Book Review: Free Falling

Free Falling is the 2nd book in the Sweetwater Peaks duology by Lyla Sage. I read it this week and enjoyed it!

The novel follows Clarke Cartwright and Leith Wilkes. Clarke is Collins’ twin sister from Soul Searching and she has the same ability as her sister and can see and communicate with ghosts. However, she doesn’t embrace it as much as her sister does. Leith runs the local farm and has known Clarke all his life growing up in the small town of Sweetwater Peak. The two have had crushes on each other since they were kids but have always thought the other could never like them back. Now they’re adults and both in predicaments. Leith’s late father comes to Clarke and tells her to tell Leith to take a closer look at his will. They learn that Leith can only fully inherit the farm if he gets married within 5 years of his dad’s passing and the deadline is coming up! Clarke runs her family’s antique shop, but after a bad storm a few months ago that caused flooding in the shop and really ruined their already in poor shape roof, a lot of repairs need to be done. Repairs are expensive so if she can’t fix the store up soon they might go out of business. The answer? The two will fake date/fake an engagement. Maybe if the lawyer believes they are in a serious relationship and on the road to marriage, he will count it and let Leith have the farm. And in return, Leith and his farmhands will help Clarke fix the roof and other things around the shop so she can stay in business. Will spending so much time together pretending to be a couple make them reveal their true feelings for one another? Will having someone help her so she doesn’t feel alone make Clarke less grumpy?

I really liked this book and the premise. I absolutely adored Leith and Clarke and loved the development of their relationship from sort of friends to lovers. And Clarke’s transformation out of her grumpy phase.

Spoiler Alert!

I do wish that Clarke’s reveal to Leith about her abilities to see ghosts and that she has spoken to his father, whom he had a complicated relationship with, was made a bigger deal. Not that Leith would react poorly or not believe her, but because it is a big deal and it was very glossed over. I think the reveal and his reaction was for less than a page. He believed her and was basically like “okay”. I also wish there was a scene where Leith and his dad communicate through Clarke for both closure for Leith and for the readers since the whole the story begins because his dad reaches out to Clarke. We know his ghost is around because he’s spoken to Clarke before so it’s not like he was never a ghost. It feels like a missed opportunity and it would’ve been a nice way to end the story.

End of spoilers!

Overall, I liked this book and loved Leith and Clarke together. After Clarke’s initial grumpiness, their relationship is very sweet. The tension and spice was so good and showed off their amazing chemistry. Read this if you want a paranormal western romance with the fake dating/fake engagement, friends to lovers, grumpy sunshine tropes.

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