After She Falls by Carmen Schober

 

After She Falls, from debut novelist Carmen Schober, follows Adri Rivera a young mom and former semi-professional fighter who finds herself at a crossroads after leaving an abusive relationship with her young daughter.

First the positives: I really enjoyed Schober's willingness to dive into more of the realities of her characters life rather than over prettying them for her genre. There were scenes where main characters drank and talked about sex. The characters who shared their faith often did it hesitantly and awkwardly but with heart (and boy doesn't that ring true), the parents and guardians had regrets and were conflicted at times about their choices. I really love stories that don't make things too perfect to be possible.

Additionally, I also appreciated the work Schober put in to make Adri's situation with Owen feel more realistic. Her back and forth, her considerations for Eva, her doubts, all felt very true to Adri leaving the life she'd been living in the past few years. 

Finally, I found it interesting to see a Christian fiction written with the main characters attending in a Catholic setting. This is unique in my experience and I wish Schober had dug more into this side of the characters.

Things I struggled with: I did really struggle with the pacing and transition of this book. Now, to be fair, I'm not big on professional fighting, so maybe I missed some key elements? But it felt like every so often I had to flip back and reread a page or two as I couldn't find the transition. This definitely disrupted my immersion.

Second, I know both Max and Adri had varying levels of hurt and trauma they were working through but they weren't the most charismatic of leads to keep me drawn in. I became more invested in Boom, Roman, or Eva who had little story time comparatively.  

Trigger warnings: I think it is fair to note that there are some scenes that could cause readers with similar backgrounds some distress. While there is obviously some violence due the the central professional fighting theme. There are also two violent assaults on a central character by a significant other as well as a violent assault on a family pet.

Personally, despite this book feeling more of a mixed bag to my personal tastes I'm very curious and excited to see where Schober goes from her and how her storytelling style continues to grow in these next few years.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Book was provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. and Baker Publishing Group.