Once Upon a Twilight!: Blog Tour: Falling By Design | Valia Lind | Review

Falling by Design
Author: Valia Lind
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Released: March 12, 2014
Review Source: Author

Brooklynn Summers has a plan for her life: graduate from high school, get into a top fashion school, prove to her family that she’s not a failure. She wishes someone in her life understood her need to create because her parents sure don’t support her dreams, her sister hates her, and the deadlines are soon approaching. Enter Grayson Banks. There are a few things in life Brooklynn can’t stand: mismatched patterns, cheap polyester, and Grayson. No boy has ever publicly humiliated Brooklynn like Grayson has. When he suddenly moved away in eighth grade, Brooklynn happily wished him good riddance. But on the first day of senior year, Grayson comes back, with his piercing blue eyes and a smile that melts icebergs, he is not exactly the boy Brooklynn remembers. She quickly realizes that Grayson’s intentions have completely shifted, but she’s not sure if she can put their past behind her. Grayson understands Brooklynn’s creative ambitions and he devises a plan to showcase her work to the world. When the two agree to work together, suddenly, there is more than just fabric paint that’s having a chemical reaction to its environment. Brooklynn cannot help but feel pulled into Grayson’s arms, but memories and misunderstandings surface, putting in danger whatever small comradeship these two childhood enemies have constructed. Can Brooklynn overcome her own insecurities, finally making her dreams come true? Even a dream she didn’t know she had. This is a story about a girl with big dreams and a boy who helps her achieve them.

This story brings me back. To the middle school years, of being picked at by a boy in class, that probably liked you, but instead of a normal conversation treated you so bad, because that was the only way they knew how to talk to a girl, making fun and doing mean things, was as far it ever went. This is the connection that first comes to mind when reading Falling by Design, by Valia Lind. Falling by Design is a very quick and easy read. Very realistic in it's story line, the plot truly keeps the reader reading from start to finish. Each character is carefully crafted and truly represents real life characters that could easily jump off the page. I find that a true strength in writing realistic fiction, is just that. Creating characters that a live in their actions and descriptions. Even the supporting characters of this story are highlighted nicely.

Brooklynn is living in the final year of life before she truly heads off on her own in the big world. Just when she thinks it is smooth sailing for her senior year, in walks a boy of her past. Grayson, no longer a boy but an attractive guy. He bumps into Brooklynn and the rest is history. However, will their history get in the way of a blooming relationship that may not be meant to be? Or will Brooklynn break out of her fragile shell, experience life and take Grayson with her? So back to the mean guy in middle school that I still remember, well 20 years later...he apologized and I laughed about it. Brooklynn, however may not and miss out on something great that is hidden under a layer of past events.

About the Author: Valia Lind

Author. Photographer. Artist. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Valia Lind always had a love for the written word. She wrote her first full book on the bathroom floor of her dormitory, while procrastinating to study for her college classes. Upon graduation, she has moved her writing to more respectable places, and have found her voice in Young Adult fiction. Falling by Design is her debut young adult novel. You can visit her online at www.valialind.blogspot.com or follow her on twitter, where she spends way too much time, @ValiaLind.