Good Choice Reading: Blog Tour: FALLING BY DESIGN by Valia Lind

Title: Falling by Design
Author: Valia Lind
Genre: YA contemporary
Published: March 12, 2014

Brooklynn Summers has a plan for her life: graduate from high school, get into a top fashion school, prove to her family that she’s not a failure. She wishes someone in her life understood her need to create because her parents sure don’t support her dreams, her sister hates her, and the deadlines are soon approaching.

Enter Grayson Banks.

There are a few things in life Brooklynn can’t stand: mismatched patterns, cheap polyester, and Grayson. No boy has ever publicly humiliated Brooklynn like Grayson has. When he suddenly moved away in eighth grade, Brooklynn happily wished him good riddance. But on the first day of senior year, Grayson comes back, with his piercing blue eyes and a smile that melts icebergs, he is not exactly the boy Brooklynn remembers. She quickly realizes that Grayson’s intentions have completely shifted, but she’s not sure if she can put their past behind her.

Grayson understands Brooklynn’s creative ambitions and he devises a plan to showcase her work to the world. When the two agree to work together, suddenly, there is more than just fabric paint that’s having a chemical reaction to its environment. Brooklynn cannot help but feel pulled into Grayson’s arms, but memories and misunderstandings surface, putting in danger whatever small comradeship these two childhood enemies have constructed.

Can Brooklynn overcome her own insecurities, finally making her dreams come true? Even a dream she didn’t know she had.

This is a story about a girl with big dreams and a boy who helps her achieve them.

Purchase:

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About Valia

Author. Photographer. Artist. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Valia Lind always had a love for the written word. She wrote her first full book on the bathroom floor of her dormitory, while procrastinating to study for her college classes. Upon graduation, she has moved her writing to more respectable places, and have found her voice in Young Adult fiction. Falling by Design is her debut young adult novel. You can visit her online at www.valialind.blogspot.com or follow her on twitter, where she spends way too much time, @ValiaLind.

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Over the past year or two I had distanced myself from YA, despite the fact that contemporary YA used to be one of my favorite things. I hadn't gotten tired of the same old thing. To be completely honest, I expected Falling by Design to be more of the same, but I was pleasantly surprised!

I really liked both Brooklyn and Grayson, and I thought they represented their ages very well. Part of my issue with YA had been that the characters were beginning to behave like 30 year olds in 17 year old situations, to appeal to the mass of adults who had gotten into the genre (Thanks, Twilight.). Brooklyn and Grayson did not fall into this pattern. They had the struggles of high school seniors, their connection was confusing yet thrilling, and they responded to these situations the way someone their ages actually would. Realistic characterization is very important to me, especially for contemporary novels, so I loved this aspect.

Another thing I loved was the a lot of the story was based on Brooklyn's dreams and she hung onto her ambitions no matter what was going on between her and Grayson. She never lost sight of what she wanted, no matter who was (intentionally or unintentionally) interfering.

Falling by Design was endearing, and was everything I look for in contemporary young adult. It gave me a new appreciation for the genre and made me want to find some more books like it. I'd definitely recommend it!