Catch Us When We Fall by Juliette Fay - 3 stars

[Pam]

This is a good book, and I enjoyed my time reading it. It's also "women's fiction", which is not quite what I gravitate towards these days, but when I stumbled across it while looking for something to fit a challenge prompt I was drawn in by an author name I still remember fondly from what seems like a previous life. I have kept her 2009 debut Shelter Me on my shelves through years of hardcore culling even though I don't really anticipate re-reading it, and it feels nice to know that was a good choice!

This one is about all different kinds of childhood trauma and how the defense mechanisms we use to survive can turn on us as adults. I found it smart and insightful and maybe wanted the romance to go just a smidge differently towards the end even though I liked how realistic everyone's behavior felt.