The Falling in Love Montage: Ciara Smyth

We meet again!

It had been a minute since I had sat and read a good ol’ fashioned rom-com, or what my friend and I like to call a “fluffer” book. They’re just perfect for in-between the fantasy and horror books and all the seriousness that comes along with those. Last time I was at the library, I happened upon this one that I had noticed in many book lists but hadn’t seriously considered. However, it’s free, right? So I figured I’d give it a shot. Here we go :)

Brief synopsis:

Here we have a young woman that is about to take on real life as she knows it for the first time this summer. Saoirse is on the precipice of adulthood and her life is changing in many ways. She was dumped by her longtime girlfriend, her mother is a long-term care facility because she has dementia that isn’t getting any better, her father announces that he’s re-marrying and selling their home, and she’s trying to decide whether or not she wants to go to Oxford in the fall, while gambling having lost her best friend.

It’s a lot for anyone to be dealing with, and Saoirse is a bit of a skeptic when it comes to many things anyway. She would much rather watch a horror movie than a romantic comedy, she is on a dating hiatus and has decided that she’d rather just let straight girls experiment by hooking up with her, and she absolutely refuses to try to get close to her father’s new fiancé.

Her life is shaken up once again when she goes to an acquaintance (Oliver)’s party and meets his cousin, Ruby. Ruby is all of the things that Saoirse isn’t and might not be able to be even if she tried: laidback, fairly confident in her life, happy and willing to give this thing with a stranger a shot.

They agree that they’re going to restrict their not-relationship to the summer, when Ruby has to leave again anyway. No getting close to each other emotionally by sharing personal details, no sappy moments, just fun.

While this seems perfect in the beginning, Saoirse quickly learns that there are many things in her life that she isn’t willing to share so casually, including her dad’s new relationship, the upcoming wedding, her mom, her school, her old friends, sooo… pretty much everything that means something in her life. She pushes the thoughts away, though, because she’s finding herself enjoying her time with Ruby and, surprisingly enough, even Oliver so much that she doesn’t want to let silly things like her own emotions get in the way.

When she learns that Ruby is spending her summer with her cousin because her little brother is really sick and they had to go to the states to get the surgery, she’s touched that Ruby told her, but she still isn’t ready to air her own dirty laundry. Instead, she’s petty with her dad and the new woman, she visits her mom each morning when she’s sure her dad won’t be there, and she continues to lie to everyone about her being unsure about Oxford simply because she’s waiting for her test results and she doesn’t want to get her hopes up too high.

However, things always come out in the wash. She spends a day dress shopping with her dad’s new boo, Beth, and discovers that maybe she isn’t quite as bad as she thought. Her old best friend keeps seeming like she might want to patch things up, but wouldn’t that just be messy for everyone involved? Her mom isn’t necessarily getting worse, but Saoirse knows there isn’t really any hope for her to better either, and Ruby isn’t stupid. She’s getting wise to the fact that there are many things that Saoirse just isn’t telling her.

Coming to the end of summer, Saoirse needs to decide whether or not the truth should be revealed and whether or not connections are really worth it when she’s not sure if she’ll also end up with dementia and just forget everything anyway, like her mom did.

My rating:

10/10. The ending was unconventional for love stories, which usually draws me in pretty quickly because I like when things don’t just end the way everyone expects them too. There’s a whole romance-movie connection that I really enjoyed because I’m a sucker for rom-coms, and I really liked Saoirse’s personality in general, which is great because skeptical characters usually just end up really bugging me.

Favorite Quote(s):

“…but when you fall out with someone, you can grow to hate the same things you once loved.”

“Still, I don’t like to let awareness of my own absurdity get in the way of expressing it.”

A book I read with similar vibes:

Pretty in Punxsutawney. Hear me out on this one, those that have read it. I know that this book has a lot that Pretty didn’t, but the movie vibe really made me make the connection the most, and it felt like the book flowed really similarly.

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3