Falling Harder by W.H.Vega

About the book

Falling Harder is a new adult book by W.H.Vega and part of the Hearts Collective. The book was published on 6^th October by the Hearts Collective and the book is 513 pages long.

Synopsis

Nadia Faber is a survivor. Her parents both died in a car accident when she was only 12 years old and was then thrust into the harsh foster system. Nadia never felt like she belonged until she moved in with one particular family. While the parents were monsters, the other foster kids there were her saviours.

Now all grown up, Nadia has made something of herself. But, she can’t forget her past and the love she lost. In order to save Nadia, Trace was arrested and taken away from her. Nadia spends all of her time helping people in similar situations to her past but she never expects for Trace to turn up on her doorstep one day…

What I thought

Falling Harder starts off with a pretty devastating blow to protagonist Nadia Faber. Her parents are both killed and with no other family anywhere, she is forced to go into the foster system, moving from home to home. She has a terrible time in her new ‘homes’ but when she moves once more, she thinks this may finally be her chance for a proper family. But, she soon realises that her new ‘parents’ are drunks and abusive. The other children there though take Nadia under their wings and keep her out of the way as much as possible.

This is a book that doesn’t shy away from the harsh conditions that can be seen within the foster system. Nadia is put through some terrible things but she finds peace in her new family, Conway, Garrick and Trace. The more time she spends with Trace, the closer she gets to him. He’s her constant rock in a broken home. But, when the foster parents get too much, and try to take advantage, Trace steps in to protect both Nadia and Conway. Obviously, not all foster homes are like this but W.H.Vega focuses on some of the worst situations possible and is very graphic in their descriptions. While some things were pretty hard to read, it all felt incredibly real and also made me feel so much for the characters involved.

I also really enjoyed the developing romance between Nadia and Trace. She’s never been a girly girl and hasn’t had boyfriends before. Compared with Trace who has been there and done it all, Nadia is such an innocent. However, she’s not annoying with it and I really liked watching her grow up with him. The romance between these two characters was sweet and careful, because of their situation, but I was routing for them both all of the time. The chemistry between them was great but it was also never over the top at any point.

While I really enjoyed the first half of the book, I wasn’t as much of a fan of the second half. After Trace goes to prison, Nadia doesn’t see him again, nor does she have any contact with him even though she thinks of him constantly. Nadia is now a successful lawyer and does her best to help out kids in situations similar to hers as a child. One day though, Trace comes knocking on her door and she can’t believe her eyes. The second part of the book was extremely rushed and I no longer felt the connection between Nadia and Trace. I felt as though too much had happened in between them seeing each other again and not enough time getting to know this. They just jumped back into things without much talking or anything and this bugged me.

I wish this book had been split into two and more time taken in the reunion of Nadia and Trace. The first part of the book was so believable and real that it was ruined by the second half a little bit. However, it was still mostly a good read.