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I didn’t know what to expect when I read The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen. To say that I was surprised is putting it mildly. The Year We Fell Down is everything I want in a romance and more. I wasn’t expecting to love this book as much as I did.
The Year We Fell Down is really a book of courage, how to overcome the things real life has handed to you. I love Corey and Adam. But really, what made this book a must-read for me was Corey’s drive in the second half of the book. She showed determination and courage even though she couldn’t play in her favorite sport again. This book is also about standing on your own and not letting love and romance bring her down.
The Year We Fell Down felt real to me. I love that the romance between Corey and Adam snuck up on me. As someone who is not a fan of slow-burn romances, I was enchanted. I think the friendship between Corey and Adam was perfect and it actually showed how sweet and awesome Adam is.
I did feel that the real reasons behind Adam’s reasons for staying with his girlfriend felt out of character for him.
While this book wasn’t as steamy as I normally like, the chemistry between Corey and Adam jumped off the page. And again, I will say that the romance snuck up on me.
But this book isn’t all about the romance! I love that the heroine, Corey is in a wheelchair due to a spinal injury from playing hockey. Adam also broke his leg and met Corey while moving into his new dorm room. Another thing I love about The Year We Fell Down is the perfect balance between Corey’s injury and romance, and Corey’s character development.
Ultimately, what drew me to The Year We Fell Down was Corey and her strength and determination to carve out a life for herself post-accident. Sure, there was romance and yes, she deserved it, but what touched my heart was her character.
And yes, I have to admit, driving while listening to the audiobook version while crying because of all the feels, is not a great idea.
The Audiobook
The Year We Fell Down is written in dual POV and is narrated by Saskia Maarleveld and Nick Podehl and they were amazing. The pacing was good, voices not annoying and I didn’t have to speed up the audiobook at all!
I will definitely check out the other books in this series!
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Corey is still one of my all time favorite heroines. She was amazing! I was really happy that Bowen kept up with her in the books that came later in the series too.
Oh, really? Now I’m intrigued! I love Corey and Adam! I definitely want to see them pop in and out throughout the series!
I’m so glad you liked this book, this was one of the first romances I read and Sarina is a favorite author of mine ! I also really like the second book in this series and her True North series is also really good. I’ll have to go back and check out the audiobooks because I’ve liked those two narrators in other things !
I’m definitely going to read a lot of Sarina Bowen’s other books! 🙂