REVIEWED BY CINDY

TITLE: When It All Falls Down

AUTHOR: Tanya Chris

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 228 Pages

RELEASE DATE: February 1st, 2017

BLURB:

Maybe Charlie should have waited until he graduated high school before coming out, because since that revelation there’s been a growing distance between him and his friends. Charlie’s tough, though. He doesn’t mind eating lunch alone or watching his former gang interact with their new best buddy.

What he does mind is seeing Drew Lavoitt suffer the same fate. Drew didn’t come out. As far as he, or anyone else knows, he’s straight.

What Drew did is accidentally hit and kill a little girl.

Now the boy who was voted Most Popular, and who Charlie has maybe had a crush on since eighth grade, faces financial ruin, expulsion, and the fear that if he’s not everything, he’s not enough. Popularity, wealth, acclaim—these things are easily lost. In each other’s arms, Drew and Charlie find something that can’t be taken from them. Together the two build a foundation on which they can re-create their lives.

REVIEW: 

Charlie is not having a good year. Coming out seems to have cut him off from his friends and he can’t decide if he’s more hurt or angry that they’ve let him down. But he’s tough and he can take it.

Drew is having a worse year. After accidentally killing a little girl with his car, Charlie feels like Drew is fading away right before his eyes and he’s not sure he can stand to watch it happen. So he decides to be the one thing that Drew needs the most…a good friend.

I fell in love with this story right from the beginning. Charlie’s determination to help Drew starts out with the best of intentions and more than a little fumbling to find his footing. Drew is so lost, he’s not sure if he can trust this new friendship at first, but once he let’s Charlie in, he clings to him desperately.

There were moments that had me in tears in this story and the author does a fantastic job of painting a picture of the pain and suffering Drew is going through and for me, Charlie is nothing short of a superhero because of his determination to make things better for Drew. Even when they finally find their way into a relationship, Charlie shows amazing strength in making sure that what goes on between them is good for Drew, mentally first and then physically. When he could be forgiven for letting his teenage emotions get the better of him, he continually puts Drew’s needs and feelings first and I loved it.

There are some other characters that pop up that made me smile. Charlie’s little brother is perfectly written and I love how his friends come to his rescue even though he thinks they’ve forsaken him.

Drew’s parents are good examples of parents dealing with a lot of stuff they’d never imagine happening and even though they aren’t always perfect, the reader is left with no doubts that they are trying.

The feel of this story is just right. I can picture Charlie and Drew sticking together at school and Charlie fussing over Drew like a mother hen when things are really going badly.

I don’t want to give too much away so I’m just going to say that I can highly recommend this story. It’s got just enough angst to keep my riveted and the sweetness that I need to balance it out. It’s a coming of age story with a few extra hard knocks thrown in and I loved it a lot.

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

Amazon