Review: Fall for Anything

Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Goodreads description:

When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daugh-ter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on...but are some questions better left unanswered?

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My thoughts about this book are basically the same ones as for Some Girls Are (review). Again, the novel was really well done, but I can’t say I loved this book. It was heartbreaking and devastating, and I know I can't really criticize that - I mean, the book is about suicide; of course it's not going to be a happy story. But I just wanted it to be a bit more hopeful, more uplifting. There was no hope in this novel whatsoever, and it didn't offer any solutions - again, the author probably didn't want to solve the problem, and of course there is no simple answer, but it was just so depressing!

The writing, as in Some Girls Are, was spectacular. I absolutely love Courtney Summer's simplistic style. It made Eddie's pain all the more real, more raw and easy to relate to. Eddie was a great character - she was so easy to understand and relate to, and I felt each of her feelings. At times, though, I just wanted to shake her and make her reach out to Milo.

All of the other characters were well-written and fleshed-out. Milo was so perfect, and I loved the relationship between him and Eddie. Their past problems seemed really realistic and added another dimension to the plot. Culler was kind of strange to me. In the beginning, I really liked him, but I thought his relationship to Eddie was a little weird - saying his loss was as great as Eddie's didn't seem right. Yes, Seth Reeves was his idol and he looked up to him all his life, but he was Eddie's father. I don't think those losses are comparable.

One problem I had with the novel was that there wasn't enough information about the time before the suicide, in my opinion. I would have liked to know who Eddie was before, how her relationship with her dad was, and with her mom, too. The reader never got to know her father as a person.

All in all, this novel is extremely well-done; the characters and the writing are amazing, and Eddie's pain is raw and real. I had a few problems with the plot, though, and (like Some Girls Are), this book is really depressing and heart-breaking, and I would have preferred a more hopeful ending.