Review: The Harder I Fall by Jessica Gibson

Source: Gifted
Publisher: –
Series: –
Edition: eARC, 176 Pages
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble *
*I receive a small monetary kickback from Amazon purchases
Rating: 4/5

Becca Langer was not a normal girl, she didn’t have normal girl problems. For most of her life, she’s had to take care of herself, her younger brother Chad, and her drunk mother. She’s lived under the shadow of what her father did when she was ten years old. Forever branded by his actions.

College was her escape, she could get away and finally live. Her dream was to make it in the New York Ballet Company one day. That for her meant a long road full of hard work and dedication. She didn’t have time for distractions, and Levi Klein was definitely a distraction.

Will Levi be able to crack through her tough exterior and really see the wounded soul underneath? Becca needs to be loved, but the question is, will she let Levi love her?

The Harder I Fall is one of those novels that get better as they progress, and by the end of it I found myself really happy I’d taken the time to read it.

Becca Langer comes from a small town where she’s had to deal with more than any young adult ever should. Her mother is a drunk and her father is in prison because of something he did when she was just ten years old. She was forced to grow up and now she wants to make a new life for herself and live out her dreams. It takes her a while to move on and that’s one of my main likes about this book. She doesn’t move away and instantly make a new life, it takes time and in some cases she extremely reluctant to accept anything outside of her plan. She slowly opens up and becomes more. I loved Levi, even though there were moments where I wanted to smack him silly…but other than those few lapses of sanity (clearly that’s the only explanation) he’s a great counterpart to Becca. He has a big heart and isn’t afraid to give her the help she is reluctant to ask for but clearly wants.

The beginning portion of the story sort of threw me off, it moved sort of fast and I wasn’t fond of how quickly everything was happening. However it does slow down around the 40-50% area and gives the reader time to get use to everyone and let the previous events sink in. The difficult issues that Becca deals with, and her support group is what makes the college New Adult book different from the others. She doesn’t go to school and forget about it to pursue a relationship. She’s driven and sticks to her dreams, and no one is going to take that from her.

I can’t wait to read the next book, The Deeper We Get, which is about Becca’s young brother Chad who is sixteen in this book. He’s also had to deal with a lot and I’m curious to see how he turned out after everything from this book.