No Place to Fall by Jaye Robin Brown (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: No Place to Fall by Jaye Robin Brown Karen Coats Brown, Jaye Robin No Place to Fall. HarperTeen/HarperCollins, 2014 354p ISBN 978-0-06-227099-3 $17.99 R Gr. 9-12 Between paternal adultery, sisterly drug dealing, and maternal belief that love and prayer will fix everything, Amber’s family is pretty dysfunctional. Good girl Amber loves them but dreams of another kind of life, one where she can sing her songs and escape her small North Carolina town. When a new family moves to town, Amber’s familiar friendships become complicated; her gay best friend, Devon, has a crush [End Page 301] on the probably straight, certainly arrogant city boy, Kush, while both Kush and his live-in cousin Sean seem interested in Amber. Amber herself is hopelessly in love with Devon’s brother, Will, but follows her inclination to do something really nice for Sean that unfortunately has the potential to ruin her life in more ways than one. Through all of her questionable choices and stupid mistakes, Amber remains completely sympathetic, with a mellifluous narrative voice that renders her aspirations to become a singer utterly believable. Will turns out to be a pleasant surprise; his worthiness as a suitor for Amber is questionable at first, but his patience and persistence win the reader over to Amber’s way of thinking. Establishing a firm sense of place and using Kush as an obnoxious foil, Brown immerses readers into a fully realized world of ordinary, flawed people who respond to situations in ways that are painfully credible, highlighting their ability to forgive even awful things, and focusing on the big-hearted kindness of people who know that neither holding on to hurt nor running away is an option. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois