Review: After We Fall by Deborah Clack

About the Book

ISBN-139780800746957

Publication Date:10/06/2026

Pages:368

Synopsis (from the author’s website)

Self-sufficient Penelope Reid has her life completely mapped outa necessity after surviving foster care. Now she’s on a mission to prove that she’s capable of managing a halfway house at Twelve Bluebells Ranch. The last thing she needs is hindrance from the charming Luke Granger, who asked her to dance three years ago, then disappeared before the music began.

Luke lives a nomadic lifestyle as a security specialist and has never found a reason to put down roots. So when the ranch neighboring Twelve Bluebells is vandalized, securing the area is just another gig for him before he hits the roaduntil he’s reunited with the bossy brunette and her generous heart.

As Luke and Penelope work alongside each other to care for the ranch’s halfway house residents, Penelope makes a mistake she might not recover from. Her careful walls begin to crack, and Luke’s restless heart finds reasons to stay. But when tragedy strikes, they must decide if it’s worth the risk to lower their guards for a love that could give them the home they’ve always longed for.

For content warnings, go to this book’s page on the author’s website. Note that there may be spoilers in these warnings. Deborah Clack After We Fall

My Thoughts

After We Fall is one of the best contemporary romance books that I have ever read, dealing with some difficult topics in a sensitive way that demonstrated the author’s attention to detail and her compassion for those who have suffered from abuse and trauma. Penelope is a feisty and courageous young woman who wants to become the program director for the Twelve Bluebells Ranch, a home for girls who have aged out of foster care but who still need a place to live and supervision. When her boss Harlan and his new wife Meredith leave for their honeymoon, Penelope thinks that she has the perfect opportunity to show what a great candidate she would be for the job. Unfortunately, she has to deal with Luke Granger, the security consultant that Harlan hired since there was some mischief right before the wedding. Luke and Penelope clash heads in the most adorable and humorous ways, making this book funny as well as a serious look at some hard topics. Luke is relaxed but always does what he promises. Penelope is ultra-organized to the point that when she gets injured and cannot fulfill her responsibilities she almost has a meltdown. The story is perfectly paced, with lots of drama happening with the residents of the Bluebells as well as between Luke and Penelope. The characters are relatable and it was easy for me to have empathy for Penelope after she got a TBI since I had a stroke and still suffer from similar symptoms. Luke is the “bad boy” who is really a good guy hero and was my favorite character. I was charmed by his constant use of toothpicks, much to the chagrin of Penelope and by his desire to pitch in and help out at the ranch by not only providing protection but also drum lessons. There are some tense scenes with one of the residents who makes poor choices against the advice of everyone and ends up paying severe consequences for those choices. This novel touched me in all of the right places, warming my heart as it also made me think about choices and how they not only affect me but others as well. With themes of learning to trust and finding love when you aren’t looking for it, this masterfully crafted and totally clean novel is a slam dunk winner for me and deserves much more than the five stars that I can give it.
I voluntarily received a complimentary copy of this book from Baker Publishing Group. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author

Deborah Clack is a native Texan, non-recovering chocolate addict, and contemporary romance author.

Her titles include Odyssey of the Mind World Champion, Orthodontist Patient of the Month, and Most Improved Player at the Rolando Blackmon Basketball Camp.

A high school AP history teacher for 10 years, Deborah earned a Masters Degree in Education and was awarded Teacher of the Year for Arts in Education. Now she creates stories of her own filled with struggle, laughter, and a hard-fought romance. She asks her heroines, as well as her readers, to dig deep, play hard, and laugh often.

She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, DFW Ready Writers, and the Faith, Hope, & Love Christian Writers. Her work won both the ACFW Genesis Contest and the ACFW First Impressions Contest in Romance. She received First Place in the Contemporary Romance and Flash Fiction categories in the Foundations Contest at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.

As a short story writer, she has sold flash fiction romance to Woman’s World Magazine.

Deborah can lip-sync the heck out of Barbara Streisand’s “Jingle Bells” and is a fan of the original romantic suspense movie, Star Wars. She lives in The Lone Star State with her family where they cheer for the Dallas Cowboys.