Review: Like Falling (Surface #1) by Jaden Wilkes

Author: Jaden Wilkes

Published Date: July 30th, 2013

Genre: Romance/New Adult

Series: Book 1

Available in Kindle version.

Disclaimer #1: This book is not suitable for anyone under eighteen due to the graphic depictions of sex & drugs.

Synopsis:

Sarah Miller has always done what was expected of her in her quiet Mennonite community. Pursuing a higher education had long been her dream.Her parents agree to let her go to university as long as she studied things relating to the Bible. However they still long to see her married and popping out babies like the other women in their community.

Sarah is different from them though. She has bigger plans for her life and going to university is the first step towards those plans.In her Archaeology 101 class she meets two men who will drastically change her year. One a quiet student sitting in the back of the classroom and the other being the professor.

Things progress in unexpected ways during the year but the one thing that is constant is Sarah's evolution from a quiet & shy Mennonite woman to an outgoing, experienced woman in every single way.   

Disclaimer #2: I got this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: 

I just don't know where to start with this one. Parts of it were so funny but then there were quite a few cringe-worthy moments.The Mennonite community has always fascinated me. It upholds several of the values that I also hold dear. Family is most important & helping others is key as well. So I was hoping to really like Sarah and up until a point I really did.

Through the first part of the book I really liked Sarah as she struggled to adapt into what is called "the outside world" by both Mennonites & the Amish.She was so young in maturity/emotional level that she didn't even realize that her professor was actively pursuing her and that it had nothing to do with her intelligence and everything to do with her being so naive.

I liked her friend Naomi and Naomi's girlfriend Veronica "Nic" but I felt as though Naomi and Nic cared more about partying, sex and alcohol than about Sarah. That really bothered me. Tyr (pronounced tear) was a different story all together and truthfully I didn't like it when they finally got together. I thought they were better off as friends.

I also really could not stand Sarah when she and Tyr finally got together. I seriously wanted to shake her. She became a sex obsessed young lady whose only enjoyment was having sex with Tyr.It really drove me nutty. She went from an introvert who had no sexual experiences to someone who was close to having a sex addiction.

I definitely lost some respect for her throughout the course of this book. No,what happened with Andrew was not her fault. He abused his power & he appealed to her sexually immature self for his own use. 

But with Tyr,she sounded like a teenage girl talking. Yes she was 18-19 years old so still technically a teenager but oh my God she seemed very superficial by the end of this. And exchanging I love you's,Really? They had only been dating a few months and for months before that they had been doing this dance around each other.

Her discussions with her family were another thing. I wanted to strangle her every single time she talked to them.She had grown rude and disrespectful to them.All I kept thinking was "They won't be around forever so respect them" And I know it's hard for Mennonites to break away from their families,but if she really felt this was the right thing for her,she needed to shut them down kindly but firmly and not let them control her life & decisions.

The thing about being a young adult is that you need to keep your options open. That's why I liked Eric. He was a good guy from Sarah's own community who didn't pressure her and who she admitted that she had an attraction to. I am really annoyed that she didn't give him another shot because she was completely wrapped up in Tyr.

I will concede that the sex scenes were definitely hot. That was one of the few parts of Sarah & Tyr's relationship that I enjoyed reading about because they were so well written.

I won't comment on the editing as this was a e-galley so there were some kinks to work out with editing.

I will say that this book gets three stars from me. Mostly because I ended up detesting both Tyr & Sarah when they got involved. I am curious to see what the next book holds so I'll probably read it too.