“Charlotte didn’t just shake my world. She created an earthquake that irrevocably changed the landscape of my life.”
4 Stars!
Deeper We Fall was a sad but sweet story about forgiveness, redemption, and love. Both the main characters carried so much pain with them and it was beautiful to see them both learn how to forgive themselves. Chelsea Cameron was able to convey so much of their emotions and I felt like I was living this story with them.
“You love her. In a deep once-in-a-lifetime kind of way. A first love. Maybe an only love.”
Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Anders essentially lost her best friend, Lexie, two years ago in a tragic car accident. Lexie suffered severe brain damage and will never be the same person she was. Responsible for the accident are two brothers, Zack and Zan Parker.
For two years, Lottie has been living with the guilt over letting her friend get in that car and blames these two brothers for what happened. But on her first day in college, she discovers that not one but both of the brother’s are attending the same school as her. And better yet, one is dating her roommate and the other lives next door to her twin brother.
Zack is selfish and cruel and feels no remorse over what happened to Lexie. He’s the one dating Lottie’s roommate and constantly picks on Lottie. But Zan is different. He’s quiet, keeps to himself, and has a lot of past secrets. He feels all the guilt over what happened and wants to try to make it up to Lottie.
Soon Lottie finds that the boy she is suppose to hate, the boy who was driving the car that stole her best friend, is not who she thought he was. He’s slowly worming his way into her heart and she just can’t seem to stop thinking about him. But with all that happened between them in the past and other secrets Zan is hiding, Lottie must decide if she can really ever trust him, especially with her heart.
“My brain wanted to think about the fact that I was kissing the boy who was responsible for not only ruining my life, but the life of my best friend, but for once, I told it to shut the fuck up.”
The prologue of this story really hooked me in because it told the story of what happened the night of the accident. After this, it fast-forwards 2 years to Lottie arriving at college and finding out the Parker brothers are there. It starts off slow, with not a whole lot of interactions between Lottie and the brothers but eventually it starts to pick up. I felt that this pacing was appropriate because of how much hurt Lottie was still carrying around. She truly hated the brothers in the beginning and couldn’t even stand to be near them. It’s told in alternating POV’s between Lottie and Zan so we really get to see both sides of the story.
Lottie was a really likable character. She’s a little nerdy, can’t seem to ever shut up, and refuses to give up on Lexie. She’s real and funny and so caring and protective. I really felt all the guilt that Lottie carried with her. She truly thought she shared some of the blame for what happened to Lexie and still works so hard to be there for her best friend. I could see how broken she was, even two years later, and how unwilling she was to let go of the past.
Zan was sort of an enigma at first. He spent a year in juvie and definitely has a bad-boy streak in him. He mostly keeps to himself except for when he has to take care of Zack. I thought it was so sweet how he wanted to try to make it up to Lottie but sort of ended up freaking her out. He’s been in love with Lottie for years but never worked up the courage to talk to her, until the night of the accident. He’s pretty much treated as a pariah by everyone including his family but it was great to see everyone slowly start to accept him. I truly liked Zan because I could see he did have a good heart and truly regretted what happened to Lexie.
“’You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use the and fly.’ You’re not the only one with regrets.”
Zack is a totally different story. To sum it up, he’s a douchebag. He’s always getting drunk, picking on Lottie, or getting into fights with his girlfriend. And at the end of the book, I definitely hated him for what he did. He basically had no redeeming qualities and I think he got what he deserved.
The relationship between Lottie and Zan was very slow building but once they began to admit their feelings it really picked up. And it was beautiful to see their relationship grow. My heart melted for both of them because I knew how each of them felt and also how each of them thought they didn’t deserve to be with each other. Zan felt that he didn’t deserve Lottie because of what he did and Lottie felt that being with Zan was dishonoring Lexie. But they were seriously so sweet together. And even though Zan didn’t say a lot, when he did, it was usually pretty epic.
“If the sky starts to fall, I’ll catch it for you, pretty girl.”
I loved how Zan totally let Lottie control the relationship and never pushed her for more. He respected her and her feelings the whole time. It was also great to see Lottie find her own forgiveness, both for herself and for Zan. At first, she felt wrong being with him, but when something just feels so right, how wrong can it really be?
“It doesn’t make sense, and it’s too soon, and I shouldn’t feel this way, but that doesn’t stop it. Maybe the reason it feels so real is because it goes against all logic.”
During this entire book, I felt that these characters were way more mature than their age. I totally forgot that they were both so young because in their thoughts, they seem so much older. A lot of this book was serious and sad but there also a lot of laugh-out-loud hilarious moments. Lottie is adorable and is not ashamed of being a nerd who likes Harry Potter (but I mean, seriously, who doesn’t). And I found most of her ramblings so funny.
“Words just tumble out of my mouth and I can’t seem to stop them. I’m like a…word geyser.”
This was a heartwarming story about two people truly learning how to forgive, let go of the past, and how to love. Lottie and Zan found themselves in one another and helped each other to heal. I’m so glad they got their happy ending (yes, this is a standalone) and that they were both able to let go of all their pain. This was another great new adult story and I’m excited for the next one, Faster We Burn, to come out (Katie and Stryker’s story).
“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”
