Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

New American Library, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-451-23268-7
336 pages
Borrowed from my local library!

Theia lives under the constant watch of her father, a strict man, with a cold personality grown from the devastating loss of his beloved wife, and Theia’s mother, years ago. A British girl living in California, she’s always felt out of place, except with her two best friends, Amelia and Donny. Everything changes the night a man falls from the sky, burning with fire, and as she kneels beside him, he disintegrates into dust. From that night on, she dreams of him, until unexpectedly he shows up, unharmed, as a fellow student in her school by the name of Haden Black.

Haden is at times devastatingly charming and handsome, and at others cruel. Theia can’t comprehend his behavior, but is inexpliciably drawn to him. Despite the warning bells ringing in her head, she grows closer to him, even as he pulls away. They meet in her dreams at night, and by day they dance around each other, both gradually realizing they are quickly moving into a dangerous situation. And when Haden’s dark past and the truth behind his presence in her small town are revealed, Theia will have to fight for herself, her friends, and Haden’s soul.

Gwen Hayes enters the world of the paranormal with a fascinating romance between two characters that are at times likable and at others extremely frustrating. The novel starts out fairly typically for this genre, and for my tastes, much too typically. Girl has an unexplained encounter, girl dreams of boy, girl meets boy at school, girl gets partnered with boy in a class, boy tells girl he’s dangerous, girl still likes boy, etc. The cliches at the beginning of this novel were almost too much for me, but I am thankful I kept reading past. Once the beginning of the story is established, Hayes quickly moves us into something new and fresh, envoking storylines including magic, the underworld, and even a cross-dressing psychic! While Haden and Theia’s romance is, as standard with this genre, fast and heavy, it still remains in the realm of the believable, and the added stories of Theia’s friends, and her relationship with her father, create depth for the characters. I enjoyed where the story takes the characters, and look forward to more stories from Hayes, as I expect this may be the beginning of a series. However, while Hayes does create a unique world with interesting characters, I warn readers that this still feels fairly typical of a paranormal romance, but, I loved it!

Recommended For: Fans of Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamer series, Alyson Noel’s The Immortals series, and fans of Maggie Stiefvater’s novels.

Check Out: The recent reviews by Confessions of a Bookaholic, Alpha Reader, and The Allure of Books and Gwen Hayes’ website!

Comments are closed.