SECONDHAND BOOK REVIEW: The Day the Falls Stood Still

TITLE: The Day the Falls Stood Still

AUTHOR: Cathy Marie Buchanan

WHY I PICKED IT UP: The cover is gorgeous. I’m a sucker for historical fiction. And I knew from the blurb that I was going to love Tom Cole. If I’d have known just how much I was going to love him, and just how much he would break my heart, I maybe wouldn’t have picked up the book.

Oh, who am I kidding? I still would have. Because this book was so, so, so, so, so good.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT: Oh, for pity’s sake. The whole damn thing. The main character, Bess is so well-drawn. Seventeen years old at the start of the book and facing down the loss of her family’s fortune. Seventeen years old and determined to befriend the mysterious riverman who is far beneath her family’s status–even with the loss of their fortune. Seventeen years old and carrying the burden of her ailing sister and the high expectations of her mother. And when Tom Cole (the green-eyed riverman) has the nerve to tell her she lacks grit you both love him and hate him for it because it’s both true and not true.

I’m making a mess of this book review. It’s just because it’s so damn good, and I don’t want to spoil anything and it’s SO HARD BECAUSE THE WHOLE BOOK IS SO DAMN GOOD.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT IT: Well, it kept me from doing laundry, making supper, talking to my husband about his day, writing my own book, and it made my cry my eyes out, so I guess I didn’t like that it made me a slovenly red-eyed irresponsible mess for the day and a half it took me to read it.

OH WAIT NO I LOVED THAT. AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN. AND I WILL DO IT AGAIN.

Because I’m so not giving this book away. Usually it’s at this point in the review that I offer to mail the book to the first person who writes in the comments that they’d like to read and review it. Not happening this time. This is definitely a re-read for me. SO YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO GO BUY YOUR OWN COPY. Kindle? Click here. Paper copy? Click here.

Trust me. If you need a story set during WWI that will make you fall in love and laugh and cry, then run don’t walk and grab this one. And be warned…A week after reading it I was still spontaneously bursting into tears over something Tom said to Bess. WANT TO TELL YOU SO BAD BUT DON’T WANT TO SPOIL IT. THE STRUGGLE IS REAL. GO READ THIS BOOK SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT, PLEASE.

RATING (1-5 Stars): You know already, don’t you? Five stars, a million times over.

Loads of love,

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