Angel Falls

by Julia Rust

What if you had the power to heal your broken family? To bring back a lost loved one? Jessie and Jared are about to find out, in a place called Angel Falls, where an ancient and mysterious power waits to fulfill their deepest wishes--with dangerous consequences. Fifteen-year-old Jessie Reed would do anything to keep her parents together. When her father inherits an old house from his elderly and mysterious Cousin Dorothy, Jessie accompanies him to the seaport village of Beauport, while her mother stays behind in New York City. Fearing for her parents' marriage and unnerved by the prospect of spending her summer in "a dead woman's house", Jessie strikes out on her own and stumbles across the isolated trails of Angel Falls, a wild and beautiful place that holds the ruins of a three-hundred-year-old town with a strange history. There she encounters Jared Younger, a sixteen-year-old local boy who considers these forbidden woods his own.
Jared is caretaker for his father, an artist crippled by depression. Jared feels powerless to save his father--until a series of unexplainable events brings him face to face with a power he never knew he had. Jared's teacher, Chris Delany offers to help him understand and control the strange thing that's happening to him--but are Delany's motives as pure as they seem? Or, as Jessie suspects, does Delany have a secret agenda of his own that puts Jared in danger?
Together, Jessie and Jared discover that the truth is far more dangerous than they could have imagined and that they must work together to save their families and uncover the strange secret of Angel Falls.

314 pages, Hardcover

Published October 17, 2022

About the author

Julia Rust is a writer and teaching artist from the Hudson River valley in New York. With David Surface, she runs Veterans Writing Workshop, bringing free workshops to U.S. veterans and active duty military in the metro-NYC area. Julia has served on the board of the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center. Julia recently was a featured reader for “A Strange and Darksome Night” hosted by Night Time Logic in NYC. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her story "Tall Dark And" written with David Surface was published in the anthology Uncertainties Vol. III, which Ellen Datlow included on her “Recommended” list in Best Horror of the Year for 2019.

ANGEL FALLS is a YA Supernatural thriller, co-written with David Surface and published October 2022 by YAP Books, an imprint of Haverhill House Publishing.

Reviews

[Irene Well Worth A Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was happy to be invited to read this young adult novel with the gorgeous cover and intriguing synopsis.
Angel Falls is a poignant coming-of-age tale with supernatural overtones, told from the alternating points of view of two young teens, Jessie and Jared.
It will definitely be a summer to remember for Jessie Reeds. First love, family secrets, spooky woods, and more await her in the seaside town of Beauport where she stays with her father to settle the estate of a recently deceased relative. Here she hopes to reunite her parents before the permanent split she fears is coming.

Jared is a teenage resident of the village who is desperately trying to support himself and his father as they fall deeper and deeper under a mountain of bills that no child could possibly pay alone.
Jared's father has succumbed to such a deep depression he is no longer a functional parent.
When Jared and Jessie meet they will uncover secrets in both of their pasts as well as a strange dark history of the village. Between the two of them they may have the power to make their fondest wishes come true but at what cost?

I feel like I knew these characters, almost like I watched Jessie and Jared move on from childhood to maturity. I had a lot of sympathy for them both as I watched them longing to change things that could have been, and finally learning that we must all accept the reality of the way things are instead of how we wish they could be.
This was a bittersweet tale of loss and loss, and growing up.

[Steven Dines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angel Falls is a young adult novel about the poison of not letting go, but more importantly, in the fantastic leads of Jessie and Jared, it's about the promise of hope there is to be found in future generations. Theirs is such a genuine relationship and one so brilliantly handled by Rust and Surface that it carries the entire novel. On top of that you get mystery, secrets, and magic. What's not to like? An excellent debut.

[Anthony Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully constructed coming of age story featuring two remarkably likeable (for teenagers) central characters. Swapping between POVs, I’m guessing that the two authors took a character each to write their respective chapters but it has to be said that the joins are invisible and it’s impossible to spot any differences in writing style.
It’s a slow burner of a novel which introduces its horrors gradually, those horrors subtle and unsettling. There are shades here of The Monkey’s Paw and Pet Sematary as the protagonists come to realise that they really should be very careful indeed in what they wish for. In truth I found it a little bit sad, this representation of youthful naivete crashing into adult reality, this loss of innocence in its most literal sense.
Great writing and completely realistic characters make this a thoughtful as well as a highly entertaining novel. Highly recommended.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a huge fan Angel Falls co-written by Julia Rust and David Surface which was one of those books which deserves to find an audience, but I am unsure whether it will. Hopefully, there are enough thoughtful teenagers hanging out there willing to take a chance on this very subtle supernatural drama. Even though it was slow moving and did not include any over-the-top big finish I found this powerful character study of two lonely teenagers, who connect, strangely moving. Rarely have I seen supernatural happenings kept so far on the backburner as in Angel Falls, but it did not spoil my enjoyment of the book as the two sixteen-year-old main characters were so well drawn, along with the family dramas they are involved in, I barely noticed. However, I am unsure whether genuine teen readers will share my patience!

Jessie Reed (a girl) moves to the seaport village of Beauport for the summer (from New York) after her father inherits an old house. Separated from her friends, and with her parents having marriage problems, whilst out exploring Jessie meets Jared Younger. The pair initially fight after meeting in the remote area of Angel Falls, which Jared claims is dangerous, but after a false start they become friends. Jared has his own problems, his father a well-known local artist, suffers from crippling depression and they are struggling to make ends meet. Together they explore Angel Falls, which is beautifully and vividly described, they soon realise there might be some weird power in the local area and the ability to grant wishes. However, the plot is significantly more complex and there are various flip backs in time, a side-story with Jared’s teacher and a missing teenage girl all connected to the complex ripple-effect of wish-making. Fans of thoughtful, character driven stories which balance the pain of early teen romances with very subtle supernatural stories are in for a real treat. AGE RANGE 13+

[Dolores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I stuck with this until the end. Well worth it.

[Joshua Rex · Rating 5 out of 5]

ANGEL FALLS is, in a way, both a novel and a state of mind. It is not only a mystical and enigmatically beautiful forested landscape where two teenagers discover that wishing can be perilous, but as well the metaphoric tangle of uncertainty and emotional variability similar to the mind shifting between extreme psychological states.

Julia Rust's and David Surface's story centers on a pair of young people, Jared and Jessie, attempting to navigate the pitfalls of a frightening legacy and the present turmoil of their respective familial situations. One of the book's great strengths is the honesty with which it portrays the adults as people who are flawed and/or battered by life and loss. There is a refreshing honesty in the exploration of desperation (particularly Jared's teacher, Delany) and how it has the ability to distort the minds of otherwise good and rational individuals.

There is plenty of terror, dread, and unease throughout the story, and there are echoes of King's PET SEMATARY here, but they are much brighter and (in my opinion) much truer in relation to grief and loss. Unlike the former, in which grief is a bleakly ravenous and all-consuming void, ANGEL FALLS shows that it can alternatively be a paradoxically empowering force, one that offers the potential for bonds to develop (bonds that may not have developed otherwise on their own or with such firmness), and individuals to forge deep inner personal strength by passing along a dark road together. The moment the characters realize this is (for me, at least) the true heart of the book, and it could be a potentially life-altering gift to the reader.

An extraordinarily powerful novel, expertly plotted, paced, and crafted, with a seamless blending of literary voices and styles. Rust and Surface have done something significant here: they've demonstrated, with Kierkegaardian precision, how facing the monster in the dark, no matter the cost, is the real path toward the light and living.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I received this novel from the authors, but this in no way affected my review.

To be honest, this YA novel was different than any than I have ever read. Its paranormal elements will keep the reader guessing until the end.

As the novel opens, Jessie and her father are heading for the seaside village of Beauport where he has inherited his elderly Cousin Dorothy's old house. Her mother stays in New York City, and Jessie fears for the breakup of her parents' marriage (and by extension, their family unit.)

Within a few days, she meets a local teen, Jared, on the trails around Angel Falls. What starts with some animosity becomes a friendship between the two as they further explore the trails.

Each has secrets; each is dealing with heartbreak, but what they discover on these trails will change them and challenge them in turn. Both want something near and dear to their hearts, but will either of them get it? What about the others who want something from them?

At times, it is spooky, creepy, and all too mysterious, but that is part of the power of the story.

A more extensive review to be posted at https://pedometergeek.wordpress.com

Thanks to Julia Rust and David Surface for a signed copy of the book.

[Buttonholed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Folks, this a great read with real teenage compassionate characters and the growing up they do. The inner turmoil they went through with their feelings was expressed point on. Great writing describing such emotions, I'd say. As you read some of these passages you'll catch your head nodding up and down in agreement. Just as their self-reflections did in this tale. And, their Moxi is second to none in dealing with this supernatural force alive in the falls and the decisions they decide to make. Very good enjoyable read.
Read my entire review at Buttonholed Book Reviews

[Kacie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amateur writing but interesting story.