Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang (Review + Giveaway)

Releases: 9/9/14
Publisher: GreenWillow Books 
Format: Print ARC 

On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road. 

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang’s haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.

Thoughts:

I'm still trying to collect my thoughts on this book really. I was so excited to read this one because a lot of my blogger friends had been raving about how AMAZING it is, but I ended up being a little less impressed than they were. :( 

The book was written beautifully, and I mean so beautiful it was dang near poetic. The writing was one of my favorite parts of this book, which will definitely make me open to picking up the next book from Amy Zhang for sure. I also really enjoyed the characters and their back stories. It was really interesting learning about Liz's life and who meant what to her. Unfortunately, I found myself being very detached to the story and not being able to connect emotionally. Since this book is one that is meant to be emotional, that caused an issue. O.O 

Another problem I had was the mysterious narrator. It just absolutely did not work for me. Early on I was pretty sure I knew who it was but I kept saying...NAH, no way...alas, it turned out to be just what I thought. I can't really pinpoint why it didn't work for me without spoiling the book but I think this particular narrator is what honestly kept me from being emotional connected to the story. It felt just like the story was being told...well by a narrator. O.O It would have been nice to maybe be inside Liz's head, maybe see the story more from her point of view and tap into all her emotions like that, instead of being on the outside looking in.

I do think that if you are a fan of IF I STAY you will absolutely LOVE this book. I gave IF I STAY a 3 star, so I wasn't thoroughly impressed by it and also had troubles connecting emotionally with that one. This book reminded me a lot of IIS ONLY because of how I was so disconnected to it.

Anyways, I do still say if you like contemporary stories with a deep rooted issue story-line I would definitely still give this a try, I seem to be the black sheep on this one.

Rating:

♥♥♥ 1/2

(Thanks to HarperTeen with providing me with this ARC)