Thank you to NetGalley & Minotaur fot the arc!

Everything about this book was so cringe. Ugh. Not for me.

I was really hooked by the synopsis and couldn't wait to read this one … but it moved terribly slow, the characters were just awful & truly unlikeable and everything about them and their lifestyle was sickeningly toxic.

The second half did pick up a bit when the mystery / thriller part of the story finally kicked in ... but it was painfully predictable.

Plus, and probably the part I found the most unpalatable, was the central theme of covid and also the one-sided political jabs. I felt the author used this book as a platform for spewing her political & social opinions. Not cool.

Why is this author so obsessed with Covid in a book that really had nothing to do with? It was mentioned unnecessarily so times that it gave me major ick. Overall, this was disappointing. I would not consider it a thriller, and really was just bored.

I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl was an enjoyable suspenseful mystery.
A page turner of a suspense novel that will suck you in quickly so sit down read, and enjoy the ride.
This is a well-written story with a wonderful ending.

I Dreamed of Falling is a book I first heard of in a Sampler from Netgalley. A young mother, sad about how her son prefers his grandma to his mom, goes out one night and doesn't come back. Of course that puts you in from the beginning. I was expecting a mystery. And there is one. But I wasn't expecting the family and town dynamics that the book explored. I really did feel for almost every character. I was invested in what happened to her and felt truly sad for her.

I loved Julia Dahl's last book and was excited to read this, but it just felt sad and dreary. A messed up Upstate New York family deals with teh societal (or not) death of a young mother. There's cheating and lying and drug use and questionable parenting. All of which I could have read if this were Long Bright River, but it all felt jumbled and stagnant and sad and pointless. Sadly it just wasn't a good fit for me..

I would first like to thank Minotaur Books [St Martin's Press] for sending me an ARC copy to read in exchange for my review.

I wonder if there will ever come a time that reading about the Covid19 Pandemic will ever not upset me. Personally. it was a really hard time with a baby and a toddler and being isolated as a new mother. I wish I had known how much it was going to be part of the plot before picking this one up.

Ashley is a young mother who's life was turned upside down during dangerous birth of her son during the pandemic. Her partner and her have an open relationship but are always honest with each other, or so they say.

Tragedy strikes the family and they must come to grips as secrets reveal themselves and truth comes bubbling violently to the surface.

This book was a slow mystery, you start to see the clues as to who the killer is and I enjoyed figuring it out.

I Dreamed of Falling will be available September 17 2024 at your local book seller or public library.

I really enjoyed this book! The only part that was a little odd to me was the whole relationship dynamic between Roman and Ashley, being that they considered themselves “ethical sluts”. But also saying that, that weirdness is what kept me reading. If you enjoy mystery/whodunit books, you will like this one.

I love small town mysteries so I was excited to dive into this story. This is a slow burn/slow build type of book with secrets and twists and mystery/suspense!

Roman and Ashley are struggling. They have a young son and live with his mother. Roman works at the local newspaper. Ashley is found dead and Roman searches for answers...

Roman has to struggle not only with feelings of grief and loss but is also left wondering if he really knew Ashley at all. Living in a small town everyone is in everyone else’s business and that complicates things for Roman.

This is the type of story that has flawed characters that doesn’t always make the decisions you want them to. The relationships and different dynamics are complex and this book addresses addiction. I think this makes Ashely and Roman’s struggles feel real and authentic and interesting to me.

I liked how we uncover small clues along the way and the short chapters made this an easy read. There are several different characters with different motives and I did like the surprise ending and how the story wraps up!

There is a lot of COVID talk in the story - it personally didn’t bother me but some people may not want to read about it.

Story of a small town murder where a woman is found dead after a party at a friend's house. Her boyfriend tries to investigate what happened.

Ashley ends up dead at a friend's house and no one is sure what happened or how she got there. No one can tell the truth, or the whole truth anyway, even if they knew the whole story. Roman is grieving from the loss of his partner, and trying to figure out how to be a parent to their 4-year-old son Mason. But the more questions he asks, the more questions arise, and Roman starts to realize that there is a lot more involved than just the death of Ashley.

This started off a bit unlikable for me. None of the adults in this book seem to be acting like adults. It's almost like a contest between them all to see who can be the worst parent. Tara thinks she can redeem herself and get a second chance by being a good grandmother to Mason, but she's just overbearing and selfish. Everyone is struggling with depression or substance abuse, or in some cases both, and it makes it hard to sympathize with any of them. But the story is good with just enough twists and turns to make it not predictable and I ended up really liking it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available September 17, 2024.

Young mother, Ashley is found murdered at the bottom of a cliff with drugs on her. Roman is the child's father and a local reporter. The young family had been living with Roman's mother and her boyfriend in a small Hudson Valley town. Together with his mom, Roman tries to find out what happened to Ashley. Why did she spend the last night of her life at a former friend's house? What was she hiding? Where did the drugs figure in? Did Roman even know Ashley at all? The characters are all flawed, and in some cases, EXTREMELY flawed, but the author makes you care about them and the story anyway. This is a slow-burn that could have been a solid 5-star read, if it weren't for the many Covid references. I could have done without that, as I am from an area that was not quite so strict. Overall, a decent mystery and the ending was unexpected. I would read something else from this author.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Julia Dahl and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Facebook and other retail and social media sites upon publication day of September 17th.

This was a small town mystery with COVID as a strong presence throughout the entire story. The pacing was a bit slow, which I normally enjoy if the story itself as well as the characters are strong enough. However, while the story was okay, I found the characters lacking depth. I also believe that while making the reader understand the mindset of small town politics is needed for fully immersing them into the story, this was a bit overdone. The topic of loss was done beautifully and was the strongest aspect here. Overall, I enjoyed this to a point and would still recommend it to my fellow readers, rating it three stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

An intriguing mystery unraveled in a Hudson Valley town. The suspense was a perfect build up on several characters' POV when a young woman is found murdered. Roman is a local reporter stunned by the death of his 4 year old son's mother. With the help of his mother, they find clues along the way they were not expecting. A lot of surprises, such as why was Ashley at one of her former friend's house? Her and Bella had drifted apart, yet she was found murdered on the cliff side with drugs on her.
The story not only is about solving a crime, but management of grief and loss this young father must endure. With all the surprises, he is disturbed by how much he doesn't know about her. He feels guilty for not knowing more about her and he could have helped.
A suspenseful thriller that punches a twist at the end I didn't expect which is always a plus.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I was all in after reading the blurb. I have to agree with most of the other reviews that I read, it just was a little too stagnant for me. Covid was a little overkill (maybe its just not this book, but a lot of stories seem to be written around Covid) Anyway, it didnt seem as cohesive as I wanted it to be. Since I am only going to give this three stars I will not be posting it anywhere but on NetGalley. I do not like like saying anything bad because it could totally have been my fault.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this mystery by Julia Dahl, with the audio perfectly narrated by Jennifer Blom and Shahjehan Khan. All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 4 stars.

A young couple – Roman and Ashley – live with his mother who helps with their young son Mason. They struggle with money, and both had difficult upbringings. When Ashley is found dead, Roman realizes that he didn’t really know her. He starts looking into what could have happened and what Ashley was hiding.

I’ve seen mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed this story. It takes place in a small town in the Hudson Valley, where everyone knows everything and it’s hard to make changes. Roman had bigger dreams but is now working for a tiny local newspaper, mostly reporting on local events. Ashley wants to build her yoga practice, but Covid fears make that difficult. Roman’s mother, Tara, is very attached to young Mason, trying to make up for her own failings. So while no one is completely likeable, they are relatable and you can feel their struggles while trying to do better. The audiobook kept me interested until the last page!

I wanted to love this book given the description, but boy oh boy did I struggle. So much so that I DNF around the 40% mark. The pandemic talk was a bit of overkill. So sad this one wasnt for me .

Review: In general, I think the characters in this book are what holds it back. In general, there's not a single lovable character. At. All. Tara is definitely in love with her grandson, and the way she interacts with him, Roman, and Ashley gave me the biggest ick. I will say that I didn't predict the ending, but I think that's because I was so distracted by how much I disliked all the characters and how distracting their toxic relationships were. Definitely just wasn't for me at all.

Synopsis: Roman Grady is the sole reporter for the local newspaper in a tiny Hudson Valley town - a town so small that every store opening and DUI is considered newsworthy. But when Roman's longtime girlfriend, Ashley, the mother of his four-year-old son, is found dead, he realizes he had no idea what was really going on in her life.

And when he starts asking questions, he’s not prepared for the answers.

What was Ashley doing at the cliffside home of her troubled ex-girlfriend? How did no one in a house full of people see what happened to her? And why does it seem like everyone in town suddenly has something to hide? As Roman and his mother dig into Ashley’s last few months, the truths they uncover threaten to expose painful secrets. The kind of secrets that can get you killed.

A gripping thriller and a moving portrait of a family struggling through tragedy, I Dreamed of Falling showcases Julia Dahl's talent for using crime fiction to tell an immersive and unforgettable story. Dahl’s unflinching novel asks hard questions about love, regret, inequality, and the possibilities and the perils of forgiveness.

Slow moving and predictable small-town mystery.

Roman Grady, his partner Ashley, and his 4-year-old son live with his mom, Tara, and Tara's boyfriend, John in a small Hudson Valley town. Ashley is found dead on a cliff ledge close by a friend's home. Roman realizes that he knew next to nothing about what Ashley had been doing in the months leading up to her death. And now there are questions about whether or not this was a drug overdose or if Ashley was murdered.

This entire story and plot were anything but gripping or thrilling. I really disliked all of the characters in this sordid tale. The concepts of open relationships, having sex with anyone, rampant drug use, and all of this poor parenting just made the whole premise unappealing. I didn't enjoy any of it nor care what happened to Ashley. Besides, it was so predictable you could see that revelation coming a mile away. Honestly, just yucky people, and their lives were so cringe worthy. I can't recommend this to anyone.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while following along in the e-book ARC -- both provided by the publishers. The two narrators did an adequate job of voicing the characters, but I felt such antipathy to them all that I could not appreciate the quality of their performances.

3.5 rounded up

Ashley is found dead after a night out with friends, leaving her partner (and father of her four-year-old child) to not only pick up the pieces, but come to terms with secrets she kept hidden. Despite slowing in the middle for me, I really enjoyed this suspense mystery. The characters were interesting and engaging, even when they were so flawed. There were times when they felt over-the-top though. While we all know that one person, there were times when EVERY character felt that way. There's also a lot of pandemic talk, which sometimes feels too soon. However, the way it's used in this story brings a lot to the motivations of each character and how their lives were different before, during, and after.

There are a lot of moving pieces to this, and a lot of characters that come in and out of Ashley's last few weeks. This leaves a lot of room for Dahl to cast suspicion on several potential suspects. I liked the winding mystery of this story, and while I guessed at the reasoning for her death, the details around it were definitely a twist I didn't see coming. This is definitely a great choice for those who enjoy domestic suspense thrillers.

A new to me author...a mysterious death of his girlfriend leads Roman (and his mom) on a quest to discover the truth. Definitely didn't see this plot twist coming.