" After the Leaves Fall tells the story of young Julia DeSmit who is only used to being left behind and forgotten. Her mother leaves the girl at the age of 9. Years later, at 16, Julia's father passes away, and Julia is left to live in the old farmhouse with her grandmother. Julia finds that the only people she can really relate to are her beloved grandmother and her neighbor/best friend, Thomas. Over time, Julia realizes that she's been harboring romantic feelings for Thomas. When he leaves for college, Julia hopes their relationship will last, but soon, she discovers that he's finding new relationships to follow. Julia herself heads off to college not long after, and begins forging relationships of her own. In this new world where she finds herself, Julia learns about life and love and loss. The stresses of college classes and relationships wear on her, and somewhere in the midst of everything, Julia makes a decision that will alter her life entirely. Living in the consequences of that decision, Julia must decide how to move forward from there.
I liked the book. Sometimes, the author seemed to spend long periods of time describing almost innane events (pouring coffee, looking at snow, etc.), and these flowery passes seemed like rabbit trails. Some of these passages came into play later, but many did not. The writing was beautiful, but at times, too flowery. The plot was usually interesting, but occasionally, plodding. Like I said, it was a good book and worth reading, but there was the occasional style distraction for me. "
— Katie, 2/9/2014