but fails at cooking because she is still trying to read book, after book of love stories on the side.
Anne Eliot’s first book, Almost, became a top 100 best selling Kindle book, and was a Readers Choice, Top 12 of 2012 book for Amazon.com at #11, and will be translated and released in Germany and Turkey fall 2013. Her second book, Unmaking Hunter Kennedy, is a also a Kindle, top 100 best selling book in Teen Romance for 2013. She's hard at work on her third novel, another sweet teen romance releasing fall/winter, 2013. She loves to hear from readers. Please look for her on Facebook or tweet her @yaromance.
Author Links:
Inspiration for the story:
The character of Ellen Foster is fictional, but her Cerebral Palsy symptoms and hemiparesis/balance issues loosely match what an amazing teen (and I girl I’m proud to call my friend) named Allison Winn, faces every single day. Her condition was not brought on by CP, but was brought about due to complications Allison suffered after the removal of a childhood brain tumor which resulted in side effects that will be with her for the rest of her life.
Despite all that sadness, with the help of her mom, Dianna, dad Brian, the patience of her sister, Emily, and the inspiration from
a tiny rescued dog named Coco, Allison was inspired to help other kids by baking dog biscuits (thousands of them) so she could raise money to help other kids like her. These biscuits were hand sold by Allison for months (and now years) so other sick kids and sad families could afford to adopt a fully trained dog from a very special program into their lives.
At age nine, Allison’s goal was to raise enough money so one special trained dog could be placed with a kid who had life threatening issues. She met that goal, and that same year adopted out 10 dogs with the sales of her dog treats! Now she’s fourteen and her project has a name: The Stinkbug Project. Stinkbug has now adopted out 40+ dogs to kids who live around the Rocky Mountain Region all because Allison never gives up baking. Now so many people help to raise awareness while others donate baking and packaging supplies and volunteer to help Allison bake and sell the treats.
This girl, who soon will be an amazing woman, is now cancer free but she still works tirelessly at baking and selling biscuits for what has become a thriving community charity effort. The trained dogs are all rescued dogs who come from the very special, Colorado based, K-9 correctional dog training program. Adoptions and applications for a dog are now handled via the Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation. More information about The Stinkbug Project, Allison, and RMHF can be found at:
http://www.rmchildren.org/programs/stink-bug-project/ Every year, a donation will be sent by me to support this amazing project, and at all book signings I will be accepting donations on behalf of this wonderful project and donating them to Allison’s efforts as well.
So I think that's a wrap! If you made it this far in this super long post, then major kudos for you!! Thank you to Anne Eliot and Mandy over at I Read Indie for letting me participate in this awesome blog tour!
♦Haley♦
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