Going Down Easy by Carly Phillips

Pick up a Carly Phillips book, you are guaranteed that you are going to get something that will be difficult to put down, she is able to bring present characters and scenarios that are completely captivating and she doesn’t shy away from tackling the toughest subject matter either…no Ms Phillips hits them all head on!

This is a story that I just couldn’t put down.

Kaden’s childhood was emotionally traumatic and in a way it has shaped the man he is today, although not in a good way.

Apathy towards him by the one woman that should have loved him unconditionally, has left its mark, the fact that his mother turned her back on him has left him reluctant to trust anyone especially women. While she felt that he was a disappointment he just longed to be the son she wanted, someone she could be proud of but it wasn’t to be and because of that he continually manages to alienate almost every female that has either worked with or for him.

It was fairly evident that Kaden was suffering from a mental illness, but the author didn’t make excuses for his behaviour, she illuminated the fact that as a sufferer of ADHD and Anxiety, he neither had or needed any defence for who he was, he wasn’t being the way he was just because he could, it was just the way he was, but he was about to meet the wrecking ball that was Lexie Parker.

His carefully constructed walls were about to crumble and he would have very little say about it. Lexie knows what it is like living with mental illness, her mother and sister both suffer in their own way but Lexie takes it all in her stride and when it comes to Kaden she treats him no differently, from the first meeting she has the man pegged and she isn’t willing to make exceptions.

No matter how hard he tried to keep her at arms-length, she was having none of his nonsense! And didn’t hold back on telling him so either.

I liked Lexie, I loved the fact that she stood her ground and didn’t back down. I knew that she would be the woman to get through Kaden’s defences and from the minute they met I had my fingers and anything else I could have crossed for the two of them.

I won’t say that the whole book hinges on the fact that the author took on mental illness and gave it a platform because the subject is too serious to trivialise in that way, but the author gave a voice to thousands of sufferers who can and often are unfortunately marginalised.

A sensitively, clever read.