The Falling in Love Montage

By: Ciara Smyth

Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Two girls embark on a summer of montage-worthy dates (with a few strings attached) in this hilarious and heartfelt lesbian rom-com that’s perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han.

Seventeen-year-old cynic Saoirse Clarke isn't looking for a relationship. But when she meets mischievous Ruby, that rule goes right out the window. Sort of.

Because Ruby has a loophole in mind: a summer of all the best cliché movie montage dates, with a definite ending come fall - no broken hearts, no messy breakup. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it's over, the characters have fallen in love...for real.

Ciara Smyth's debut is a delightful, multilayered YA rom-com that will make you laugh, cry, and absolutely fall in love.

©2020 Ciara Smyth (P)2020 HarperTeen

oh this has my heart.

this book absolutely has my heart. it was funny but also incredibly touching. highly recommend!

hilarious and heartbreaking

has some great lessons that pair beautifully with the comedy. I understand the big lesson in the story and cried as much as I laughed but, spoiler, I wish there had been a happily ever after instead of a happy ish ambiguity with the two parting.... I loved their dynamic and wanted them to figure out a way to be together.

Enjoyable

I went in almost blind with this book. All I knew was that it was gonna be gay. I really enjoyed it. The main character was a little much for me at times but not so much that I wanted to stop reading. The narrator did well and I was able to tell the characters apart from one another which is always a plus. I did have some trouble telling if it was the main character talking aloud or thinking to herself. The ending wasn't something I was expecting especially considering the direction it was going in, but ultimately I think it was a great ending for the book.

It surprised me.

I came for a goofy romance, but holy f*ck what I actually got left me emotional and thoughtful and everything. I just didn't expect this much. I didn't even expect a fraction of the emotional strength this story had waiting for me.

So yeah, if you want to think about stuff and maybe cry, with a side of romance, go right ahead.

Also why is it always the best gay stories that give me the endings I want from the bad ones? Like after all the tears I'm just supposed to accept that it's different and that's the end of the discussion. Ugh, my heart.

There's one thing to keep in mind. This is her story above all else.

not alot hapens

i really wanted to like story i felt like i barely sean any ineraction betwean aka dates mc it just uhh felt let down

Painful yet captivating!

I thoroughly enjoyed Saoirse and Rubys love montage romance and Saoirse personal journey of discovery. 100% recommend!

Unforgettable

This ya story is wonderfully crafted around a girl dealing with heartbreaking life challenges and how she wrestles with the difficulty. The Rom Com theme seems antithetical to the challenges of hee life but provide just enough escapism to chip away at the edges of her emotional walls to find out the meaning and possibly of life and love. Fabulous narration, what a beautiful voice and such emotional depth and range.

Good read!

very cute story! this one is actually funny. I almost never get past a smile when reading books but I actually laughed out loud a few times. just read it you'll see

Good, but unexpected

The review that said this book was emotionally heavier than expected is greedy accurate. This book is good. It's well writen and enjoyable. The characters are fairly interesting, although occasionally I felt like banging my head on a wall because the main character was being a moron. But, she's a teen, and it was believable idiocy, so I can't exactly fault the book necessarily. Still, I probably would have made the MC a bit less of an idiot lol.

That said, my main complaint is that the summary you read before buying this book is that it's not what's inside. I mean, the summary does explain maybe *half* the book fine, but there's a lot of stuff about family relations, divorce, illness, and all that sort of stuff. Basically all of which is writen about competently at worst, and very well at best, but it sort of came out of left field. If you want a light fun romance I can't recommend this one. But if you don't mind heavy emotional stuff being included this is a great listen. But this is why this is a 4 star review and not a 5.

The narrator delivers the lines well, although I commonly listen to things on Audible and wish the narrator did more voice acting, as sometimes it's a bit confusing when every character sounds almost exactly the same. Still, all the base level things were there, and the deliveries were good. 4/5

Lastly, and I only include it because I was curious, but the amount of policial stuff is fairly low, and there was only one, fairly short, scene where I kind of just rolled my eyes while listening. I've listened to/ read lots of lesbian romances, but they were almost all either Yuri anime or manga, or fanfiction, neither of which has the politics of YA fiction, so I was a bit concerned. But fear not, this book has nothing that you can't just shrug and reasonably explain as just the characters being themselves, and none of the characters feel particularly political. 0/5 political treatise but 5/5 for not feeling like I was lectured at any point.

Would recommend so long as you know it won't be fun happy time for 10 hours.

I loved it!

This book drew me in from the beginning. I had so much fun with the characters, I loved how Ruby helped Saoirse process her grief in a heathy way and grow on what was meant to be an insignificant fling.

Alana Kerr Collins gave a brilliant performance. I loved her soothing and beautiful narration. I forgot about the narrator because she was the characters. This is what I look for in a narrator, no mouth noises to distract you from the book, I was able to just be lost in the story.
Happy listening!