Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers

Summary:
From the author of Cracked Up to Be and Some Girls Are comes a gripping story about one girl’s search for clues into the mysterious death of her father.

When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on...but are some questions better left unanswered? (from GoodReads)

Review:
Just like the previous book, this is the first novel I've read by Courtney Summers. I've heard great things about her writing so I'm glad that I finally got a chance to review her work.

Even though Fall for Anything deals with suicide and grief, I wasn't expecting it to be quite as dark as it was. That tone is definitely understandable, and I'm actually glad that the author took the chance of making this dark. I could really feel what Eddie was feeling: her sadness, her confusion, her desire to know why her father did what he did. There were so many emotions in Fall for Anything and I was glad that Eddie was able to keep it together through all this.

There weren't that many supporting characters, but some were an important part of Eddie's healing, such as her best friend, Milo. I really liked him because he cared so much for Eddie and it was obvious by his actions that he would do anything for her. There is the mysterious Culler who Eddie finds out was her father's protegee. His motivations were intriguing and I wanted to learn more about who he was. In Eddie's household, there's her mother, who is barely hanging on (that part is pretty sad to read about). There's also her mother's best friend Beth who moves in with them to help out. Eddie hates Beth because she insists on being chipper and tries to get Eddie to do "mom" things (like clean her room, take vitamins, etc). I actually didn't mind Beth because I thought it was so nice that she was trying to help out their family and I think her idea of having a positive attitude was actually a good one.

The ending of Fall for Anything was a little vague, but I think it makes sense with reality. Because for many people, there will always be mystery surrounding why someone committed suicide. Since they're not here anymore, sometimes you just don't know and I think Fall for Anything tried to highlight that.

Fall for Anything was pretty depressing because of its subject matter, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

Rating: 7 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2010/St. Martin's Griffin/230 pages.