One of the best things about being a debut author has been getting to know some of the other amazing young adult authors. I had the privilege of meeting Kate Brauning at a conference where we instantly connected. We discussed writing, her publishing journey, and some of the things that inspired her to write her debut, HOW WE FALL.
Summary:
When Jackieâs best friend leaves town and is feared murdered, Jackie throws herself into a relationship with her cousin that neither of them can control. Neither Jackie nor Marcus can separate love from obsession.
As the long, hot summer lengthens, they grow closer, despite their best efforts to stay apart, despite knowing that their secret love could tear their families apart.
Now Ellie has been missing for months, and the police, fearing the worst, are searching for her body. Swamped with guilt, Jackie pushes her cousin away. The plan is to fall out of love, and, just as she hoped he would, Marcus falls for the new girl in town. But something isn’t right about this stranger, and Jackie’s suspicions about the new girl’s secrets only drive the wedge deeper between Jackie and Marcus.
When Marcus is forced to pay the price for someone else’s lies, the mystery around Ellie’s disappearance starts to become horribly clear. Jackie has to face terrible choices. Can she leave her first love behind, and can she go on living with the fact that she failed her best friend?
How We Fall is available through:
Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound |Walmart.com |Books-A-Million |Book
Depository| Powellâs |Walmart |Target
Amazon.com| Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk
Find HOW WE FALL on Goodreads
My Review:
HOW WE FALL is a captivating readâa thrilling page-turner with an achingly powerful love story.
Itâs hard to believe this is Brauningâs debut because she is such a masterful writerâparticularly in terms of character and dialogue. I knew I was in good hands from the first page. The main character, Jackie, is a strong character with a bit of an âold soulâ, a witty voice, and moments of raw, teenage vulnerability.
Brauning peels back a curtain on a social dynamic I have never experienced, and she does it with authenticity that rings from every page. Rarely have characters felt so real to me as they did in this story. I enjoyed the banter between Jackie and Marcus so much, that I re-read entire scenes!
I enjoy stories about conflicted love and romance, and this book approaches this in a construct Iâd never read before. HOW WE FALL explores the relationship of best friends and cousins, Jackie and Marcus, whose families happen to live together. This aspect of the book is fascinating. Brauningâs portrayal of the sort of âhippyâ parents and their unusual community style of parenting is an utterly unique setting, and the catalyst for much of the tension between Jackie and Marcus. The two are thrown together in roles of caring for their families, (they practically raise the younger siblings, as well as contribute toward the familyâs income!) The bond they share is close and genuine . . . and yet inherently wrong in a social sense.
Brauning is not afraid to explore thisâand push readers to really consider ideas of love and what is acceptable and true and right. The sexual tension explodes off the page at times, counterbalanced with such honest emotion, at times I was left cheering or cringing.
Though the relationship between Marcus and Jackie is the foundation of the story, itâs also a thriller that explores the mysterious disappearance of Jackieâs best friend. Both plot lines will keep readers turning pages long into the night.
In turns heartbreaking and hopeful, HOW WE FALL takes readers on a one-of-a-kind journey of poignant friendship, passion, mystery and danger. This is one of the books where Iâve dog-eared pages with dialogue that made me laugh out loud, and poignant momentsâeven sentencesâwritten by a talented author. You know a book is good when you want to go back and re-live a moment with them. Brauningâs characters did more than entertain meâthey leaped off the page and made me see love in a whole new light.
My review on Goodreads
Author to Author
(I throw a few questions at an author, and they throw one back at me.)
Jenny asked Kate:
What are you working on now?
A brand-new YA thriller! Without saying too much, it’s a survival story about 10 teenagers stranded in the Ozarks. It’s also a sister story, told from the points of view of two sisters, Tara, who was seriously bullied in middle school, and Laurel, who was involved in bullying Tara.
What has been your favorite part of the publishing process (so far)?
Discovering myself. Finding out the ways in which I’m social, and the things that make me passionate and the things I want to advocate for. Finding friends who are going through the same things and working for similar things. Discovering that I love writing enough that I’d be doing it whether or not everything works out. Finding an industry that makes me a better writer, through being supported by great author friends, working with wonderful critique partners and editors. And finally, connecting with readers– it never stops being amazing and fulfilling when someone loves a story that I put such time, sweat, sometimes years, and always passion into writing.
Describe HOW WE FALL in 5 words:
An extreme best friends romance.
What advice do you have for writers?
Read two books a week, one in the genre you want to write, and one outside the genre. Write fearlessly, without worrying about what mistakes you might be making. Learn constantly, by reading great books on craft, listening to the writers you love speak on writing, and by getting good feedback from other writers who can challenge you.
Kate asked Jenny:
What inspired you to write your book?
I wanted to write something that would engage readersâeven teenage boys like my âreluctant readerâ son. I paid attention to the books (like LEGEND, GONE, and MAZE RUNNER) that held his interest. I had written other books, but none with the pacing and stakes of FLASHFALL.
Also, I was at a place in my publishing attempts where doors just kept closing. Iâd get several full requests from agents, but still no offers of representation. Iâm talking about years of rejection. Writingâand trying to get publishedârequires you to face your fears over and over again. So I wrote about that in FLASHFALLâa girl who pushes past her fears because she believes there is something better beyond what she can see in the moment.
Find FLASHFALL on Goodreads

                         Kate and Jenny at the 2015 Midwest Writers Workshop