Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Fall Through Spring
SERIES: Winter Ball #3
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 252 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 3, 2019
BLURB:
A Winter Ball Novel
As far as Clay Carpenter is concerned, his abusive relationship with food is the best thing he’s got going. When a good friend starts kicking his ass into gear, Clay is forced to reexamine everything he learned about food and love—and that’s right when he meets troubled graduate student, Dane Hayes.
Dane Hayes doesn’t do the whole monogamy thing, but the minute he meets Clay Carpenter, he’s doing the friend thing in spades. The snarky, scruffy bastard not only gets Dane’s wacky sense of humor, he also accepts the things Dane can’t control—like the bipolar disorder Dane has been trying to manage for the past six years.
Dane is hoping for more than friendship, and Clay is looking at him with longing that isn’t platonic. They’re both positive they’re bad at relationships, but with the help of forbidden desserts and new medication regimens, they prove outstanding at being with each other. But can they turn their friendship into the love neither of them has dared to hope for?
REVIEW:
This was a very hard book for me to read. It made me look at my own life and what I had to deal with with my ex. Only he refused to get help. And it’s like looking in a mirror as well as I struggle with what Clay does. Being constantly nitpicked about your weight. It was hard and I’m not going to lie, I cried like a baby during the whole thing. It’s hard to see the bad parts of your life in a book and wish there was hope at the end like there is here. But that’s the good thing about this book and about others out there. There are happier endings. Life is never perfect. Especially when dealing with mental illnesses or people that constantly mentally berate you. But you have to learn to live for you. And that was one good message in this book. Well, several actually. Support teams and family are who you make it. And if you can’t be healthy for you, and are trying to be for someone else, it will never work.
With Clay dealing with his food addictions due to some of his back history, and Dane dealing with severe bipolar disorder, when the two met, the sparks were there on both sides, but both had lots of baggage and things they had to overcome in order to move things to the next level. Plus Clay had to finally accept that he really was a bisexual person and not be ashamed or hide that part of himself. These two struggled in this book, through lots of ups and downs with food, and meds that weren’t working or stress overloads that caused Dane to forget to take them. It was hell on their friendship mental wise. Because both were putting themselves in very vulnerable positions with each other. But the support system was there. They weren’t giving up on each other, even if they stayed friends forever. It was hard as hell. But with both wanting more, they both knew they had to get in the right mindset to be able to do so. But could they do that and it last?
Even thinking about this book, writing this, I still am crying. It’s a hard story and Amy, as usual, pulls no punches. She doesn’t hold anything back and I’m glad to see it. Bipolar and food addictions, mental disorders and the such are no joke. They rip people’s lives apart and when they have no support system, it’s worse. Even with a support system, it can be bad, because some people just can’t deal with it. The constant ups and downs. But what I loved with Clay and Dane is even during the shittiest parts of what they were dealing with, they gave each other hope for each other. They bonded and even if it just meant talking each other down they were there in a heartbeat for each other. And that made things so much harder and easier. It’s a heavy burden to take on sometimes, but when you truly care for someone, you care and love all the parts of them. And I loved Clay for standing up and saying that to several people. You don’t get to pick and choose the bad and good parts. You love someone wholly or not at all. And Clay was in all the way. Even Dane in his way. He just had to get a little clearer headed to see it.
You will definitely need tissues with this book. But again, Amy does not disappoint. She pulls no punches and tells it like it is and I love her more for it. Thank you Amy, for another masterpiece.
RATING: 
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