Title: Don’t Fall

Author: Rachel Schieffelbein

Genre: YA Romance

Story:

In this contemporary retelling of Rapunzel, seventeen-year-old Anya leads a secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn’t go to public school, doesn’t even have a best friend. But Anya doesn’t seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams and would do anything to please her mom.

Until one day at the library, the only place Anya is allowed to go alone, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy. Before long she’s lying to her mom, and sneaking out to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she’s going to have to risk her relationship with the only other person she’s ever cared about.

Review

I have to be honest and say that the only thing that attracted me to the book was the cover and the claim that it is a modern retelling of Rapunzel. So I didn’t know what to expect when I received my ARC copy. You see I’m not usually a romance kind of reader. All my doubts vanished the moment I started reading.

I was instantaneously immersed in Anya’s world, a girl whose mother has kept her sheltered all her life and whose only allowed excursions are at the library. But in there, she meets Zander, a young college freshman who is enamored by her young presence. As a reader you read both their viewpoints in every chapter, which I found a smart structure. You don’t often get to see from the male’s perspective. Anya is a realistic, total bookworm. Zander is not as fully fledged as Anya, since I find that his interests and characteristics were overshadowed by his love for her. However, reading both their passages was a breeze and Shieffelbein managed to make me care for the couple and to create the urge to go on reading.

There are a few more interesting characters in the book, but the most important one would be Anya’s mother, whose strict rules are what raise the stakes in this quick read. I found her a tinny bit over the top, but overall, the entirety of her actions made sense.

The pacing is quite steady, with a few plot twists every now and then. It’s a quick read anyway, so it doesn’t bore or drag on for too long.

The most surprising revelation with this novel, however, and the fact that made me absolutely adore it, is the fact that this little treasure of a book made me see colors and this synesthesia of rainbows helped go through the characters’ journey and fall in love along with them. Don’t ask me how Rachel Schieffelbein did it, though. I tried to put it down to a certain technical feature the author uses, but came out with nil results. So I decided, it is magic. And magic just happens.

And that is why I couldn’t recommend this novel highly enough. It is just THAT good.

So go ahead and grab your copy on