Book Review: Freefall by Mindi Scott

 
Freefall by Mindi Scott

Publisher:Simon Pulse

Publish Date: October 5, 2010

Paperback, 336 pages

My Review:
Why I read this:  It sounded like a very intriguing premise and I signed up for it with 1-ARC-Tours.

How is the novel driven: Character-driven, the events that set everything into motion have already happened and the characters growing and developing and learning to deal with what life has dealt them is what the book is all about.

My thoughts:  Amazing, simply amazing.  See my note below as to why I almost put this book down, but I did not and I'm glad I didn't.  This is one powerful YA novel and I finished it over a week ago and it is still staying with me.  The book opens with Seth in a downward spiral that seems like it can only end one way, then he meets the lovely Rosetta and he starts searching for a way to make things better.  But this does not come overnight - it's not magic - he sees the girl, he falls in love and straightens out his life for her.  Nor is the girl perfect in every way, she has her own issues to work through as well.  But the book is about working through those issues and little by little, the reason Seth has become the way he is is revealed and that made it a fascinating read.  It's hard to like Seth in the beginning, he's binge drinking on the verge of flunking out of school and just generally not easy to like, but through the book I started to like him and then I was cheering for him.  It's a great book and one that I would recommend to a lot of teenagers, it has the angst that is so evident in those years, it has cliques and the social workings of high school, it has romance and most of all it has a character who works hard to better himself not only for a girl he falls for, but for himself and those around him.

I don't know what else I can say - the book must be read to be understood and while it's not a happy-go-lucky book, it is amazing.  Great job Ms. Scott on your first book - I will be looking forward to more books from you in the future!


Note:  Honestly I almost put this book down after the first few pages.  The language is rough, there are sexual references, drug use and alcohol use in the form of binge-drinking.  However I am glad I did not put it down.  For those of you that saw Jerry Maguire - you know how in the beginning, he is crass, has horrible language, horrible values and it's just rough in the beginning, but through the movie he changes and you see the point of the roughness of the beginning to show the journey.  That is what the beginning of Freefall is about and it's important to the book and therefore I don't feel it was just put in to titillate or just be gratuitous.  We have to be honest with ourselves, teenagers do talk that way so this book is not over the top.

My Rating:  4.5/5.0

About the Book:
How do you come back from the point of no return?

Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend Isaac alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up.

Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely.

Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he's ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .
About the Author:
Mindi Scott lives near Seattle, Washington with her drummer husband in a house with a non-sound-proof basement. Freefall is her first novel. Visit her online at .
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FTC Information: I received this book through 1-ARC Tours for review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.