Falling Softly by Maria Duffy

Blurb: Holly Russo couldn’t be happier.
Christmas, her favourite time of year, is only seven weeks away and her boyfriend has just popped the question. David is steady and reliable, and Holly knows he’ll give her a wonderful life. The kind of life she’s always wanted. Right?

Then her new neighbour moves in.
Josh O’Toole is also approaching the festive season with joy. He loves his teaching job. He’s about to have a baby with his adored girlfriend Stephanie, and they’ve just moved into a new home to begin their life as a family.

But as Josh and Stephanie settle into their new house across the road from Holly and David’s, things begin to get complicated …

Falling Softly is a sparkling, heart-warming story about first love, and how life has a habit of turning out in the way we least expect it to.

2 stars

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest/unbiased opinion.

I’m sorry but I did NOT like this story. It started out slow and only dragged on. There was not enough showing, too much telling. And the flashbacks didn’t really give us a look into how happy they were so the chemistry was non existent for me.

It showed how unhappy they were in their current relationships but I failed to see how them getting together was better.  It had been too long and they didn’t know each other anymore.  We never really knew them in love so when they ‘fell’ it didn’t seem genuine at all.

The end was too fast, not flowing cohesively like the slow beginning and middle. The transition of the story seemed a bit choppy throughout honestly.  I had to keep stopping because the scenes kept changing abruptly and I was like, “Wait, how did we get here?”

Honestly, I almost DNF’d this book but wanted to give it another chance. I regret it. I should have gone with my gut.