Review: Catch Me When I Fall by Vicki Leigh

Catch Me When I Fall (Dreamcatcher, #1) by Vicki Leigh
Published: October 23rd 2014 by Curiosity Quills Press
Pages: 204

Recruited at his death to be a Protector of the Night, seventeen-year-old Daniel Graham has spent two-hundred years fighting Nightmares and guarding humans from the clawed, red-eyed creatures that feed off people’s fears. Each night, he risks his eternal life, having given up his chance at an afterlife when he chose to become a Protector. That doesn’t stop a burnt-out Daniel from risking daring maneuvers during each battle. He’s become one of the best, but he wants nothing more than to stop.

Then he’s given an assignment to watch over sixteen-year-old Kayla Bartlett, a clinically depressed patient in a psychiatric ward. Nightmares love a human with a tortured past. Yet, when they take a deep interest in her, appearing in unprecedented numbers, the job becomes more dangerous than any Daniel’s ever experienced. He fights ruthlessly to keep the Nightmares from overwhelming his team and Kayla. Soon, Daniel finds himself watching over Kayla during the day, drawn to why she’s different, and what it is about her that attracts the Nightmares. And him.

A vicious attack on Kayla forces Daniel to break the first Law and reveal his identity. Driven by his growing feelings for her, he whisks her away to Rome where others like him can keep her safe. Under their roof, the Protectors discover what Kayla is and why someone who can manipulate Nightmares has her in his sights. But before they can make a move, the Protectors are betrayed and Kayla is kidnapped. Daniel will stop at nothing to save her. Even if it means giving up his immortality.

"Marlene created dreams; I fought off Nightmares. Which meant I was spending nearly every day in battle, and I would never get to see the Heavens."

Thank you Curiosity Quills Press for providing me with an advanced reading copy for review.

Catch Me When I Fall is yet another novel which stands out in the aspect of 'good premise, bad execution'. Never before have I wanted to love an ARC so much but just couldn't. The premise of this book is something I had never heard before. After reading the synopsis I was all set to go on an amazing adventure I would never forget. It was original and therefore caught my attention in an instant. However, the originality was only to be seen in the beginning of the book, because all the rest was something I'd seen countless times before.

To discuss the premise of this book, you can't but agree that the idea behind it is absolutely brilliant. Seven billion people having two Protectors watching over them isn't all too realistic if you ask me, yet the idea of creating something more out of the guardian angel legend is amazing. Leigh did what few authors couldn’t do and managed to build an intriguing world around that particular idea. I loved the world building despite several info dumps. I loved the combination of a Guardian Angel with dreams and nightmares. I haven’t read anything like this before and I absolutely loved it. This was what made me want to read this book so desperately. I think you can guess by now how big of a disappointment this turned out to be.

The romance took over the entire book so much that in the end I felt like I was drowning in it. It all started with a case of young teen love where all of the sudden the insta-love escalated into an eternal romance. The worst part about this is that their romance is entirely based on appearances considering the insta-love. It still surprises me how fast this transition went. I can’t do anything but to call it rushed and an obvious plot device.

It doesn’t happen often when the characters in a book did nothing for me, but it definitely was the case here. I can label every one of them as an okay-character. There wasn’t anything special about them, something that should have made me go crazy or at least care about them. I didn’t connect with any of them, and in my opinion it had a lot to do with how the story was told; by telling things, not showing them. It was told what a horrible past Kayla had, or what happened between her and her father. It was never shown enough for me to really bond with any of the characters, which resulted in not caring about them as much as I first wanted to.

The plot is one of those things that also could have been way better. While it has the potential, it's filled with all the YA clichés with the most dramatic love scene at the end. When it comes the plot of the book itself, I had to do my best to look further than the countless love scenes and insignificant actions scenes There could have been a lot of mystery built around who the warlock actually was. Nonetheless, that didn't happen and eventually finding out didn't shock me at the least. It wasn’t only the mystery involving the warlock, but there is a serious lack of mystery in this book in general. The supposed plot twists in here don’t even count as plot twists because it never felt like an actual twist. Because of this it was way too easy to put the book down, while it was difficult for me to find the motivation to pick it up again.

Catch Me When I Fall is after all, not a great novel despite its compelling premise. Considering the dull characters, the insta-love and a plot that could have been so much better, I warn you to not fall for the fascinating synopsis. I hate myself for several reasons now that I've written such a negative review about a book I had thought I'd love.