After She Falls by Carmen Schober

After She Falls
by Carmen Schober

ISBN-13: 9780764239298
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Released: November 2nd 2021

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Strong-willed Adri Rivera always dreamed of becoming a professional mixed martial artist, but then she fell in love with a man who smashed everything to pieces. When their tumultuous relationship finally comes to a head, Adri flees with their young daughter to her small hometown in the mountains of Pennsylvania. There, she must face the people she left behind and put her broken life back together as a single mother.

Adri struggles to regain her independence after so many years under the oppressive influence of her ex, but a job opportunity at a local gym gives her hope that she'll be able to stand on her own two feet. The one problem? The man who offers it to her is the handsome but hardened Max Lyons--her former best friend and training partner, whom she left heartbroken years before.

As Adri dares to pursue her dream again, training for a big tournament, can she avoid the past defining her future?


My Review:
After She Falls is a Christian romance. Though I liked many things about this story, it's written in present tense, which detracted from the story in my opinion. I simply find it easier to read a novel written in the usual past tense. Since the focus of the story was on Adri training as a professional mixed martial artist and fighting in cage fights, there was violence. The author focused mainly on the fighting moves and strategies (at a level that anyone can follow) but didn't shy away from the injuries that can occur. The author also didn't make the characters perfect. It's implied that Max had casual sexual flings, and Adri wasn't married when she got pregnant. However, there were no sex scenes. There wasn't printed out bad language beyond a few uses of cr*p.

The author explored how difficult it is to leave an abusive husband. Max was still attracted to Adri. He was jealous and doubted she'd truly leave her husband since her own mother never left her abusive husband. This created a realistic tension to their relationship where attraction kept getting shattered by this lack of trust. It took advice from people who'd been there before and the influence of God (which happened slowly) to shift their relationship into healthy territory. Though nothing was left hanging, the story ended with the results of a big championship fight rather than the usual romance novel epilogue (which is fine by me). Anyway, realistic, complex characters struggling with real problems. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.