Title: The Girl Who Fell
Author: Shannon Parker
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: March 1st 2016
Part of A Series?: Standalone!
I Got A Copy Through: Simon Pulse via Netgalley (Thank you!)
Blurb Description: His obsession.
Her fall.
Zephyr is focused. Focused on leading her team to the field hockey state championship and leaving her small town for her dream school, Boston College.
But love has a way of changing things.
Enter the new boy in school: the hockey team’s starting goaltender, Alec. He’s cute, charming, and most important, Alec doesn’t judge Zephyr. He understands her fears and insecurities—he even shares them. Soon, their relationship becomes something bigger than Zephyr, something she can’t control, something she doesn’t want to control.
Zephyr swears it must be love. Because love is powerful, and overwhelming, and … terrifying?
But love shouldn’t make you abandon your dreams, or push your friends away. And love shouldn’t make you feel guilty—or worse, ashamed.
So when Zephyr finally begins to see Alec for who he really is, she knows it’s time to take back control of her life.
If she waits any longer, it may be too late.
Author: Shannon Parker
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: March 1st 2016
Part of A Series?: Standalone!
I Got A Copy Through: Simon Pulse via Netgalley (Thank you!)
Blurb Description: His obsession.
Her fall.
Zephyr is focused. Focused on leading her team to the field hockey state championship and leaving her small town for her dream school, Boston College.
But love has a way of changing things.
Enter the new boy in school: the hockey team’s starting goaltender, Alec. He’s cute, charming, and most important, Alec doesn’t judge Zephyr. He understands her fears and insecurities—he even shares them. Soon, their relationship becomes something bigger than Zephyr, something she can’t control, something she doesn’t want to control.
Zephyr swears it must be love. Because love is powerful, and overwhelming, and … terrifying?
But love shouldn’t make you abandon your dreams, or push your friends away. And love shouldn’t make you feel guilty—or worse, ashamed.
So when Zephyr finally begins to see Alec for who he really is, she knows it’s time to take back control of her life.
If she waits any longer, it may be too late.
**GIVEAWAY**
Giveaway prizes courtesy of the author
Null where prohibited by the law
Open to residents of the United States only
**INTERVIEW**
Hi Shannon! Thanks SO much for agreeing to do this! It means
so much to me - I really
loved The Girl Who Fell (as I've mentioned like twenty times
by now).
Shannon: Thanks so much for having me on your blog! And I am
beyond thrilled that you connected with The Girl Who Fell. I love when a book
finds its readers!!
1. The Funniest Thing you've ever done: Channeled Sandy from
Grease and sang “You’re The One That
I Want”—ooh, ooh, ooh… at the top of my tone deaf lungs to my (horrified) hubs
at our wedding.
2. Top Five Female Characters:
Lily Owens: The Secret Life of Bees
Lennie: The Sky is Everywhere
Mma Precious
Ramotswe: The #1 Ladies Detective Agency
Sissy Hankshaw:
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
All women: Women Who Run With The Wolves
3. Give us an #AuthorConfession #IAmCrippledWithSelfDoubt
And now, moving on to your masterpiece:
4. What inspired you to write about a relationship that
isn't all that healthy?
First love is intoxicating. It is tempting and luscious and
beautiful. But it is also so dangerous. You ask yourself: Can I trust this
person with my heart? My body? My dreams? And there are plenty of books that
scream YES to these questions. They are the books of Happily Ever After.
I wanted to write a story that explored the dangers of first
love. What happens when you can’t trust the person you love? What happens when
love turns toxic? And how does a strong and determined girl fall for a charming
boy who is—at his core—awful and damaged (and damaging)?
I wanted to write this story because I think it is a reality
for countless teens and I don’t think it is talked about enough.
I wanted readers to fall for Alec’s manipulation alongside
Zephyr and maybe begin to understand how this type of “fall” can happen, even
to the smartest, most driven teenage girl. How falling doesn’t mean you are
weak. And that you shouldn’t feel shame.
I wanted to write a book that tells girls that they always, ALWAYS
have the right to regain their voice.
5. I think Gregg is the cutest new book boy I've read about
for a while! *FANGIRLS* So, I'd love to hear
Gregg's backstory - how he became a character in your mind (if that makes
sense;P)
I’m a huge Gregg fan. He’s such a fierce and loyal friend to
Zephyr. Plus, he’s a total wise-ass and I love that about him. His personality was
created to offset the toxicity of Alec’s character. And he needed to be The
Best because Gregg is something Zephyr is asked to give up once Alec becomes
increasingly possessive. That had to feel like high stakes for Zephyr.
So I knew I needed Gregg for the story and I set about
building his character by drawing on the very best traits of my male friends.
The loyal ones. The fierce ones. The funny ones. The gentle ones.
6. What advice would you give anyone in a relationship like
Alec and Zephyr's?
Love should never hurt.
**MY REVIEW**
”This is the part of
limbo we don’t talk about, how our individual futures don’t include each
other.”
From the very first sentence, or maybe even before that,
when I read the blurb and saw that gorgeous cover, I knew that not only what The Girl Who Fell something I HAD to get
my hands on, but also that I’d love it! And in all honesty, it was SO much
better than anything I had dared to expect!
“Crushing is safe,”
she said. “It only involves one person… you. And you can be in control.”
Reading the entire book in one sitting, in the wee hours of
the night, I can only say WOW! Just WOW! As a third person not in a
dysfunctional relationship, I could see where everything was going wrong; how
it was all a little too much and a little bit out of the bounds of normal or
healthy. I could see it, and yet what I felt was so different.
Because Shannon Parker has created this set of circumstances
where you believe everything that is
happening – no, I’m explaining this all
wrong – where you see what it’s like to be in THAT relationship from the
outside, and at the same time, you can COMPLETELY understand why everything that
happens in that relationship is happening. From the “I need you and only you”
to “I’ve only ever felt this way when I’m with you” and “You affect me more
that I could say. I don’t deserve you,” you see it all slowly unfold before
your eyes. How everything seems so reasonable, and then you look up and realise
that her boyfriend just asked her to never talk to her best friend again, and
Shannon Parker had YOU believing it!
And I swear, being someone that has always believed that
friends are more important than boys, the fact that I could understood scared me. And that is just a testament
to how GREAT this book is.
But then, all of that I expected, on some level. What I
didn’t expect the book to give me, however was the good AND the bad of the
relationship. How everything was perfect, how Alec was the sweetest guy in the
world that any girl would be lucky to have, how he made her meals and gave her
these tiny gifts oh- so- often. It was perfect, and it wasn’t. And for the
first time ever, I feel like I can understand a bit of what really goes on in
the relationship you’re always warning your best friend against. The world
isn’t a black and white place, but shades of grey, and The Girl Who Fell only reaffirmed that!
I SALUTE YOU, SHANNON PARKER!
And I’ve gone rambling almost five hundred words without
once mentioning my two new FAVOURITE secondary characters – Gregg and Lizzie!
That chemistry was brilliant, that friendship perfect – just like everything
about this book!
POINTS FOR: Gregg,
Lizzie, Zephyr (the character and the name!), Alec, Finn (the CUTEST dog in the
world), ice hockey, family, weddings, parks, picnics, accurate descriptions of
what it’s like to be a high school senior and DID I SAY GREGG?!
POINTS AGAINST: NOTHING!
Nothing at all. Seriously.
Now go. Go READ THE BOOK. GO.