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Falling Gracefully

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What do you do when your life is over before it even really began?

For Melody Bledsoe, the answer is to go home and lick your wounds.

A former child prodigy, Melody was always the best dancer in her class – in her town, even. All that changed when she won a scholarship to a prestigious performing arts school in New York and quickly learned what it’s like to be a little fish in a big pond.

For Jessie Cartwright, the answer is to survive.

Pregnant at sixteen – and on her first date no less – Jessie had no choice but to drop out of school and pour heart and soul into raising her daughter, even if it did come at the expense of her own happiness.

When Melody returns home wearing the new label of failed ballerina, she takes a job at a dance studio where she meets Jessie and her daughter, Ellie, a rising star in her own right. Melody is just trying to find a new purpose, and Jessie only wants to give her daughter the best childhood possible, but as their lives become entwined they begin to see a new life on the horizon… together.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 26, 2017

122 people are currently reading
136 people want to read

About the author

Cara Malone

68 books478 followers
I write stories that explore the thrills – and challenges – of falling in love as a woman-loving woman, including the bestselling Lakeside Hospital medical romance series and Rainbow Award honorable mention The Rules of Love.

My books are for you if you’re a fan of contemporary romance, if you love strong women who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable, and if you like a little heat with your sapphic love stories.

Grab a free copy of Mind Games on my website, CaraMalone.com

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5 stars
117 (36%)
4 stars
106 (33%)
3 stars
76 (23%)
2 stars
19 (5%)
1 star
3 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Brooke.
328 reviews162 followers
July 1, 2017
WOW. Very rarely (& by rarely I mean 3-4 times a year if I'm lucky) do I rate a lesfic 5 stars. I've only read one other Cara Malone novel so far, but I can clearly envision her becoming one of (or quite possibly "the one") my favorite F/F authors. Why? Her prose is stunning, filled with complex muti-layered characters intertwined with everyday "real life" conflicts that manage to tug on your heartstrings, yet have you smile at the same time. I LOVED this! My only qualm is that it was too short- what happens to Melody & Jessie now? Is there a possibly of a sequel someday down the road?

Melody doesn't know who she is without ballet. Having spent her entire childhood so intently focused on the dance, she has tied her entire identity around her slippers. When she gets accepted to study at Pavlova, she finds that she can't keep up with the other students; she feels that she isn't good enough & that it's all just a waste of time. An incident occurs & she drops out. Now back to living with her parents, she must take an assistant job at the local ballet studio. Going to the studio brings memories of Pavlova to the surface & Melody starts getting panic attacks. She wants nothing to do with any of this- just staying in the basement with her stoner friend Andy seems to be the most ideal option. So why does everyone force her to stray outside her comfort zone?

One day Melody's world changes. Enter Jessie & her five-year-old daughter, Ellie. Signed up for ballet classes, Melody & Jessie spend a lot of time stealing glances at each other, though neither woman acts on this. Pregnant at sixteen, Jessie is married to Steve. Although not in love with him, he's Ellie's father & that's a sufficient enough answer to stay with him. As time progresses, Jessie attempts to keep up lying to herself while Melody must find a way to put the past behind her & fuel herself forward towards happiness. Eventually, both women find this as they face the future together.

Instead of filling the book with lifeless characters & unrealistic circumstances, Malone brings FALLING GRACEFULLY to life with vivid MCs & vivid supporting characters stacked with substance. I especially appreciated the scenes between Jessie & Steve & how he handled Jessie's outcome. The dialogue between the women was delightfully sweet. I also have to mention the lack of abundant steamy scenes. Obviously in this genre, you're going to have sexual situations, but to be honest, many of them feel a bit gratuitous, not adding much in terms of plot. (Not that they all need a plot in order to be deemed worthwhile reading, but I digress.) It was just refreshing to see both women putting in the effort to work on themselves first instead of their libido. Anyhoo....

A strongly recommended read, I cannot wait to see what Malone has next up her sleeve.
Profile Image for C.
737 reviews77 followers
July 11, 2017
I didn't hate it but... 2.5*

I didn't hate the book but I really didn't like it either. I guess part of it was the subject of infidelity always bugs me especially if the pursuer knows the other person is married and blatantly doesn't care. Regardless of certain situations...in a sense I just find it wrong. Despite that, I had trouble wrapping my head around character being only 18 because at times she acted 18 and others it just seemed to should be in her 20s. Like I said, I didn't hate it but I didn't like it much either. Free on kindleUnlimited so that's a plus and I will more than likely read more by her in the future just cause.
652 reviews8 followers
June 27, 2017
Sweet story!

Very sweet story! Melody's experiences when she went to school in New York were very traumatic and left her with no sense of self confidence and anxiety attacks until she met Jessie and her little girl Ellie. That started them in their attraction towards each other and Jessie coming to terms with her sexuality. Overall, the characters were very well developed. The storyline was nicely developed. I liked it very much and here is hoping there will more to the story between Melody and Jessie.
Profile Image for Kandice.
890 reviews
July 3, 2017
I continue to be enthralled by this author's ability to immediately draw me in to the story and characters. This book has fewer smexy scenes than previous books, but I appreciated the focus on their connection and journeys to healing.

One annoyance - Melody's willingness to ignore Jessie's marital status. Kinda rubbed me the wrong way that just b/c she was married - and assumption that it was to a man - that it was OK to cheat since she's not really hetero. Why was Melody requiring Jessie to be either/or? She could have been a happily married bi finding herself attracted to someone. It was really a small moment in the overall story, so easy to pass by.

*ARC provided by the author
Profile Image for Kaye.
4,339 reviews71 followers
August 11, 2022
I’ve blazed through a couple of Cara Malone’s series and decided to read this stand alone. Sadly I didn’t connect to it at all. Maybe it was my mood or the characters being young. Melody gets a job at a dance studio after failing out of a prestigious dance school in NYC. She meets Jessie Cartwright who is married and has a five year old wanting to take dance. I didn’t like that although they don’t cheat there is longing and emotional attachment when Jessie isn’t free. (2.5 stars)
Profile Image for Liralen.
3,340 reviews275 followers
December 22, 2017
My absolute favourite thing about this: the married woman's husband isn't a jerk. I find so many evil exes in romance novels, people who exist solely to give the hero(ine) a Tragic Backstory or to provide conflict or whatever...and they have to be completely irredeemable, I guess, because an irredeemable ex isn't a threat to the hero(ine)'s love for the hero(ine). But here, while Steve provides conflict (he is, after all, Jessie's husband, and she's falling for Melody), he's at his core a good guy who wants what's best for Jessie and for their daughter.

The romance comes pretty late in the story—Jessie and Melody spend much more time working out their own stuff than they do together. In general that's fine by me, though I'm left wondering how long this relationship might last, realistically. Melody enters the book young and directionless and exits it young and with a little more direction. I actually really like that she pretty much flunked out of dance training (more realistic than the more common fictional story, which would be for her to have been a rising star thwarted by injury), but if she and Jessie were to get serious, I wonder how prepared she'd be for the responsibilities Jessie faces. (Jessie calls her out on this once or twice, and while Melody sees her points, it's not fully resolved. Also, I found it rather problematic that Melody's response to Jessie being married is basically 'who cares?' Well—Jessie cares, for one.) Another 50 or 100 pages might not have been the worst thing in terms of letting their relationship develop. Still...this was promising, and I'd be happy to read more by Malone.
365 reviews42 followers
July 5, 2017
Short novel with loads of potential.

Melody and Jessie (and her vibrant daughter Ellie) fill the pages of Falling Gracefully with wonderful possibility. Their story, both together and apart, is about growth and change. Lesfic seems to thrive on bringing together perfect, gorgeous women who overcome obstacles so they have an HEA. I read these books and enjoy them. I admit that this oversimplifies an entire genre. Cara Malone takes characters that have no business being together and creates an interesting narrative for them.

The only issue for me was the ending. It ends at what could have been the middle of the story. Following Melody and Jessie as far as the book takes them only tells half of their story. There is no cliffhanger but the ending came too soon. The author offers deleted scenes on her website, if you sign up on an email list, but another book would do the trick.
Profile Image for M.E. Tudor.
Author 17 books102 followers
October 15, 2018
This started out really well and then fizzled for me. I don't have much time to read and if the story doesn't pull me along I usually just go to the ending to see what happens, and I did this with this one.
Profile Image for RA Young.
321 reviews6 followers
September 27, 2021
Good bones

The primary storyline was solid, and the development of the two main characters and the challenges they faced was really great. However, a lot wasn't lacking in the development of their relations with others, particularly Melody's. Melody never speaks her truth to her parents, never stands up to her father, never comes to any sort of resolution with her little sister, who is depicted as terrible. We also got no view of Jessie's family, how her parents reacted to the pregnancy, whether they were supportive of her choices, how they felt about her marriage...we get an offhand mention of them as a plot tool to get the kid out of the way so Jessie and Steve can talk, but the scene isn't shown at all, just mentioned. We don't know what kind of background Jessie comes from other than small town white girl who was somewhere between working class and middle class and though college was an option before she got knocked up.
We don't find out what happened to Blaire either, of she's still in touch with her or not, we have sense of Jessie's experience coming out or see of she has even a single friend (though it seems like she doesn't) which would be worth exploring why and how managed as long as she did without any sort of support system if that even was the case.
The story was good, but it would have been so much better even a little more fleshed out.
Profile Image for Helen Gee.
56 reviews3 followers
July 21, 2020
I'd give this book 3.5 *

I feel like Cara Malone has probably split opinion with this book. First off the storyline has infidelity - which, if you get through the book proves not to be (in my opinion) quite what it seems.

I like the character of Jessie, although she's married and a closeted lesbian, there is an integrity to her character that I do like and her relationship with her daughter is sweet.

Melody, the main character starts working at the local dance studio. She has a lot of hang ups about ballet stemming from her experiences in childhood. I find myself wanting more for her than working reception at a dance studio and smoking weed in her best friend's basement. (drugs being another dividing factor on this book).

The break up of Jessie and her husband of five years is one which definitely provided a pleasant twist. I loved the fact that the split was amicable and reasonable.

I listened to this book on Audible but unfortunately the narration was pretty poor quality and very distracting. My advice if you read this one, buy the ebook/paperback version!!

This is the first book I've read by Cara Malone, I like her writing style and I do plan on reading some more by this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Aris Duarte.
288 reviews3 followers
July 19, 2018
Another amazing book from Cara Malone, she is on my top 3 favorite authors of lesbian romance and she never dissapoints.

Okay, firstly this book made me really sad, the situation with Melody's personal life and then Jessie's life it was a combination for all the feelings to come out. And that's what I like about reading: once you made me cry, then that's when I know it's an amazing book and the author just stays as a favorite and a "go to" when I'm out of stuff to read.

It's sad, but it makes you get into the story and you can't stop reading (except when you're stuck at work for 8 terrible hours and all you want to do is go home and read). Also, what I did liked a lot too, it's that the author didn't just focused on telling Melody/Jessie's part of the story, but that there were a few chapters where you could't see Steven's perspective and it was good and surprising to see someone else's vision of the story you're reading.

As I said, you can't go wrong with a Cara Malone's book. A must read.
3 reviews
August 1, 2019
Of all Cara's works I've read so far, I think this is perhaps her finest! As usual, the character development was flawless, but like 2 onions placed together, you, the reader, could watch as the layers were pealed back to reveal both character's feelings for each other without the need for a lot of heat to express them. I am *not saying that the absence of heat in most of the story is a good thing, or a bad thing for that matter. Indeed, I have seen more than a few reviewers say that there wasn't enough heat. But I felt satisfyingly teased, as Cara kept me on the edge of my seat until ... well until things heat up—that's all I'll say. But I leave the reader with this:
I learned from this book that a good romance (no matter the genre) needn't be defined by how erotic it is, but instead it should be enhanced by it. Cara brought that home in a way I've never thought about before. So keep it coming!
Profile Image for Tamás Polyák.
26 reviews
June 26, 2017
I've read it participating in the ARC process. For which I'm grateful, because I could read it two weeks before everybody else.

From my review on Amazon:
I admit I'm a sucker for stories about broken people who are strong and willing to reinvent themselves, more so if it's love that makes them realize they are more than what they seem to be. I loved the characters, made me really root for them to realize what they mean to each other. Well, I loved all the characters. But I must admit, after I've read the last chapter, I felt like a preschooler after eating only one pancake, I wanted more.
Profile Image for Zingari.
214 reviews
August 13, 2018
Trying to get through this one, but there are some things I didn't see coming.

Melody is 19, and Jessie is 21-22. Jessie is married. I wasn't expecting any of this.

Update:

I couldn't bring myself to continue. I skipped through it. Perhaps one day I'll go back, but I don't see that happening. Too much inner monologue and flashbacks. It couldn't grab my attention and I found myself easily distracted. The fact that these two characters were so young in so many ways, and yet their lives seemed so... over. It felt tragic. I couldn't convince myself to go through all the bad to get to the good.
Profile Image for Aleigh.
68 reviews
June 16, 2020
I had a really hard time finishing this book for a few reasons.

1.) I can never get behind an infidelity plot line. It will always keep me from fully "liking" the characters.

2.) I appreciate the backstory of Melody but not enough that it could carry the book.

3.) The two characters I liked the most were the daughter, Ellie and her dad Steve. Something is wrong when I am reading a lesfic book and am rooting for the straight man (husband) and the daughter.

4.) My last critique would be a spoiler -- but it's the equivalent to having sex on a kids playground - gross just don't.
Profile Image for Kexx.
2,329 reviews100 followers
December 31, 2017
A good read - had all the ingredients of a fine romance and would have been 5 stars but as noted in other of her books it all ends too quickly and leaving me wanting more. What happened next? An epilogue would have sorted it and kept a romantic like me happy! (That probably is the point!) The link takes you though to Cara's website, but there is no follow up on Melody and Jessie. Very small moans for a very good book.
Profile Image for Patricia OHara.
437 reviews4 followers
July 27, 2018
Great suspense

This is the second of your books I have read. Your story line kept me wanting more for these ladies and you have them a perfect ending. Your love scenes really were well thought out and you made them feel like a true love story. Thanks again for this lovely story. I’m looking forward to reading more of your books.
Profile Image for Marty Preslar.
Author 3 books14 followers
October 16, 2017
Excellent

Nobody writes stories about women who are hurting in some manner, then healed by the love of that special lady who happens to come into their life at just the right time like Cara Malone! This is another great one!
Profile Image for Samantha Brown.
39 reviews
July 8, 2018
Loved it!

I have read a few books from Malone. By far this is one of my favorites. I was completely engaged in the story and just needed to know what happened between them next.
Enjoyable quick read.
Profile Image for Ceh131973.
554 reviews5 followers
July 28, 2018
This was a well written, quirky, sweet romance story. It dealt with finding yourself and overcoming obsticles. The characters were developed but not deep. I did enjoy the secondary characters and they added to the story. It is a nice, quick, enjoyable read.
Profile Image for Michelle  Schuler.
922 reviews12 followers
March 24, 2021
Slow Burn

Cara Malone has a slow burn romance with Melody and Jessie. Both have to figure out their lives and how they will accomplish what they want. Instant chemistry, although it took awhile to get together there was palpable reasons for the wait. This was a fun book to read.
Profile Image for MissAlice.
449 reviews17 followers
April 1, 2022
Well, here ya have an anxious, washed up ballerina bumping into a young devoted mom whom also happens to be a married closet case- let the WLW madness ensue. All the fun lesbian cliches stuffed into a leotard and some ballet slippers. It's a cute, quick, predictable read with an steamy HEA.
Profile Image for Kim.
683 reviews3 followers
July 22, 2017
There are a few editing issues, but still an enjoyable read. It's not my favorite of Cara Malone's lesbian romances, but still a good story.
Profile Image for Sascha Broich.
325 reviews4 followers
September 28, 2017
A little on the short side for the romance, it concentrates more on the problems Melody has.
Profile Image for Tanesha.
82 reviews
February 20, 2018
Nice read

I enjoyed reading this. The story was sweet. I do hope that there will be another book with Jessie and Melody.
Profile Image for Jeff.
1,637 reviews4 followers
April 13, 2020
Wonderful story

I have enjoyed this book with Melody and Jessie how they both had a past but came together and fell in love.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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