Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: What was the best book you read in October?

An easy question to answer this month because I’ve read a few books in October that, in the end, did not live up to their hype. Perhaps my expectations were too high, or perhaps they just weren’t for me, or perhaps, when compared to the one really AMAZING book I read this month, they just didn’t measure up.

And now you’re probably wondering what that AMAZING book was.

It was FREEFALL, by Mindi Scott.

 
Here’s the Goodreads blurb:

Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend Isaac alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up.

Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely.

Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

There are a few reasons I was excited to read this book. One, I’ve been following Mindi Scott’s journey for a while now. Freefall is her debut and she’s from around the same area that I am, which for some reason makes her feel relatable. Two, Freefall is a “boy book” (in other words, the protagonist is a teenage guy and the plotlines are sort of male-centric, though that’s not to say females won’t be all over it!). I’ve read “boy books” before, of course, but none written by women–I was curious. And three, I love contemporary YA fiction, especially when it’s a little edgy, which Freefall certainly is.

First, I’ll comment on Seth’s voice because… it’s awesome. He swears, he drinks, he thinks too much about sex and not enough about school. He’s dry and funny He can be sort of insensitive, but at the same time, there are instances where he is intuitively sensitive without ever realizing it. He wants to be better, but he doesn’t know how. Seriously, had the name “Mindi Scott” not been printed on the cover, I would have assumed this book had been written by a teenage guy. The voice is that spot-on.

Freefall’s characters are very real. They have real problems and realistic relationships. They’re flawed–all of them, but that’s what made me want root for them. And they have motivations. Motivations that–gasp!–make sense. (This is one of the problems I had with some of the other books I read this month: a character would do something and I’d think–what?!).

And Rosetta and Seth together… I loved their interactions from the very first scene they shared. Their dialogue was natural and witty and it flowed well, plus, I could clearly see the things they grew to like about each other. Their relationship felt legitimate and sincere, not forced for the sake of the novel. I *got* why Seth wanted to be present for Rosetta, and understood why she wanted to be better for him. Oh, and they had a few pretty steamy interactions, too.

So, Freefall was definitely the book I loved best during the month of October. I highly recommend you check it out.

What about you? What was the best book you read this month?