All Fall Down
by Ally Carter
Series: Embassy Row #1
Published on January 20th, 2015
by Scholastic
Genres: Action & Adventure, Contemporary, Mystery, Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: ARC Provided for Tour
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads
Also by this author: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, The Gallagher Girls Series, Heist Society
A new series of global proportions -- from master of intrigue, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter.
This exciting new series from NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter focuses on Grace, who can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world, and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.
Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay--in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.
I don’t know if you’ve heard Ally talk about this particular book but she has wanted to write this book for years; right around the time that she sold Heist Society she got the idea for this book and that was way back in 2007. She loves this book and that’s why I loved this book, I could feel her love infused in Grace and the pages which was a wholly beautiful and completely unique to me as a reader. I reviewed I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it but this, this was different. It was amazing.
Grace. Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace. Oh, our main character was quite the flawed one. Ally describes Grace as someone with nothing to lose which makes her different, she has such blind passion that she doesn’t notice the destruction that she leaves in her wake. Oh, Grace. She was a heartbreakingly beautiful character and I don’t think I’ll ever forget her. Her choices were not always logical but after her traumatic past paired with everyone’s insistence that she’s mentally unstable, the truth is hard to keep a grasp on.
I could talk about Grace all day but there are other aspects to this book that I should probably address. The world building was stinking amazing, I could walk into Embassy Row and know everything about it; the picture is so vivid in my mind that it was easy to follow Grace and her friends around.
Speaking of her friends… Talk about a motley crew. I loved them all. We have Noah, who keeps Grace on her toes and is the first person to truly trust Grace no questions asked, Rosie, the AMAZING little girl who is daring, Megan, who proves that a girl is much more than her appearances, and Alexei, oh Alexei. Ally writes good friendships and she did it again. The friendships were different because Grace is different but it was still reminiscent of her other series.
As with Ally’s other books, the romance takes a backseat but it might take too much of a backseat for me. Meaning: I never want to end a book wondering if that scene actually involved a kiss or not. I need the words “lips” and “kiss”. I can’t wait for it to develop in the following books though.
Basically, this is all sorts of right. I have always loved Ally’s writing but this is actually about an age-range that I’m more accustomed to. LOVED.
About Ally Carter
Ally Carter is a writer living and working in the Midwest. She loved school so much she kept going…and going…and going…until finally she had to graduate. Now she has degrees from Oklahoma State University and Cornell University and a house and a job and other very grown-up things.
Her life is either very ordinary or the best deep-cover legend ever. She’d tell you more, but…well…you know…
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I love when an author who you love writes a different kind of book, and it is still awesome just in a different way! This book has been added to TBR because it sounds like the kind of thing I would love to read myself. Can’t wait to try it!
Twitter: Liza
I started reading this one already and it’s going well. I’m glad you loved it Valerie, I think you’re in a winning streak right now 🙂
I really liked this one too, but I hope we get to see more romance in the second book.
Me too! Swoons sustain me and Ally doesn’t always help me with that.lol. I’m really excited for the next book though, I hope that it’s great!
I loved Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series, and I can not wait to read this one!
I hope that you like it as much as I did! I’m gonna read the rest of the GG series hopefully soon.
Twitter: lattenightsbook
I love Ally acarter. I have yet to read Heist Society but have read the Gallagher Girls series and I love it. I remember visiting Ally’s website every single day to see if there were news of the new books she would be writing. I remember wanting a movie on the Gallagher Girls series. Ally is a phenomenal author. Every book she writes is simply amazing. I cannot wait until I get my hands on this one. Great review!
I can’t wait to read the rest of her books! And the sequel to this! I would love a movie of GG. Fingers crossed.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Added this to my TBR! It sounds great. 😀 Nice review Valerie!
Thanks! I really loved this one, I hope you do too!