Book Review – Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls, #1) by Misty Wilson

 

Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls, #1) by Misty Wilson is about two young adults who reconnect after years apart.

Ellis is excited about her senior year. She has a lot of goals she hopes to accomplish before attending Columbia to study journalism. However, she wasn’t expecting to move from Manhattan to Bramble Falls, Connecticut.

Her parents have decided to separate, with her mother heading back home to Bramble Falls. Bramble Falls is a charming town that celebrates autumn with lots of festivals and activities. The last thing Ellis needs is more distractions from her goals, especially one in the shape of Cooper Barnett, her ex-best friend who now works as a local barista.

Cooper has grown up and glowed up since the last time they saw each other. Ellis feels herself drawn to Cooper, but he seems to be avoiding her. However, when the town holds a month-long tourist festival celebrating autumn, the pair ends up spending more time together. Will Ellis be able to focus on her future at Columbia, or will she warm to the idea of spending more time in Bramble Falls with Cooper?

I thought the book was an okay read. It was a cute autumn read with lots of cozy vibes. However, I found the female main character a bit annoying, and the book felt repetitive because she kept making the same bad choices over and over. I also didn’t understand why she kept calling her dad in the beginning but gradually stopped trying, or why the author stopped mentioning those attempts. Her dad would often blow her off, so I didn’t understand why she was so insistent on going back to someone who didn’t even check in on her. It did take some time for Ellis to grow, but it felt like it took too long for her to realize that she had people who cared about her and that she should be making the same effort for them.

I would have preferred if Ellis had ended up with someone else in the end. I felt like both Ellis and Cooper could have communicated better at times, and their romance felt uneven. Despite these issues, I would still recommend the book to anyone looking for a cozy small-town romance.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and were not influenced by the publisher or author.