Where She Fell

by Kaitlin Ward

Watch your step.

Eliza knows the legends about the swamp near her house—that people have fallen into sinkholes, never to be seen again, maybe even falling to the center of the earth. As an aspiring geologist, she knows the last part is impossible. But when her best friends drag her onto the uneven ground anyway, Eliza knows to be worried.

And when the earth opens under her feet, there isn't even time to say I told you so.

As she scrambles through one cave, which leads to another, and another, Eliza finds herself in an impossible world—where a small group of people survive underground, running from vicious creatures, eating giant bugs, and creating their own subterranean society. Eliza is grateful to be alive, but this isn't home. Is she willing to risk everything to get back to the surface?

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Romance, Adventure, Horror

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2018

Reviews

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

this. was. everything.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars.

This was such a unique story that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, a few things bothered me about it.

The biggest problem is that abrupt ending! I really wanted a few questions answered and some plot points wrapped up, but it just... ends. For instance, what was the point of Eliza constantly talking about her awful friends if nothing is resolved? I'm also really bothered by the fact that they're going to tell everyone it was just the three of them down there. I understand and respect their decision to protect the bioluminescents, but what about Eleanor or Mary's families? Don't they deserve closure?

This would have been 4 stars if the ending had been executed better, but at the end of the day I did still enjoy this book a lot.

[ZonedOutonBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond anything I thought this would be! I was one edge the entire time. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars was it was slightly unrealistic (just a little you know) in the fantasy but not really department. You'll love this book sooo much.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A PG-rated thriller that feels very Journey to the Center of the Earth-esque. I appreciated how Ward dealt with the theme of toxic relationships, low self-esteem, and the experience of social anxiety. A page turner with excellent pacing. Appropriate for grades 7-12.

[Andria Sedig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very strange and unique concept. My lack of knowledge about rock formations and the terminology used was off putting in some places. This book also requires you to suspend belief quite a bit, which can be tricky since this seems to be such a "real world" type of book. The concept was good but the execution, mainly pacing, was a bit off in the middle of the book. Overall this was an enjoyable read.

[Chloe Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

STAY AWAY FROM SINKHOLES!!!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Eliza knows not to venture near the swamp. All of the stories about people falling through holes into the swamp, but she doesn't listen. She wants to be as cool as her friends and go with them to take a picture which will result in a $50 reward. But before she knows what is happening she falls into darkness. As she feels around for a way out, she finds a secret tunnel system that leads to an underground world with people that live there. These people have to run away from creatures to stay alive. Will she get back up to the surface, or will she be lost forever?

[Cara Rohde · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that I couldn’t put down! My 11 year old gave it to me to read and I loved the fact that we could both enjoy it. I’m excited to read more by this author.

[Carrie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture as you will Journey to the Center of the Earth

There is a legend about a swamp where people have fallen into sinkholes, never to be heard from again. Eliza is a geologist and she knows those legends. She’s even heard that people may have fallen as far as the center of the earth but she also knows that can’t be true. Right? After being dragged out to the swamp by her two best friends and a little push, she finds herself on uneven ground and falling. After searching cave after cave, tunnel after tunnel, she comes upon a small colony of people that survive by staying away from danger and eating large insects. Eliza is thankful to receive help from the colony but after some time she realizes this is not where she belongs. She must risk her life to save herself and lead others to help find their way out of the earth and back home.

This was a great read. It only took me a few hours to read the whole book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A lot of adventure, a little bit of gore, and some romance. The colony in this book reminds me of how society and us as humans can get from time to time. Complacent, blending into their environment, never challenging change or seeking adventure. Sometimes we may not see it but change is good. Imagine if none of us push the boundaries of our world, how boring life would be.

I had fun reading this book. The visuals I imagined as I was reading this had me seeing a beautiful underground right below our feet. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about is that it could get descriptively gross from time to time. I look forward though to reading more from Kaitlin Ward.

[Jamie (The Kansan Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Eliza is a girl who wants to be a geologist and loves to go spelunking. She talks her two friends into going to visit a cave, but her friends have other plans. They go to a swamp that has warnings of sinkholes where people have disappeared before. Their town has a myth that people have fallen in and gone to the center of the earth. Her two friends talk her into going near the swamp even though she doesn't want to, and doing this she falls through a sinkhole. She finds a cavern with a colony. The colony is made up of people who have fallen through sinkholes, mineshafts, or vertical shafts. Eliza now has to survive the caverns and see if maybe there is a way out.

First off, her friends are freaking horrible. Second off, kudos to the authors for getting social anxiety down. I liked this to a degree. If was interesting and the plot had a good start. I wasn't a fan of the random romance that was thrown in. I don't know if I am just getting too old to really want to read about a sixteen-year-old and a seventeen-year-old getting hot and heavy.

I wasn't a big fan of the ending. It was okay. I wish we got to find out more about them after they had escaped. I want to know how they readjust to normal life after being in the caves. Especially, for Alice and Grayson who had been in the caves longer than Eliza. I want to know how Eliza ditches the two friends and also how they dealt with knowing they are at fault a bit for her falling into the sinkhole.

I just wish there was a bit more. Like one more chapter to explain a couple things.

[soleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in 7th grade and just found the book! Was my fav back then

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book so much! Definitely going to read again! <3 <3 <3


Alright, read it again, then again... Ahh! it is so good! but i read this like last year.

[Scarlet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Choice book #3 Quarter 2 Where She Fell by Kaitlin Ward is a adventure book which most of the time takes place in the colony that is underground.

Eliza, Collen, Mary, and the Bioluminescent creatures.

Eliza is the main character in the book Where she fell. Eliza is the middle child of three. She lives with her two sisters and parents. She has two best friends Sherri and Meg. At the beginning of the book, Eliza and her friends were going to go in a cave that Eliza found, but her friends were dared to go to Drowners Swamp and take a selfie right next to the lake. So they went and Meg got hurt and so they told Eliza to keep going but she fell into a sinkhole and got stuck underground. She was really worried that she would die down there and not get to live the rest of her life, but she starts exploring. As she explores she gets attacked by a bioluminescent which she did not know what it was at that time. Some people find her with a bruised rib and bring her into their small colony or that's at least what they called it. Before Eliza went to Drowners Swamp because her friends got dared she was studying to become a geologist.

Collen is like the leader of the colony that is underground where Eliza fell and ended up in. Collen has been stuck underground for over six years and was one of the first people to get to the underground. She also knows about the bioluminescent creatures she had seen one before but she tries to stay far away from them.Collen is one of the people that found Eliza and helped her get to the colony. Collen used to be a nurse way before she got stuck in the underground and helped Eliza with her bruised ribs.

Mary is the "nerd" of the underground colony, or at least that is what they call her and what she is mostly known as. She knows almost everything about the cave system and before she found herself in the underground she was a geologist, just like what Eliza wants to be if she ever gets out. Mary keeps a journal with her and writes stuff almost every day and she goes back in her journal to remember what her life was like just like Eliza. Mary and Eliza have a lot in common. Mary just like Collen has been in the underground for a while maybe more or maybe less.

Bioluminescent are like half human creatures but they where just born in the underground and they glow, their eyes always glow and sometimes the rest of the body glows too. Bioluminescent creatures attack and kill their pray which is most likely for that pray to be a human.

The problem in the book Where she fell is that Eliza got stuck underground and can't find a way out but as she tries to escape the bioluminecent creatures attack.

The book Where She Fell follows a girl called Eliza as she is afraid to go to Drowners Swamp and trying to figure a way out of the underground.

I liked the book Where She Fell because it isn't something that any person would come up with. so the author most have a lot of creativity to just have come up with the idea of the book. I honestly think that Eliza's friends aren't such good friends because they didn't help at all to first of all get her out of the sinkhole and get her out of the underground if I were Eliza first of all I would be scared to death and i would absolutely hate my friends and I would rather be friends with the people in the colony.

[booksofthedead]

Review from a Middle School English Teacher:

"Where She Fell" by Kaitlin Ward is about a young girl who falls into a sinkhole. As she journeys farther down into the earth via a cave opening that she escaped into, she discovers a group of people who have made this cave their home. And she quickly learns that the cave wants them to stay...

This book was at the book fair my school had recently and a student of mine picked out this book and "Lie to Me," by the same author. After finishing the latter, I thought I would try this one out, too.

I actually preferred this book, although my student preferred "Lie to Me." I thought there were a lot of creative elements in the cave dwellers and I was fascinated by the concept of the bioluminescents. I actually wished their origin had been explained a bit more. I enjoyed that, with the exception of the main character, no one feels safe -- I mean that it genuinely felt like any of them could have died, which is a bit of a surprise for a middle school book.

What I liked:
The entire cave system and colonies were pretty cool.
The main character has social anxiety and seeing her work through that was really cool; it was also nice to have a main character with a mental illness that is represented well.
All of the cave creatures.

What I would warn parents about:
Blood & gore, although nothing I would say that a middle schooler couldn't handle.
Pretty steamy romantic scenes, which might be a bit too much for a middle schooler. It should be based on individuals and not something given to everyone.

Who I would recommend this for:
Reluctant high school readers/high schoolers who are struggling and not on level.
Mature middle schoolers.

[Kinsley Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was extremely interesting from the beginning. Even though it could be predictable at times, it was still entertaining and wasn't hard to keep reading. I liked the fact that it was an adventure book where she was trying to escape the underground world, but there were still human relationships. It was interesting to see her grow close with some of the people down there and make friends while also falling for Grayson. The characters were portrayed very well and acted like any other person would in real life. There were several times that even though this could never actually happen, the reader felt like they were living this story out. My favorite character was Elenor and I was devastated when she was killed by that bug. There weren't any parts of the story I didn't like and the only thing I would change would be to make the beginning part a little bit more unpredictable but even now it was still suspenseful. As they were running away from the camp and trying to escape they faced many unexpected challenges that would catch the reader off guard. As I said before it was very entertaining to see the main character, Eliza quickly form friendships and grow close with others as she tried to figure out how to get herself and her friends back to the surface. I would recommend this book to people who like adventures but tend to get bored easily because this book always has a new plot twist, chase, or problem that needs to be solved.

[Bookworm &#x1f41b; · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was very confused with Where She Fell. I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. It was kind of like a fantasy, but it wasn’t supposed to be. One thing I loved was how the plot had everything to do with caves. I don’t read a lot of books that have an underground adventure and I loved the details put into the descriptions of the caves and creatures. Some parts really grossed me out. Like how they eat bugs and the way the describe it. This book is has some guts and gore, but nothing that I can’t handle. What really got me is was the ending. I almost cried, but ended up not crying because of what happened after. I’m REALLY tired of hearing the main character being anxious and antisocial as well as thinking she’s not enough. I’ve read 3 books in a row with the same character. What does the main character always have a best friend who is super confident, but the main character is nervous like all the time?! I do like characters who have different personalities so I’ll let it pass.
I give this book an adventurous 3.2!

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes the right person is in the wrong place, and that’s exactly what happened to Eliza.

She was not supposed to be in the swamp but her two best friends coerced her to go, and then she fell.

Despite my squeamishness over the creepy, squelchy bugs that Eliza encounters (in more ways than one!) I liked this book which was reminiscent of Journey to the Center of the Earth with hints of the movie Avatar.

This adventure story set in a horrifying underground world had some truly gruesome and gory moments along with a fascinating cast of characters.

Eliza’s journal entries entries add humor and a sense of the strange world she finds herself in while she muses over the friends above ground compared to the new ones underground.

It’s a little unsettling to imagine what would have happened if Eliza didn’t push to find her way home. She’s the person you want to have by your side if ever you’re trapped.

[Briana · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a desperate attempt to find a book before I was kicked out of the library I hastily grabbed a book off of the realistic fiction shelf and checked out. That book was “Where She Fell” by Kaitlin Ward. Our protagonist is a socially awkward and young aspiring geologist, Eliza. Eliza had always felt she was somewhat of a burden, being the middle child and an outcast at school, she was just trying to find her role in life, but of course, that was before she fell. This book was very unique, thrilling, and quite a page turner! I am glad to say that I had not made a mistake picking up this book. Each page introduces questions and the description really made me visualize the setting (I loved that I felt like I was really there). I felt I could relate to Eliza being an outcast because for the most part of elementary I also had trouble making friends. This book teaches us that we shouldn’t give into pure pressure and that we should be proud of who we are. I recommend this to sci-fi lovers and to ages 10 and up.

[Amairani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where she fell by Kaitlin Ward is a very interesting and thrilling book. Eliza and her friends received a dare from an unknown boy . If each girl completed it they would receive $50. The dare was to go all way to the end of the swamp and take a picture of a caution sign that laid there. What will happen to Eliza and her friends? Will they survive the dangers of the swamp? By reading this book you will have the answers to these questions, which I definitely recommend you to do. As much as I loved this book, I wish the author would have given more context about the characters in the beginning. But other than that, this exciting book should be read by all ages.

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oops, high-schooler Eliza accidentally falls into a sinkhole. But she was prepared to look in caves, plus she likes them. When she tries to find a way out, she stumbles upon a small colony of people who have also been trapped over the years....but they don't want to leave. And there might be another race of glowing humans too.

This has a touch of Journey to the Center of the Earth. Eliza is faced with tough decisions and the book takes a turn for the fatally gruesome towards the end, which lends to the harsh predicament she's in.

[Tiffany Jenks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the book felt very tween/teen and since I got it from my kids Scholastic book fair…it fit ha ha It was very interesting, about a topic I did not know much about…caves. It was interesting, kept my attention, there was a small love story included as well as some action including some death scenes. I was so disappointed in the ending though. There were so many questions left unanswered and I’m curious how the author would have wrapped it up. However, because the questions were left unanswered it does give your creative juices a chance to think or discuss pros and cons to different endings. So whichever option you prefer you’ll either be left wondering (like I was) or love the ending (think it out on your own). It was a quick read (on two flights) and would be great for older elementary to middle school readers.

[Sherry Guice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very different science fiction accessible to those who may think of science fiction as being set in space...a teenager interested in geology falls through a sink hole in upstate New York and is trapped...what she finds and if she gets out make up the novel...exciting, suspenseful, interesting with mild kissing. I think this would appeal to boys and girls grades 6 and up.

[Samantha Gerding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely recommend! It's not like other books that are slow burners, it starts off interesting very quickly. This is a very good book and if you guys like books that start off quickly, this is for you!!

[Madison]

Where she fell is about a girl named Eliza. Shes 16 years old and loves studying geology. Shes been warned by her parents multiple times to never go near the swamp/lake by her house. Even though Eliza was made clear to never go near the river, she can't help but tag along with her friends as go to the lake. Eliza dosen't understand the dangers of the lake until she falls nearly 2,000 feet in the ground by a sink hole. She finds a cave and from then on meets people she thought died a long time ago. The author does a great job explaining the fonomon of the whole book.

[Jahnavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really loved this book!! Totally different from all the other books I have ever read. This book surprised me many times with its unexpected twists. After a few chapters I was so engrossed in the story. I am glad this book deal with topics like social anxiety and peer pressure. Eliza is a great character that everyone can relate to. I reccomend this book to anyone wanting a good book to read.

[Em*Greedy* (Iniya) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end was kind of just abrupt...

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

what a weird story

[Barb Troup · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn’t something I usually read, but I thought I will try something else. It was an easy read. I knew how it was going to end but it could have added more then just that they got out.

[Bekah Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ this would be a dope movie

[Cait S · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I am both impressed and also slightly let down. This book is unlike any other I've read before, which is so refreshing when I read most YA plot synopsis and think "Wow...I've read that exact story at least ten times already. This year."

But at the same time, nothing about it felt fully developed. The characters were fairly one dimensional without a lot of reason given for why they are the way they are or behave the way they do. No one undergoes much growth. Major plot points happen without both an explanation of why (Glenn, anyone? What?) or much emotional impact lasting longer than a few pages. The whole thing just feels...unfinished. It feels like a good first draft of a story that, three drafts from now, will be great.

All of that being said, it is compelling. It made me want to keep turning the page and finding out answers. (A lot of which I was never given. SUPER not happy with how the story just ends. Just ENDS. I felt like it desperately needed an epilogue.) And I did add all of Kaitlin Ward's other works to my TBR. So. Take that as you will.