Falling

Bits and Pieces #1

by Shirley Miranda

How would the course of your life change if someone new sat next to you? Meet Liz. She’s sixteen, the daughter of immigrant parents, doesn’t fit in at home and hides in plain sight in school. She’s an outsider until she’s rescued by an unlikely friendship that changes her life. FALLING (first in the Bits and Pieces Series) is a coming of age friendship story about Liz that chronicles parts of her life during the fall of her junior year. She’s had a rough year and managed to get through it without anyone’s support, including her parents’. Her life changes when her physics teacher assigns new seats in class and Patrick, her new lab partner, befriends her. Unlike her past partners, Patrick challenges her to see the true meaning of teamwork and friendship. With him as her new best friend, she learns what friendship is really about and starts to find herself in the process.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary

282 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 2011

About the author

For years, Shirley Miranda had an idea, a scene replaying over and over in her head. But the scene never quite ended. Unlike the other stories she started and finished all in her head, this one just paused in the middle of it. Shirley began writing fan-fiction when she was 11 years-old, many years before the term was coined or the internet to post it on. With no place to share it with, she mentally "wrote" many of them out. But one scene with her own original characters never got beyond that paused moment. With the encouragement of her husband, she put pen to paper (and fingers to keyboard), and began writing out the scene. It was clear from that moment on that it wasn't just one scene with two characters, they had a story to tell. This story couldn't be completed in one scene or even two. While her first love had been scriptwriting (as many of her fan-fiction tales were written), it wasn't meant to be told as such, or even a short story. The flood gates opened and her characters had so much to say and do beyond that one original moment.

Shirley Miranda currently teaches high school math and computer science in San Diego - surprised it isn't English? Even during her prior career of software engineering, Shirley volunteered to work with high school students interested in math and science. It was what caused her to switch to education. Falling (Book #1 in The Bits and Pieces Series) is Shirley Miranda's first novel.

Reviews

[Leann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is hard for me to review. They aren't perfect from a writer's standpoint, but they made me turn off the editor in my head and I just enjoyed them. But by "enjoy", I don't mean "feel joy".

These books so accurately capture the angsty self-doubt and hard self-criticism and relentless lack of self-confidence of my teen years that I felt like I had been transported back to 1992. This is a high, high compliment for Ms. Miranda, but geez, it was almost painful. It really tapped into latent feelings that I thought long exorcised, but apparently they were just deeply buried beneath my degrees and life successes. I didn't have the same problems as the main character, but still felt all the same emotions of zero self-worth.

I'll be watching for future books in this series, but I may have to clutch my law degree in one hand and my husband in the other so I'm not so efficently transferred back to feeling like a teenager. Life now is so much better.

[Marjie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty Good

I liked the basis of the story, recovery, renewal, friendship, reaching out, connecting with other people. You pick your friends and they can be better than your family sometimes.

[Kate Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me, this book is a bit of an enigma. I found it compelling, but yet boring at the very same time. I'm still not quite able to sort out my feelings for it. Here are my pro's and con's.

Pros: Mostly well-edited. I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming this is a self-pub, and it is much tidier than most that I have read, which is not a small number. A really great study on friendship, almost a "how-to" guide on being a good friend. Really, it made me want to actually be in the group of friends (I'm a bit annoyed by the label 'the crew,' but whatever, that's just me ;-) The main character, Liz, was well developed and believable. The more dramatic parts are believable, and character reactions and dialogue don't seem force or false. Overall, the plot flowed forward fairly seamlessly, which leads me to...

Cons: There was WAY too much unnecessary filler. In writing, I have learned that if a scene doesn't advance the plot, or reveal/develop something about the personality of a character, it has no business being there. There were so many times when a scene was set up with such detail and in such a way that I would get anxious, thinking something was about to happen. You know, a curveball, SOMETHING. And in the end, it would be just a really in depth description of Liz's evening spent doing homework. I just don't need to know what she did 24/7. It made the book about twice as along as necessary. Also, many of the supporting characters have no personalities at all. The boys are all the same person, the nice girls are all the same person, and the mean girls are all the same person. I didn't even bother paying attention to their names, because it didn't matter. Finally, a major piece of the puzzle to Liz's personality is the fact of her attack/attemped rape. I get that the author wanted to save it to be a bit of a big reveal, but she needed to have a little bit more foreshadowing. It seemed to come out of practically nowhere. I would have been less annoyed with her behavior, because there is some seriously annoying self loathing and whining that I had no reference for understanding. Patrick is quite possibly too perfect, but that isn't as annoying now, is it?

Overall, I did like the book. It held my interest, and I did read the sequel.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the main characters (secondary characters weren't easily distinguishable from one another; as far as I was concerned, "the crew" could just as easily have consisted of one other nice guy, his equally nice girl friend, and the main character's bitchy mean-girl girlfriend, rather than four interchangeable nice people - all with the same voice - and the mean girl and her coven), the story was fairly interesting. I found some of the plot points a little bit difficult to swallow -- a student contacting a teacher in the middle of the night to have a conference call with a suicidal classmate, and the teacher doesn't contact any sort of emergency personnel when the suicidal student abruptly terminates the call? The next day, the teacher offers up a suicide hotline card to the student, but no referral to the guidance counselor?

Overall, I liked the book, and I look forward to future installments. I do think, though, that the story could be tightened up a bit. The number of four- and five- star reviews here and on Amazon are a little perplexing, because - while this is a reasonably good first effort - there is definitely room for improvement.

[Michael Burhans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this as a free book, and it is easily the best free fiction book I have ever gotten. It was so good upon finishing I instantly bought the follow up book and started reading it.

The author paints a rich and believable tapestry in which fully rounded characters are drawn with such detail you feel you actually know them. Some you will love, others you will loath, most have some of each in them. I'll not tell what the book is about to save spoilers because the happenings in this book are so real, and so well played out I'm afraid I'd give to much away and lessen the enjoyment of others.

I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I felt every emotion in this book. I found it amazing. I give it my highest recommendation. Now, if you will excuse me, I cannot put down the follow up!

[DENISA HOWE · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful Book. From the first paragraph to the last word I felt I was part of this world. The characters were very well developed and I felt every emotion throughout the reading. The emotions brought out were so realistic; tears fell at certain points along with my anger, laughter and silent moments of thought. It depicts what a teen goes through like self-doubting, criticism, peer pressure and fear. This story celebrates friendship, understanding and family. It mourns the actions of many and offers hope for the future. I am glad this story line is a series and hope many teens of both genders give it a read.
I bought this via Amazon kindle version.

[Eddie Jong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply Awesome

This is a book about teenagers, always a fertile topic with what they all go through. But, it is more than that - much, much more. It's about Friendship and what a difference it can make in a life.

The writing style is simple, yet manages to easily convey the deepest emotions. I rooted for Liz, cheered her on and cried with her. I felt like strangling or shaking some sense into her parents. In short, I felt very much part of her life.

I don't easily recommend books, but this is one that I would recommend to just about anyone, from teenagers to parents and even grandparents like myself.

Truly a great read.

[TKieninger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liz is definitely the underdog and this book takes you through a big life change for her. She still has it rough but things start to look up for her now that she has a new best friend. The writing style was pretty symplistic and I noticed some editing errors as well as another character error, but I couldn't stop reading because I wanted to see how life was going to turn out for Liz. I was already part-way through the book before I discovered that this is a trilogy, so I'm happy to see the story continue. A good read, especially since I got this one for free on my Kindle.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was very into the story, I struggled with the fact that it's literally written on a third grade level. The cheesy four word sentence killed me, and it is so wordy! It's a painful read because of the excessive use of punctuation and childish sentences ("My favorite was the penguins!"), but I finished it nonetheless. If the sequel was free, I would read it (this one was a free kindle download), but I don't think I can shell out the $3 for it.

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing. Great story. Great meaning and reality within the story. My only wish is that the proof reading would have been more complete. I found many words mispelled, missing, or mis-ordered. If the typos were corrected this book would be perfect in every sense and would have definately earned 5 stars.

[Michelle [Helen Geek]]

Free on Amazon 05/16/2012.

[Darlene]

Kindle ASIN B0054EU2CS

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly it's very juvenile. Bland and boring. Do not waste your time!

[Alissa Landau · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, but it seems as if it was published with no editing. The random punctuation and odd grammar made it difficult to read.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the characters and their stories. Easy to follow and can't wait to see what happens as their friendship grows.

[Kylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Therese]

$0.0