Emily Hainsworth

I'm always on the lookout for good young adult mysteries and thrillers, and Take the Fall is an excellent addition to that genre.

It's the story of Sonia, who escaped an attack in the woods that left her best friend, Gretchen, dead. As Sonia attempts to come to grips with the events of that fateful night, she tries to understand what truly happened. But as Gretchen's secrets come to light, and Gretchen's ex-boyfriend Marcus emerges as the prime suspect, Sonia is forced to wrestle with her show more feelings in her fight towards the truth.

What really sets Take the Fall above many other books in this genre is the ending. It's an ending that had me gasping out loud, and frantically flipping back through the previous pages to see if it all made sense in retrospect--and it did. Hainsworth pulls off a end reveal that is shocking and brilliant. show less

Pleasantly surprised and completely caught off guard. Take the Fall isn’t what I was expecting.

True friends stab you in the front, right?

I started this book hoping for an easy, quick mystery. I’ve been reading a ton of action books and just wanted a simple read to pass the time.

I got more than I bargained for. In the best way.

I finished Take the Fall in record time. In between basketball games and Frozen themed birthday parties, this book has consumed my three day MLK weekend.

Reminiscent show more of Pretty Little Liars, Sonia and her friend Gretchen aren’t exactly all they pretend to be. Conniving and hateful, I hated Gretchen and wasn’t at all sad to see her go. Sonia was better off without her.

I don’t want to delve too much into the plot, because I feel like it’s something you need to experience firsthand. You need to be there for the twists and revelations and that big shocker at the end.

I loved the diner family. I would’ve liked to know more about who Sonia’s father is (the Sheriff perhaps??!!)

I liked Marcus and just about every other secondary character. There wasn’t any dialogue or sentence I rushed through. I took it all in. I was caught up in all the scandal and the high school drama. SO GOOD. (Doesn’t make me miss high school thought, because there’s always that one bitch that would actually do something evil like Gretchen).

Take the Fall is a thrilling mystery, but also a lesson in choosing your friends wisely. Not everyone is there for you in a positive way

REVIEW AT YABOOKSCENTRAL.COM show less

Camden Pike is distraught after losing his girlfriend, Viv, in a deadly car accident. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about her, or what he could have done differently that night to prevent the accident. Every day he visits her shrine, wishing he could be with her again. When Cam meets Nina, a mysterious girl hanging around the shrine, he soon learns that Nina is from another dimension and in that dimension, Viv is alive. Desperate to see her again, Cam steps into that dimension show more with Nina, but the Viv he sees there is much different from the Viv he knew and loved.

I really liked the premise of this book and the way Ms. Hainsworth handled it. It is very well-written and thought out. The characters are all well-rounded, and I really felt Cam’s pain. I think my biggest problem with it is that I already knew what was going to happen from the synopsis, so there really wasn’t anything new to discover with Cam. Because of this, the book seemed to drag a bit because I felt like I was waiting for Cam to catch up to me. Once he did catch up, I didn’t feel like anything unexpected happened. It was pretty obvious which choice Cam was going to make.

With that being said, I felt Ms. Hainsworth handled the subjects she tackled realistically. Cam was relatable and his pain oozed off the pages. He was believably distraught. Likewise, I really liked the character of Nina, but I couldn’t stand Viv. I understood she was supposed to be different than the Viv he knew and loved in his world, but I wish I would have gotten to see more of the “real” Viv. I think it would have made me better understand the conflict he felt.

Well-written and with an original concept, Through to You is definitely worth reading, I just felt that the synopsis spoiled a little too much of the book for me to thoroughly enjoy it. show less

You're set up right from the start in this slightly creepy mystery. Sonia barely escapes an attacker on the bridge in a park stretching between the family diner she calls home and the street full of posh houses where her best friend Gretchen lives. Gretchen's not as lucky that night. Her body is found floating in a pool below the falls the following morning. Brooding, artistic Marcus Perez, Gretchen's ex and the guy Sonia's secretly crushed on for a long time, is the number one suspect, but show more as the story unfolds, the list of possible killers grows until it includes pretty much everyone who knew Gretchen, including her younger sister, Kristen. Readers are strapped into roller coaster seats for a wild ride until the big reveal at the end, one I didn't see coming. Altogether a dandy YA whodunit. show less