Falling Under

Theia Alderson has always led a sheltered life in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, Theia knows she's seen Haden before- not around town, but in her dreams.

As the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her closer one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is stronger than her fear.

And when she discovers what Haden truly is, Theia's not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul.

“Everything started the night I saw the burning man fall from the sky.”

Gwen Hayes’ young-adult novel “Falling Under“ is about a young girl, who’s English, but lives in America with her father. Theia’s mom died while giving birth to her and Theia somewhat blames herself, because it seems like his father just does not care enough. He gives her these rules etc to keep her safe, but he’s not the most emotional person on the planet. It’s hard to open himself up, because he sees his dead lover in Theia.

In addition to the problems at home, Theia’s life changes a lot due to seeing a burning man fall from the sky and burn to ashes in front of her. Afterwards she dreams about a place where skeletons are dancing and living a social life around her, also, there’s this boy in those dreams, Haden, who’s absolutely gorgeous. One day, Haden enrolls as a student in Theia’s school, but as to the opposite of the dreams where he’s complimenting her and acts nice, in school, he’s mean and pushes the girl away.

Theia’s got two great friends, Donatella (Donny) and Amelia (Ame), who keep a smile on her face and it’s nice to read about them sharing the darkest secrets to one another. It’s easy to get consumed by the story already on the first few pages. I liked “Falling Under“, it was different in a lot of ways. Darkness is definitely one of the key words when it comes to characterising this novel.

I have to say, that I thought (after reading the description) that it was just another story with fallen angels and I was pleasently suprised to find out that it was not the case. It was pretty cool and I kept finding myself wanting to find out more about Haden and his story.

As much as I enjoyed the novel, I’m also torned. There was so much going on, but there weren’t any culmination scenes. Everything was important, but none of the situations beat the others. Still, I’d like to read the sequel as soon as possible. The story itself was inviting and consuming, different and unexpected. I recommend it, if you’d like to read something new and you like young-adult novels. Definitely worth exploring.

Rate: 4/5.

Reading order:

1. “Falling Under“
2. “Dreaming Awake“