This book fell right in my genre-loving sweet spot. I’m a fan of character-driven novels, family dramas, and romance, and this one has it all.

These characters felt real and relatable. Penelope, or Pen, has dealt with tragedy and, therefore, battles anxiety but loves to ride her bike to work out her feelings. She tends to keep people at arm’s length or even further. Pen recently moved to Tennessee to try to make a fresh start, or run away from the past. But when Pen meets siblings Deanne and Grant and joins the biking club, her path is about to change, whether she wants it to or not.

The characters' growth and development made this such a heartfelt and endearing read. All the relationships felt very natural and authentic. I’ll warn you: the author takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. But it speaks to the joy of finding the right people and letting them into your heart, no matter how hard the road ahead may be. It also speaks to the importance of learning to let go of the past and enjoy the precious moments we have today.


I paired my reading with listening to the gifted audiobook thanks to @Brilliancepublishing.

Thank you @suzyapprovedbooktours and @melissarcollings for a spot on tour and a gifted book.

I love stories about new beginnings and this one left me with a warm feeling!
Beautiful writing, relatable characters, fun, moving and uplifting. I enjoyed every page of this book.

Thank you Suzy Approved Book Tours for this tour invite.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘁 by Melissa R Collins released June 11, 2024.

This book from start to finish is incredible. I’m still reflecting on the spectacular writing and the journey of character development of the main character, Penelope.

I felt like every piece of this book from the title to details in the characters’ physical appearances were important to the story.

Penelope is biracial and I thought that was another compelling piece of the story that is multilayered. The deals with grief, professional growth. friendship, forgiveness, and love.

Penelope leaves Minneapolis for Nashville after a work blowup and seeing her boyfriend with another woman.

Penelope has always dealt with her stress by riding her bike and remaining a loner.

When she meets Deanna in the cereal aisle at a Nashville Publix, she never expects where that friendship will take her.

Oh, what a bittersweet tale!
I'm not sure any amount of time would be "enough" to compose oneself after finishing this book. It shattered me and then pieced me back together multiple times. It's not your average romance, yet I adored it just the same.
Let's start with why I adore Penelope, also known as Pen, so much. Penelope seems real to me. Her mannerisms, her coping methods, everything about her. And, not to forget Grant, it's impossible not to fall for him. Grant and his sister Deanna are genuinely wonderful people.
Although this book will infuriate you and cause your heart to ache, I hope you find it as enchanting as I do. Because, in the end, the love story is profoundly beautiful.

I had the privilege of both reading this book and listening to the audiobook. The narrator did an excellent job and I enjoyed listening to the story. I wholeheartedly recommend both!
Thank you Brilliance Publishing for the audiobook, and Netgalley.

Penelope’s life was falling apart when she is passed up by her boss for a promotion and her boyfriend and she decided to leave her job in finance to start her own financial planner business and to move to Nashville for a fresh start. I enjoyed this book, however I never really connected with Penelope. I wanted it to be more emotional for me. I loved that the MC was bi-racial and spoke about it during her journey. I also didn’t feel the emotional connection between Penelope and Grant.

If I could give this book all the stars I would. It has all of my favorite elements: a witty socially awkward heroine, a wise charming easygoing hero, found family in new friends, quirky secondary characters, a unique theme, and a scene stealing animal. Beautifully written this romantic story is captivating, engaging, and utterly unputdownable. The audiobook is perfectly narrated by Alaska Jackson and I loved every minute I spent listening to it. One of my favorite books I've ever read. I love you x 10 (IYKYK)

Happy Publication Day to Melissa Collings for THE FALSE FLAT! This is such a well-rounded novel. It’s heartwarming, romantic, funny, sad at times, and quite serious. If you like your rom-coms to have a lot of depth and grit, then this is definitely the book for you. Prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster!

What I loved most about this novel were the characters. They were impeccably crafted, likable, flawed, and so real. They all felt like friends by the conclusion, and even reminded me of some of my own friends and acquaintances.

I also appreciated the glorious love story and romance between Penelope and Grant. It was perfectly paced, believable, and sweet. It was tastefully done, and didn’t consume the entire plot.

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:

- Cycling and fitness
- Nashville setting
- Careers in finance
- Relatable, realistic, and quirky characters
- Starting over, fresh starts, and personal growth
- Complicated mother-daughter relationships
- Dealing with unresolved trauma and feelings
- Reflections on loss, grief, and healing
- Insight on social anxiety
- Strong female friendships
- Sibling bonds
- Emotional reads

I just know that this debut will get a lot of love and praise this summer. It’s an easy breezy read, yet genuine and deep. I think it will appeal to a lot of readers. THE FALSE FLAT is available TODAY!

What a wonderful story, that really hit all the emotions. I love how this story is about a woman who is not living a life she is happy with - so she leaves it. Between new friendships, opportunities and romance she is able to build herself not only a life she is happy to live, but a support system that she never experienced before. I love how we got to see Penelope grow, change and handle the trauma of her past. We got to see how her hard work, through difficult things, was able to give her the happiness and comfort that she always wanted. Going outside of her comfort zone was not always easy, but was an amazing experience to read through. Overall a sweet, wonderful book.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

I don’t know that I would call any amount of time “enough” to gather one’s self after finishing this book. It broke me apart and put me back together several times. Definitely NOT your typical romance. But I loved it all the same.

First, let’s talk about why I love Penelope a.k.a. Pen so freaking much. Penelope feels real to me. No, she is real. Her mannerisms, the way she needs to cope, all of it. On a personal note she also gets a little bit of an edge because there are very few romance books where our heroine works in finance. So I love the added personal connection. I have to the character.

Now let’s talk Grant… sigh. He is amazing. Grant and his sister Deanna are simply great people. Deanna is the kind of person you want as a best friend and realize the kind of person you should strive to be as a friend. And Grant…. He’s not only a nice guy, he’s also funny, passionate, hard-working, and loyal. How can you not fall for that?!?!

Despite how much this book will make you angry and this book will make your heart hurt, I hope you love it as much as me. Because , overall you will love how beautiful the love story is.

I had the privilege of reading this book and listening to the audio version as well. I can recommend bothwhole heartedly!!

This books had all the feels! It was just lovely. I really connected with Penelope’s want to get away from everything and re-invent herself. Her journey through these pages had me crying, smiling and sometimes yelling at her… lol…
Great will, would definitely recommend

This book really surprised me. I was quite excited for it and was engaged up until the 50% mark where everything started to feel...too easy. For the next 30% I felt like I was slogging through. The romance felt too easy, they were too perfect, the conflict was lacking.

And then I realized that was the point. The False Flat. The road seems easy. But the climb is gradual and much harder than anticipated.

And then it wasn't.

By the last ten percent, I was like, this book is good. And then by the epilogue, I found the emotional upheaval I experienced so surprising.

This book is a false flat in and of itself. And I'm thrilled to have had an opportunity to read it.

I'm not sure this book should be marketed as a romance. It feels much more like women's fiction, particularly because the epilogue disrupts the happy ending (it is beautiful and bittersweet, but does make me question the labeling of this book).

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio ARC.

4 stars

thank you netgalley for the e-arc and audiobook arc
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a really cute book about moving on from alot of internalised issues, being the replica of what her mom wants, grieving the loss of her brother, a relationship built on infidelity, navigating the world as a mixed woman. our main character chooses to turn her life over in a complete 180 to start living her life for her.
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i really enjoyed this book and all the characters that we got to know. i was NOT expecting the ending but man oh man did i really enjoy it.
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I loved seeing Pen get to explore herself and he life some more in the book. i really liked that her growth journey wasn’t predictable and cheesy. it was really well written and in a way that still grabbed your attention.

the audiobook was literally so perfect and completely brought the book to life and just gave it that extra touch. the narrator truly elevated the reading experience for me.

This was such a wonderful mix of love, loss, family dynamics, friendship, starting over and so much more. Perfect title and I loved the Nashville setting. The brother/sister bonds really touched my heart. I could relate to Pen’s introverted tendencies and I was cheering her on as she charted her own course!

I wanted to love this book but had a number of issues with it. First was that it felt too long and I could've been okay with just the first half of the book being the complete thing.

Second is that I barely connected to any of the characters. Penelope was problematic. She had trauma from her past to overcome but made up for it in other ways like the toxic relationship with Chad. There was also the emotional cheating when Grant came into the picture but I appreciate that it didn't go on for long.

There were also so many emotional moments in the book. It should've been a tearjerker but I was indifferent to all of it. I do love that the key thing was to embrace life and all it brings, live in the moment and make amends while you still can.

The audio was great and definitely helped with finishing the book. Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio ARC.

WOW what a great book! This book!!! The story is sooo good! I loved the MCs and the secondary characters are great also. This book had me in tears!