This month, I read The Upside of Falling by Alex Light. This book is about two high school seniors with their own different problems told between two different perspectives. Becca has no friends at school and head is always in a romance novel, liking to experience love in books instead of real life after her parents divorced. While on the other hand, Brett Wells is captain of the football team, has a perfect and wealthy family, looks up to his father as an idol, and is one of the most popular boys at school. But, when Becca’s ex best friend makes fun of her in class for never having a boyfriend, Becca wants to try to prove her wrong. So, Brett overhears the conversation between Becca and her ex best friend, Jenny and he steps in to the rescue and pretends to Becca’s boyfriend. Now, Becca and Brett are trying to hold up their fake relationship to show Jenny that Becca can have a boyfriend and for Brett to impress his dad idol that he can get a girlfriend. But, when Becca grieves with her past parents divorce and Brett’s pitch perfect family starts to fall apart, they find they have more in common than they think they do. Will their feelings and love for each other become real or stay fake?

I enjoyed this book because it was told from multiple perspectives, a cute romance, and had some hardships making it feel like someone’s real life. I liked that it was from Brett and Becca’s perspectives because I got to see what it was like in each of their personal lives and what they were feeling without the other character there. It was a cute romance because I liked how Brett flirted with Becca making her blush, paying for her if she wanted something, and took her on mysteriously fun dates. There were also hardships making it feel more real like financial problems, divorces, and loneliness. Overall, I liked this story for its two perspectives, rom-com feel, and lifelikeness.

My favorite character from The Upside of Falling was Becca Hart. I liked her character because she is a book lover, caring, and intelligent. Mostly all of her time is focused on reading, Becca always reads her romance novels during lunch and after school. She was caring to Brett as she would do anything for him and would always take time to help out at her mom’s bakery. Becca Hart is also intelligent because she works very hard in school and has straight A’s. A quote from the book is, “These books were safe. Like an alternate, paper world where anything was possible. And after my parents’ divorce, I gave up on love. I never wanted to fall into it or feel it because what was the point? These books let me feel it through other people. That way, I didn’t have to worry about being hurt. It sounds dumb, but they helped. They helped me when nothing else could.” This shows that Becca Hart is not a risk taker because she doesn’t want to fall in love like her parents did and have to deal with the chance of their being heartbreak. So, she decided to read romance novels and so she could experience love through the books without having to deal with the consequences in real life. As you can see, my favorite character is Becca because she is intelligent, a book lover, and caring to others

My favorite quote from the book is, “ Life didn’t have to fit into a four-sided box that was neat and tidy. It was okay if the box had three sides or the fourth one was hanging on with duct tape. It was okay if the corners were dented and if there was a big red FRAGILE sticker on top. It was all okay.” This quote was meaningful to me because I have learned that it’s okay if you’re not perfect and that you never can be. Sometimes you are sad or there is something gone on in your life that you’re struggling to push through but it’s all fine and everyone will make it out of it.