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rikerandom's review against another edition
1.0
I've been trying to finish this for days now but I just can't, even though there's only one or two more chapters to go … I did skim them though, because the ending did have an impact on my thoughts about the main conflict of this novel.
I had two problems: The first was that everybody behaved as if Pam was some kind of cradle robber because she's 40 while Kathryn is 'only' 32. That whole thing seemed to be blown up and way out of proportion and half the characters reacted as if they were 40 years apart instead of 8. It seemed ridiculous. And then it just kind of stopped being a problem? Like after being totally shocked by and making jokes about it in the first third or so of the book it was never mentioned again?
Or maybe I just stopped noticing because by then the main conflict surfaced and things got ugly really fast. It's not that the protagonists' behaviour was unrealistic per se, it just was so ugly and stupid and I could have strangled both of them (and the other character involved in that mess). Honestly, parts of their arguments seemed almost abusive, there was some ugly controlling, manipulating and trying to run somebody else's life behind their back kind of behaviour and I have no idea how this could turn into a loving relationship within a couple of pages (or ever, really …). But then again, unrealisticly fast paced love stories are pretty much the norm for this kind of novel, so the abrupt turnaround at the end really wasn't that surprising.
I really wanted to like this story but it just wasn't for me 🤷
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I had two problems: The first was that everybody behaved as if Pam was some kind of cradle robber because she's 40 while Kathryn is 'only' 32. That whole thing seemed to be blown up and way out of proportion and half the characters reacted as if they were 40 years apart instead of 8. It seemed ridiculous. And then it just kind of stopped being a problem? Like after being totally shocked by and making jokes about it in the first third or so of the book it was never mentioned again?
Or maybe I just stopped noticing because by then the main conflict surfaced and things got ugly really fast. It's not that the protagonists' behaviour was unrealistic per se, it just was so ugly and stupid and I could have strangled both of them (and the other character involved in that mess). Honestly, parts of their arguments seemed almost abusive, there was some ugly controlling, manipulating and trying to run somebody else's life behind their back kind of behaviour and I have no idea how this could turn into a loving relationship within a couple of pages (or ever, really …). But then again, unrealisticly fast paced love stories are pretty much the norm for this kind of novel, so the abrupt turnaround at the end really wasn't that surprising.
I really wanted to like this story but it just wasn't for me 🤷
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
aliu6's review against another edition
2.0
2 stars
Four years ago, Kathryn Hawthorne's heart was broken by a straight, married woman, and since then, she has avoided any serious relationships. When Kathryn bumps into the recently widowed Pamela Phillips, there is an immediate attraction, but the ring on Pam's finger means that a friendship is all they can have. But soon, coffee dates and movie nights have Pam and Kathryn questioning all they ever knew. Can these two find love, or is the past too hard to overcome?
cw: homophobia (internal and external), infidelity (by side character), nonconsensual kissing, death by cancer (briefly mentioned), bi-erasure
So... I can't believe I finished that. I was really excited to read this book because the blurb seemed really interesting. It started off alright, but soon it kind of just all fell apart in my hands. On to the review!
The Characters: I didn't really warm up to them. Partially because they make dumb decisions. Partially because they're not realistic—and not unrealistic in the sense that they fall into some trope, but just plain no-human-has-feelings-like-this-or-reacts-in-this-way unrealistic. At the start of the book, they had some personality, but by the end, they were the same. Like I would not be able to tell their voices apart without the dialogue tags. The side characters were no better. Besides being extremely one-dimensional, they were all either very unlikable or had too little page time.
The Romance: No, I did not buy it. It happened way too fast. Pam has never been attracted to another woman before. I guess I'm not super sure of the timeline, but it seems like they got to "I love you" in a heartbeat. And not in a good oh-they're-such-lesbians way. I saw literally no evidence that their relationship should have progressed at the rate it did. I did not feel the chemistry, sadly. I'm typically not a huge fan of the toaster oven trope, but this book barely showed Pam's journey of self-discovery. It certainly didn't spend enough time on her feelings.
The Plot: It started out okay. I was into the meet-cute. Then almost immediately after they meet, it was just one unpredictable/random/unlikely event after another. It seemed like every page flip would make me go "What the f---?" Most of the drama is stirred up by a huge coincidence and that was when the book really exploded for me. Like I was puttering along, thinking to myself that this was a mediocre read, and then bam. It turned into the book that I needed to finish so I could start any other book.
The Writing: This was my first book by Erin Zak. There are other books of hers that I've been wanting to try, but now I'm not so sure. The first chapter was solid, so I do think she is capable of good writing. I don't know if she got lazy or if things just got out of hand with the rest of the book. Also, kind of random sidenote, but: is it just me, or is it weird that she talks about her high gpa in her writer's bio? [Edit: Actually, it wasn't my first book by her! I read her recent book, The Road Home, and I quite liked it. It's also totally unrecognizable from this book. I also realized that this was her debut. It's amazing to think about how far she's come in 3 years.]
Other Notes: There was a lot of homophobia in this book. It honestly stressed me out a lot, even though most of it is resolved (a little too easily). Pam grows up in a pretty conservative household, and the people she typically spends time with are quite close-minded. It was a very odd, uncomfortable vibe.
All in all, I would not recommend this book. Yikes. I'm just glad it was short, so I could force myself to finish. I hate to leave negative reviews on books, but this was just my honest opinion. I did see a few positive reviews, so it might just be that this one wasn't for me.
Four years ago, Kathryn Hawthorne's heart was broken by a straight, married woman, and since then, she has avoided any serious relationships. When Kathryn bumps into the recently widowed Pamela Phillips, there is an immediate attraction, but the ring on Pam's finger means that a friendship is all they can have. But soon, coffee dates and movie nights have Pam and Kathryn questioning all they ever knew. Can these two find love, or is the past too hard to overcome?
cw: homophobia (internal and external), infidelity (by side character), nonconsensual kissing, death by cancer (briefly mentioned), bi-erasure
So... I can't believe I finished that. I was really excited to read this book because the blurb seemed really interesting. It started off alright, but soon it kind of just all fell apart in my hands. On to the review!
The Characters: I didn't really warm up to them. Partially because they make dumb decisions. Partially because they're not realistic—and not unrealistic in the sense that they fall into some trope, but just plain no-human-has-feelings-like-this-or-reacts-in-this-way unrealistic. At the start of the book, they had some personality, but by the end, they were the same. Like I would not be able to tell their voices apart without the dialogue tags. The side characters were no better. Besides being extremely one-dimensional, they were all either very unlikable or had too little page time.
The Romance: No, I did not buy it. It happened way too fast. Pam has never been attracted to another woman before. I guess I'm not super sure of the timeline, but it seems like they got to "I love you" in a heartbeat. And not in a good oh-they're-such-lesbians way. I saw literally no evidence that their relationship should have progressed at the rate it did. I did not feel the chemistry, sadly. I'm typically not a huge fan of the toaster oven trope, but this book barely showed Pam's journey of self-discovery. It certainly didn't spend enough time on her feelings.
The Plot: It started out okay. I was into the meet-cute. Then almost immediately after they meet, it was just one unpredictable/random/unlikely event after another. It seemed like every page flip would make me go "What the f---?" Most of the drama is stirred up by a huge coincidence and that was when the book really exploded for me. Like I was puttering along, thinking to myself that this was a mediocre read, and then bam. It turned into the book that I needed to finish so I could start any other book.
The Writing: This was my first book by Erin Zak. There are other books of hers that I've been wanting to try, but now I'm not so sure. The first chapter was solid, so I do think she is capable of good writing. I don't know if she got lazy or if things just got out of hand with the rest of the book. Also, kind of random sidenote, but: is it just me, or is it weird that she talks about her high gpa in her writer's bio? [Edit: Actually, it wasn't my first book by her! I read her recent book, The Road Home, and I quite liked it. It's also totally unrecognizable from this book. I also realized that this was her debut. It's amazing to think about how far she's come in 3 years.]
Other Notes: There was a lot of homophobia in this book. It honestly stressed me out a lot, even though most of it is resolved (a little too easily). Pam grows up in a pretty conservative household, and the people she typically spends time with are quite close-minded. It was a very odd, uncomfortable vibe.
All in all, I would not recommend this book. Yikes. I'm just glad it was short, so I could force myself to finish. I hate to leave negative reviews on books, but this was just my honest opinion. I did see a few positive reviews, so it might just be that this one wasn't for me.
misha_ali's review against another edition
3.0
I found some enjoyment in this one, but there were significant issues with pacing. The details are best left in spoilers:
The whole Judy subplot was ridiculous, but more so that her basically sexually assaulting her best friend repeatedly (after being told no), Pam hiding the fact that Judy kissed her a second time and declared her love from Kathryn, and then Kathryn being told by her friends that she's being childish for finding those things have broken her trust was absolutely ridiculous.
Spoiler
The whole Judy subplot was ridiculous, but more so that her basically sexually assaulting her best friend repeatedly (after being told no), Pam hiding the fact that Judy kissed her a second time and declared her love from Kathryn, and then Kathryn being told by her friends that she's being childish for finding those things have broken her trust was absolutely ridiculous.
sapphicsolace's review against another edition
3.0
Review also on my blog
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I received an arc from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
There’s not much to say about this book. It was just kind of boring. I did like the main characters enough but I wasn’t that engaged.
It was kind of dull really. I don’t think the characters had that much chemistry. I didn’t like how Kathryn’s dad encouraged her to pursue Pam when she was clearly still broken from her husband’s death. I don’t think there was enough grieving on her part and I didn’t like how it had that theme of “I don’t think I ever really loved him” and “I married him because he wanted me too.” Like, it’s fine to have her actually love her husband, they were married for twenty years. I also don’t like how bisexuality wasn’t at all touched on. Why couldn’t she have been bisexual? I think it’s fine to look at compulsory heterosexuality but that wasn’t really explored.
Then with Kathryn she’s very avoidant of relationships as she had her heart broken. I don’t think that was explored enough.
It was overall a pretty mediocre book that could’ve been better in some aspects.
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I received an arc from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
There’s not much to say about this book. It was just kind of boring. I did like the main characters enough but I wasn’t that engaged.
It was kind of dull really. I don’t think the characters had that much chemistry. I didn’t like how Kathryn’s dad encouraged her to pursue Pam when she was clearly still broken from her husband’s death. I don’t think there was enough grieving on her part and I didn’t like how it had that theme of “I don’t think I ever really loved him” and “I married him because he wanted me too.” Like, it’s fine to have her actually love her husband, they were married for twenty years. I also don’t like how bisexuality wasn’t at all touched on. Why couldn’t she have been bisexual? I think it’s fine to look at compulsory heterosexuality but that wasn’t really explored.
Then with Kathryn she’s very avoidant of relationships as she had her heart broken. I don’t think that was explored enough.
It was overall a pretty mediocre book that could’ve been better in some aspects.
elvang's review
This was a DNF for me. I just wasn’t in the mood for the cutesy coming together scenes between Pam and Kate but what made me pack in the read early was the voice actor with a lisp. Lesson learned as I could have listened to a sample and saved myself an audible credit.
mjsam's review against another edition
3.0
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to try this because I’m trying to find new authors, but I’m not sure how to rate this one really. I usually steer clear of the ‘married straight woman meets gay woman, figures out she’s not all that straight’ books, but since the husband was already gone, I figured at least I wouldn’t have to put up with that drama. I was wishing for it by the end.
The book starts out well, the way Kathryn and Pam meet and their get togethers were cute (if a bit too fast, most of them happen in the space of about a week, and could have been spaced out over a few weeks to provide a bit more realism), and the banter between them was fun. Everything was going along fine til we hit the 40% mark (does anyone else miss actual page numbers?), and then WHAM. Horrible plot line appears and just like that, most of the rest of the story becomes a train wreck.
This revolved around Pam’s best friend Judy, and honestly just kept getting worse. Without giving anything away for those who prefer to be spoiler free, I also want to point out that if Judy’s character was a guy who kept doing that to Pam, I doubt it would have been treated in the same way, so the double standard also annoyed me.
Both families and most of the friends were accepting, and the Thanksgiving visits were interesting, although again, too fast considering the timing of the relationship. And Kathryn’s mother’s turnaround at the end was too fast and not really explained well enough for me.
The last 20% was pretty much a hot mess (when even secondary characters are telling the leads this about their lives, it’s probably not a good thing) and featured way too much Judy for me. So, all in all I’d give it 4 stars for the beginning, 3 stars for the middle, and 2 stars for the end. I’m rating it 2.5 but rounding up to 3 stars because it’s a debut novel, and it’s well written. I liked enough of it to try something else by this author, but hopefully something with a bit less soap opera to it.
For those who do want to know, major plot points are revealed in the spoiler tag.
I wanted to try this because I’m trying to find new authors, but I’m not sure how to rate this one really. I usually steer clear of the ‘married straight woman meets gay woman, figures out she’s not all that straight’ books, but since the husband was already gone, I figured at least I wouldn’t have to put up with that drama. I was wishing for it by the end.
The book starts out well, the way Kathryn and Pam meet and their get togethers were cute (if a bit too fast, most of them happen in the space of about a week, and could have been spaced out over a few weeks to provide a bit more realism), and the banter between them was fun. Everything was going along fine til we hit the 40% mark (does anyone else miss actual page numbers?), and then WHAM. Horrible plot line appears and just like that, most of the rest of the story becomes a train wreck.
This revolved around Pam’s best friend Judy, and honestly just kept getting worse. Without giving anything away for those who prefer to be spoiler free, I also want to point out that if Judy’s character was a guy who kept doing that to Pam, I doubt it would have been treated in the same way, so the double standard also annoyed me.
Both families and most of the friends were accepting, and the Thanksgiving visits were interesting, although again, too fast considering the timing of the relationship. And Kathryn’s mother’s turnaround at the end was too fast and not really explained well enough for me.
The last 20% was pretty much a hot mess (when even secondary characters are telling the leads this about their lives, it’s probably not a good thing) and featured way too much Judy for me. So, all in all I’d give it 4 stars for the beginning, 3 stars for the middle, and 2 stars for the end. I’m rating it 2.5 but rounding up to 3 stars because it’s a debut novel, and it’s well written. I liked enough of it to try something else by this author, but hopefully something with a bit less soap opera to it.
For those who do want to know, major plot points are revealed in the spoiler tag.
Spoiler
I had enough trouble with the fact that Judy was the straight woman who had messed Kathryn up, seriously if I found out the woman I was falling for was the best friend of my ex, I’d walk away. That’s just kind of gross, and no good could ever come from it (as this story proved). That was bad enough, but to then also find out that Judy was actually in love with Pam and then her constantly making a move on her, just red flags everywhere. It honestly would have been a better story if Kathryn’s ex had been someone else. I think I could have lived with Judy being jealous of Kathryn because she’d always harboured feelings for Pam, but for Kathryn to have also been with them both was just too much for me. One of these revelations would have done, the story did not need both.broomesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Falling into Her by Erin Zak is a story about two women who fight their attraction for one another and eventually fall for each other. Kathryn Hawthorne is 32 years old and has given up on love after having her heart broken too many times. Pam Philips is 40 years old, and has buried her husband recently when she meets Kathryn in the local boutique she works at. The attraction is immediate for Kathryn and is a slow, curious burn for Pam. On a whim Kathryn leaves her phone number for Pam and to her surprise, Pam texts.
They go through a series of coffee dates, and the entire time Kathryn is focused on just remaining friends despite her growing attraction and the cues Pam is giving that she is interested as well. Throughout their time as friends, they have a lot of personal, confessional type conversations. Which I liked. You could see how much their relationship was steadily growing.
Once their romance blossomed into something more, there were moments I had to stop and take a breath. These love scenes aren’t the overly done, raunchy scenes you see in a lot of books. It felt real. Pam’s anticipation, anxiety about being with a woman, her pleasure, you could feel it all.
I read this book in one sitting, that’s how much I liked it. It’s rare for me to find a book that I will stay up way past my bedtime to keep reading. I usually find a chapter break and quite. Falling Into her made that impossible. I liked the way the text messages appeared. The conflict of meeting each other’s parents and how important that was to the both of them.
Would I recommend this book? Oh yes. I want to read more by Erin Zak ASAP.
I received an advance e-book copy via NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.
They go through a series of coffee dates, and the entire time Kathryn is focused on just remaining friends despite her growing attraction and the cues Pam is giving that she is interested as well. Throughout their time as friends, they have a lot of personal, confessional type conversations. Which I liked. You could see how much their relationship was steadily growing.
Once their romance blossomed into something more, there were moments I had to stop and take a breath. These love scenes aren’t the overly done, raunchy scenes you see in a lot of books. It felt real. Pam’s anticipation, anxiety about being with a woman, her pleasure, you could feel it all.
I read this book in one sitting, that’s how much I liked it. It’s rare for me to find a book that I will stay up way past my bedtime to keep reading. I usually find a chapter break and quite. Falling Into her made that impossible. I liked the way the text messages appeared. The conflict of meeting each other’s parents and how important that was to the both of them.
Would I recommend this book? Oh yes. I want to read more by Erin Zak ASAP.
I received an advance e-book copy via NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.
brennooth's review against another edition
5.0
God, is it bad to say that I'm really glad we "got rid" of Judy in the end? I really didn't like how she was talking badly about Kathryn and trying to "steal" Pam from her. I loved how Pam and Kathryn had their 'fights' mainly because of trust issues. All in all it was really adorable to read and I really liked how they got together and became an adorable couple.
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