We All Fall Down by Natalie D. Richards (Website, Twitter, Goodreads)Also by this author: My Secret to Tell
Published by Sourcebooks, Inc. on October 3rd 2017
Genres: Coming of Age, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 368
Theo's always been impulsive. But telling Paige how he feels? He's obsessed over that decision. And it's time. Tonight. At the party on the riverbank, under the old walking bridge, site of so many tales of love and death.
Paige has had a crush on Theo since they first met, but she knows her feelings are one-sided. She's trying to move on, to flirt. A party at the river is just what she needs. Except a fight breaks out, and when Paige tries to intervene--Theo's fist lands in her face.
All Theo and Paige want to do is forget that fateful night. But strange events keep drawing them back to the bridge. Someone, something is determined to make them remember...and pay for what they each did.
We All Fall Down by Natalie Richards is a book I was waiting to get my hands on since I read the summary. I love a good mystery and Richards always comes through with an interesting story that keeps me guessing until the very end. Also, the cover is perfect!
The book starts out introducing us to Theo and Paige. They have been friends for a while and Paige has always had a crush on Theo. It hasn’t been until recently that Theo has started to have the same feelings for her but Paige has come to a conclusion that Theo will never see her as more than just a friend, so she has set her sights on someone else. The night Theo decides he is going to tell Paige what he feels, is the same night that Paige determines she is going to put herself out there with another boy and Theo realizes he is too late. This is where things go incredibly wrong for them both.
When a fight breaks out between Theo and another character at a party on the riverbank, Paige attempts to intervene and ends up getting punched by Theo. As the scene plays out, Richards takes the reader into the fray with these characters and it was heartbreaking to see what ends up happening with these two. I wanted to be able to rewind everything for them both, so they didn’t need to go through this but if that happened we wouldn’t get the rest of the story.
Theo is an interesting character. He is a bit impulsive and high strung and Paige is the one person who gets him. Similarly, Paige suffers from anxiety and Theo is the one that helps her when she has her attacks. Their relationship is a bit co-dependent, but they can’t seem to give each other up. That is, until they are forced to. The outcome of the party is that Theo is put on medication and put on probation and he and Paige can’t be near each other.
Now I’m not going to say a lot here about what really is happening because I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone but there is something that continues to draw Theo and Paige back to the bridge where there happens to be a lock with their initials attached to it (along with a bunch of others). As Theo digs deeper into what is happening, strange incidents continue to pull them along to the end.
I enjoyed this one and if you are looking for a contemporary that delves a bit into the paranormal, consider checking this book out. I thought Richards did a wonderful job of building out these characters and their story and I will continue to look for more books from her in the future.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.
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