"Falling Is Like This"

Kate Rockland is a frequent contributor to the New York Times style section and has also written for Playboy, Rolling Stone, Spin, and others.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Falling Is Like This, and reported the following:

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about page 69 of Falling Is Like This. Turns out, it’s fabulous! My two characters, Harper Rostov and Nick Cavallaro, are walking around the East Village, which they will do throughout the book. I wanted to paint a vivid portrait of Alphabet City, and page 69 helps this along. I also like the conversation between Nick and Harper:

“You know what, I hate roses.” And Nick answers, “Right. You strike me as the kind of girl who pretends she doesn’t like roses, when really, you’d like, go apeshit if I gave you them.”

This jocular, bold conversation between the two lovers, so early on in their relationship, strikes just the right tone that I wanted to strike. Their whole attraction exists on their banter, their light flirting that is helping Harper get over the recent breakup she had with another boyfriend. Nick and Harper enter the bar Coyote Ugly on page 69 and they will continue to frequent several Village bars until Harper one day realizes she’s been drinking a little too much, and that Nick might be a catalyst for change, and that’s good, but that he also might be a bad influence on her. You’ll have to read the book to find out everything that happens after page 69!

Learn more about the book and author at Kate Rockland's website.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue