Fall for Me Review

After reading my first cheap kindle e-book from Melanie Marks, I was quite impressed and wanted to sample more of her work so I bought Fall for Me which again at 77p, is not exactly unreasonable in price. This is another cute story from Melanie, albeit shorter than the last one and it only took me about an hour to read. Here’s the synopsis:

“When Zoey’s long-time boyfriend, Finn, cheats on her—kissing a girl he “just can’t resist”—he gives Zoey a “free pass,” telling her she can kiss any guy she wants. Finn is so cocky and sure of their relationship that the arrangement seems perfect. He’s not worried Zoey will fall for another guy, and he’s itching to get rid of his feelings of guilt.

But the thing is, Zoey knows exactly who she wants to kiss—longs to kiss— Finn’s best friend, Riley. But, she wants the kiss too much. She knows that. So, she resists the “Free Pass.” Still, she’s pushed into it when Finn loses a bet to Riley, and Riley wants his payment—a kiss from Zoey.”

So, immediately this is starting to sound a little like the last book I read of Melanie’s which was His Kiss in that a hot guy wants a kiss from the girl who has a boyfriend. I actually had no problem with that because the characters are different, the setting is different etc but what I had a MAJOR problem with is that the voice of Zoey (who is the main character and narrator of the story) sounds EXACTLY like Ally, the main character from Fall for Me in that they shared the same expressions and vocabulary. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the use of “ugh!” and “grrr!!” which became a little annoying at times. I suspect this is more about writing style but sadly, it makes the main characters sound the same.

On the flip side, I loved the premise of this book and the idea of your duschbag boyfriend’s best friend having a crush on you for like FOREVER and Zoey thinks he hates her because he is always avoiding her when it’s quite the opposite. Finn (Zoey’s boyfriend) sounds like a dick to be quite honest – he has a gambling problem, makes her false promises and seems to prefer the company of another girl. Sounds like the perfect guy *rolls eyes* whereas Riley on the other hand, is hot, rich, successful and HAS HAD A CRUSH ON HER FOR YEARS. There is just no competition here folks.

This is a difficult review to write in that I loved the premise, I enjoyed the story and I genuinely do believe that the author has talent but it’s not at the high standard of books that I’m used to reading and so the flaws stick out like a sore thumb. Again, it was too short for me and the ending wasn’t quite right. From what I’ve read of Melanie’s work, she seems to start a story in the middle of a moment (which works) but then ends the story the same way (which doesn’t). It was an enjoyable, quick read but I would really like to see something longer and more polished from this author as I do think she can deliver it.

Fall for Me was published in 2011 and is available as an e-book. To find out more about Melanie and her books, please click here to visit her website.