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Falling

ebook
1 of 2 copies available
1 of 2 copies available
The New York Times bestselling author of The Beach House, Jemima J, and Sister Stardust presents a novel about the pleasure and meaning of finding a home—and family—where you least expect them...
 
When Emma Montague left the strict confines of upper-crust British life for New York, she felt sure it would make her happy. Away from her parents and expectations, she felt liberated, throwing herself into Manhattan life replete with a high-paying job, a gorgeous apartment, and a string of successful boyfriends. But the cutthroat world of finance and relentless pursuit of more began to take its toll. This wasn’t the life she wanted either.
 
On the move again, Emma settles in the picturesque waterfront town of Westport, Connecticut, a world apart from both England and Manhattan. It is here that she begins to confront what it is she really wants from her life. With no job, and knowing only one person in town, she channels her passion for creating beautiful spaces into remaking the dilapidated cottage she rents from Dominic, a local handyman who lives next door with his six-year-old son.
 
Unlike any man Emma has ever known, Dominic is confident, grounded, and committed to being present for his son whose mother fled shortly after he was born. They become friends, and slowly much more, as Emma finds herself feeling at home in a way she never has before.
 
But just as they start to imagine a life together as a family, fate intervenes in the most shocking of ways. For the first time, Emma has to stay and fight for what she loves, for the truth she has discovered about herself, or risk losing it all.
 
In a novel of changing seasons, shifting lives, and selfless love, a story unfolds—of one woman’s far-reaching journey to discover who she is truly meant to be...
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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 30, 2016
      Green’s latest chronicles is an unlikely romance between 30-somethings from two different worlds. At 37, Emma Montague has decided to ditch the rat race of the New York banking world and seek out a quieter, more solitary existence, which takes her to idyllic Westport, Conn. There, she settles into a rundown cottage, and her burgeoning love for interior design takes off in a flurry of paint, carpet, and decorative wall hangings. While she’s cultivating her new love for home decor, she finds another new love in her landlord, Dominic, a hunky bartender who’s raising his six-year-old son, Jesse, on his own. Naturally, complications arise: Jesse has a hard time adjusting to change, Emma’s upper-crust English parents don’t approve of Dominic’s salt-of-the-earth upbringing, and Jesse’s erstwhile mother reappears after six years to try her hand at mothering. But Emma and Dominic’s feelings are deep, and they manage to make it work—until tragedy strikes, and Emma’s at risk of losing everything she’s come to love. Green’s fiction is full of disgruntled city gals finding their bliss in the ’burbs, but although Emma could certainly be a more compelling heroine (most of the main events of the plot happen to her without requiring much action or decision on her part), her community is full of nuanced characters that elevate the story above its cookie-cutter beats and add extra impact to the tearjerker ending. It likely won’t linger in readers’ minds, but it’s a pleasant enough beach read.

    • Kirkus

      May 15, 2016
      Sometimes true love defies all expectations. When Emma Montague left England behind, she embarked on a fast-paced and stressful financial career in Manhattan. Five years later, she's ready for another change in her life. After diligently saving, she has enough money set aside to pursue her dream of interior design off the beaten path in Westport, Connecticut. Though her rental house isn't ideal, she's able to see past the hideous salmon shag carpeting and dated linoleum and imagines transforming it into her ideal beach home. Her landlord, Dominic, is confident and flirtatious, yet Emma almost immediately shuts down any possibility of viewing him as a romantic interest, insisting to others and herself that their backgrounds are too different and they simply have nothing in common. But given that he and his young son live right next door, a relationship begins to blossom. For much of the tale, Emma tries to argue herself out of a future with Dominic, worrying both about significant concerns--his son, Jesse, doesn't appear eager to share his father's time and affection--and her continued anxiety that their differences make them incompatible. While there are hints of conflict throughout the novel, most of those issues peter out before reaching a peak. Bestselling author Green (Summer Secrets, 2015, etc.) relies heavily on stereotypes with this offering, and the characters seem forced into creation rather than developing more authentically. The use of present-tense narration further chokes a novel that focuses more on introspection than action. While the vast majority of the novel is told from Emma's third-person point of view, it occasionally character-hops in a manner that is jarring and inconsistent. Though Emma's life changes drastically, the reliance on cliches and all-too-familiar tropes makes it difficult to reach an emotional payoff.

      COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      June 15, 2016

      Emma Montague, an English expat, has just moved from her high-powered, stressful banking job in Manhattan to the small suburb of Westport, CT. Craving a quiet life, she rents a fixer-upper house from a handsome man who also happens to live just next door. Despite Dominic being nothing like any of the other men Emma has dated, she is irresistibly drawn to him. They give in to their mutual attraction and start a fast-paced romance. Dominic is a single father to a sweet six-year-old boy, Jesse. The three of them learn how to get along, and Emma realizes that family isn't always the one you are born into, but the one that you make. When circumstances throw the trio a big shock, Emma must truly step up despite her own misgivings. VERDICT Readers of Emily Giffin's novels or those who enjoy a love story with heart will adore this tale of homecoming and transformation from Green (Summer Secrets). Recommended for all fiction collections.--Kristen Stewart, Pearland Lib., Brazoria Cty. Lib. Syst., TX

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      June 1, 2016
      Green's latest, after Summer Secrets (2015), brings together two people from very different backgrounds. Emma Montague was born to well-to-do English parents who put so much pressure on her that she left England for New York, where she worked for several years as a banker. She forsakes that career for a quieter life in Westport, Connecticut, where she rents a house from charming, handsome single-father Dominic DiFranco. A bartender and carpenter, Dominic's main priority is his six-year-old son, Jesse, who he has been raising alone since Jesse's mom took off. Emma is reluctant to add romantic complications to her life as she launches her new interior-design business, but she can't help falling for Dominic. Jesse, who liked Emma when she was simply the next-door neighbor, becomes jealous of the time Dominic is spending with her. Despite their differences and outside influences that rock the boat, Emma and Dominic's relationship deepens until a late-in-the-game twist that may well rile readers. Nonetheless, Green's tale is an engaging journey that will undoubtedly be sought out by her many fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

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