Edge of Falling

Falling #2

by Valia Lind

For Chance, there's always only been Dakota.

He's been in love with the girl since the day they met. He's tried everything to get her to notice him and nothing has worked. So when things suddenly start moving in the right direction, Chance can't believe his luck.

Until Kyle comes along.

Kyle is like a new shiny toy and Dakota loves new and shiny. She falls for the tall, blonde and gorgeous fast and without looking back. Dating the summer before college wasn't in the plans, but come on, Kyle is perfect. So why does Chance and his snarky grin keeps popping up in her mind now that Dakota has found her happiness?

When Chance's world comes crashing down, Dakota proves the strength of their friendship, surprising herself and everyone around her, by helping him pick up the pieces. In return, Chance is finally able to crack her hard shell, discovering that not everything is sunny in Dakota-land. Her world is not what it seems on the outside, and together, they're able to pull each other to the brink of safety and sanity.

Dakota likes that things are simple with Kyle, so why does she feel more like herself around Chance?

As graduation grows closer, both Chance and Dakota learn that the plans you make for your life don't always play out the way you expect them and sometimes, everything starts to make sense when you find yourself on the edge of falling.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

358 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

USA Today Bestselling Author. Photographer. Artist. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Valia Lind has always had a love for the written word. She wrote her first published 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 has found her voice in Young Adult fiction.
In 2015, her YA thriller, Pieces of Revenge, was the recipient of the Moonbeam Children's Book Award.
You can visit her online at http://valialind.com or follow her on Instagram, where she spends way too much time, @ValiaLind.
For a free book, sign up for her newsletter --> https://dl.bookfunnel.com/f0t1xi1qmr

Reviews

[Valia Lind · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be slightly bias, but I loved writing Chance and Dakota's story!

[Missy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Falling by Design series from Valia Lind. To find my first review follow this link http://www.amidsummernightsread.com/?... . I loved Falling by Design and I love Edge of Falling, so basically I want Valia Lind to continue writing so I can continue loving everything she does. I was looking forward to reading Chance and Dakota's story after the first book and was not disappointed. I felt all sorts of feels while reading this. I was happy, sad, nervous, angry, jealous, everything. I loved that about a book, when you loose yourself in the characters, its soo good!!


This book let us in to Dakota's not so perfect life, and as a child of divorced parents I could relate so much to her. I loved the relationship her and Jackson had, and am hoping to hear more about Jackson in a future book????? Anyway, fingers crossed on that one. Chance, oh Chance. I feel for you bud. My heart breaks for him, and everything he has been through. The only character I didn't fully connect with was Kyle. But I get the feeling that we may hear more of his story later so I'm not mad about not knowing his background.


As for the stoy, I thought it flowed at a good pace. I was super upset in the middle of the book, and if I had put down the book I might have even yelled at Valia via twitter, but alas I couldn't put the book down! I am not going to lie, I kind of want to go to that high school too, it sounds way better than mine was! Anyway two big thumbs up for Edge of Falling. I can't say too much about the book with out giving stuff away, but I will say that you will not be able to put it down! It is a must read! Have tissues handy for that middle part!!!

As always if you want to see more reviews go to amidsummernightsread.com
Missy

[diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cover Reveal and Giveaway! Click here.

I received an e-arc of the book from the author to read and review.
Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I was a huge fan of Brooklyn and Grayson. I still am. But now I'm Dakota and Chance's newest fan.
Friendship was not an easy feat for Chance and Dakota. So just imagine what it would be like between these two when they realize they might have romantic feelings for each other. It was messy, sweet and thrilling.
I love how easy it felt to fall in love with both their characters. I didn't get the animosity between them when I read the first book but now that I know the reasons behind their actions (or lack thereof), I can see why they keep denying what's clearly in front of them.

I admire Dakota's strength and tough-girl persona. She has a lot of issues to deal with at home but she never ceases to amaze the people around her. I admire her relationship with her brother - I love how honest and natural it felt. I don't have a brother but I do have two older sisters and I know what it means to have that strong bond between siblings.

Also, I love that there were a lot of elements involved in the book. It wasn't entirely focused on Chance and Dakota and it left room for the side characters to grow and develop too. And we get to see how Grayson and Brooklyn are doing! <3
I'd definitely read the third book in the series (if there is one).

[Kissed by Ink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't your typical boy meets girl, they fall in love, and live happily ever after kind of story. Dakota and Chance have been quasi-friends for years. Each of their best friends found true love together, but not these two.

The tension between Chance and Dakota is palpable. You can feel the internal struggle with their pasts and the long-term effects parent issues have on them.

In the end, you'll be rooting for these two!

Valia writes beautiful, heart wrenching scenes that leave the reader wanting more. I found myself yelling at the characters and swooning at all the right moments. I'm hoping that there will be another installment of her FALLING series, so I can find out more about Jackson!

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://youngadultbookmadness.wordpres...

[Barbie✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Sometimes the greatest gift you can give someone is letting them into your life.”

OMG so. This book was EXTREMELY predictable. I was always two steps ahead of Chance and Dakota. But holy crap this hit me right to the feels!!!!! ♥

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Enjoyable enough, but not as good as the previous book in the series. While I'd read the first one again, I can't say the same about this one.

[Kirke · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it isn't absolutely necessary to read Falling By Design first, they can be read separately, I do believe you will enjoy Edge Of Falling more if you do. We met Chance and Dakota in the previous book and while I wouldn't call what they have a relationship or even a friendship, but whatever it is, it's volcanic. They are always at each other's throat, not in a hurtful way, though always pushing the other one's buttons.

For Chance this behaviour kind of hides how he really feels about Dakota, which is almost an all consuming love. He knows though that she's not feeling the same, so it is safer to keep her at a certain distance. The danger of that is of course, having another boy being able to swoop in. Therefor it's up to us just to sit back, relax and see how this is going to play out and you know it's going to go badly.

While Dakota might not fully understand how deep Chance's feelings for her run, she does notice a certain change in him since she has started dating the new kid Kyle. More importantly actually, she started noticing how she herself has been acting different towards Chance. He can still be very annoying, but now there seems to be something more. Still she's afraid of what those feelings might actually mean and it's that fear that keeps her holding back.

Now Dakota is a pretty great character, but when it comes to how she acts towards Chance, she wasn't always my favourite. I had trouble understanding how crippling her fear of real love was, while seeing how much it hurt Chance. Dakota is a great friend and a pretty amazing girl, and while she gives great love advice to her friends she's not able to follow her own directions. This got a bit frustrating at times.

Chance is amazing and any girl would be lucky to call him her boyfriend, unfortunately Dakota isn't one of them. Though in all fairness, he has never actually told her how he feels, so that definitely played a part in this. I could get his fear for rejection, but this standing on the sidelines isn't really working either. Then when he finally decides to make his move, he's almost too late.

So this was a clear case of everyone could see what was going on between these two, Dakota and Chance just needed to go for it and don't let fear get in the way of what they want. Certain parts therefor did feel a bit dragged out, because I was frustrated and just wanted them to talk to each other or simply kiss and then all would be fine. Still overall a pretty good story with some very likeable characters and plenty of drama. Chance was definitely my favourite character here. Honestly that boy and puppies, will simply make your heart melt.

*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

Again as with the previous book, Falling by Design, grammatical, spelling, and punctuation mistakes make for a frustrating book to read through. Read up to 70% then skimmed the rest.

Going into this knowing that the book is about Dakota and Chance’s story, I had thought that it would be on par with the first book in the series, but I came out disappointed. All these were awesome characters carefully crafted in the first, but they and the story fell flat. Not only was the main couple’s story uninteresting, but the chemistry between characters were lacking. There was just a lot of back and forth: from the "I like him"s to the "I don’t know how I feel"s, with the "why do I suddenly realize all these feeling"s in between.

There were a lot of similarities between this and the previous book, and by that, I mean, many of the scenes were almost identical, they might have split into separate scenes or just worded differently and with different characters. Take, for example, the scene where Dakota accidentally collides into Chance in Chapter 16. They collide, Chance steadies her, then finds her hands on his chest “resting over [his] heart.” He then comments in a teasing, flirty way: “Dakota, if you wanted in my bedroom, all you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to break and enter.”

Now, in Falling by Design, this actually played out in two different scenes. One is in Chapter 5, where Brooklynn collides into Grayson in her Aunt Evie’s clothing store, her hands end up on his chest; she “could feel his heartbeat through her fingertips.” And then in Chapter 6, when Brooklynn collides with Grayson again (she does this a lot) in the hallway at school and Grayson says teasingly, “Brooklynn, if you want my attention you don’t have to keep throwing yourself at me. I got it.” Déjà vu...

There were also the same phrasing: someone always materializes out of somewhere and too much emphasis is put into a quality of a dream guy is having him learning your moods. Reading these two back-to-back, I felt like I was reading the same book. I also didn’t like the alternating dual POV; their voices sounded too similar for such contrasting characters.

I wanted more Grayson and Brooklynn, so in hindsight, it may be the primary reason to get through this book.

[Paula M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edge Of Falling is second in a series. Though reading the first book isn't that necessary, I would advice to read it so you can enjoy this novel more. And because that's where the main characters here first showed up. You see, on Falling By Design (Falling #1), they were just secondary characters (and they were great!) And now they have their own novel..

...and it sucked. UGH. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE SWOONY AND I SHOULD BE FLAILING AND SIGHING ans stuff but NO. I am frustrated. Frustrated by this characters, by the lack of plot, by everything.

I loved Falling By Design to bits and that is why my frustration here is just over the top. I just didn't expected it to be like this you know. My big problem here are the characters. Like, both of them. At first it was cute. Grayson was this guy who has a HUGE crush on Dakota and Dakota don't know it yet, but she also have feelings for Grayson. See that plot? It's cute. It's like we all have a secret and we are waiting for them to catch up. I'm not stupid. I know they are gonna end up eventually, but what I want here is how they ended up together.

And I did not like that HOW. Well, Grayson doesn't have balls! He keeps saying that 'YES I WILL FINALLY TELL HER WHAT I FEEL' and when the moment is there, he flakes off! Dakota on the other hand will be like 'YES I FEEL SOMETHING TOWARDS GRAYSON AND I WANNA KNOW WHAT IT IS' then BAM, she acts bitchy when they're together. This is pretty much what happened for like 60% of the book.



 

And there's this Kyle character that is supposed to be a big part of the story but just went to waste because he wasn't completely fleshed out. He didn't even help in the situation. Sometimes he will re-appear in a chapter and I'd be "OH I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT THIS CHARACTER EXIST!" He's more like a prop. A useless prop.

Overall, Edge Of Falling just didn't appeal to me like Falling By Design did. Which sucked. It just sucks when that happens! But I'll still support this author because despite of the frustrations I felt here, I still liked her writing and the easyness (is easyness a word?!) of it.

[books are love · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Chance. This guy is the kindest, sweetest most patient guy. Mr. Darcy swoonworthy for sure. the perfect book boyfriend. His love for Dakota has been unrequited for years. Even when she was snarly to him or ignoring him she stayed close to her and her friend. He never wavered always steadfast and always kind. they have a fun banter thing that will have you laugh and smile.

Dakota is dealing with a family situation that has her feel that loving another only causes pain and suffering. With this in mind she only does fun flirty romances with no complications. That's where poor Kyle comes into play. She sees him and bam that is her next boyfriend. Poor chance. this does finally rile him up though to a point of no return. don't get me wrong there is one point that Chance does say something cruel but this was a lashing out after she finally crushed the poor guy. I mean crushed him to where he finally wanted to give up. Never that i would see that but it did come about.

the two are so suited for each other. One needing love and not wanting it and the other needing someone to let them know they are not alone in this world. Chance has always thought it is only him and his dad against the world so when tragedy strikes he feels he must be strong and doesn't think anyone will care. Surprised by others reaction and especially Dakota's he begins to see the world differently. And has hope in Dakota once again. But hope springs eternal and fear takes over and Chance is again left crushed.

And Dakota really did you honestly think hey after seven years of pining and loving me, after finally telling you how he feels you could just come on back and he wouldn't be angry? No sister honey that ain't how it works. You squashed him like a bug and flattened him to a emotional pancake that isn't easy to get over.

A story on love and forgiveness. About forging your own path and finding your own happiness. About finding yourself and seeing you are not alone. A beautiful and fun story of love and friendship.

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so disappointed with this book. I read Falling by Design and LOVED it! So you can imagine my excitement when I bought this and it came in the post.
I read it and thought "What on earth was that". I was so confused because Valia Lind is an incredible writer with an awesome writing style, but it felt like someone else wrote this book. It didn't have much structure and was a little bit all over the place, I was going to put it down a few times, but Chance's dad was the only reason I didn't. I loved Dakota so, so much in the previous book, but I really couldn't stand her in this book, she was so indecisive about silly things, I understand the 'inner turmoil' but it got out of hand. I also dislike the way Brook and Greyson were portrayed in this book, there's one moment where It's so blatant what's happening and theres Brook in the corner 'looking confused' and It's like do you not know your best friend? and Greyson just hovers around acting as oblivious as Brook.

Overall this book disappointed me greatly, I was hoping for more because of how amazing falling by design was, I gave it 5 Stars. I will read more of Valia Lind in the future, because of the great experience I had with the first book.

[Amanda (Good Choice Reading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come during Tour.

[Giulliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️