The temperatures are cooler here and the leaves are changing, so I feel like it’s time for cozy reads. I recently read Falling Like Leaves and it’s the perfect read for the start of the season. Today I want to tell you about this book and what I thought!
A big thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
Gilmore Girls meets Jenny Han in this autumnal teen rom-com about a city girl stuck in a quaint small town who must confront her future and her old flame while the town prepares for an annual fall festival.
Ellis has a lot of expectations for her senior year, but moving from Manhattan to Bramble Falls, Connecticut is not one of them. Yet in the wake of her parents’ separation, that’s exactly where she and her mother are headed.
Bramble Falls might be charming, but it’s also full of distractions. Like local barista Cooper Barnett, Ellis’s one-time best friend—and first kiss—who has not only majorly glowed up but wants nothing to do with Ellis.
Then there’s the Falling Leaves Festival, a month-long tourist attraction run by Ellis’s aunt—celebrating everything autumn. The festival seems nice and all, but Ellis doesn’t have time to be roped into her aunt’s enthusiastic planning. Dragged to each event, she can’t stop bumping into Cooper, the one person she’s hoping to avoid.
But the longer she stays in Bramble Falls, the harder it is to pretend she’s not falling for this town and the people in it. As her return to Manhattan gets pushed further and further out, Ellis is forced to confront exactly what she wants for her future—and what that means for her present.
Review
Gilmore Girls meets Jenny Han is the only thing I needed to read before knowing I needed Falling Like Leaves in my life. This small town contemporary story with a second chance romance and coming of age elements that kept me reading until I read the final page.
Ellis has her whole senior year planned and already sees her future at Columbia. Moving to a small town in Connecticut because her parents are separating wasn’t on her to do list. It was interesting to see how invested Ellis was in her future career and working with her dad. So much so that she was never interested in fun outings with friends or even school dances. Moving to a small town to live with her aunt and cousin definitely changed that. I loved seeing Ellis start to enjoy her senior year and the people surrounding her. That college wasn’t the only thing she had to worry about and she could do things she thought were fun. Like designing clothes.
I thought the relationship with her parents was very interesting. She blamed he mother for the move, but as the year continued I think she finally started seeing a different side of her. Especially when things with her father weren’t all as it seemed. I really appreciated the long talk that she eventually has with her mother. Family played a big part in this book and I loved that!
We can’t forget the second chance romance we had going on in this story either. Cooper was such a sweet character and I loved how he was following his dreams. Their relationship slowly developed and I loved seeing them get to know each other again. Relationships aren’t easy at any age and I feel like the author showed us that in a great way.
Last but not least, I have to talk about this small town and side characters. They made it feel like a proper small town and all of the fall festivities made me wish I had a fall festival where I live. I will say that I would’ve gotten lost in that maze myself, haha. I really enjoyed my time in Bramble Falls and I can’t wait to see what this author gives us next!
Falling Like Leaves was a great start to the season. I’m excited to see that we’ll be getting another book in Bramble Falls. At least, that’s what Goodreads says. What are you favorite kind of autumn reads? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
