Falling Like Leaves
by Misty Wilson
read by Rebekkah Ross
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2025. 8 hours, 44 minutes.
Review written January 19, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
This young adult romance was completely formulaic and predictable – but totally sweet. I enjoyed the characters and the situation so much, I didn’t mind that I could pretty much tell what was going to happen.
Ellis Mitchell goes to a private school in New York City, and has an internship at her father’s media company. She’s goal-driven to do everything in her senior year to get into Columbia with a journalism major. So why does she browse the Fashion Institute admissions application?
But then her life falls apart, as her mother and father tell her they’re doing a temporary separation – and Ellis has to go with her mother to stay with Aunt Naomi and Ellis’s cousin Sloane in small-town Connecticut.
Bramble Falls, Connecticut, is all about Autumn! They’ve got Autumn Festival events every weekend, and since Aunt Naomi is the Mayor, Ellis has to help. And that throws her into contact with Cooper, the boy who was her best friend when she visited the summer after eighth grade. But their texting fell off when they got busy, and Ellis hasn’t seen him since – so why is he acting like he hates her?
There’s lots of good stuff here about Ellis figuring out what she really wants, and it’s all with the backdrop of an idyllic Fall Festival. Ellis makes some good new friends, has some misunderstandings and disappointments, and it all makes for a great story. Yes, there’s romance – the spiciness goes as far as making out, and the ups and downs of their budding friendship and relationship kept me listening eagerly. Lots of fun.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/falling_like_leaves.html
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