Thank you Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for an ALC of I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl. I enjoyed the narrators here and found the story to flow nicely. It's definitely character driven story in my mind rather than plot driven, which left the story feeling a bit slow at times, but I was still intrigued to find out who did it. There was a LOT of talk about COVID/the pandemic, which slowed the plot down a bit, too. Really well written and great story that I enjoyed, but didn't absolutely LOVE.

I Dreamed Of Falling asks the question “how much do we REALLY know about the ones we love?” This book was stressful and twisty as the MC, Roman, starts digging into the past of his dead lover.

This book made me ask myself how the secrets we keep can impact the people closest to us. When Ashely’s secrets lead to her death, the whole town is invested in finding out what happened. Between a small-town reporter and his mother - they plan to leave no stone unturned.

I ended up listening to this one on audio and I highly recommend it. The narrators knocked this one out of the park. The pacing was incredible and I finished this audiobook over the course of two days!

Check this one out if you like thrillers, mysteries, and small town drama!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this title, and to Minotaur Books for the physical copy!**

This book was full of components I dislike: infidelity, children, “poop” talk… but this was still pretty riveting despite how many aspects of it didn’t jive with me. I’m finding that maybe Dahl specializes in unlikable main characters as basically everyone in this book was kind of terrible (and I felt the same about the last one I read by this author). I Dreamed Of Falling is full of very “modern” topics, fentanyl, open relationships, masking and covid talk, and overall left-leaning political takes. I guess I would warn a conservative that they probably wouldn’t like most of the side topics in this one. It’s a small town drama with lots of young parents and risky behavior and frustrating outcomes that come with both those aspects of life. I personally enjoyed it- the audio was a bit monotoned- but it’s fast-paced and covers so much in one big ball of suspenseful twists and turns.

3.5/5
Thank you @macmillan.audio #macaudio2024 @minotaur_books #partner for the free copies of this book!

In this book we follow Roman Grady who is a local small town reporter that reports just about anything as news in his tiny town. So when his girlfriend Ashely is found dead he realizes that everything that came before was just small peanuts. He and Ashely share a four year old son together and since she’s not coming back he has to step up to the plate. He realizes he’s been a little too distant and that he didn’t really know his girlfriend as well as he thought he did. In fact, the more he digs, the more confused he becomes. Just what was his girlfriend up to and why did she make the decisions put in front of her?

This book definitely grew on me the further I read. I saw some mixed reviews but I will say I am glad I stuck through it to the end. I think the start of this book is a bit hard to get through as it felt maybe too slow and a little repetitive. I am happy to report however the further I read the more the story came together and it honestly I ended up so much more emotionally invested than I had expected. The little boy in this story tugged at my heart strings as a mom. ☹️ and ultimately this for me turned into a family drama with lots of painful secrets. I did not expect to be so invested by the end and I was surprised to see how it wrapped up! I did not anticipate who was behind it and felt satisfied at the end. I would classify this one as more of a family drama mystery versus a thriller which I think it is marketed as. Either way, I can’t wait to see what Julia comes up with next!

I Dreamed of Falling - Julia Dahl
Pub Date - Sept 17, 2024
Media - Audio
Rating - 2.5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion. This book was very.....bleh for me. It started out with so much promise-- Roman's lifelong girlfriend Ashley, the mother of his four year old son, is found dead, he realized that he doesn't really know Ashley as well as he thought he did. The author then takes the reader through past and present with multiple POVs to find out who killed Ashley and why.

Overall, I wasn't a fan of this book or the narrator. Everything was very FLAT and boring. The story was also filled with a ton of description and could have been a ton shorter. The "twist" at the end with the "big finish" was also extremely predictable with the motive also predictable. Just not the book for me.

2.5 ⭐️ This book wasn’t for me.
I really struggle when an author makes 2020 and Covid almost a character. Just lived it, not really looking to again. I think the story had potential, and I’m sure for others it was great. I just have a thing with the Covid/politics plot.
Thank you netgalley for the ARC

This is one of those convoluted casts of characters where I do better with print than audio. That being said, all narrators did a great job. Once I got everything sorted it was smooth sailing. This is a dark, emotional roller coaster. I got invested in these characters much more than a typical thriller. I could feel their loss. The ending was intense. I was truly on the edge of my seat with one hand grasping my headphones worried what was going to happen next lol

This book had everything to make it a great thriller. Unfortunately, I didn't feel it ever made it there.

None of the characters in this book are likeable, and they are hard to connect with or get invested in. It was also extremely slow. It wasn't until 50% into the book that the idea of murder was even brought up. I skimmed through most of the remaining 50% just to see if my prediction on who did it was right. Spoiler: it was. I knew the motive before the information about the motive was revealed.

Overall, not the book for me.

I Dreamed of Falling

Roman is one of our main characters. He has a child with long time girlfriend, Ashley. When Ashley turns up dead, Roman goes in his own investigation to uncover not just what happened but other secrets about Ashley’s life.

It’s uncovered that Ashley did struggle with depression after a difficult birth and experiencing loneliness and a feeling of being isolated due to the pandemic. This book will take you through past and present timelines.

Ashley also continued a relationship of some kind with her ex girlfriend, Bella. They had an open relationship where Ashley was allowed to be with both Bella and Roman. This murder mystery will take a deeper family themes turn with more mature concepts than your typical thriller.

There are themes of equity, COVID pandemic, family, and small town. This wasn’t anything dramatic, but I do feel it was a more developed thriller, not just there for the big twist or shock.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 9/17/24!

I loved Julia Dahl’s first book and had high hopes for this one but it just didn’t do anything for me. While the mystery was interesting and the killer a total surprise I just didn’t care at all for the characters, the open relationship, all of the drug use and hearing about covid over and over again. If I hadn’t really wanted to know what happened to Ashley it would have been a DNF. But, I am glad I finished it as the ending made up for the slow, repetitiveness of the first part.

This book was ok. It did have twists and turns until the end. A lot of Covid interjected a mind I am not sure why. Characters not well developed, so I did not get particularly invested in them. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for this opportunity.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for this advanced reader's copy of I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Kahl.
If I’m being honest, this was not my favorite narrator. I have DNF many many audio books due to the narration. Had I not been honored to get the advanced copy I probably would have DNF this one as well. This is just my personal feeling on the narration nothing against the narrators I’m sure many others will enjoy it.
Pet Peeve – made up words, when Roman said it’s “realer than ever” word that different realer is not a word.
I feel like the book had potential but it was hard to get into and the story drug out.
It’s listed as thriller but to me it’s more of a story of a women that was a pretty crappy mother, deciding to have a redo with her grandson, going as far as telling the parents what to do how to do it, not letting them raise their own child. She went as far as quitting her job to stay home with him. All in all this was a story of a bunch of dysfunctional people.

I read enough mysteries that they tend to seem very formulaic. But this one wasn't. I thought it was really well done and quite clever.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Thank you to the publisher for the ALC. Unfortunately, this moved too slow for me and I didn't find myself engaged with the story. I wasn't invested in the characters and didn't find this to be a book for me. This may be great for others, just not my cup of tea. I'm grateful for the opportunity to read and review.

This a fairly easy to follow suspense/mystery book. The main “twist” is easy to guess. The pace was ok, but overall the book was filled with unlikeable characters with little depth. Title is not quite matching the story.. Narration was fine.

I really enjoyed this thriller. I loved the small town secrets vibe and the mystery of it all. Every time I thought I knew what was gonna happen it would switch up again. The narration on the audiobook was amazing as well.