Falling into Place audiobook

And some books leave you swimming in your own tears. This book falls under the latter. For the record, this is the first book ever that put me in tears from start to finish. My nose has turned ugly red from excessive blowing and wiping. This is one heck of a sad and heartbreaking story. Nobody told me Newton’s laws of motion would make you bawl out other than the reason that it’s hard enough to understand. But the author managed to torture me further with those Physics Equations. Believe it or not, the general theme of the story is premised on several Newton’s laws of motions. Force is equal to mass times acceleration (F=ma). Liz Emerson is a strong force. She is popular, rich, and beautiful and can make anything happen. She can make anyone believe what she says. She has “mass”, she has “acceleration”. She does mean things to people and has become uncontrollable. She is a force veered to the wrong direction that resulted to destruction of everyone around her. She however belatedly realizes (or so she thought) that her effect to people especially to those she loves is catastrophic. It must be noted that she wasn’t always the negative force that she is. She waited for Newton’s Third Law of Motion to take its effect on her. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction or more easily understood as “karma.” For every bad thing she's done, she waited for punishment but it never came and so she decides to take matters into her own hands. ”She hated what she was and didn’t know how to change…she didn’t have enough force to stop the world from turning. But she had enough to stop her own.” The underlying themes about suicide and bullying, the MC’s pattern and even the POV remind me so much of Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall as the story is told in a very curious POV (which I would like for you to discover for yourself). The narrator recounts the life of Liz and we discover that the rich and the popular don’t really have the perfect lives that many of us assume. Was Liz a victim of bullying? Definitely not. She was in fact the instigator of pranks, of bad gossips about people whose lives turned upside down very tragically because of her actions. She wanted to stop, she wanted to do something about it but she doesn’t know how and so deep inside, Liz suffers severely for everything she’s done. In secret, she cries a lot, she has become utterly depressed but no one seems to notice what’s going on inside her. In retrospect, Newton’s Third Law applies to her after all. “She didn’t think that she deserved to share a planet with seven billion people who were immeasurably better than she was.” The flow of events is rather sporadic in a perfect kind of way which matches the raw, direct but beautiful kind of writing. I was deeply moved by the sincerity and truthfulness of the subjects tackled in the story and then I was so completely dumbfounded after reading the book because I found out that Amy Zhang is a high school student. OMG! She should be acknowledged by Guinness World Records or something! But again, the question remains- What fate awaits Liz Emerson? I recommend for you to find out by reading the book. ^^

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE, DEPRESSION, & BULLYINGEven though that was an audiobook, I sped through pretty fast.This is heartbreakingly beautiful and so well written. It's kind of like an If I Stay without the out of body experience, and I enjoyed it SO MUCH MORE than that.Liz Emerson is your typical mean girl, but there's so much more going on behind that facade. I normally can't stand books that feature mean girls, but this one was so different to me. This deals with suicide and depression in a totally different way than I've seen them dealt with, and it was so much more heartbreaking and hard to read about - but that's what made it great. I liked how much the plot jumped around, but I'm not sure everyone would. I also really liked the narration style and the narrator, but I'm not sure everyone would.All in all, I really liked this book and would definitely recommend it!

I was so torn on rating this one. While I truly enjoyed the writing and the depth of the story itself is incredible, I really did not like the main character. I realize she is a character we're not supposed to like, per se. She's not likeable, period. But contrary to many books I've read with unlike

I ugly cried.

Review originally posted at Mostly YA LitSo many publishers and bloggers recommended this one that it was at the top of my BEA list - and I'm so grateful that I've read it.You've probably heard the premise by now. Liz Emerson is a queen bee at her high school, the kind of popular Mean Girl that you have legitimate reason to hate because she destroys lives, her own included. The book starts with Liz's attempt to commit suicide. What happens before, during, and after is told in fragmented pieces throughout the book.The narrator of the book is an onlooker, someone who has followed Liz's life for a long time. I think the identity of the narrator is supposed to be a bit of a twist, but honestly, it's not much of one - and it doesn't need to be. Whether you guess who the narrator is or not is not the point. What's interesting about the narrator is the voice and insight he/she gives to Liz's story.This is a book written by an author who is wise beyond her years. I am completely floored that author Amy Zhang just graduated high school, and wrote this novel in high school. I'm even more impressed that the writing is not only honest and poignant, but also quite literary. The form of the novel follows the themes perfectly. The starkness of her writing strips all of her characters bare, down to their most secretive, knowing places, in bald contrast to the very public nature of Liz herself.Because while Liz is your typical Mean Girl who drinks and makes out with lots of boys and is truly nasty, she's also a desperately lonely person. I know a lot of bloggers said they couldn't connect with her right away. She's not the kind of person you feel sorry for. She pretty much defines the Me Generation. She certainly doesn't have the nerdy life that I had in high school. And yet, the more you get to know her, the more you see her as a girl with so much potential and heart. Everything that has happened in her life has led her to this.I feel like I'm spouting cliches here. But this book moved me and surprised me. I expected it to be very dark and depressing...and at certain points, it was. But with every moment of darkness, there was another fragment that gave us more of a clue to Liz's character, and those pieces were fascinating to behold. The mystery of her character is what compelled me to keep reading.Falling into Place is, at its heart, a character study of a deeply depressed and lonely person. But Zhang takes it up a notch and builds in very strong, layered secondary characters, especially in best friends Julia and Kennie. They are so much a part of who Liz is and what she became. What's even more fascinating, though, is how people around her who didn't know her that well also added to Liz's character. The guy who called the ambulance. The kids who are playing cards at the hospital waiting to hear her diagnosis. The teens she bullied. Liz is not just the sum of her own parts, but what she's touched and influenced throughout the years, and we see, again and again, how little ripples can change and shape a person. Bonuses: Physics: Can I just applaud Zhang for using physics in such a clever and distinct way? I don't think I've ever seen a science thread written like this before, and it's quite brilliant. It's not going to make you say "Wow, science!", but it will, like the rest of the book, make you contemplate your own actions. Stunning Writing: I mentioned already that this is a very literary book, but I couldn't finish this review without adding in a quote or two, because the writing is just beautiful: "When she threw her head back, she could see the sky bending away from her, and it seemed closer than usual. As though if she tried, she could snag a star on her fingernail, but she didn't move." "It struck him that perhaps she thought just as many thoughts in a minute as he did, felt just as many emotions, inhaled and exhaled just as he did. And it was then that he began to fall in love with her for the second time, for the same reason that he had picked up his flute again: because he believed in broken things." The Final Word Falling Into Place is a book to read when you need to look at life as clearly as possible. I didn't cry at this book. Maybe you will. I was too busy thinking and processing and trying to figure out how to hold on to both the feeling I got while reading, and the feeling that I can be better, stronger, and kinder, with my own life.

Falling Into Place I'm all tears, gimme a second. Until then: Before people start complaining that suicide is downright selfish: “Liz never thought she was better than anyone. She thought she was so much worse that in three days, she would drive her car off the road because she didn’t think that she deserved to share a planet with seven billion people who were immeasurably better than she was.”Kay? Now that we got THAT cleared up... Let's start backwards? THAT ENDING!! I won't say much about it, but it is absolutely... Absolute. That's it. Won't reveal anything else. But it's brilliant and I'm in tears. (I'll be using that statement a lot, just warning ya) I've never read anything else by Amy Zhang? But now I kinda want to. The WRITING is intense. Warning: the unusual use of present tense in fiction brings this immediate stress and leaves you at the edge. You know it's gonna drop you down down down, but you can't do anything about it. Cuz guess what? Amy Zhang got you hooked like a damn parasite. And she knows it, too.The book starts out like this:We're all familiar with this. It's in the description. We were expecting this. “On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s Laws of Motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road.”(Actually that's a tiny lie. It starts with the statements of the three laws of motion. Yah physics!)What we weren't expecting is the narrator. Or no... We were warned that it was a surprising narrator. I'm gonna leak it a bit. It's first person. First. Person. I. Liz is she. Agh. Amy Zhang, why do you do this to me? I won't tell you who that "I" is, but it's gonna blow your mind, even if you were sorta expecting it. I cried. I cried a lot and I hugged my teddy bear and I told my (apathetic) mom and I told my sister and I bawled and hyperventilated a bit and fell in love with LIAM (isn't that a name you'd just fall in love with?! Or maybe I like One Direction too much.... Not sure...) and damn just stop everything you're doing and read this PLEASE. Such an eye-opener and so so so good. I've never read anything like this, not really.Definitely 5 stars, definitely a new favorite. OMG, really.

This is a NON-SPOILER REVIEW, so you're safe to read!Inital Reaction after finishing: I'm sitting here puffy-eyed and in awe. One of the most beautiful, subtle, effortless books that I have ever, ever read. Full review to come closer to release. Falling Into Place is about a young girl who drives her mercedes off a bridge...on purpose. This is her story about why. It's told from multiple perspectives in non linear form, but there is a mystery narrator thrown into the mix as well! Amy Zhang is a crazy talented writer. She wrote this book while in high school. I'm in awe that this is her debut and I look forward to everything and anything else she writes.Characters: ★★★★★There are many characters in this book, and it's such an amazing feat by an author when she can fully develop each character, even the side characters. Liz Emerson is our MC who is such a complex character. At the surface, Liz is the popular mean girl. The cliche of YA, but as I delved deeper into Liz's thoughts she becomes more and more human and reminded me about how there's so much more to people, even the ones I tend to judge at face value (we all do it! c'mon). What I love about Amy Zhang's characters is that they are so unlikeable at times, but then they have these real human moments and you're reminded that this is what people are REALLY like. We are not always loveable and wonderful. We are flawed. We are human. We have problems. We are happy and sad. Laughing and crying. Amy Zhang delivers this exactly. I can't even tell you who is my favorite because I love all the characters equally for their story and their journey.Plot: ★★★★.5This plot is very similar to If I Stay but without the out of body experience. It's told in non linear format meaning it jumps back and forth in time from past to present. There is also a mystery narrator that I found so, so intriguing that it kept me so invested. As you read you think okay I'm going to find out about why this girl wants to kill herself? What's the big reason? And Zhang skillfully uses the characters and their experiences to connect the multitude of reasons why this girl is depressed. Writing: ★★★★★Amy Zhang's writing is so good. I'm just so envious and wish I could write like her! She has this subtle way of tugging at your emotions. Her writing is very honest, but not over wrought with emotion. So when that emotion hits you, it hits you hard. I have to tell you that I wasn't crying much at all, but I hit the last 1/3 of the book and I just burst into tears because the emotion was overwhelming. I have to say this is one the best books portraying depression. Depression is not just feeling sad. It's a complex disease and I feel like Zhang really showed the many dimensions of it through Liz's thoughts and actions. Romance/Feels: ★★★★★As you can tell, I really loved this book. It gave me the feels you guys and I really can't say more. So here's a gif: Ending: ★★★★★I adored it. It was perfect. I was wondering how Zhang would end it as I was reading, but when I got to the last page I had this sense of...Overall Enjoyment: ★★★★★Obviously, I LOVED IT.Rereadability: HELL YES, i totally pre-ordered a physical copy of this!Final Rating: 4.92 stars --- ★★★★★I highly recommend you read this book if you love contemporary with a moving plot and deeper issues.

Fuck.This book. THIS BOOK. I was on the fence when I started it. I liked it, but I didn’t like like it. The writing style is a little confusing in the beginning, it switches a lot between the present, the past, the even older past, and different POVs. So until you familiarize with it, it can be confusing and a little off-putting. But once that happens…man. This struck deep with me. It’s absolutely beautifully written. It’s like poetry, the really good kind, you know? It resonates with you and it makes you think and feel and just a plethora of sentiments, all poured on you. It’s fantastic.Falling Into Place is the story of Liz Emerson, who decides that the world would be better of without her, that the things that she has done (or hasn’t done) have only hurt others and that the only thing left for her to do is to take her own life. This is not an easy story to read. It’s very thought provoking. How much do we really influence each other? How much do our actions count? How much do the affect or alter someone else’s life? We never think about this. We never think something small might count. We never take into consideration that something small might generate a bigger wave than we thought. It’s a story about reasons. The underlying questions are “Why?” and “How?” and it explores relationships, between friends, between families. The characters are complex, they’re well developed and the story doesn’t focus just on the main character, but on the side characters as well. The reader gets to experience the big picture this way, and see things not only from one perspective, but several. The big surprise was the narrator. You only find out who it is at the end and, for me, it was a shock, but it made everything even more meaningful. I recommend this to people who have enjoyed reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher or If I Stay by Gayle Forman. It’s a story that will stay with you. I was in tears by the end of it and it has easily become one of my favourites of the year, so far.Favourite quotes:“Liz looked back and counted the bodies, all those lives she had ruined simply by existing. So she chose to stop existing.” “She was tired. Gravity pulled at her more aggressively than usual. When she closed her eyes, she could feel it, dragging her deeper, deeper. I would have pulled her back. I would have saved her from falling, but she didn’t see my hand.” ★★★★★ To everyone who got this far, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! Also, feel free to share your thoughts, comment or tell me anything :)

Words cannot describe how beautiful and important this book is. I can't even voice my thoughts right now. Wow. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Collins Australia for providing me with a review copy!All of my reviews are spoiler free (unless stated otherwise) so you can go ahead and read my review!Plot: This story is told from a mysterious unknown perspective that outlines in a non-linear fashion, the main characters life up until the moment she decides to drive her car off the icy motorway. Even though the story was told in a non-linear way, I couldn’t put this book down. It was so extraordinarily beautiful in the way the story was told and I think this book has such value in regards to its content. What an important and poignant story!Characters:I loved reading about Liz Emerson and her life. All of the characters were so flawed and realistic and it just goes to show that in real life people suffer with so many issues and I loved how the characters went through so much such as mental illness, drug abuse, pregnancy, family issues, etc.Writing: The way it was written blew me away. I didn’t expect the non-linear aspect to work so well for the story but it really did.Romance/Feels: I was in tears at the end of the book because I had so many feelings! I was just so attached to the story and the characters that I felt everything they did.Ending: Absolutely perfect. I won’t say any more but just know that I was tearing up!Overall Enjoyment: Such a beautiful story that I recommend for mature YA readers. It’s so insightful and important that these issues are addressed in the Young Adult genre and I will forever cherish this book. I enjoyed it so much that halfway through reading my eARC, I purchased the physical book so I could own it on my shelf forever.

I recently had a friend asking me for reasons to live. He/she was depressed and thought that their life was worthless. I knew how a wrong word from my side would result in something tragic, so I didn’t say much. If you’re depressed and you’re reading this, please know that you’re valued. YOUR EXISTENCE MATTERS.Which brings me back to this book. Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang is about Liz Emerson and how she decided to end her life. Liz is a fundamentally awful person. At her school in Meridian High, she is the popular mean girl, the bully, the star soccer player. Together with her best friends Julia and Kennie, Liz has done all that she could to maintain that image, to tell the world that they don’t care, to destroy anyone who came in their way. But inside, Liz is shattered. Inside, Liz is breaking. And no one knows. So one evening, Liz puts Newton’s laws into practice and runs her Mercedes off the road. And now the only thing keeping her alive is the machine moving her lungs. And yet, the question remains: Why Didn’t Anybody Know? “They were catalysts, the fingers that tipped the first domino. They started things that grew into nothing things that were much greater than themselves. A touch, a nudge in the wrong direction, and everyone fell down.”  This book deserves a million accolades for being the best debut ever. I can’t stress this enough; Amy Zhang’s writing is absolutely beautiful. Everything about this book – the mysterious narrator, the perfectly flawed characters, the alternating timelines, the writing, the sheer brilliance of the plot execution – is done with utmost care. I can’t believe Zhang was just seventeen when she wrote this book. The emotional intelligence required to grasp this level of understanding of the human psyche is far more than what that age calls for. But Zhang has done it, and the result is beautiful. Liz is a very unlikeable protagonist. What struck me the most about her character was how we each have a part of Liz in us. She craves for the sky; the shard of light through the network of clouds. She bullies people, says mean things she doesn’t mean. In short, she lives up to the expectations of the people, which is, to be a bitch. Like I said, she isn’t likeable. But very rarely have I come across a realistic YA novel which portrays a flawed character so well and manages to gather sympathy. There is so much character development in this book, you’re going to worry Liz is real and dying. I wonder what the author went through to come up with a character like Liz.Julia and Kennie play an equally important role in the book. Their characters never swap places, you never mix them up. Their backstories are aligned perfectly so. I related to Julia the most, who is the sensible and rational one among the three. But she is also the one whose life Liz destroyed. When Julia is ready to forgive, Liz is not there to listen. Kennie on the other hand, is like the Gretchen in the Mean Girls trio. She’s famous and rich, likes the attention she gets, but evidently has secrets of her own too. I also loved Liam Oliver, the fourth main character. Very little is revealed about him and yet his role has a great impact.The friendship and the bonding between the three girls in spite of everything else surprised me. There is also so much about family and relationships and broken people. Monica Emerson’s incomprehensible feelings become real and raw in front of us. Julia and Kennie’s grief over their best friend’s accident is shaking. The immense shock of discovering your crush broken and shattered on the road is explored through Liam’s point of view. Within these pages, there are so many subtle observations on human emotions, the characters, and life in general, that made me pause a moment to just sit back and admire the page. I’ve seen many people being mad at this book because seeking help for mental illness is portrayed negatively. Liz goes to her guidance counselor as a last resort, but somehow ends up getting guiltier and depressed than before. I think that was an important part. It’s not at all easy to open up to somebody – even a guidance counselor – when all they know about you is from your reputation of being a bitch. It showed me how there’s a little good left in everybody, how it must take a right person for them to show their true side. Liz’s character taught me a lot. Even now, if you are having second thoughts about reading this book, what can I say, your loss. If not for the very common trope of depression and suicide among high-school students, read it for the writing. I’m sure Amy Zhang won’t disappoint you. But be aware that the characters are here to teach you something, not to make you like them. “She is human and bound by the same laws of nature—gravity, in particular—as everyone else. Try as she might, she will never grow wings.”  ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪Initial reread review:Once again, this book has managed to break my heart and impact my life with its very existence. I, for one, am at a loss of words.

Take from my "Save The Date" review on my blogWhy You Should Be Saving The Date for Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang:1. I could not put Falling Into Place down. It just sort of crept up on me, dug its claws into me and I just had this pit in my stomach until I could finish it. The plot mixed with the way it made me feel propelled me forward.2. It was tragically beautiful and heartwrenching and really, really stripped down the characters: At a glance, these characters could have been one dimensional but as the story is told it really strips down the characters, (and the relationships I would say) in all their complexities and they just became so vulnerable to me. Even the “dislikeable” ones. Which you could say there are a few. The relationships and friendships are rather unhealthy and, as a reader, you just feel like “OMG WHY STOP.” As you read you see why it all lead up to this destructive event.3. The narrator is fascinating: It’s told by a mysterious narrator who sees and knows all and is told in a non-linear way (meaning flashbacks and jumping around to different places in the story). It’s easy, after a little while, to guess at who the narrator is but it was a really, really effective way to tell the story.4. It made me weep at 1am. It’s a quiet novel but it creeps up on you and just lays you out like a wrecking ball does and caused all my insides to crumble. Who Should Save The Date: people who like quiet novels that really dissect the characters, people who want lovely prose, people who like unique narrators, lovers of the complexities of human interaction and motives A Sneak Peek: “Force. Liz. She looked around and saw all the broken things in her wake, and then she looked inside herself and saw the spidering cracks from the weight of all the things she had done. She hated what she was and didn’t know how to change, and half an hour before she drove her car off the road, she saw that despite all of that, she didn’t have enough force to stop the world from turning. But she had enough to stop her own.”

Este libro fue realmente sorprendente. Al principio pensé que no era para mi, yo y el drama no nos llevamos bien, y no me enganchaba con la primera parte porque no es una historia lineal. Sin embargo, conforme iba avanzando y leía más y más páginas y me enamoraba más de los personajes que al principio no parecían importantes pero luego lees como se entrelazan entre sí y como ayudan a hacer que la historia sea mucho más profunda. De verdad que al terminarlo dije inmediatamente 5 estrellas, sin pensarlo. Me encantó, fue una gran sorpresa. Este libro lo leí en ingles y ni siquiera me di cuenta, es muy fácil de leer, tiene capítulos cortos y en nivel de dificultad le pondría un 2/5. Recomendado para un nivel de ingles básico o intermedio bajo

This was a really enjoyable and quick read for me.I like how the story approaches some difficult topics like abortion, bulimia, bulling and suicide. I didn't like the main character and we are supposed not to like her - she is really mean - almost to the point of evil. One thing I absolutely loved from the moment I started reading was the writing just wonderful, sublime, beautiful, amazing. I also like how the book was structured - the chapters, the alternating POV's and the alternation between past and present, the small chapters and the presence of one mysterious perspective/character but not (view spoiler)[ the main characters imaginary friend from childhood (hide spoiler)].All in all I liked this book and I'm quite surprised by it and this is because I read so many books in the last period about suicide and little surprises me now, but this did it.

Visit Stay Bookish for more book reviews!Falling Into Place has got to be one of the most outstanding YA debut novels I’ve read this year. Three reasons why you really ought to read this book: The writing is stunning, the characters are realistically complex and the story is earnest, courageous and also important.“Gravity is our playmate, momentum is our friend. We are blurs of motion. We are racing, and we are both winning, because we do not race each other. We race the world, and as fast as it rotates, as fast as it revolves, we are faster.”The most popular girl in her high school, Liz Emerson chooses to be an object in motion that would stay in motion despite flattening everything in her path. Sad, broken and destructive, Liz applies Newton’s Laws by crashing her car, with every intention to say goodbye to her miserable life. Falling Into Place is a deep exploration of the inertia, force, mass, gravity, velocity, acceleration and ultimately the cause and effect of Liz’s existence.“Death, unfortunately, is not in the business of lending wings.”Seriously, Amy Zhang is a stellar writer. I can’t even begin to express how much I fell in love with her prose. The way she crafted Falling Into Place with this lovely mess of jumbled moments detailing Liz’s life and all its in-betweens, and how she added snapshots- gorgeous. The way she incorporates these physics theories into her story and uses them as metaphors- sublime. Also, the use of a mysterious narrator worked incredibly well for me. What stood out the most though is the essence of the writing and its unflinching and honest depiction of its characters.“She fell. She thought, Hello, gravity, and tried to spread her arms so that it would catch her. Hello, good-bye. But the world did not fade completely.”While Falling Into Place is centered on Liz Emerson, it does not fail to take notice of the people in Liz’s life and in fact allows them to be a channel to fully understanding Liz and her brokenness. There’s Monica, Liz’s mom, Julia and Kennie, her best friends, and Liam, a boy from their high school. We get to read their perspectives, discern their connection and relationship with Liz (and how that had pushed her even further into darkness) but we also see these characters for who they are, what their own story is. Everyone has their broken parts and everyone is more than a little messed-up and my heart just couldn’t help but hurt for each and everyone of them.“Liz Emerson held so much darkness within her that closing her eyes didn’t make much of a difference at all.”My heart broke the most for Liz though. She’s the kind of character some readers might hate or might feel disconnected to because she sure has her share of irreparable stupid mistakes. That said, I truthfully was able to sympathize with her despite never being in her shoes. The way the author puts Liz’s emotions and thoughts into words- they felt familiar even when they weren’t, you know? I’m probably sounding cryptic here but I don’t know how else to describe the way Liz and her story affected me. I was so surprised to find tears in my eyes when I closed the book.Well, hello, darling with the ocean eyes,How many secrets keep us apart?A sea of poems, a field of sighs,Can I cross and return to the start?Falling Into Place is a really powerful novel if you let it take you deeper into Liz’s haunting and devastating life. It opens your eyes to harsh cruelties, hopelessness and depression, and the fact that even the unbreakable can break. While it maybe painful and heartbreaking, Falling Into Place is a beautifully poignant novel in its totality. I can’t recommend it enough.

I...I have no real words for how this book made me feel. Zhang has written something here that reached me straight to the core. Her prose is incredibly well written. The perspective of the work is a mix of third person omniscient and first person, but the prose and perspective flow incredibly well and work in a way that I could never have imagined. Much like The Great Gatsby, you are not supposed to like the girls in this book, especially our main character Liz. They are catty and mean and awful. But they're also human, and flawed, and beneath that "mean girl" exterior, Zhang weaves a tale of deeply insecure and sad young girls. It is refreshing to see the opposite side of the 'mean girl', the side that all of those stupid anti-bullying movies we all had to watch in school said, the notion that "those who bully are just suffering on the inside".I found myself annotating large portions of this book. Underlining and dog-earing and trying to make sure I remembered specific quotes. Not only was the prose beautiful, but it also gave me consistent reminders of both the omnipresence of mortality in this world, and things I should probably remember about life. Overall, this book handles the topic of depression/suicide/mental illness in one of the best fashions that I have read in a book. By no means is it perfect, but it is well written and is effective at the tale it is trying to tell. 4.5/5 stars

Please note: this book deals with a lot of triggers including suicide, depression, and drug use, please be aware of this before picking up Falling into Place!I decided to write a review on this book because when I finished it, I honestly had no idea how I really felt about it... at all. First things first, I have to say how much I loved Amy Zhang's writing style. I know I say this all the time, so if you've been dedicated and have read all my reviews, you'll know this, but I really am not a fan of books that jump back and forth in time and that change points of view... Well, Falling into Place was one of those kinds of books and I adored it. Usually, when a book follows that kind of writing, the reader finds it hard to connect with the characters and can find parts of the book to be incredibly information dumping, but surprisingly, this wasn't the case with this book.I found that I really didn't like the main character, Liz Emerson, but not due to how she was written but because I'm not sure that you're meant to. Throughout the book you're constantly shown a lot of terrible things that this character does, and even when the character shows remorse or realises that she shouldn't be doing those things... I couldn't help but think "Well, no shit, bullying is bad" and I just couldn't really feel sorry for the character, I ended up feeling sorry for the people around her.Even though the characters within Falling into Place were unaware that Liz Emerson ended up in Hospital because of a suicide attempt, the book did a fantastic job of showing what happens to the people around someone who attempts suicide, people that you wouldn't necessarily think would care, definitely did. Zhang even showed how pretending to care, like a lot of Liz's schoolmates did, helps no one.One of my favourite aspects of this book, and I'm hoping it's not a spoiler because I realised pretty early on, but my apologies if you think you didn't or wouldn't see this, is that Liz's sections of the story were told by her imaginary friend, who she no longer believes in. I loved the 'snapshots' within the book, which were one page descriptions of past event's in Liz's life, and how honest the imaginary friend was, even showing disappointment towards Liz.Falling into Place is the perfect book for those who love short, sharp chapters. Each chapter within the book was very too the point and kept my interest up throughout the novel. It made saying "Just one more chapter and I'll go to bed" a very easy sentence to say! I devoured the book in just over 24 hours, but I did leave it feeling confused. I'm not sure whether or not that was because it touched on a very sensitive subject, and it's quite a devastating book, or because of my dislike of the main character, but I do think that I enjoyed Falling into Place immensely.I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a realistic contemporary Young Adult book, lovers of John Green and Gayle Forman, will definitely enjoy Falling into Place. Overall, I gave this book four out of five stars (★★★★☆) it's a book that I'll recommend, but maybe not shout about. Thank you so much to Harper Collins for sending me this beautifully written book.