This novel was a bit preachy, all the time, and slow going at first, but generally enjoyable. I consider myself Ecologically conscious, but felt I was being guilt tripped or scolded on almost every page, which detracted a lot from the overall experience. Additionally, as a mystery novel, I was a bit frustrated by the lack of clues for the majority of the novel. I enjoy mysteries where I can catch glimpses of a cause, or be misled by clues. In this story, the only glimpses I saw of possible show more causes was the frightening possibility that the story would mirror the movie The Happening. Fortunately, that is not the cause, so I don't have to give the book 0 stars.

Despite where I felt the book fell short, I found myself staying up later than I should have to read it, which indicates that, on some level, it was engaging and enjoyable. show less

I was excited to receive a copy of this book. I consider myself fairly eco-conscious, and as a social worker, learning about eco-psychology was very fascinating.
But like the previous reviewer, I found the book to be incredibly preachy. I'm sure people do live that way, but it was had to believe that Esmerelda was a real character. Snubbing your nose toward SUVs-fine. Only wearing organic cotton clothing and refurbishing your house and furniture with organic materials ONLY-hard to believe. show more The detective's character was also unrealistic, or rather, unoriginal. The chapters between Esmerelda and the detective seemed to be straight out of a Heather Wells novel.
The ending did surprise me, though. I kept guessing wrong whenever I thought I had the murderer identified. show less

Falling Into Green Book Review
“As an Eco psychologist, Dr. Esmeralda Green is skilled at solving the mysteries of the mind, especially if they collide with the laws of nature. But when a body is found below the crumbling cliffs near her Los Angeles home, she is pulled back in time to a tragedy that defies all understanding. When a young girl is murdered at the same cliff that took the life of her best childhood friend, Ez suspects the two are connected - and, having always lived up to her show more ecological name, she has learned to trust her intuition and the cues that the natural world can offer.”(Book synopsis from Goodreads)
I love a good, strong female character and Esmeralda Green is one. She speaks her mind and does life her way! Her leading man is the hunky TV news reporter Gabriel Hugo Garcia and he keeps her on her toes throughout the story.
The author had very thorough and interesting characters with a very well thought-out plot line that was anything but predictable. I went into reading this book hoping for the best. The story write-up sounded intriguing and something right up my alley. It had a refreshingly new take on a murder mystery, but I had a hard time getting involved with the characters. I think with some more editing of the overly descriptive character descriptions that this book could be much better! It was very distracting to have the same descriptions restated multiple times. I looked forward to the book/characters being ecologically friendly but felt that the emphasis on this could have been toned down just a bit.
When requested for a review I feel compelled to write one, I know all the hard work from the writer and editors that went into this piece of work and hate to take away from any of that. show less

I always love a good murder mystery. This book was about a woman named Esmeralda, who lives near Los Angeles. She is an Eco-psychologist who treats patients with things like animals and walks on the beach. When the daughter of her high school friend's brother dies in the same place as her high school friend did, Esmeralda gets caught up trying to figure out who did it.

The author did a good job with the mystery part, but I think she overdid it with the green references, vegan meals and show more environmental issues. Okay, I get it, Esmeralda is a vegan who likes tofu eggs and hybrids. I like hybrids too, but is this a mystery or a book about hybrids. I get that she is trying to promote being green, but I think that her attempt at doing so fell flat for me. I was more annoyed from it, than educated by it. show less