ARC Review--All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Grace 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 received this ARC for being on the author's Street Team in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Ally Carter's All Fall Down is not my usual read, but there was something about it that intrigued me! While I LOVE the paranormal in all shapes and forms, I also enjoy a good mystery. I watch enough crime dramas that I am hopelessly addicted to! There's a kind of thrill to the mystery, one that almost kind of makes you scared at times because you never really know how close the villain is...or who the villain may really be!

Grace is an army brat and when her father gets called to the Middle East, she decides to go live with her grandfather instead of tracking into dangerous territory. Three years ago, Grace's mother died in a fire,  though Grace was there. And she swears that her mother was murdered, yet no one believes her. In a turnabout of events, Grace sees who she is certain is her mother's murderer walking around the streets.

Joining Grace in her adventures are a ragtag team of teenagers; Noah, the first boy to befriend her in her new home, Megan, the computer genius who was once a friend when she was a child and living there, and 12 year old Rosie who knows all about sneaking around and not getting caught!

This was a rather interesting read. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did! It was thrilling and there's quite the mystery on hand. I enjoyed the characters as well! Grace is a fun heroine and she's pretty savvy too. She doesn't let the snobby girl drag her down and kind of talks smack to her too.

Then there's Alexei who is our supposed love interest! I say this because we didn't get a whole lot of Alexei and Grace time! But when he was around, you could definitely feel a kind of tension between these two. I look forward to learning more about this character.

I was new to the whole Embassy Row setting, based on the cover, I thought it was somewhere outside the US, but according to the internet, it's a place in the US! There were never really any indicators as to where the Embassy Row is and for someone like me who has never really heard of it until now--I live in my bookish worlds, what can I say?--it would've been nice to get more of a location feeling. Since there are so many foreign dignitaries in residence, there was never any way for me to really grasp where in the world we were! Not that at all detracts from the storyline or enjoyment, it just would have been a helpful little detail for me to know for a deeper understanding of the setting!

As Grace and her friends dig deeper into the mystery, secrets come out and that threatened to crumble everything Grace thought she once knew. And that is only the beginning! 

There's a lot more to say about this one, but I can't get into all that without reading spoiler territory! Simply know that this was a great and suspenseful read! You'll be questioning things at every turn. And while we get some answers to the burning questions, there's naturally even more fiery questions leaving you red hot at the end! Be prepared for a cliffhanger! Now it's time to sit back and jiggle my knee in anticipation of the next book's release! It's going to be a long wait I think!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars



All Fall Down releases January 20, 2015