All Fall Down (Embassy Row, Book 1)

Grace is convinced that someone, a man with a scarred face, murdered her mother. She has done stints in mental health institution and has gone to live on Embassy Row with her grandfather, the US ambassador to Adria. Working with several other of the kids who live on the Row, she begins to investigate the head of the British Prime Minister's security.There's many unanswered questions and while the characters and setting are interesting, the plot stutters at times. The ending is a big cliffhanger. But I am interested enough to want to know what will happen next.

3.5 stars - Ally Carter does a great job of fast paced, clean, entertaining stories. Looking forward to starting book 2 of the Embassy series.

This was a gripping book from start to finish. Just when you think you have everything figured out.. Ms Carter twists your mind again. I can't wait until the sequel! This book was very engaging and enjoyable up until the last second - highly recommend!

Narrated by Eileen Stevens. Two discs in and I still wasn't getting into it. Nothing really happening other than Grace having bad memories about a yet-to-be-detailed past and her mother's murder. Eject!

Great book, looking forward to reading this series. Great narration also.

My favorite part of the book was the twists and turns

This was an engaging start to a new series. Grace is not like the heroines of Ms. Carter's earlier series. Grace is driven, obsessive, and very much alone. She is convinced that her mother was murdered. She was there; she saw it. But no one else believes her. She was hospitalized, medicated, and counseled but nothing is changing her mind. She grew up an Army brat but spent summers at the embassy in Adria with her maternal grandfather. Adria and the embassy is the closest thing she has to a permanent home.Now she is back with her Grandfather whom she hasn't seen since her mother's death three years ago. She's determined to find the scar faced man that she remembers from the night her mother died. She suffers flashbacks and visions and isn't willing to put on a pretty face to make everyone think things are all right.She meets a number of the other kids from Embassy Row - some for the first time and others that she knew from other visits. Alexei and Megan are from her past. Alexei is Russian and her brother Jamie's best friend. He tries to take care of her which she resents. Megan was the one whose mother works at the Embassy and who was always brought to play with her when she visited. Since she wanted to follow her brother and Alexei on their adventures, she was resentful of the time she was forced to spend with Megan instead. New acquaintances are Noah and his sister Lilah who have ties to the Israeli and Brazilian embassies. Noah declares that he wants to be her best friend and Lilah is the local mean girl/queen bee. Then there is 12-year-old Rosie who is German, wanted to be a gymnast until she grows too big, and who is an excellent spy.When Grace sees the scarred man, she is assisted by her friends to track him. Megan and Rosie have unexpected talents that help but the main search falls on Grace as she explores the tunnels networking Adria.The story was fast-paced; the dialog crisp and often funny; the characters were well-rounded and engaging people. While we do find out what happened at the time of Grace's mother's death, we don't really find out the why of it which left me a little unsatisfied. I will be looking forward to more books in this series so that I can have some of my questions answered.

All Fall Down is the first book in the Embassy Row series. Embassy Row refers to a group of embassies that are all lined up in a row in the country of Adria. The main character, Grace, has come to live with her grandfather who serves as US Ambassador in the American Embassy. Grace's mother was recently killed in a fire. Grace believes she was murdered, but her entire family has spent months trying to convince her that her mother's death was an accident. Throughout the book, there are twists and turns, and we are never quite sure until the end whether Grace is crazy or not. The story was not what I expected, especially a rather heart-wrenching ending without a suggestion of where the series will go from here. I'm not even sure if I want to continue reading it.

I ended up liking this far more than I thought I would.

I liked Grace. I liked her voice and I liked her consistency as a character. I liked her anger and her fear and her fierceness and vulnerability. I like that what little romance existed in this book was underplayed and never overwhelmed the plot. I liked the very real, very raw portrayal of trauma, of how a person can see exactly they are hurting themselves and the ones they love but they can't stop it. I liked more than anything that Grace has friends who are girls, as well as women around her that she trusts and respects; this, unfortunately, is a rare thing in the YA books I've read.

My main issues with this book were plot and pacing. I know as the first book in a series the endgame won't be given up but I felt like there just wasn't enough groundwork set down for the conspiracy. I think in some ways, I would have liked this as a book about a girl coming to terms with the death of her mother and making friends in a new place; the more political elements seemed underdeveloped and it was only in the last few pages that any hint of a wider plot became apparent.

Despite this, I'm pretty sure I will read the second book in this series because the main character and her friends are really well-crafted, well-developed, well-voiced.

As teen spy fiction goes, this is pretty entertaining. There are secrets and action and plots. There is also this ongoing thread of who to trust - the narrator who lost her mother and "went mad" or the adults around her who are hiding things and are possibly trying to make her think she is mad. It keeps the reader guessing but the plot ends up being a little shallow.

I enjoyed this book but I haven't fallen in love with the series ... yet. I found Grace a character who was a bit tough to warm up to - mainly because as the reader I was stuck in her mind for the whole novel and I didn't really know what was real and what was in her head. And there are a number of different twists and turns in this futuristic, murder mystery novel. By the end of the book, I was a bit confused and not sure what to make of it all.The main weaknesses I found in this book circled around plot. Although it seems like a contemporary novel about Grace's mental unbalance (brought on by witnessing her mother's murder), it veers off in so many different directions that by the end of the book I was exhausted.I think this book just tried to be too many things at once (a murder mystery, a spy novel, a dystopian novel, a romance) and the intermingled plot lines leave the reader feeling tired by the end (rather than anticipating the next book in the series).If you are an Ally Carter fan, you may want to check this book out. For me, I doubt I'll be reading any more of this series.

All Fall Down is a contemporary YA novel that starts off Ally Carter’s latest new series. Three years ago, Grace Blakely saw her mother murdered by a scarred man during a fire. But when she says so, no one believes her. Now she’s staying at her mother’s childhood home with her grandfather, an American ambassador to a fictional small European country. And then she sees him – the scarred man.The most interesting thing about All Fall Down is the narrator herself Grace. She says that she saw her mother murdered, but did she really? There were points in the novel where I began to doubt her assertion that it wasn’t all in her head, that it really happened. Yet despite this ambiguity in narration, I somehow never fully engaged with All Fall Down. I did end up finishing it, although I felt like I could have put it down midway through.It could be that All Fall Down just isn’t my genre. I tend to read heavily in the science fiction and fantasy genres, and it’s a rare event that I pick up a contemporary YA novel (even if this one may be more suitably classified as a thriller). But I liked Ally Carter’s Heist Society, and I read her Gallagher Girls series throughout middle school, so I decided to give this one a try. For whatever reason, All Fall Down didn’t have the same appeal. Perhaps that’s due to the book itself, or perhaps to my tastes as a reader having changed. It’s hard to say.Even as I’m fairly ambivalent about this book, the ending did produce enough of a twist that it’s made me consider reading the sequel. In all likelihood I won’t actually read the sequel, but if my mother or sister bring home a copy, who knows, I may end up changing my mind.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

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I got this review copy from NetGalley.

This book was the 2015 release that I was most looking for and I loved it! The way that Ally Carter writes the suspense makes you wonder whether Grace is seeing things, adapting what she sees to her memories of her mother's death or actually following a murderer. Everything she hears does suggest danger, but it's at the same time ambiguous enough to make you doubt. We see things from her point of view, so we only know what she knows, which helps build up the tension until the very end, when we finally find out what happened that night three years before the beginning of this novel.

Even though it's part of a series, all the questions that arise during this book are answered by the end, so you aren't left with a cliffhanger. This doesn't make me want to read the next book of this series any less, as the environment in which this story takes place, a group of embassies, allows for many interesting mysteries.

There is a hint of romance, but nothing too obvious -it's really nothing more than a subtle hint- and it certainly doesn't become a big part of the story, as everybody is too busy trying to solve the mystery surrounding the Scarred Man. Even though there are two main males, a love triangle isn't part of this story. One of the boys is just Gracie's best friend and stays a best friend, which is something that I found great, because there are so many friendships turning into love in YA novels, that it seems that boys and girls can't be just very good friends.

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Este libro es la publicación de 2015 que más estaba esperando y ¡me ha encantado! La forma en que Ally Carter escribe el suspense te hace dudar de si Grace está viendo cosas, adaptando lo que ve a sus recuerdos de la muerte de su madre o si en verdad está siguiendo a un asesino. Todo lo que oye sugiere peligro, pero es al mismo tiempo lo suficientemente ambiguo para hacerte dudar. Vemos las cosas desde su punto de vista, así que sólo sabemos lo que ella sabe, lo que ayuda a crear la tensión hasta el final, cuando finalmente descubrimos lo que ocurrió aquella noche, tres años antes del comienzo de esta novela.

Aunque es parte de una serie, todas las preguntas que se formulan durante este libro acaban siendo contestadas al final, así que no queda un final de suspense. Esto no disminuyó mi deseo de leer el siguiente libro, porque el ambiente en el que tiene lugar esta historia, un grupo de embajadas, permite muchos misterios interesantes.

El romance es algo que sólo se sugiere, pero no es demasiado obvio -no es realmente más que una sutil sugerencia- y no cabe duda de que no se convierte en una parte importante de la historia, ya que todo el mundo está demasiado ocupado intentando resolver el misterio que envuelve al Hombre de la Cicatriz. Aunque hay dos personajes masculinos principales, esta historia no tiene ningún triángulo amoroso. Uno de los chicos es sólo el mejor amigo de Gracie y se queda siendo mejor amigo, lo que es algo que me gustó mucho, porque en las novelas juveniles hay tantas amistades que acaban convirtiéndose en amor, que parece que chicos y chicas no pueden ser sólo muy buenos amigos.

Grace really got on my nerves, but I was enjoying the story until the ending, which I did not like at all.

All Fall Down is the first book in the Embassy Row series. Embassy Row refers to a group of embassies that are all lined up in a row in the country of Adria. The main character, Grace, has come to live with her grandfather who serves as US Ambassador in the American Embassy. Grace's mother was recently killed in a fire. Grace believes she was murdered, but her entire family has spent months trying to convince her that her mother's death was an accident. Throughout the book, there are twists and turns, and we are never quite sure until the end whether Grace is crazy or not. The story was not what I expected, especially a rather heart-wrenching ending without a suggestion of where the series will go from here. I'm not even sure if I want to continue reading it.

Entertaining as all of Carter's books are, I was pleasantly surprised at the extra layer given to Grace's story. Here, instead of just "bad guys and teenage sleuthing," Grace is also dealing with the tragedy and aftermath of seeing her mother die. We get to see the psychological impact it has on her but it doesn't completely overtake the story. Instead it melds well into the character's plight and makes for an overall enjoyable read.

2.5 stars

"All Fall Down" read more like a prequel than the first book in a new series. Whilst I liked the premise and the idea of Embassy Row, I did not like Grace, the main protagonist, at all. At the start I did, but this quickly disappeared with her reckless behaviour and her rudeness to everyone one around her, whether they deserved it or not. As for the secondary characters, they were under-developed and lacked back stories. The only two I had any time for were Megan and Rosie, but I didn't get to know them well enough to develop a strong connection with them. Overall, a disappointing read.

This is the first book in the Embassy Row series. It tells how Grace came to live there with her grandfather, an important ambassador to this fictional country, through the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of her mother. It also tells a tale of espionage and intrigue as she tries to solve the mystery surrounding her mother’s death. She meets some interesting characters along the way, making this a very enjoyable read.

This wasn't a totally perfect book, there was a lot of cliche phrases littered throughout, but god I adored every second of it. The pacing was brilliant and I loved the cast. I liked the understated, barely acknowledged romance (also the LI. More Russian LI's in YA please)

Also the audiobook is spectacular, the narration is some of the best I've heard in a while.

I love everything by Ally Carter. This was no exception.

When she was 13, Grace saw her mother die -- she heard the explosion; she saw the scarred man with the gun. But nobody believes her. The fire that killed her mother, she is told, was a tragic accident, not a bomb. There was no scarred man, no gunshot. Now, at age 16, Grace has been sent to live with her grandfather, the US Ambassador to the small European nation of Adria. Last time she was in Adria, she broke her leg jumping off the wall between the German and Canadian embassies, so she has something of a reputation for being a daredevil and a troublemaker -- not the best combination for an ambassador's granddaughter. Add to that the new accusation of craziness, and you can see why her grandfather's staff seems to be watching over her with a high degree of solicitude. But Grace still manages to find herself in places she's not supposed to be, overhearing conversations not meant for her ears. The Scarred Man is is Adria -- and he's about to kill again. The only people who believe Grace are her new friends, other misfit children of diplomatic staff. But what can a handful of teenagers do against an international assassin?I found this book interesting, but a little frustrating. Part of the problem, of course, is that it's setting up a new series, so a lot of the hints dropped in this book presumably foreshadow major plot points in future books. The ending, while not exactly a cliffhanger, does leave readers wanting more, as it ends with Grace just about to get some answers regarding her mother's death. I thought that there were some obvious questions that Grace never asked (like, why would anyone want to kill her mother, an antiques dealer and wife of a minor military officer?). I also thought that the tunnel network under the city was way too convenient -- easily discovered by Grace, but apparently not by anyone else in the city. And there's a very slight romance angle that I just didn't buy. In many ways, this was a typical Ally Carter novel -- action, suspense, and a generally fast-moving plot, with lots of snappy dialogue -- but I didn't find it quite satisfying.

Ally Carter is the author of the Gallagher Girls series and the Heist Society series. I absolutely love the Gallagher Girls and very much enjoy Heist Society. This is a new series, called Embassy Row.Grace’s mother died three years ago. Since then, Grace has had to get “help” for dealing with the death; some have implied she’s crazy. Grace is finally allowed to return to the only home she has ever known: the American Embassy in Adria where her grandfather is the United States Ambassador. Grace’s father is military and is on assignment while her brother is in college. Her brother, Jamie, asks his best friend Alexei to watch over Grace. This is a difficult assignment because Alexei is from the Russian Embassy and Russia and America have a difficult relationship. Grace meets Noah and Rosie who are new and reconnects with an old acquaintance, Megan.Grace believes her mother was murdered, but everyone tells her it was an accident, not murder. When Grace sees the scarred man who killed her, she is determined to bring justice. She enlists Noah’s help; with his help come Rosie and Megan. Grace is brave and willingly sacrifices herself to get whatever she wants, so she’s had a lot of injuries. She’s no less brave in this journey to justice. This first book had a lot to do as to setting up Grace’s beliefs. She’s almost annoying because she is so determined and never consults common sense. I actually liked Megan’s character and think she has a lot to offer. Ironically, Grace’s character didn’t have as much depth. She’s suffering from what I would call PTSD from seeing her mother die, so maybe I’m heartless, but I found her inability to focus on the present and think logically irritating. I think the interesting part of the story will begin with book two. There are lots of surprises at the end of this book, so expect the second book to start creating the complicated conflicts.

Grace Blakely is that kid who always takes risks. She enumerates many of her escapades upon arrival at the US Embassy in Adria, where she is being sent to live with her grandfather, after the death of her mother. She witnessed the fire that killed her mother, and thinks to this day, (three years later), that it was not an accident. What Grace remembers and thinks she remembers comes into play with how she relates to people in this present day. Many of Carter's trademark plot devices are here--she really knows how to write a quick moving, suspenseful story. I hope that in subsequent books in the series, the secondary characters will be fleshed out a bit more, they were a bit in the background here. Grace is a strong lead, but still needs the support they give.

I flipped between 3.5 and 4 stars for this book. The only reason that I am giving the book 3.5 stars is because of the following factors. 1) I wanted Grace to be a stronger leader. She seemed like she was fearless but at other times, she was like a mouse. 2)Not a high intensity action packed spy novel. Not that I was expecting this. However I thought it would have a little more of that feel to it. 3) While the rest of the characters were fine, they kind of felt like they were just there. I mean none of the other allies of Grace's really helped her until the last third of the story and even than it was ok. 4) I did not like Alexei. I found him very annoying. 5) The author did write this book for the younger readers in mind as even the details surrounding Grace's mother's death was mild. Not too many details or gore. Despite all of this I did like this book and found it to be a quick read.

I'm pretty sure I'd read the phone book if Ally Carter was writing it for me. Her heroines are the best mix of exceptional power and "typical" teenager, and Grace herself is possibly the most compelling of Carter's protags so far. A must-read.