Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Falling Down 
AUTHOR: Eli Easton
NARRATOR: Michael Stellman
PUBLISHER: Pinkerton Road
RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2019
LENGTH: 7 hours, 33 minutes
BLURB:
Josh finds himself homeless at 18, but he has a plan. He’ll head north on the bus to New England and spend October there for his mother’s sake. She always talked about going to see the fall leaves someday. And when the leaves are done and the harsh winter comes, Josh plans to find a place to curl up and let go. It will be a relief to finally stop fighting.
Mark spent his life trying to live up to the tough swagger of his older brothers until he pushed himself so far against his nature that he cracked. Now a former Marine, he rents a little cabin in the White Mountains of New Hampshire where he can lick his wounds and figure out what to do with the rest of his life. One thing was clear: Mark was nobody’s hero.
Fate intervenes when Josh sets up camp under a covered bridge near Mark’s cabin. Mark recognizes the dead look in the young stranger’s eyes, and he feels compelled to do something about it. When Mark offers Josh a job, he never expects that he’ll be the one to fall.
The snow is coming soon. Can Mark convince Josh that the two of them can build a life together before the flurries begin?
REVIEW:
Where to start? I loved this book, and I’m in awe of Eli Easton’s ability to create such heartfelt characters. To make you feel what they are feeling, letting them get a voice. She’s able to write light and fun romances and the serious ones. This one belongs to the latter and tissues might be a good idea to have nearby.
From the very beginning Josh and Mark had this wonderful connection, this invisible thread binding them together. Two hurt and broken souls healing each other and finding hope that you might hurt less tomorrow. I love the fact that the connection between Josh and Mark was so tangible, that you could feel how much they needed each other and the strength they got by being together, around each other. That they found peace in each other.
There were a lot of raw and painful emotions in this book. I just loved Josh, and his pain was so real. He was real. It wasn’t easy to be in his head, to experience it all with him, to know he only wanted it to just stop. Stop hurting. Stop existing. Just…stop.
He could curl up in a snow bank and… let go. It wouldn’t hurt much probably. And it was a beautiful image-tragic and peaceful with the muffled fall of the snow covering him like a blanket. It felt right.
With snow comes pain and it’s overwhelming. There’s also hopelessness and despair. And the thoughts that you thought were buried just a tiny bit deeper than they were, came back. From the beginning of the book you just knew the snow was coming, the meaning of it. But it was brutal just the same. But maybe there is something worth living for at the end of the frozen road? That it could also bring clarity and possibly healing.
Michael Stellman did a fabulous job bringing this book to life, brining Josh and Mark to life. When listening to Josh’s parts you truly felt his despair, his loss and overwhelming grief and loneliness. It shone through every word. Yet Stellman also captured his secret want for more, longing for Mark for somewhere to belong. I doubt that it was easy to narrate this book but Stellman did it with grace and aplomb that fit the story and subject matter.
This was a book of healing and a slow-burn love that will give you hope. Hope that you will someday hurt less, be happy and have a future. And above all, have that all-encompassing love that will give you strength to face what tomorrow will bring.
RATING: 
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