Free to Fall

Author: Lauren Miller

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Romance

Release Date: May 13, 2014

Summary: Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results. Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

Review: First reaction after reading the summary for the first time = DANG!! Why has nobody invented this app yet?! Beyond intrigued about what this novel could possibly contain, I checked it out from the library. Being an incredibly busy college student and constantly finding other books I ended up putting off reading it for quite some time. After finishing basically every other book and all of my homework assignments I decided to finally pick this one up. Let me just say that the first 40-50 pages were . . . rough. It is mostly Rory's back-story/how she wound up at Theden Academy. But trust me when I tell you to just keep going, it is worth it!
The book is set around 2030 and was fascinating! Miller did an amazing job of creating a realistic, dystopian world. Out of every dystopian book I've read over the past year or so, this is one I could actually see happening. Especially with how dependent a majority of society is on our cell phones now days. Miller's world gradually sucked me in and by the end, I had a hard time climbing back out. I actually finished this book in 2 sittings over the course of 2 days . . . so fairly fast.

Okay! Enough about that! Let's switch to one of my favorite topics. . . can you guess? That's right! The main love interests! North aka Norvin aka freaking adorable! He was brilliant, handsome, edgy, basically the complete opposite of Rory which was one of the reasons why I felt they complimented each other! Both Rory and North were very well written characters. Their relationship develops slow and steady throughout and even though it was, at times, painstakingly slow, I ended up really loving how their relationship blossomed.

I really enjoyed all of the technology and that North still uses an actual computer. It really made me wonder where the world will be in 15 years. Another bonus with Free to Fall is that it's a 'stand alone'. It was nice to have the story wrap up and be over rather than prolonging it over the course of three books, mainly because I don't think there is enough material to go off of to lengthen it into three book.

This was a fascinating read with an ending that packs a punch! I'd definitely recommend it if you're still into dystopian novels.