The Way We Fall by Cassia Leo

Houston has kept a devastating secret from Rory since the day he took her into his home. But the tragic circumstances that brought them together left wounds too deep to heal.

Five years after the breakup, Houston and Rory are thrust together by forces beyond their control. And all the resentments and passion return with more intensity than ever. Once again, Houston is left with a choice between the truth and the only girl he’s ever loved.

I love this story, I love this author and I love getting lost in a book. Cassia Leo just has a way of writing that I really connect with. A lot of romance authors are really mushy, hopeless romantic types whose characters always overcome hardships in the end. Cassia writes real stories with real characters and real problems. This is not my first Cassia Leo book nor will it be my last. She is an amazing author and I highly recommend this book!

Rory is a very down to earth girl with a past. She's been broken by love and just can't seem to get over it. Houston knows something Rory doesn't. That's pretty much all we get for the first third of the book. It's this mystery that propels the story forward and slowly more is revealed over time through flashbacks and coincidental events. I don't want to give away too much of the plot because everything really does come full circle in the end.

I will say that Rory is not my all time favorite character. I appreciate that she has flaws, as do we all, but she's just not a very mentally strong person. I have a hard time identifying with that because I am usually an optimist and I will set my mind to something and get it done. Rory needs that push, but no one in her life is there to give it to her which breaks my heart.

Likewise, Houston isn't Mr. Perfect either. Through the entire book he clearly has something to say but just can't get it out - most times it's because Rory won't let him, but there are times when he just folds under the pressure. I don't understand this either, because once we find out the truth of what he's hiding (or most of it anyway) it really makes no sense why he was hiding it in the first place. (I mean I wouldn't be rushing to tell everyone about it, but still the person you have called multiple times your soul mate you can't tell this to?? Houston's a giant coward and he knows it.)

Clearly both characters are flawed, their romance is flawed, and life has been rocky for them. It sounds terrible, but it makes a really good story.

5 stars - save this one for a rainy day, the clouds will set the mood.

Mindspeak by Heather Sunseri

Seventeen-year-old Lexi Matthews keeps two secrets from her elite boarding school classmates—she’s the daughter of a famous and controversial geneticist, and she can influence people’s thoughts. But after new student Jack DeWeese heals her broken arm with an anything-but-simple touch, he forces Lexi to face a new reality—her abilities reach much further than speaking to the minds of others.

After Lexi’s father goes missing and she receives threatening emails, she can’t decide whether to fall into Jack’s arms or run and hide. As Lexi seeks answers to what she and Jack are, she discovers a truth more unsettling than anything her science books can teach. And letting Jack into her life of secrets is not only a threat to her very existence, but it just might break her heart wide open.


This book was actually a surprising read. It was free on apple books so of course I wasn't expecting much but it ended up reeling me in. Not to say this story isn't without its flaws but it is first of a series of four books so there's room for more explanation later on.

Lexi was just an ok main character. I wish we had gotten to know her better before everything started because there was a lot of stuff that she did without motivation. I understand that as the main character AND narrator she already knows everything about herself and doesn't need to repeat it, but we only got snippets of her past. There were so many questions along the way that the author forgot about or just didn't feel like going into: why was she on meds? why did her grandmother take care of her? was her dad always on the run? why didn't he take Lexi with him? I'm really hoping this is expanded on in some of the later books.

Also, her abilities weren't described very much. It's assumed early on (and explicitly stated later on) that she's the hero all the crazies want but we don't know why. Yes, she's special, but just because you can read minds and such doesn't make you the all powerful savior...again, unless there's more I don't know about in later books.

I feel like that's a recurring theme in this review - there's got to be more in the rest of the series or this author really likes to write action scenes. Not a bad thing, but action means nothing unless we know the motivation behind it. It's hard for me to feel sad about a character sacrificing themselves (which I'm sure Lexi will do at some point) if I don't know what they have to lose.

That being said, her relationship with Jack was annoying. The story from day 1 is that they were bred to be together but in the end, that's the not the case. Suddenly there's a whole host of kids like them but it's still not explained why only they have a special bond (there's no way it's just super special teen love. there's no way I'm buying that). I'm honestly hoping for a Luke and Leia thing here: oops, you guys are actually related. Awkward love story shut down.

Another frustrating thing about the book is that the villain keeps changing. First, it's Jack, Then the program people, Then Kyle, who literally came out of nowhere. I'm not sure who to hate.

So all this stuff sounds bad but it actually was a pretty interesting book if you suspend reality for a while. Obviously, people can't control brains just by touching them (no matter how much 'special science' is used) but that makes life more exciting so I'm along for the ride. If the other books are free I'm down to continue the saga for a while. If not, then I guess Lexi's story ends here for me.

3 stars, solid but needs editing. I guess you get what you pay for.