Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

Free to Fall by Lauren Miller
Published by: HarperTeen on May 13, 2014
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller
Pages: 320
Source: Purchased
Book Details
Rating: ★★★★

What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness? What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice?

What if you never had to fall?

Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results. Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore—a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

Holy mother conspiracy! Free to Fall was riddled with secrets, societies, plots, world domination! It was INSANE! Every time we uncovered one layer of the plot, we learned about something else—a totally new layer. It just kept building and building and building until it was this crazy, gigantic, epic web of lies and conspiracies! O_O

On a random note, Free to Fall made me really wish I was the kind of girl who hung out at a coffee shop every day. I feel like that’s the kind of thing I see in movies and books and I WANT TO BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE! I’m pretty close in the sense that the ladies at Starbucks have my order memorized, but I always take my coffee to go. I want to be one of those girls who sits in her regular coffee shop chair, sipping her regular drink, and hanging out with other coffee shop people.

…ANYWAY!

I loved the romance in Free to Fall! It was paced out really well. It was intense and there were some “I love you’s”, but it wasn’t insta-love. North and Rory were so cute together! Also, a huge reason why I adored the romance was because of what North was… View Spoiler » [He’s a hacker! Of course I loved him. Some of his quirks were oh-so-awesome. Like how he read the whole Lux terms of service and had pristine first editions of books and had a secret hacker man cave.. loooove! « Hide Spoiler]

My one slight gripe with this book was the ending. It was intense and I liked the message the book sent, but I feel like I wanted more. I wanted karma. I wanted revenge. But I don’t feel like we got that. View Spoiler » [Yes, people lost their trust for Lux/technology, but the book REALLY made me hate the secret society and the people behind the brainwashing. I wanted them to suffer and pay.. but it sounds like they got off without even prison time since their names were “off the books” or whatever. That was disappointing. I wanted the world to know who was responsible and stone them to death or something. « Hide Spoiler]

Also, I kind of wish that View Spoiler » [Griffin never died. I thought he was a cool character, and I would have liked him to properly team up with Rory. « Hide Spoiler]

But other than that, Free to Fall was A LOT of fun. It’s the kind of book that will really grip you! You’ll always want to turn the next page to reveal the next layer of the plot, and I love that!!

The Verdict