Autumn Falls by Bella Throne (Review)

Series: Autumn Falls #1

Genre: Contemporary, paranormal

Book Length: 224 pages

Publication Date: November 11th, 2014

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Format: Ebook

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Synopsis:

Filled with personal elements from Bella’s own life, AUTUMN FALLS is the first book in Bella Thorne’s new series! It has everything readers will love and relate to: a real girl trying to find her own inner strength and be the best she can be, with a hint of magic and mystery, and a steady stream of OMG-I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened fun.

With her fiery red hair, new-girl outsider status, and tendency to be a total klutz, Autumn Falls definitely isn’t flying below the radar at Aventura High. Luckily, she makes some genuine friends who take her under their wing. But she also manages to get on the wrong side of the school’s queen bee, and then finds out the guy she’s started to like, funny and sweet Sean, hangs with the mean crowd. Now her rep and her potential love life are at stake.

When Autumn vents her feelings in a journal that belonged to her late father, suddenly her wildest wishes start coming true. Is it coincidence? Or can writing in the journal solve all her problems? And if the journal doesn’t work that way,  is there a bigger purpose for it—and for her?

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I want to put out the disclaimer that I am am not bashing Bella at all when it comes to my thoughts and opinions about her first novel. In fact, I applaud her since she is, or had, dyslexia and I am impressed and a little proud that she wrote and sold a novel. So, please take into account that, for everyone and anyone who likes Bella Throne, that I am not personally bashing her and this review is just my thoughts on her first novel.

 

Oh boy, do I have a lot to say about this book.

So, Bella Throne, a Disney Channel star, has published a novel. I will be honest, when I first heard about this I was interested. With the exception of Hilary Duff, no other Disney Channel star has published a book, and I was interested in it. I didn't have any expectations about this going into it, except for a subconscious hope it would not be a cliche/something that could easily become a Disney Channel TV show or an original movie.

Unfortunately, it was. I swear it felt so reminiscent of one (especially from like the last 4-5 years) that I won't be surprised if it will be made in a movie in the future. I will give you two reasons that made me feel it could easily be made into a Disney Channel movie.

Reason #1: The Plot/Plot Development: I mean, the synopsis says it all. Autumn, our main character, moving into a new town and is the new girl in a contemporary high school setting. With it, throw in a mix of blandish characters to be her friends, the boy everyone loves, and the popular clique, you have a recipe that can take this story places.

Reason #2: Characters: Oh my god. This was my least favorite aspect of the whole novel. In short terms, I felt like that all of the teenagers, sophomores in high school, acted like 5th graders. Here's the long version:

The clique group (the popular kids). It was, in my opinion, the biggest cliche I have ever read in my life. You have Reenzie, the leader and who tried to ruin Autumn's life completely by doing things that most people can't even comprehend if they have a conscience, but then acts sugar sweet and rainbows to get something she wants. Although, although I did like that Sean (our love interest) was part of the group but was super nice and caring.

Then we have Autumn's own group. We have Jack (who I personally didn't really care about), Amelita (I think that's her name) who was my least favorite out of them because she was super stubborn and believed that revenge is right and only really focused on revenge and it was like:

To anyone and everyone she didn't like.

And then we have J.J., who was my favorite character in the story and was very interesting. He was snarky, and he (especially when he and Autumn first meet) likes talking anagrams.  And also there was an undertone of a potential love triangle that could grow in the future books in this series.

Lastly, Autumn herself. Oh dear god, Autumn reminded me of a contemporary and more stubborn version of America Singer from the Selection series. I swear, a lot of times in the book (especially in the prologue)I felt like was acting like a brat over her having to move. Not to mention that when she starts venting about her feels in the journal, she said wished for things for selfish purposes and didn't (most of the time) think about the consequences.

And she made so many decisions (and a big one during the climax) that made me want to throw my ereader to the ground at how stupid of a decision it was. Congratulations Autumn Falls, you are now number #1 on my list of most frustrating protagonists ever. Yes, she even beat America Singer.

I know what you are probably thinking: Is there anything that you really liked about this book? Well there is one thing. The writing. I mean, it isn't the best I've ever read but it isn't the worst I've read. There were sentences that I felt like could have been structured differently (and as a writer myself, I noticed that there were a lot of adverbs and I felt like this book shouldn't have had as many), but there were some that I really liked.

And another thing was that (except for the times I was most annoyed at Autumn) I liked/wanted to comment on. I didn't want to put this damn book down. However, unlike the Selection series, I will not be continuing this series at the moment I am writing it.

There is one more thing that I want to talk about before I end this review: I felt like this should have been made for a more middle-grade audience. My main reason is that I think most of Bella's fans are tween girls between the ages of 8-12, and most of those fans will want to read her book. While I do think for the most part it can be intended for that age range, there is some content (especially in one part of the book) that is for a more young-adult reader.

So, I was not a huge fan of Autumn Falls. Not just because of the plot, how I felt like this could easily become a Disney movie, and the characters, I was just not invested enough to want to read the rest of the series. The writing could be improved a little bit, but I overall thought it was good. However, it is not enough for me to raise the rating. My final rating for this book is a 1/5 stars.