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| TITLE: Learning to Fall (Addison Hill #3) AUTHOR: Mina V. Esguerra PUBLISHER: Flirt Publishing PUB DATE: Oct 6 2015 |
“Go out with a stereotypical romance novel hero WHO ISN’T YOUR TYPE.”
Avid reader and art student Steph is participating in a monthly blog challenge to Live Like Fiction, and this was the task for October. When Grayson, former co-captain of her university rugby team, walks into her class, she knows it’s meant to be – she has to go out with this guy. Even if she’s never been attracted to big, hunky, athletic types. With Grayson’s “player” reputation off the field, Steph thinks he’ll be good for one date that’ll be worth blogging about, and that’s it.
But you know how it goes: Soon, it becomes more than just one date – and Steph and Grayson are caught up in “living like fiction.” How long can they keep up playing their roles, before reality steps in and reminds them they’re living someone else’s fantasy?
Avid reader and art student Steph is participating in a monthly blog challenge to Live Like Fiction, and this was the task for October. When Grayson, former co-captain of her university rugby team, walks into her class, she knows it’s meant to be – she has to go out with this guy. Even if she’s never been attracted to big, hunky, athletic types. With Grayson’s “player” reputation off the field, Steph thinks he’ll be good for one date that’ll be worth blogging about, and that’s it.
But you know how it goes: Soon, it becomes more than just one date – and Steph and Grayson are caught up in “living like fiction.” How long can they keep up playing their roles, before reality steps in and reminds them they’re living someone else’s fantasy?
- Source: Goodreads
"Sometimes falling is inevitable, because the laws of God and nature just want it to happen. This is also a side effect of trying too hard, and burning with ambition. There are people who will never fall at all. They will probably fear it the most."
To all the readers-slash-bloggers out there, if you think you have a reading addiction, you ain't seen nothing yet! Meet Steph Bennet. Like me and you, she L-O-V-E-S to read, and it has taken up a huge part of her life. While you and I have been getting sleepless nights mumbling that we'll only finish one more chapter before going to sleep which is a total lie, vying for Belle's (of Beauty and the Beast) boss skill of reading and walking without bumping into anyone or anything, and our horrendously increasing book piles without enough shelf space, Steph here is probably the worst of us. Unless you've done far worse than she did: skipping classes, waiting until the last minute to do a project she had months to do, and eventually failing classes all because she prioritized her books and blog rather than her school work. Wow, that's tough to beat!
I can definitely relate with Steph when it comes to the profession she's aspiring for, although hers is a lot more complex than mine. You can go through classes that help you unleash your inner artist, and you read all the references you can to help your brain get to work, but you truly can never know when your next creative idea can come sneaking in. Imagine how much I cheered for her over that exhibit idea. Ah! What's not to love about that?
While I do like Steph, and Grayson was a stand out hottie, the character I loved the most was Del. Yes, she's a minor character. I know she barely made an appearance in the story, yet she stood out with just a few snippets in Steph's life. I love her honesty. I feel like everyone should have a friend like Del, who calls you out when she feels you need it. Plus, the "magic peen" was hilarious!
The rugby game plan rhetorics was an interesting mix to the scenarios our characters get themselves into. Although I have to admit, I struggled a bit with visualizing them. Through them, it made me see Grayson so much more of a put-together guy. The kind of guy you'd definitely want to introduce to your parents. Awesome!
I love the idea of Live Like Fiction. It would help anyone step outside their comfort zone once in a while, and it truly would make one's life more interesting. I did wonder if it was true, then I saw the author's notes saying it was made up. Bummer! I was hoping to give it try.
I was in quite a reading stump when I saw that Mina's Learning to Fall had available ARCs to request. Okay, to be honest, New Adult books are not exactly my strongest suit, and the choice was rather a spur of the moment. But after reading the synopsis, I got curious. With a book blogging protagonist, an insightful blog challenge, and a hottie love interest - who wouldn't be?
Learning to Fall was a pleasurable (pun intended) experience for me. It was a fun and easy read. I've turned down a lot of New Adult books in the past, the first one I tried wasn't exactly as engrossing as this, and the next one I tried really wasn't for me, but I'm thinking of trying out others now. I guess I'm finally starting to appreciate NA. Imagine that!
*Thank you, Mina V. Esguerra and Jothee Tan for granting my request to view an advance copy of Learning to Fall.
