Review: Fallen Too Far By Abbi Glines

Title: Fallen Too Far (Too Far #1)
Author: Abbi Glines
Genre: New Adult

Goodreads rating: 4.60 out of 5.00 (400+ ratings)
Goodreads link

To want what you’re not supposed to have…
She is only nineteen.
She is his new stepfather’s daughter.

She is still naïve and innocent due to spending the last three years taking care of her sick mother.

But for twenty-four year old Rush Finlay, she is the only thing that has ever been off limits. His famous father’s guilt money, his mother’s desperation to win his love, and his charm are the three reasons he has never been told no.
Blaire Wynn left her small farmhouse in Alabama, after her mother passed away, to move in with her father and his new wife in their sprawling beach house along the Florida gulf coast. She isn’t prepared for the lifestyle change and she knows she’ll never fit into this world. Then there is her sexy stepbrother who her father leaves her with for the summer while he runs off to Paris with his wife. Rush is as spoiled as he is gorgeous. He is also getting under her skin. She knows he is anything but good for her and that he’ll never be faithful to anyone. He is jaded and has secrets Blaire knows she may never uncover but even knowing all of that…
Blaire just may have fallen too far.

Review by Chantelle

This book had so much promise. Hot cover, generic but promising blurb, Abbi Glines!

But I forgot to note, that this was New Adult. 

Fuck you, New Adult.

New Adult is officially the genre written for (and by) middle aged woman who want to relive guilty pleasures as young adults. I can honestly not imagine any person aged 18-23 genuinely enjoying this book! It is absolutely not written for young adults, and the idea of this genre is absolutely ruining some of my favourite authors. New Adult is aimed at those aged 18 to 23 years old and is, in an ideal world, about the transition period from teen to adulthood, coming of age etc. - not about what happens if you bang a hot guy, when you are, coincidentally, in the age range of 18 to 23. By this I mean, New Adult is being redefined as books with plot lines and characters familiar to the young adult genre, but with intensive and extensive exploration of sex, which is wrong since sex is NOT the predominant feature about growing up. The amount of moments with sex in Fallen Too Far, probably equalled the moments without sex. Which, is probably not what you were looking for when you wanted a read similar to Easy By Tamara Weber. 

So why do I strongly believe that this "book" was more so a novella? or candidly, a self-published Gline's fantasy? Well we can start by 1) the stereotypical premise: can-do-no-wrong virgin meets rocker bad boy, or 2) the length: this is a very short, fast paced book. Don't get me wrong, this is usually an indicator that a book is addictive, great, but in this case, it was related to the lack of character exploration. Seriously, the normal plot to sex scene ratio is about 1:1, so basically not much happens except they boink. 3) Which leads me to the male lead. Rush Finlay. You have absolutely no credible traits besides the fact that you have amazing silver eyes and a ripped body, which is incredibly superficial of Glines, who explores none of his actual PERSONALITY! 

Click me to read spoilers

This means that the romance, in the traditional sense, is minimum. It basically consists of Blaire seeing Rush, realising he's hot, then (literally) watching him boink a whole lot of girls, and then logically falling too far for him... ummmm WTF?!

When the big secret about Blaire's family was finally revealed, I found it incredibly disappointing and anticlimatic that the resulting fallout lasted about 3 pages (incredibly short considering the long awaited reaction to 'the big secret') before - naturally - sex occurred, equally lasting about 3 pages (a lot longer than necessary) - go figure. However, the fact that this novel did not conclude with the happily ever after couple was a necessity that rescued my sanity, as their relationship up until that point was not deserving nor convincing of anything other than lust. This way, Glines has an opportunity in the following sequel to show that her plots have more depth than just hot guy is attracted to hot girl, which is really what YA is about, and what New Adult should be about.

However, this is an Abbi Glines production, so there was a redeeming factor. This was the ending. If you persevere with (and overlook) the lack of romantic development of this book, it notably improves when the twist is revealed, and I must admit, there was her signature hand tingling angst. 

Better works by Abbi Glines include the Vincent Boy Series, which was recently published by Simon Pulse. 

If you liked this book, you will also like The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmerski (click here for my review of said similar book). You will probably also like other books with zero insight or appreciation for plot. 

P.S When reading the foreword, Glines says that she "wasn't sure" that she should have released this one, but that her fellow lady authors encouraged her to. Mmmmm... make of that what you will. 


Ratings
Overall: 4/10
Plot: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Characters: 1/5
Cover: 4/5