Falling Upwards

by Kassandra Sims

NEVA JONES IS ON A QUEST

But she's not quite sure what she's questing for. A crow told her to take off all the iron she was wearing, a stag told her to get a lock of pale hair and a lock of dark, and an owl told her to jump into a lake.

Neva is a businesswoman in the New South, not a character in some fairy tale -- but she'll take on this quest if it means no longer feeling like she's going insane. So she dives right into the lake and into a crazy dream-world where nothing makes sense, giants speak in riddles, surfers throw tea parties, and there's ocean as far as the eye can see.

One thing seems the hottie she met on a business trip in Wales is here, and needs to be saved from living the cycle of a curse over and over. Neva's saved herself plenty during her thirty-one years; she figures she can save a dark-haired, blue-eyed Welshman by solving a bunch of riddles. And then, if this really is a fairy tale, they'll be together forever.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Fiction

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 30, 2007

Reviews

[Angie West · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some issues and things left open at the end, but I really liked this one, even if the romance between March and Neva felt a little off. The rest of the story held my interest for sure.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. While I would still consider it a fluffy read (which I’m not saying is a bad thing at all) it had more substance than I was expecting. If you are a fan of fairytales and myths give this one a try but don’t expect all your questions to be answered by the end. 🦌✂️🏝🐗💘

[Jai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marked as paranormal romance - but more of a fantasy with many romantic elements. I really really enjoyed the writing in this book - very richly detailed and imaginative. The story starts out with Neva on a business trip in Wales. She's at a bar when she encounters a young man who often has young women trying to get his attention. When he tries to pry himself away from perhaps the 10th one, Neva feels compelled to step in and pretend to be his girlfriend. This starts some weirdness in the air. From there Neva begins to lose track of reality. When she goes home to seaside Alabama she keeps having visions of falling through a pond into another world, and her sister is ready to commit her. Around Mardi Gras, Neva has begun to accept her madness and decides she knows where the pond she sees is - her grandparents farm. Jumping in, Neva finds herself in another world - she meets fairies, a talking raven and stag, and March - the young Welsh man at the bar. They tell her that she has to save the Eternal Youth and send her on a quest. March is surly and resigned, as if he has been here before, and has no reason to hope. Neva finds his attitude annoying but feels compelled to finish the quest and go home, so sniping at one another they trek through a wildly created land. Many fairytale and mythical elements make appearances and a reader has many "whoa.. what's happening now?" moments. I really enjoyed how unexpected the story was and the growing relationship between March and Neva. I also liked that March and Neva use modern speech when they argue as it contrasts greatly with their surroundings. The only complaint .. I wish this story was longer! The four stars is because the ending felt a smidge incomplete to me.. I would have felt more content with two more chapters and a better idea of what really happened in the gap before the final happy chapter, and yet it is not a bad ending at all. I just want more time with the story and characters. I wanted to turn the book over and open it to the first page to reread it as soon as I finished.

More at my book blog - http://janicu.vox.com/library/post/fa...

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've apparently been on a bit of a faerie land kick lately, and this book fits perfectly into this theme of parallel, mythological worlds. The heroine, Neva Jones, meets a strange, handsome young man named March on a business trip to Wales, and after going home to Mobile, Alabama, Neva starts to wonder if she's losing her mind. She hears strange music, sees strange sparkles, and ends up diving head-first into a pond only to surface in a strange, magical world. An executive for a pharmacological company is the last person you'd expect to be drafted into a mystical quest, but that's exactly what Neva must do.

I thought this was a very fun read, with lots of creative twists on traditional Irish and Welsh mythology and characters. Manannan Mac Lir, the Irish sea god, as a California surfer dude was my favorite twist in particular, and I really loved how Kassandra Sims played with the "reality" of these myths. Hell, I want to go on a vacation to her Ys/Lyonesse, hehe.

Neva's likable enough, though sometimes her spunkiness manifests as sheer stupidity (if someone tells you to stay where you are instead of running at a giant, pissed-off board, for god's sake, stay where you are!), and I really liked the mercurial March. Neva's Southern Belle dialogue got a bit tiresome at times, particularly when she was hanging out with her gay friend Tony. Tony is a drag queen by night (and a literature professor by day, whee!), but he sounds like every stereotype of a flaming queen. I prefer a little less reliance on the Jack-on-Will-&-Grace stereotype in my gay characters, thanks.

Like I said, this was a very fun read, and Sims has a nice way with words, managing to write vivid, lengthy descriptions without boring the pants off of me or veering off into purple prose.

[The TBR Pile *Book review site* · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://thetbrpile.weebly.com/1/post/2...


I first saw this paperback on the shelf. The cover caught my attention. I read the blurb but was undecided. Of course, by the time I went to pick it up another woman grabbed it and that was the last copy. Two stores later, I finally had it in my hands. This sounded so interesting and unique.

I'm sorry to say I went to all that trouble for nothing. It's not bad but very slow moving. The main character is Neva whom I personally didn't like. She was very one-dimensional. There was no depth, if something didn't seem right she never really questioned it. If her first experience at The Serpent’s Kiss was odd why return? And if a man followed you from Wales to Alabama, I’d be seriously concerned no matter how handsome he was! Then there's March. He was just a good looking young man with an air of old wisdom. He never leaped off the page. His character was just there.

The entire story just went on. There was no real grabbing of my attention.

I read several chapters in and forced myself to go a little further with the hopes my search for this book was not in vain. Then I took my bookmark out and started something else. I just could not get into it. The scenery was great and the magical odd but believable. It's the characters that made me not care about their ending.

Maybe you'll like it better...

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. The bones of the story are good, it just took 100 pages before the writting could keep my attention. The story is a modern fairy tale, based on Welsh mythology, with a modern girl from Alabama, who must act out scripted parts in recurring fariy tales until she breaks the curse she unwittingly started. (There is however a great references to how Jeff Buckley's 'Everybody here wants you' is the bestest/sexiest song ever)

[JoReads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book years ago and can't remember a thing about it, all I remember is really hating it. I hated it to a point that when I finished reading, I chucked it across the room. I wish I could remember even some of it so I can tell you why I hated it so much, but it was so unmemorable to me and I'm not going to waste my time reading it again but who knows you might enjoy reading this so much more than me.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kind of really bizarre, but I enjoyed it. The characters were charming and if the outlandishness doesn't deter you, then it's worth a read!

What's with the cover though? The top half of the guy's face - it's an image I've seen on no less than half a dozen book covers. What's with that? I want to buy them all so I have a weird collection of this dude's face dripping water.

[Georgeanne]

This reads like a dream - literally. Scenes shift one from another with little transition so abruptly that several times I had to go back pages to reread and catch my place. Even at the end I was still somewhat confused at the bits of storyline that were not tied up. Having said that, it was strangely compelling and I enjoyed the story.

[Kesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but honestly up until she jumped into the lake it was confusing. I did not understand what was going on and I almost stopped reading it. I think the quest should have been longer and some of the characters fleshed out more. The ending was also quite rushed, I was like, huh.

[CJ - It's only a Paper Moon · Rating 2 out of 5]

i got it from the library. thank god.

[Adrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The words quest and crown are what made me buy this. It was on the cheap pile, thank goodness. It is only a small book so I tore through it but liking it a lot, no.