Book Review: Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade (March 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451232682
ISBN-13: 978-0451232687
Source: ARC won from Goodreads
Cover: Holy moly, beautiful cover Gods! You've outdone yourself with this beauty! I'm in love with everything about this cover. I love the black roses in the background (which tie into the story), I love the model's pose, her hair floating out behind her and her bright red dress. I love the slant of the "F". This cover is amazing!
First Sentence: "Everything changed the night I saw the burning man fall from the sky."

The Mini-Review: Haden and Theia will make you fall under for them as they journey to find a way to be together!

Book Summary:

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.

The Review:

Falling Under has all the appeal of Twilight without the hestiation to make you blush. Filled with a male lead more likely to charm the clothes right off the reader, a smart protagonist, a bunch of wonderful supporting characters and a good mystery, Falling Under makes good on every one of its promises.


Theia is one of those leads that you want to root for. Held up in her sheltered world by her over-protective father, you could practically feel her need to bust out behind every thought she thinks. I loved Theia's British-ness and thought it added a unique element to her personality. Watching Theia literally let her hair down and experience the world was rewarding. I always enjoy seeing characters come into their own and Theia's situation was perfect for that. I also found her a lot less annoying than many other characters in paranormal romances because she was more willing to believe the unbelievable. I tend to get annoyed when the main character spends all their time talking themselves out of the unreal instead of looking at the evidence in front of them. Miss Theia was smarter than that and I loved her for it.


I could write an entire essay on Haden. Hayes is a master at giving us a complex and wonderfully sexy guy to swoon over. He was both the dark bad boy and the preppy boy next door rolled into one. I was intrigued from the moment he showed up in Theia's dream in his macrabe world. The mystery surrounding what supernatural creature he was really made me think and stretched my arsenal of knowledge. Though I was able to guess at half of what he was, I was still unsure until it was written on the page. I especially enjoyed it because we get a little snippet of the person he might have become without his supernaturalness at the end and it made me appreciate who he was the entire time before even more.


The romance boarded a little too closely to Twilight for my taste. Some of the paragraphs felt like they were ripped from one novel and thrown into the other but the author makes a point of referencing this early on in a joke and that made it mostly okay afterwards. I do wish things were written a bit differently to not seem so directly like it but it is was it is. The mosti mportant thing is I rooted for Theia and Haden and their story took them on a completely different path by the end of the novel.


Every girl (and guy for that matter) should have friends like Theia's. Both Ame and Donny were loyal and willing to believe with her. Gabe was a great guy for team human, the ideal for how a guy should be. It's nice to see nice guys in fiction. They don't come around too often.


Hayes is a very talented writer. The way she describes things is so unique and realistic. There were many times I found myself in awe at something she'd written and I'd go back over it to memorize it. She was also skilled at reminding us Theia is british with some of her terminology without throwing it in our faces and making it hard to understand. I was particularly impressed wit this world of Under that she created and described.


From the moment I saw the burning man with Theia, I was hooked and fell under. A dark fairytale combining a backwards prince and a princess willing to risk everything, Falling Under is an amazing read. Though it bordered pretty closely to Twilight at times, it had such an interesting premise, world and characters, I couldn't help but be hooked. Read it and don't be surprised if you fall.

.5

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