When I typed in my search to Wikipedia, I found the following definition:
The fear of falling (FOF) is a natural fear and is typical of most humans and mammals, in varying degrees of extremity. It differs from acrophobia (the fear of heights), although the two fears are closely related and sometimes indistinguishable. The fear of falling encompasses the anxieties accompanying the sensation and the possibly dangerous effects of falling, opposed to the heights themselves.[1]
I wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into with this book. And truly, it was such an intense story to read that I had to make myself stop and read a few books that were "fluffier" before I could write the review. At one point, I even emailed Mrs. Jennings to tell her I read a particularly emotional scene. Her response? "It gets worse before it gets better" and I thought to myself "what have I gotten myself into?"
Fear of Falling follows the story of Kami and the end of yet another bad day for her. She's spent her entire adulthood running from her fears while never feeling safe enough to actually let them go. She makes a point of only having casual relationships because of her intense fear of being unlovable. On this particular day, though, she meets the one man that can help her face all the fears she's been collecting in her jar of origami stars. She knows her attraction to him is real and her fear of her own feelings becomes star number 253. Through the story, we learn why she is so traumatized. She has very good reasons for keeping herself in her own comfort zone.We learn why her friends, Angel and Dom, rally around her. And they are ultimately the proof that she IS capable of loving and being loved, even when she doesn't recognize it in herself.. Blaine, however, sees her strength and does his best to understand her fears. Blaine is one persistent man. He stays as strong as he can while being pushed away at every opportunity or excuse that Kami can come up with. His desire is not to fix or change her but to bring her past her fears and into her future with him.
One thing I really liked about this book was that while Blaine was a strong man, he was not without his own faults. But even with his inexperience with everything Kami is dealing with, he does his best by her. He doesn't try to fix her as he first thinks he needs to but he becomes her calm in the storm of her emotions. He even takes the approach of facing her fears head on and taking bad experiences and making them better so that Kami can have happy memories. By loving her, he eventually does save her from herself.
Another stand-out character for me was Dom. I do hope that we see more of him soon.
S.L. Jennings' book, Fear of Falling is worth your time. It is worth the heartache. It is worth getting to certain points in the story that are so intense that you have to stop reading to process it all before you can go on.
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