Freefall follows the life and times of Seth McCoy (or maybe call him "Dick") after his best friend, Isaac's death. Seth and Isaac were part of the same band and they were both hard partiers. One night, Isaac drinks way too much and ends up choking to death on his own vomit.

In the months that follow Isaac's death, Seth spirals hard. He can't shake the feeling he's responsible for Isaac's death. He's bored of helping his egocentric friend Daniel, supply booze for the rich kids at school who think they're both trailer trash wastes of space. He often binge drinks before playing gigs to cope with stage fright and the general pressure his bandmates are piling on him. And after bender number whatever, he winds up waking up next to dead Isaac's (ex, maybe) girlfriend, Kendall.

Oops.

Basically: Seth is not a happy guy and things need to change. And that's when this novel begins, really--with Seth making two positive choices for himself: to stop drinking and commit himself to an intense class schedule so he can graduate. Both of these decisions are the beginning of the rest of his life. In one of the elective classes he attends to boost his grade point average--Interpersonal Communications--he comes face to face with Rosetta, a beautiful girl he may or may not have nearly run over with his car. Thankfully, she gets over it and what follows is a really tender and sharp debut about two similarly wounded people coming together to bring out the best in themselves.

So I've been looking forward to Freefall forever. I think Mindi Scott is awesome, first of all, and I've loved following her publication journey. The book released in October, but I was smack in the middle of eighty million different things and couldn't sit down to read it until now. It's always a dangerous thing when I have to wait to read something. I will either lose interest or put the novel on such a high pedestal it is like, doomed to fail. Not fair, I know, but hey. Life isn't fair, and if anyone knows that, it is SETH MCCOY.

Anyways, I am so thrilled to say that there was no fail in the pages of Freefall. I'm even more thrilled to say I loved reading this one. It was funny, engaging and romantic. I just adored the voice; Seth's quick wit had me chuckling repeatedly. Laughing out loud with a book is always a special thing. The humour was spot on and just very cleverly timed. I don't think Mindi has any sequels to this planned but I'm just saying that I would read more of Seth doing stuff if she wrote it. I mean, I am going to read whatever Mindi Scott writes next but I just thought I would put that, specifically, out there.

The cast of characters were great. Rosetta was a sweet, slightly mysterious love interest and the gradual build of Seth's relationship with her felt very natural. I think the way Rosetta dealt with the tragedy in her own life, compared to how Seth dealt with the tragedy in his own, was a great juxtaposition. The way she coped gave Seth new insights on how he could deal. I just got the sense of two people who needed each other and were good for each other. I wanted them to be together.

As for the other characters, I totes must admit I was kind of digging on Daniel in an alarming way, hah. And KENDALL is quite possibly one of my most favourite secondary characters ever. She stole every scene she was in. I've known Kendalls in my time. They grate a little, sure, but they're good people, you know? Kendall was hysterical to me. I liked the glimpses of her vulnerability as well and felt her thread was strong enough to be its own novel. I was pretty much rooting for every single one of these people all the way. I wanted everyone to be happy. Well. Except for Carr. Carr, you are a douche.

As I said above, Freefall is about two similarly wounded people coming together to bring out the best in themselves. It is three hundred pages of two characters trying to do right by themselves and each other. I LOVED watching Seth try to discern the best course of action for himself and the people he cared about and his stumbles along the way were very genuine. I adored the sincerity in Seth's screw-ups because they were immediately followed by him sincerely trying to fix his mistakes.

And that's another good word for Seth, his voice, this story as a whole: it's sincere. It's hopeful, despite the heavy subject matter. Overall, Freefall to me, is the epitome of a feel good novel. I felt good when I read it. I felt good after I finished it. And if you read it--and you should--I think you will too.