Kara Isaac is working on a new book, and it will apparently feature some of the same characters as her second novel, Can’t Help Falling. Yay!

(I was going to say a little bird told me, but that’s not true. I found out via Instagram, not Twitter.)

Anyway, that seemed like a good reason to reshare my review of Can’t Help Falling … which I suspect I’m going to reread shortly 🙂

I enjoyed Kara Isaac’s debut novel, Close to You, mostly because it was set in New Zealand.

Okay, the story was also very good, but it was set in New Zealand. It had places I knew–a novelty for me.

Can’t Help Falling wasn’t set in New Zealand, and that did lead to an initial feeling of disappointment. But it did still feature Close to You’s Allie and Jackson as characters, now transplanted to England where Jackson is studying at Cambridge and Allie is teaching at Oxford–the main setting for Close to You.

Narnia freak Emilia Mason has left her LA life as mudraking celebrity “journalist” and taken a events/fundraising job in a small literacy charity in Oxford. Here she meets rowing coach Peter Carlisle, who seems to know almost as much about Narnia as she does … and who she works with at the charity.

I thought Close to You was great. But Can’t Help Falling is even better.

Better writing (no pressure, Kara!), better characterisation (perhaps because I already ‘know’ Allie and Jackson), and especially better integration of Christian themes: Peter is a Christian and won’t even consider dating Emilia because she isn’t–something Emilia finds even more odd than the fact Allie and Jackson aren’t sleeping together.

Peter is a great Christian character. Well, he’s a great character, period, who happens to be a Christian. Yes, he has his faults (this is a romance and the path of true love never did run smooth. At least, not in fiction), but he also has wisdom and grace beyond his years.

Recommended for all lovers of Narnia and a good contemporary romance.

Thanks to Howard Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Kara Isaac

Kara Isaac is a RITA® Award winning author who lives in Wellington, New Zealand where she writes contemporary romance with heart and humor. Her supportive husband has not read any of her books because they contain “way too much talking and not enough gunfights”. When she’s not chasing three little people or working her “real” job, she spends her time writing horribly bad first drafts and wishing you could get Double Stuf Oreos in New Zealand.

Find Kara Isaac online at:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

About Can’t Help Falling

Emelia Mason has spent her career finding the dirt on the rich and famous. But deep down past this fearless tabloid-reporter façade, there’s a nerdy Narnia-obsessed girl who still can’t resist climbing into wardrobes to check for the magical land on the other side. When a story she writes produces tragic results, she flees to Oxford, England–home to C.S. Lewis–to try and make amends for the damage she has caused.

Peter Carlisle was on his way to become one of Great Britain’s best rowers–until he injured his shoulder and lost his chance at glory. He’s determined to fight his way back to the top even if it means risking permanent disability to do so. It’s the only way he can find his way past failing the one person who never stopped believing in his Olympic dream.

When Peter and Emelia cross paths on her first night in Oxford, the attraction is instant and they find common ground in their shared love of Narnia. But can the lessons from a fantasyland be enough to hold them together when secrets of the real world threaten to tear them apart? Cobblestone streets, an aristocratic estate, and an antique shop with curious a wardrobe bring the world of Narnia to life in Kara Isaac’s inspiring and romantic story about second chances.

You can read the introduction to Can’t Help Falling below:

Click here to check out Can’t Help Falling and other great Christian fiction in my Amazon store!