Falling Like Leaves— Book Review

If you’re looking for a cozy, autumn small town read with strong community, wholesome friendships and romance that makes you feel young again, Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson is your book.

The book itself is so physically pretty, with beautiful art of the main character, Ellis, and the love interest, Cooper. They’re lounging in front of the Caffeinated Cat Cafe, where Cooper works part time. And the maroon sprayed edges with white fall leaves is also so pretty! The fall paraphernalia are immaculate and inviting.

This was such a whimsical, and yet realistic read. There was quite a bit of serious topics in this story, but overall, it was a happy, joyful and hopeful read. I would compare it to a warm hug (which I’ve seen people use to describe BK Borison’s books before) and reminds me of that warm, pleasant feeling I get when I drink my own morning coffee. In fact, this book and upcoming series gives me a lot of Lovelight Farms vibes with the beautiful small town and community aspects. If this first book in the Bramble Falls series is indicative of the wholesome, swoony, cozy and season themed- vibes of the following books, then I would describe this series as a Young Adult parallel of adult romance Lovelight Farms, its younger cousin— considerably similar but also significantly different.

For a summary without spoilers, this book is about a high school senior who lives with her mom and dad in their New York City apartment. She’s always idolized her father growing up, adopting his desires to be successful and high achieving. She is planning to attend Columbia (with high hopes that she gets in when she applies) and her head is constantly swimming with how to increase her chances there. Her ultimate career goal is to become an impressive journalist like her father, whose footsteps she wishes to follow in the media company that he works for.

All of a sudden, Ellis’s plans are uprooted when her parents sit her down to announce that Ellis and her mom are going to moving to a small town in Connecticut— at least for a few months. This ultimately means that Ellis will miss out on opportunities to add to her resume, as she will have to forego a journalism internship in her dad’s company due to the physical distance. Not only is she pissed that she has to move to a whole different place, but she is stricken that she will be potentially decreasing her chances of getting into Columbia. She knew that her parents’ relationship wasn’t doing so great, but she didn’t expect this. She blames her mom for being selfish for wanting to make this change.

They soon move in with Ellis’s mother’s sister, Aunti Naomi, and her daughter/Ellis’s cousin, Sloane. At first, Ellis is incredibly unhappy to be at this small down, which she thinks is unimpressive compared to big shot Manhattan with all of its flashy opportunities. She frequently misses her dad and can’t get over how her mom is keeping her away from him and the guidance to success that he has drilled into her. She gets increasingly pissed as she thinks about how her mom is investing in her forgotten hobby of painting while her world as her daughter is falling apart because of this temporary move. The author does a great job of showcasing the contrast of values between Ellis’s parents, with her dad valuing success based on superficial and even selfish terms with her mom encouraging authenticity and relationships, aligned to the philosophy that there is more to life than achievements on paper and how impressive you can look to others based on that.

Please note: Most of the images I use on my website are my own— the GIFs I put in this post are not. I got them from GIPHY.COM‍ ‍and will credit the original artist when that information is available to me.

The peers and friends at Ellis and Sloane’s school are fast to befriend Ellis and make her feel welcome— their warmth, at first slowly but then increasingly fast, melts Ellis’s stubborn and over-obsession with her academic performance. The more she spends time around them and their contagious social vigor and warmth (I know I’m using this word for a lot of things I’m describing in this story— I can’t help it), the more she discovers parts of herself that she didn’t know were there or had forgotten about it in the pressures of performing and achieving. With encouragement from her mother and Cooper, the love interest, Ellis even picks up her forgotten passion of sewing clothes. Evolving from the robotic and narcissistic tendencies of her father that glorifies external validation and shuns creativity and genuine connection to the self and others where people are more than mere pawns for career opportunities, Ellis starts to embody more of the multifaceted humanness of her mother and the wonderful people around her.

Ellis’s months in Bramble Falls, in addition to the amazing friendships, are also filled with various fall events (that the town takes very seriously), delicious food including cookies baked by Cooper (whose awesomeness I will go into in a bit), beautiful autumn scenery and clarity over what she really wants over what she was taught she was supposed to want (a very relatable journey I myself have been on).

Via user @mannycat on GIPHY

Towards the end, we learn about the real reason that Ellis’s mother refused to stay with her father, and the deeper reasons of how Ellis’s mother was trying to save both herself and her daughter.

Now speaking of Cooper…

He is the epitome of the handsome and wholesome boy-next-door (though he wasn’t actually the boy-next-door to Ellis at her Aunt Sloane’s house, though he did live a walkable distance away). Ellis and Cooper already knew each other from before Ellis came back to Bramble Falls in this story— they had become great friends in previous summers when Ellis vacationed at Aunt Naomi’s, and stopped communicating soon after she had gone back to New York in the past summer where they saw each other. However, when Ellis comes back and has her initial encounter this semi-permanent visit with Cooper at the Caffeinated Cat Cafe, he’s suddenly all cold towards her and she has no idea why.

I wouldn’t count this as a spoiler because of how predictable it is— but there is romance that occurs between Ellis and Cooper and it’s so beautiful and wholesome— a friends to lovers trope that makes me envious. While reading their interactions, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad that high school Samantha (me) did not have her own Cooper in high school, let alone a wholesome romance with him. In general, I am envious of people that meet the loves of their lives (I will neither confirm nor deny whether Ellis and Cooper end up with each other for avoiding spoiler’s sake) in their high school years, or even in their college years. I wish I had a romantic life partner who grew with me and who I shared a lot of memories with, who appreciated my mind, body and soul in its various evolutions and vice versa. At the same time, I know there are benefits to meeting the love of my life later in life— and I’m still young, haven’t even turned 30 yet. I’ll have to write another essay going deeper into that. Regardless, it must be so nice. Comforting.

Cooper is such a young gentleman, and cares deeply about his friends and has such a genuine love for Ellis. He’s great at helping bring back her authentic self from the superficial programmings of her father. He’s definitely a great one to bring home to parents.

I also appreciated that he wasn’t a pushover— even though he always loved Ellis, he also held her accountable for the times that she hurt him and others. Not only did he do that out of respect for himself and those he cared about, but he also did it because he knew that Ellis could do much better than she was.

Relating back to my personal story as felt relatable to this story, I experienced a lot of what Ellis went through in high school, college and even a bit after college. A specific, very corporate and capitalistic version of success was drilled into me, propelled by shame and transactional relationships. As the daughter of a high achieving immigrant father (who is overall well-meaning), I had internalized a lot of dependency on external validation and external achievements on paper when I was in high school. I was very out of touch with what I truly wanted for myself— I didn’t even give myself the chance to think about my dreams, let alone going after them, because the idea itself just seemed so ridiculous. I was always encouraged to “go after my dreams” and to “believe in myself”, told that I “had to have a burning desire” to make my dreams of being a nearly perfect student, getting into Harvard and becoming a doctor happen. To be truly successful and follow the ultimate best blueprint in life. I conflated my parents with being an ultimate source of authority who knew a lot more about the world and life supposedly in almost every way, and saw being obedient to them and their visions as a morality thing as well.

It never occurred to me until later in eleventh grade that I could actually follow a different dream— one that was my own. I didn’t realize that my other dreams were valid— that there was more than the numbness in following the dreams that I was “supposed” to have. I genuinely didn’t even realize that this blueprint wasn’t my dream— I had a cognitive rather than an emotional attachment to it. In hindsight several years later as an adult, I realize that the reason I couldn’t muster the “burning desire” I needed to have was because that desire for the blueprint was never my own— it was my parent’s. Especially my father’s.

Yes, my parents meant well for me and they genuinely thought that this path would set me up for security (as well as success and a reflection on their existential desires, too) in my life— they conflated their desires with my own, unconsciously seeing me as an extension of them rather than someone they would have to give room to formulate her own dreams based on who she was and what she wanted. I appreciate their genuine concern, and at the same time I acknolwedge the damage that occurred to my self esteem and mental (and even physical) health as I crumbled and imploded under the weight of their expectations. I’m grateful that they’ve grown to understand why these past things were harmful— we still dont’ agree 100% on everything and I still have to remind them of certain boundaries regarding what kind of help I’m open to receiving in establishing myself career wise, but at least I have a lot more enthusiastic support for my dreams that they did not offer me when I was younger.

I envy the fictional main character of this story not just because of the romantic love she acquired (and that also found her) but also because of the support and human connection she had that allowed her to safely discover parts of herself that she had shut down— especially at that younger high school age. I wonder how much differently my life would have looked had I had similar support, and had I been surrounded by adult figures or mentors, as well as by supportive friends, who didn’t allow me to run away from myself and instead helped guide me back to myself. People within whom I discovered scattered parts of myself. People who would help me remember myself and not just accept me instead of shaming me, but would also celebrate me for doing so.

Regardless, I’m still so grateful that I at least recognized my desire for authenticity pretty early on, even if the integrity of that authenticity took time to evolve as I made mistakes and learned more and more about myself, prioritizing my inner compass over the initial expectations of my parents and capitalistic society. I’m grateful that because of my commitment to myself and something bigger, especially to what I consider to be “God”, at 28 I’m have matured into the most content and at peace with myself than I’ve ever been. Creativity, art, self expression and connection to myself and others are prime values to me that I am getting better and better at embodying. I am learning more and more what it’s like to be attached to my values, and detached from the outcome when I am going after the things that I want.

I know I have criticized Ellis’s dad’s character quite bluntly— and I stand by that, especially as I uncovered more about him the further I got into the book. I want to make it clear that it’s not about the fact that he values achievements inherently that makes him suck or superficial— it’s the reason behind his valuing of achievements. They’re not connected to deeper values rooted in humanity— they’re rooted in domination and even oppression— having control of others to inflate his ego.

Overall, this is an amazing feel good read that I wish I could disappear into. It does a great job of reminding people about what’s important in life, and showing how important it is to slow down and indulge in our humanness where we are connected to ourselves and others through a deeper purpose that goes beyond what’s on paper to flaunt to others.

I want to end this post with just saying how grateful I am for realistic fiction young adult novels— and specifically ones with meaningful messages like this one that emphasize the important of authenticity and connection. Humanity. As someone who will turn thirty years old in a couple of years— or now that I realize, literally next year, in the summer/fall of 2027— books like these are very healing to my inner teenager. It’s like I’m discovering versions of myself that were gatekept from me. It’s incredibly validating to see a story like this conveying alignment to my values.

And it’s a source of encouragement to myself to keep going— and to revive dreams that I’ve previously forgotten or self sabotaged myself from. Like Ellis, Cooper, Ellis’s mother and all the other lovely, encouraging characters in this story, I want to go after my “impractical” dreams regarding my creativity and self expression. And I want to encourage others to do the same. I always want to be in touch with that part of myself, and I am grateful that Misty Wilson provided me with this necessary reminder.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series to be out— it’s going to be the story of Sloane and her best friend, Asher, who is commonly present in this first book with her. She keeps saying that they’re just friends whenever Ellis teases her about it, but of course we all know there is more…

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and it releases much later this year— I’m looking forward to escaping back into Bramble Falls.