Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie

Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie
Buy Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: Gripping romance featuring two very well-drawn - if not particularly likeable - leads. A really intense read, recommended.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 256	Date: March 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9780857070999
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River is desperate to get the lead role in the inter-school performance of Romeo and Juliet, because she wants to be Juliet in real life. To know romantic love, and true passion. When she first sets eye on Flynn, who’s been cast as Romeo, she thinks this could be it. But would a boy as intense and as talented as Flynn even look twice at someone like her? As all fans of the Bard know, the path of true love never did run smooth…

This was a real rarity for me in that I didn’t particularly like either of the main characters – River is rather whiny, while Flynn is scarily intense at times – which normally causes me to completely switch off from a book, but actually found it compelling enough to read straight through in one sitting. I found the central pairing to be incredibly well drawn and while, as I said, neither of them were favourites of mine, they were cleverly fleshed out and I was very impressed by the way in which McKenzie revealed more and more of the reasons for Flynn’s behaviour, in particular, as the story progressed. Thankfully some of the supporting cast were more likeable than the main two – I absolutely adored Flynn’s mum, who plays a small part in the novel, and really liked his two sisters as well – although having said that I think perhaps the intensity of the main pairing would have been reduced if they’d been more agreeable.

The plot seems on the thin side when you think about it – just a basic teen romance – but the emotions involved, and the sheer intensity of the relationship, made it stand out from the crowd. Apart from anything else, I found it really hard to predict what was going to happen which was one reason I was so gripped by it.

Overall, for those looking for a romance with significantly more of an edge to it than the majority out there today, this is a strong recommendation. I’ll definitely be taking a look at Sophie McKenzie’s other books.

For another really intense read for teens, I can’t recommend When I Was Joe by Keren David and the sequel Almost True by Keren David highly enough.

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