Amber Vaughn is a good girl. She sings solos at church, babysits her nephew after school, and spends every Friday night hanging out at her best friend Devon’s house. It’s only when Amber goes exploring in the woods near her home, singing camp songs with the hikers she meets on the Appalachian Trail, that she feels free—and when the bigger world feels just a little bit more in reach.
When Amber learns about an audition at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she decides that her dream—to sing on bigger stages—could also be her ticket to a new life. Devon’s older (and unavailable) brother, Will, helps Amber prepare for her one chance to try out for the hypercompetitive arts school. But the more time Will and Amber spend together, the more complicated their relationship becomes . . . and Amber starts to wonder if she’s such a good girl, after all.
Then, in an afternoon, the bottom drops out of her family’s world—and Amber is faced with an impossible choice between her promise as an artist and the people she loves. Amber always thought she knew what a good girl would do. But between “right” and “wrong,” there’s a whole world of possibilities.
MY THOUGHTS
I've had this book on my TBR for quite a few years, since the book came out. This book wasn't exactly what I expected, and I found myself disappointed.
No Place to Fall is the story of Amber, a teenage girl living in a southern small town. She has just spent her summer hanging out with the summer hikers, partying and having flings with hiker guys. Now it's back to being the same old Amber, the Amber living in a dysfunctional and run-down home. The Amber who wishes to make music and leave her small town. And then she has the opportunity to audition for art school. But when she strikes a complicated relationship with a boy she's known for years, and her family grows even more dysfunctional, it feels like her dreams are slipping away.
My main issue with this book was that it was very unfocused. There are so many small plots and never really one that takes center stage. Amber's music is pretty central, but it still fell flat. When I first started the book, I thought it was a solid three-star read. It wasn't amazing, but I liked the writing and thought the story was going somewhere. At some point, though, it became clear that this book wasn't going in a clear direction. It starts out with Amber partying with hikers, the middle is mainly about art school then and ends with [highlight to view spoiler] drug-dealing? [end of spoiler]. I think there are a lot of topics here that are great to explore in YA, but they didn't feel connected.
I think I also just could not connect with Amber but it's hard to place why. The book did do a great job of capturing the setting and the idea of wanting to escape the small town, but Amber still fell flat for me. This may partly be because Amber makes a lot of dumb choices in this book. She's a teen so, yeah, dumb choices are expected, but even some dumb choices need reasons behind it. A lot of the supporting characters also just felt there. They were literally just there to move Amber's story along. The author does bring up some subplots with the minor characters, but they weren't explored that much. I think that was the case with so many things in this book (not just the characterization). Ideas popped up but were not explored to their potential.
As for romance, I was not a fan. This book seemed to have been heavily marketed as contemporary romance, especially thanks to that cover, but I wouldn't call this contemporary romance. The romance is a small part of the book and for a while, I didn't even know who the love interest was supposed to be because there are so many different guys. Now, I am fine with books not having romance (in fact, I prefer it), what bothered me about the romance was that it was cheating. I didn't find it romantic, I found it infuriating. I think if the book had Amber learn from the experience, I would have different feelings toward the romance. Amber does realize at some point that her sleeping with this boy in a relationship [highlight to view spoiler] is like how her dad is cheating on her mom. In this situation, Amber is the "other woman" and the girlfriend is being hurt like her mom is being hurt [end of spoiler]. If the book explored this idea and made Amber realize "hey, maybe this is a bad thing to do", I would be feeling differently, but no, she doesn't learn from this. In fact [highlight to view spoiler] she gets the guy! [end of spoiler]
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I was disappointed by this book. It was promising in the beginning, but the story never explored the themes fully and everything fell flat.
I hereby give this book
2.5 Stars
Meaning: I almost liked it, but not quite
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