Thursday, May 19, 2011

Falling Under - Gwen Hayes

Publisher: New American Library (Penguin Group)
Publish Date:  March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-451-23268-7
Pages:  324

I want to note up front that I don't believe this is a book for the younger end of YA.  There are some semi-sexual situations and coarse language.


FALLING UNDER is a very pretty book.  I had to wonder about the three best friends: Theia, Amelia and Donny.  They're so different, I can't imagine that they would hang out together.  Theia is a British girl come to live in California, well off, plays violin, never gets to go out.  Amelia is sweet and shy and a bit on the weird side.  Donny is all boy crazy, dresses like a hooker (it would seem) and is always ready for adventure.  A really unlikely group of friends.

There's a new boy at school - Haden Black.  While Theia doesn't have interaction with Haden at school, she certainly does at night in her dreams.  But Haden at school is all A&F and a 'sneetch' - you know, stars on the bellies looks down on the ones without - with the in crowd, ignoring her.   Haden in her dreams is a gothic victorian guy who's very sweet and loving with her.  She needs to know if they're just dreams or if Haden is really there.

Through a series of weird events, Theia disappears and Haden loses his memory.  Add in a couple of other characters and off they go to figure out how to restore Haden's memory and save Theia.  It seems that I've read this situation a lot lately - one half of the couple sacrifices for the other half, who tries to 'fix' it.  It's a little boring, but I will say that the Underworld that Ms. Hayes created is fantastic.  The creatures that populate it are very well thought out and interesting.

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