Dramatic tension, laughter, good friends, lovely writing — all of these elements made me enjoy every single page of Marisa de los Santos’ Falling Together.
I don’t know why I waited so long to read Marisa de los Santos, but I thoroughly enjoyed this, my first of her books, and I’m sure that this won’t be my last. The whole blogosphere raves about Belong to Me, and I love those cute colorful boots lined up on the cover.
I wasn’t pulled in by the first paragraph of Falling Together as sometimes happens in a completely lovely book, but by chapter 2 — not even double digits — I knew I was going to love this book.
Pen, Will, and Cat are college buddies. We get to know them through flashes back to their college and post-college days while simultaneously knowing Pen and Will in the present, as they return to the alma mater for a reunion after getting a mysterious note from Cat. They’ve all been estranged for years. We aren’t sure why, but they have the kind of friendship that when Cat sends an email out of the blue, Pen and Will both show up.
The way the story is told is interesting, in a 3rd person limited omniscient way (I think — if I remember my own college English classes correctly). It’s perfect, because we know what Pen is thinking, and we can also sense the way things are with Will, even though we are never told. We see what is obvious to us, but obscured to them.
The characters are drawn perfectly — from Pen and Will, to the secondary characters like Jamie, Pen’s brother, and Jason, Cat’s husband. They are perhaps slightly larger than life, but that’s what makes reading better than real life.
I loved this book and will definitely read more from this author.
I loved de los Santos’ beautiful imagery (“The moon was high and its light didn’t clarify, but stretched tightly over everything like the skin on hot milk” p70 ARC); her characters who I wanted to befriend and love and hate and know completely; and the story which was full of wonderful character-driven suspense as we wonder what happened to Cat and what will happen with Will and Pen.
A perfect ending — not predictable but lovely, with just the right amount of dramatic tension — made me sure that this was a 5 Star Read (check out the other books that are the best of the best).
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Jennifer Donovan loves discovering a new-to-her author. Read about her other interests at Snapshot.
Can’t wait to read this one, and am a bit surprised that you haven’t read her before. Don’t you love finding someone new who lives up to the hype?
Definitely, Trish! After waiting so long, I wasn’t sure if she would!
I’ve found de los Santos gets better with each book. Belong To Me was a bit heavy on the flowery prose but I still loved the plot and the characters and the love story. I also loved Falling Together, but I wish she’d publish books faster than every 3 years!
I definitely will get back to Belong to Me at some point. And yes, I don’t want to wait another 3 years for another book now that I’ve found her.
I also love the boots on the cover of Belong to Me! I’ll have to get around to trying de los Santos one of these days.
Well, I added this to my To Read list. I also have had Belong to Me on my shelf to read for ever. I am anxious to check her out thanks to your great review.
Thanks!
So glad you have found this author, Jennifer. Her work just sings. Belong to Me is my least favorite of the three de los Santos novels, the cute boots not withstanding! Love Walked In, her first novel, is still my favorite. What a wonderful first effort. I had a little bit of a hard time getting into Falling Together and was afraid it would disappoint, but it did not. Really liked the characters and the almost mystery quality as to why the friends were estranged and what had happened to Cat.