Official Review: The Fall from Grace by H.D. Carpenter

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[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Fall from Grace" by H.D. Carpenter.]

The Fall From Grace by H.D. Carpenter is a young adult fantasy novel.

H.D. Carpenter’s book The Fall From Grace is the story of a teenage girl who wakes up injured in a hospital with no idea of who or what she is. Based on the title and the description of her Angel wings tattoo on page one, it was pretty clear that there would be a supernatural theme. The main character, Addison, is a likeable enough heroine, although there is not a tremendous amount of depth to her portrayal.

The theme of good vs. evil is the main concept and the author makes the reader look at what each of those really mean in a unique way. The reversal of stereotype is evident right away and as you learn more about each character, you can see that no one is what they appear to be on the surface.

The book is written in first person, which seems to be the standard for young adult novels I have read lately. Carpenter’s style is easy to read, flows well and overall moves the story along quickly. Dialog is realistic and the author does a good job of setting up the romantic link between Addison and her love interest.

I was disappointed with the ending though, it definitely fell flat. The finale was a bit lackluster and it is clear that the author is intending to continue the story in a sequel. That in itself is fine, but I felt there needed to be more resolution. The author sets up a really interesting role that is thrust upon Addison at the end of the novel, but does not expand on it fully. I also felt there were some loose ends that needed tied up (such as why it was important that Allie and Phil moved to Virginia five years before).

I received a PDF copy of the book and the formatting was so distracting I almost gave up reading it. The font was difficult to read and the whole document had randomly bolded words on every page. I checked the Amazon copy with Look Inside and the formatting there appears to be fine so.

Overall, I would give The Fall From Grace 3 out of 4 stars. The book seems like it definitely would appeal to the young adult market and could even make a good book series. It was a fast and enjoyable read and I would be interested to see where the author takes it if there is a sequel.

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