
I normally don’t like these kinds of books. It had a lot of the elements that Twilight was both famously loved and hated for — Virginal protagonist, supernatural bad guy. A classic case of hunter and prey, or in this case “and so the lion fell in love with the lamb..”. Ugh. Gag me. He even actually calls her ‘Lamb’. Truthfully however, I actually rather enjoyed their romance. The build-up wasn’t very slow,and it pretty much came out of nowhere, but it seemed really genuine on both their parts. I also liked that Theia’s friends weren’t just there as supporting actors/actresses. They were real, and I found that I could relate to them and often found myself excited to learn more about Donny, Amelia, Varnie, and Gabe. I wish that everyone were lucky enough to have friends like Theia’s. I was jealous of her, and she isn’t even real!! Lol.
Around the middle-ish of the book, our heroine gets her shit together and finally goes after what she wants — our tortured, sensitive man candy. The damn choir sang, I gotta say.
Hayes is a very talented writer. The way she describes things is so unique and realistic. There were many times I found myself in awe at something she’d written and I’d go back over it to memorize it. She was also skilled at reminding us Theia is british with some of her terminology without throwing it in our faces and making it hard to understand. I was particularly impressed with this world of Under that she created and described.
From the moment I saw the burning man with Theia, I was hooked and fell under. A dark fairytale combining a backwards prince and a princess willing to risk everything, Falling Under is an amazing read.