Blog tour stop for ‘When he fell’ by Kate Hewitt.

Blurb.

‘The powerfully gripping new book from USA Today bestselling author Kate Hewitt.

Josh and Ben are nine years old and best friends, until a single, careless act in the school playground destroys the lives of both families – and wrenches their small Manhattan school apart. As both mothers Maddie and Joanna try to find out what really happened between the boys, they discover the truth is far more complicated and painful than either of them could have ever realised… with lasting repercussions for both families. And when tragedy strikes again in the most unexpected of ways, the lives of these two women will be changed once more, and this time forever.’

Big thank you to NeverlandBT, Kate Hewitt & Netgalley for allowing me a copy of the book for my honest opinion.

My goodness me, where to start! I didn’t read the blurb before I agreed to do the tour as I wanted to find out the whole story by myself, I chose to review it purely based on the title and the fact that Kate Hewitt would be a new author for me.
As a mother myself, reading this novel hit home in many, many ways because the main storyline is something I wouldn’t be able to ever comprehend if it happened to my child.
Maddie and Ben are a team. She would do anything to protect her son from harm and she expects the school he attends to do the same whilst he is in their care. Unfortunately, a playground incident happens involving Ben and his best friend Josh and Maddie is left trying to find out exactly what had happened and why. Easier said than done when people at the school decide that it’s much better to keep the information to themselves. But is it?
Ben’s best friend Josh finds himself spiralling lower and lower into a depressed state, much to the sadness of his parents Lewis and Joanna.
I found ‘When he fell’ to be an unpredictable, heartfelt and emotional read. I think that Kate Hewitt has written about such a sensitive and devastating subject with incredible detail which made the story stand out and not seem like she hadn’t done her research. Clearly, she has. For the majority of the story, I felt like I was standing behind Maddie and seeing everything that she saw. Very cleverly written to be able to make the reader move into the story so to speak, but I found that incredibly emotional. Being totally honest, halfway through I felt like I shouldn’t carry on reading it because of the topic covered, especially with how deep and harrowing it got. However, the story had me gripped and I wanted to find out exactly what happened that day at school. Why the head teacher wasn’t volunteering information, and why Josh didn’t want to talk about it. Why didn’t he want to talk about it?
Several times throughout the book, I did get frustrated because I was desperate to find out why, I wanted answers for Maddie and Ben and they’re characters in a book! Joanna, Josh’s mum, has fears about her and Lewis’ relationship, especially as Lewis and Maddie spent time together during the children’s playdates. She thinks her son isn’t watching her body language or facial expressions, but he is, he can tell something is wrong. The calm before the storm. Joanna’s fears sound so minor compared to Ben’s accident, but everything isn’t as it seems.
I honestly thought I had guessed what the outcome would be when I was three-quarters of the way into the novel. I was wrong. Completely wrong. It’s not often I say this, but I loved being wrong in this instance because the last quarter of the story popped up from nowhere. Jaw dropped, gasping and going ‘oh my…..’. That is the sign of a very good writer because not only did Kate Hewitt manage to make me feel like I was IN the book, she had a way of connecting with my emotions. I say that like she wrote the book for me, hah. No, I mean it seems like she intended to connect her words with the reader and feed the reader such a poignant and memorable storyline.
The events that happened within the book are real life events for some children, which makes the storyline even more emotional. That said, Kate has written such a powerful book, especially when I keep thinking about it despite finishing the book a week ago. Such a talented writer, I cannot wait to read another of Kate Hewitt’s books!

Buy ‘When he fell’ from Amazon UK
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Buy ‘When he fell’ from Waterstones
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Kate Hewitt social links.

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