THIS. BOOK. Before We Fall by Grace Lowrie is one of my favourite contemporary romance/ erotic romance books I’ve ever read.

The plot:

When Cally, an amateur ballet dancer, is suddenly diagnosed with cancer she runs away from her boyfriend, her job in a call centre, and her safe life in Wildham in order to experience ‘real’ life in London. Taking a job as a stripper and flat-sitting in the top of an office tower, she meets her obnoxious neighbour Bay; a tattooed, drug-taking, suicidal artist, haunted by the deaths of those close to him.

Despite their differences, the two strike up a friendship – Bay pushes Cally to try new things while Cally provides Bay with a muse – and they fall in love. But their secrets threaten to tear them apart, and time is running out…

I could list off hundreds of adjectives for the word “amazing”, and this still wouldn’t cover it

I genuinely got so sucked into Before We Fall that I actually forgot that Cally had cancer mid-way through, and when you start get reminders again, it all just hits hard. I think this is really what I loved most about the book – Lowrie makes you so engaged and there are so many other things going on, that you forget the whole ‘why’ Cally moved to London.

It does have quite a lot of erotic romance, but this just helps you with understanding the characters even more, and probably one of the main reasons I cried. YES, tears were shed. A) I’m not even mad. B) they weren’t sad tears, just… (you have to read it and find out, no spoilers from me today).

Each chapter jumps between Cally and Bay which is superbly done, and the different characteristics of each really jump out. Lowrie has really nailed the voice of both characters. There is lots of conversation, so a very quick and easy read, but one that is a delight from start to finish.

It’s sometimes hard writing a review for a book like this, because words just cannot describe how you feel when finishing this. I could list off hundreds of adjectives for the word “amazing”, and this still wouldn’t cover it.

I’ll definitely re-read Before We Fall time and time again, and I’m likely to not stop ranting about it for a solid 3 months. Sorry, not sorry.

Bookmark That approved. Before We Fall is everything you need in an erotic/ contemporary romance novel.

Before We Fall, Grace Lowrie, RRP £7.99 (paperback); Book Depository 

Pages: 354

Publisher: Accent Press

Genre: Erotic/ Contemporary Romance Fiction