Rowena’s review of Deeper We Fall (Fall & Rise #1) by Chelsea M. Cameron.
Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.
Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.
Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie’s face.
Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves “To Kill a Mockingbird” as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can’t help but listen.
The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie’s discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.
The jist of this story is this: Main character’s best friend was in an accident that changed her life forever. Main character hasn’t gotten over the guilt of letting her leave in a car with a guy who barely knew how to drive and had some to drink and a totally drunk asshole who was pawing her best friend before they left her standing on the road. That night changed each of their lives so much that two years later, they’re all still not over it. Or at least, the main character isn’t.
Charlotte (Lottie to her friends and family) is ready for a new start. She’s ready to start school and begin the new chapter in her life. She’s not expecting to run into the two brothers that she never wanted to see again in her life. But she does and trying to get used to their presences in her life again is taking a lot out of her and whenever she sees them, she loses her shit.
She loses her shit because while Zan and Zack Parker walked away from the car accident with physical and emotional scars, at least they were able to walk away. Her best friend Lexie will never be the same again. She didn’t die but a lot of her did die that night. Lexie will never be the same again and Lottie is guilt ridden over it.
I’ll flat out say that I could not stand Lottie throughout the entire first part of the book. I think had we not gotten Zan’s POV as well as Lottie’s then I probably could have shined some of the crap that came out of her mouth and thoughts inside her head but for the most part, she was an ugly person. The way that she treated Zan, like she knew every move Zan made after the accident made me want to punch her in her freaking throat. I mean, she wasn’t this perfect person and she had no idea what Zan went through after the accident, the kind of guilt he carried around with him and for her to throw that night in his face, each and every single time they came into contact (which was fairly often, considering they lived in the same dorm) made me really hate her. It was her redemption that I was reading on for.
So there was Lottie and then there was Zan. Zan who carried the burden of the world on his shoulders. The guy of few words and the guy who was so in love with Lottie (and had been since long before the accident) and had to deal with how much she hated him day in and day out because of what happened to her best friend. It was a hard life to live and he was trying to do his best to stay on the straight and narrow, which kept getting narrow with each passing day and Lottie’s big ass mouth. It was hard enough for Zan to make friends because he was carrying around so much baggage that it was almost killing him and when he finally finds someone who won’t judge him and treat him differently, he ends up being the brother of one of Lottie’s friends who hates Zan’s guts. The guy couldn’t catch a break.
There were plenty of times when I wanted to smack some sense into Zan. Don’t settle for scraps. Don’t let Lottie run over you like you don’t deserve to move on from that night. You didn’t mean for any of that to happen and you were only trying to help.
Over the course of the book, Lottie and Zan start connecting. Zan starts to break down the walls around Lottie and they find themselves falling in love with each other. It was during the thaw of Lottie that the book started to turn around for me. You can see just how much these characters came to mean to each other. The family that came together throughout this book made this book pop for me. The way that they cared about each other, looked out for one another and took care of each other was my very favorite thing about this book. From Will and Simon to Audrey and Katie, and even Stryker and Trish, I loved the way that they all bonded together.
I thought Cameron did a great job of putting this story together. She really put these characters through the wringer and even though at first, I couldn’t stand Lottie, she really came around for me and by the end of the book, I liked her. I liked her and I liked the person she turned out to be. She really pulled herself together and I was glad. By the end of the book, she deserved Zan just as much as Zan deserved her. So while this book wasn’t the perfect book for my tastes, I still ended up enjoying it.
Grade: 3 out of 5
This book is available from Chelsea M. Cameron. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.