The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
New Age, Romance
“Clementine Haas doesn’t exist. She died in a plane crash. I woke up in her body, and until I remember who she is, what she’s made of, I can’t claim her life.”
“No matter what people want to believe, life is locked in the past. It’s all we are—a timeline of events that make up a person.”
Clementine wakes up in a hospital in Ireland with absolutely no memory; nothing about how she ended up in the hospital, what she was doing in Ireland, or even her own name. She is told that she was in a plane crash and she is the only survivor. The hospital is surrounded by media waiting for the lone survivor to wake up. When the nurse tells Clementine that her father is on his way from America, she panics unable to deal with the pressure and expectations for getting her memory back. She meets a stranger in the hospital gardens and convinces him to take her away and let her stay with him for a week or so, confident her memory will be back in that time and she will go home.
“What is the point of cheating death if a life doesn’t exist when you wake up?”
Going by the name Jane, she hides out in a little oceanside town, getting closer to her roommates Kieran and his pregnant twin sister Siobhan. They have secrets of their own. The longer it takes for her memory to come back the more Jane isn’t sure she even wants to leave her new life.
“That’s the truth about lies—when they linger, they slowly trick you into believing they’re the truth.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Jane Austen,” Clive says, “it’s that if we told the truth all the time, there would be no stories worth telling.”
“You know how stories go,” I say. “There’s always a point where everything seems lost, but trust me . . . It’s never the end. Even when you think your life is over, a new story line appears.”
“You can’t be overwhelmed by the what-ifs, or you’ll miss out on the best part.”
A cute, easy, breezy New Age romance. PG-13, has some bad language and sexual references and situations. The plot is well organized and easy to follow and the characters are like able. Clementine certainly made a lot of choices I wouldn’t but as she is just an 18 year old they are understandable. I am in love with the little town of Waterville, it is exactly what I would want in a sweet Irish town. This is great read after a book hangover or if you need a little pallet cleanser.
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