In The Event This Doesn't Fall Apart

by Shannon Lee Barry

Written in secret during the first year of a new relationship, this prose and poetry collection offers an intimate, diary-like look at all the facets of falling in love. Follow in real time as the author grapples with the excitement, hesitation, and fear of asking yourself… did I just find the one? Raw and honest and written without thoughts of publication, this collection is perfect for romantics and skeptics alike.

"I thought the reckoning was shifting everyone’s lives and bringing a change so great it was rewriting the fabric of the universe. Turns out I was just falling in love. The two can feel very similar, I think."

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Romance, Adult, Wholesome, Contemporary

105 pages, Unknown Binding

Published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone ever asks me what love is, I will give them this book.

[Maylan Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Shannon writing about falling in love with Dom.

I love Dom singing about falling in love with Shannon.

They are a real life movie love story and I love them.

[Kayla Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

ode to the love stories that make you write and write

[Isidora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely, honest, and beautiful little book! I’ve been in a relationship for 7 years now, but it was so magical to get a reminder of that feeling when you are first falling in love - how intense and scary and wonderful it can feel.

[Meha S · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is insane how these very personal little snapshots of her relationship captures some universal essence of falling in love. Read this for a dose of secondhand butterflies 💛

[Melly-Jade Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

that was cute

[thelifeofabooklover · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy “novel” about how it feels to love and be loved. Perf for Valentine’s Day (especially when ur alone like me :b )

[Hanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been following Shannon on instagram for a while now: her pieces made me cry the first time I read them, and they've regularly done so since then. She has such a way with words, and writing about the hopeful yet cautious way she lives life just resonates with me. When I heard she was putting out a book of love poems, I knew I had to get a copy, and that it was going to make me cry.

I got 63 pages in before I did, but oh boy, it did.

This book was so sweet! It was a collection of pieces about falling in love: the hardships, the tension, the anxiety, the joy, and the sheer wonderfulness of it all. It was absolutely relatable, yet clearly personalized to Shannon and Dom's relationship. This is definitely something I will be rereading many times. <3

[Micaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know Shannon is someone who is a kindred spirit, who thinks and writes so similarly to myself that reading this book felt like a complete gift, as if I was character in this little story. It is what I hope to feel and be when I one day fall in love. It is beautiful and pure and eloquent, and fills me with peace and happiness that love like that does exist not only fairy tales, but can be undoubtedly real.

[abby land · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully written. perhaps my favorite poetry book i’ve ever read. it’s very honest, lots of raw emotion. the way it’s written has some long rambly sentences that perfectly encapsulates the way that i think, so it was really neat to read someone else’s voice that i relate to. lots of poetry books are very vague and leads you to feel the emotion behind the words. but this one says many things straight out, but it’s so vulnerable that it doesn’t take away from the poetic quality of the book. this is my second time reading this & i enjoyed it more this time.

[zeyneb · Rating 3 out of 5]

kimseler görmeden dramatik aşk şiirleri okuyorum, boğazımı temizleyip havaya bakarak etkilenen ben değilmişim gibi yapıyorum.

[ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a nice read. It felt like coming back to something familiar, like someone had looked around my brain and put down on paper all the simple but massive moments that make up love.


—————

Quotes that stuck with me:
“I like how it feels, the person I’m looking for looking back.”

“And the whole time you were right there and we were walking around in our own heads, smiling at each other all innocent with no idea of the combination we had or the explosion it would cause.”

“It never gets easier to go in the opposite direction of you.”

“Bye, I do not love you. I like you the normal amount.”

“And then you loved me. And I knew you did long before. But knowing and hearing it were entirely different.”

“There is a simple magic in being someone’s friend first.”

“Even now, I can still catch glimpses of you, before you were you to me. Back when love songs were just love songs, before every one became about you.”

“I want you to be curious for me. I’m curious about everything about you.”

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

let me preface by saying that i love following shannon and dom on instagram. i think that the online medium shannon chose works extremely well, and the poems and prose in this book would work better as an instagram caption, accompanied by photos. the disembodied texts feel too... empty to fill up an entire book. lovely as a gift from shannon to dom, less so as a poetry book for readers that are not a (digital) part of their relationship to consume

[Leanndra · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you find that you have fallen in love, pick up this book and you will feel understood.

[Cate Tedford]

This was SWEET. Shoutout Erin for sending me this book🫶 such a lovely depiction of how it feels when you are head over heels for that special someone—and not the fleeting kind of emotional obsession or toxic infatuation, but the steady and comforting yet refreshing and exciting kind of love and connection—the kind that energizes you to dance around in the kitchen with a smile stuck on your face and also holds you when you’re overcome in distress and can’t seem to escape the dark. The kind that leaves you better than it found you. That kind of love!

I think it can all seem cheesy until you’re actually inside of a love like this, and then it feels like the best thing there ever was. I’m grateful that I got to see inside what it feels like for Shannon, and to share in those feelings and experience in my own particular way.

“You feel like a book I read a long time ago- learning you is like remembering something I'd seen written. Your thoughts spill onto me like a dog eared page or an underlined paragraph. Familiar but slightly surprising all the time. You open your arms to me and I think, I have been here before. This is safe.”

[Francis Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolute treat to the eyes and mind. To know what it feels like to be loved. For every almost kiss to accidental I LOVE YOUs, this made love feel so real and so tangible. It’s inspiring how love can BE so inspiring. I loved every poem and how luck we are in the world to see you seam words together. This is a MUST READ! I just wanna throw up because this is a human experience that everyone wants but not everyone can get. Oh to be loved is to be known. Wow.

[dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

so so sweet :’-) i hope i get to live a love like this

[Jacki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never really have any faith in these new school poetry books but this blew me away. It's raw, relatable, gripping and heartbreaking. I would lean towards this being more prose than poetry but I don't think that negates any of my feelings. I cried alot. It felt like looking into a mirror and was also like a warm hug to think someone has thought exactly the way I do. Idk I think this collection gives me a little hope that good and safe love still exists. Kudos to Shannon <3

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing depiction of the concept of love. Just 100 pages of pure butterflies.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sweet.

[Emily Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book about falling in love.

[Jordan J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucky enough to find this collection of poetry and prose for free on Valentine’s Day! The author came across my Instagram and TikTok advertising that her book was free for one day only to make sure everyone got a Valentine’s Day love letter! Loved this ebook and would love to add to my shelf eventually. Really beautiful depiction of falling in love. Cute illustrations too.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple years ago, Shannon announced she was publishing this collection of poems she’d secretly written while falling in love. This announcement came at a time when I was also falling deeply in love—in one of those earth-shattering ways that you think could be the end of all endings—and I too wanted to create a similar project. Thanks to Shannon and her determination to capture (and share!!) such beautiful moments, I now have my own collection to remember (and maybe one day publish??) that very special experience of such a love.

All in all, this collection is a testimony to the beauty of unexpected, soul-moving love—regardless of whether it lasts or not.

[ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wife and I read this together on Valentine’s Day. So much of it reminded us of our experience falling in love.

[audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I promised myself I'd pace myself slowly with this book so I could soak up and hold onto every single word... but I couldn't help but devour it all in one sitting – one sitting filled with tears and laughter and fervently writing thoughts like "me too!" and "my heart" and "the tears are pouring, now" onto sticky notes. This felt like a warm blanket, like reading journal entries, like watching your best friend light up and talk about falling in love. I feel honored to have been let into Shannon's world through her beautiful poetry and prose. <3

[Yana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book!! If you’ve ever imagined falling in love, if you’ve ever been in love, if you’re in love with love, if you’re currently in love or if you just need to feel love, this book is it! It’s for you! It’s the most magical, beautiful, lovely book that depicts love in its most raw and honest form. If you haven’t read it yet, this is your sign!

[Megan Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will admit that this book is well written, because it is. The problem is that I didn't see what I, as a reader who is not part of their relationship, got from this book. I could tell that her/her boyfriend are in love and have chemistry and that's great but I'm not sure why, as an outsider, I care to read about that. It was also very repetitive for being such a short book.

[Mello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shannon has the gift of putting familiar feelings into words in ways that bring so much comfort and joy. I’ve been looking forward to reading her book ever since I saw she published it, and I can’t wait to see what lies in store for her in the future. 💛

[amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’ve been following shannon on instagram for such a long time now. i love the way she writes. and i’m so proud of her for releasing a book just full of her writing and love. this was so beautiful. i want to be in love :(((((

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this one and liked underlining lines I liked in pencil. Some bits of writing were stronger than others but it was nice read all in all.