REVIEW: Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron.

Title: Deeper We Fall. 
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron. 
ISBN: 9781481100922. 
Publisher: Createspace. 
Genre: New Adult. 
Year: 2013. 



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. 

Review:

Deeper We Fall tells the story of love, guilt and regret. Lottie is wrecked with guilt over a devastating car accident which left her best friend, Lexie, brain damaged. Lottie hopes for a fresh start when she moves into the college dorm to start her freshman year. But of course, Deeper We Fall wouldn’t be the story it is if it was all so simple. Turns out, the driver of the truck which damaged Lexie, and his jerk of a brother are also attending the same college.

“Hottie Lottie?”

The books I’d been shelving hit the floor. I turned slowly, hoping against hope that it wasn’t who I thought it was. I hadn’t heard that voice in years; thought I’d never hear it again.

In one second, his voice brought back that night, the full memory. The smoke in my hair, the cool of the moonlight, and the fear that filled my stomach like hot lead as Zan, Lexie and Zack got in his truck and drove away.

I swallowed back bile and turned all the way around, just in case I was having an auditory hallucination. Nope. There he was. Zack Parker. Two years ago, I’d seen him laid out in a hospital bed, his body bruised and crushed and battered. I remembered looking at him and wishing he was dead.

If Deeper We Fall had been told by any other author, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed this book as much as I did. But Chelsea M. Cameron made me love it.

There were so many characters; Lottie, Zan, Zack, Katie, Lexie, Will, Stryker, Trish, Simon… I must admit I’m a bit ditzy and don’t like seeing so many people involved in a book, but Chelsea defined each character so well. Even a while after reading Deeper We Fall, I can still remember each character’s quirks and traits (Zack, ego; Katie, pink; Lexie, attached; Will, funny; Zan, guilt).

I love the brother/sister relationship between Will and Lottie. I’m sure lots of us with siblings can see similarities in the way they communicate as to the way we communicate with ours.

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?” my younger twin brother Will (I was older by 47 seconds and I never let him forget it) said. “I mean, you really have a problem. You know there’s probably like, Talkers Anonymous or something.”

“Hi, my name is Lottie, and I’m a Talker,” I said.

“Hi, Lottie,” Will said, playing along.

“It’s been, um, well it hasn’t been any time since I last talked, because I’m doing it right now,” I said.

And Zan, I loved him! I guess he isn’t the typical ‘book boyfriend’; he wasn’t the hero, he was the one who ruined lives in the car accident, but he was so full of regret I just couldn’t hate him. Deeper We Fall was written alternatively in both Lottie and Zan’s perspective and I much preferred Zan’s.

A couple of criticisms I do have of Deeper We Fall was that it did seem a bit predictable. I knew mostly what was going to happen before it did and would have liked a few more twists. Also, parts seemed a little rushed – without trying to give anything away, people’s opinions just changed so quickly it was unrealistic.

But overall, Deeper We Fall has made Chelsea M. Cameron become one of my favourite New Adult authors and I would highly recommend anyone to read this book and its sequel, Faster We Burn.

 

Rating:





*I received a copy of this book via a Goodreads group in exchange for my honest review.


Furthermore…

Deeper We Fall is the first book in Chelsea M. Cameron's Fall and Rise series. The second installment, Faster We Burn, was released on April 20th, 2013. It tells the story of Lottie's roommate, Katie, and Stryker.