Mixed thoughts and feelings. It went kind of like this… intrigue, confusion, interest…boredom, boredom, ooh interesting (around 50% mark), suspicion, confusion, stress, anxious…and I won’t say the end for fear of spoilers.
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The main character in this has an illness that causes “the forgetting”, so every 6 months or so he forgets who he is. Think 50 First Dates, but not as funny or cute, or Memento (great underrated movie!), but not as gritty or intense.
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It was ok. Some really nice parts about what is really important and what it actually means to “live”. I didn’t love it though.

I somehow find myself reading a lot of books that involve memory loss or the fallibility of memory. But I don't think I've ever read one with a premise like this -- where a character's brain essentially resets itself. It presents, of course, a variety of challenges to the main character, which ends up in a romance novel unlike any other I've read.

This was a really interesting concept but wasn't executed in a way that dragged me in unfortunately. I can't put my finger on exactly what was missing or was disappointing for me, but the book missed the mark and didn't hit my expectations. While I thought that the crime mystery means romance vibe would appeal to me, I think it was too little of each and didn't have a strong enough emotional hook to grab me.

This book was sent to me as an ARC on NetGalley. However all opinions are of my own.
Every 179 Robert loses his memory and he has to start everything from the beginning all over again. This follows Robert of counting down the days until he forgets until someone comes into his life and shakes everything up.

An odd but interesting premise - the idea of your memory being wiped every six months, how on Earth would you cope with that? Not knowing would be fine, but our protagonist knows his memory is short lived. In the meantime, he spends his time setting up tends of thousands of dominoes, and lists after a delivery driver.

I will admit, I didn’t enjoy this to start with, finding it a little slow and very confusing. It did pick up and Breakey gets us to question who we are as people, especially if we have no past to cling onto.

As odd as it’s premise sounds, I would categorise this as a romance novel - one unlike anything I’ve read previous. Unfortunately I didn’t care for either of the main characters, they were a bit bland for me, and to be honest, I didn’t think it went anywhere for a book that’s almost 400 pages.

An enjoyable read but I wouldn’t make anyone rush to buy it.

The Beautiful Fall has such an interesting concept of a plot. Due to a medical condition, our protagonist Robbie loses his memory around every 6 months - in something he calls The Forgetting. In this, after each Forgetting he has to try and rebuild his life and his memories from only the clues his most recent former self has left him. In this, we the reader are stumbling around his life as clueless as he is, which makes for what feels like a very immersive read and allows you to understand to fragility of how Robbie is trying to get by - and treading very carefully with who and what he can trust.

I really enjoyed this book, and although I was very intrigued in the beginning and at the end when the Forgetting drew near, I must say my interest faltered in the middle. I also wish that the ending hadn't felt so rushed, but I guess this mirrored the urgency of the imminent forgetting, in hindsight.

A good read!

Interesting premise but overall not very memorable. The ending was drawn out for too long.

I'm not a huge fan of romance novels and this reminded me why!

THE BEAUTIFUL FALL by Hugh Breakey follows Robbie who loses his memory every 179 days and with twelve days left before his next forgetting, a girl named Julie comes to his life and changes everything. This novel definitely wasn’t for me at all even though I really liked the premise of this book. It took 1/3 of the book for something intereting to happen and even then the love story seemed extremely annoying. Charachters just went back and forth between trusting each other, loosing the trust, slamming doors, kissing, ignoring one another. I did not care for their story at all. Also the ending seemed incomplete and rushed.
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Thank you to Text Publishing and NetGalley for my ARC

Overall, I felt kinda meh about this book. Not necessarily bad, but not particularly memorable either. Giving it 2.5/5 Stars.

I thought I would love this concept, but I think it got old pretty quick. Most of it felt repetitive and there didn't seem to be an incentive to keep reading, like I felt like I didn't care too much about the characters. Or maybe the characters didn't seem to care much about themselves. I do think the first part of the book drew me in, and eventually there were some plot twists that I didn't see coming. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't super captivating either. Somewhere in between.

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. I love any book dealing with memories or memory loss. But it was such a drag I couldn't finish it. Way too many descriptions of dominos.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was okay... I really wanted to like it, but unfortunately it wasn't for me. I was very intrigued by the premise of it all, but it didn't add anything new to the overused trope in media, so as a result I found myself bored for most of this book and just felt it dragged too much. However I can totally see other people loving this.

The Beautiful Fall by Hugh Breakey hooked me in from the first page and then once the epic twist was revealed I kept sneaking time to read it because I had to know how it ended. It’s a gripping exploration of the truth of memories and the power of love. Flawed characters doing their best in an impossible situation help to build the tension in this truly unique tale. Highly recommend.

Imagine that every 179 days you forgot everything-who you are, where you live, who you know. That is life for Robbie. A rare neurological condition causes him to forget everything and everyone. He wrote himself a letter to remind himself of these facts and provided a list of instructions to help him cope. In order to do so he leads a very regimented life and does not talk to anyone if he can help it. This has been happening for some time now and he spends his days focusing on a seemingly very unusual project. Less than two weeks before the next episode is due, a women name Julie enters his life while delivery his grocery order. How can he get her out of his head and heart before he will forget her? Why does Julie keep returning?

I enjoyed this story and it moves pretty fast and is at times heartbreaking; the premise is very interesting. The ending felt a little abrupt and rushed which leads me to a 3 star rating but it is a likeable book and a bit different from my usual reads. With less introspective from Robbie and a more fleshed out ending this could be a 4 star read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Hugh Breakey's The Beautiful Fall explores an interesting and innovative concept - a new beginning every 179 days. Who can you trust? What has happened before? A uniquely vulnerable position. Intriguing but for me the ending was a little drawn out. But perhaps that is reflective of the messy situation. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for this intriguing new novel.

Think this sounds like a nice light read? I did, and was wrong. From a Text release, of course I expected a little more substance than Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore’s 50 First Dates, but was caught off guard by just how deep and meaningful Hugh Breakey manages to dive in The Beautiful Fall.

"Read this now. Right now. Don’t even think of going near that door. Not until you know what’s going on. Your name is Robert Penfold. Age 31. The apartment you’re standing in is your home: 116 Dornoch Terrace, Brisbane, Australia."

This evocative opening immediately engages readers in Robbie’s plight. His endearingly candid first-person narrative only amplifies the readers’ awareness of the narrow confines of ‘his life’, a period bounded by amnesiac events. That narrow viewpoint cultivates intrigue and suspense – What doesn’t Robbie know? – as does the implicit countdown to the next forgetting.

And while remaining highly accessible, Breakey’s prose displays an appealing flair, most evident in his descriptions of people and settings. Continue reading review: https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2021/05/the-beautiful-fall-by-hugh-breakey-review.html

I really wanted to like this, but unfortunately it wasn't for me. I was very intrigued by the premise of Robbie losing his memory every six months, but I didn't feel that it offered much to to the trope (such as in movies like Memento and 50 First Dates.) Unfortunately, I just felt it dragged too much and this one wasn't for me.

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance of reading this book.


The synopsis gave me such 50 first dates vibes but with the roles reversed.


He is the one who lost his memory, at least every 6 months, so to help himself he write the things down and limit his contact with the outside word but that chances when a girl knocks at his door and he remember her but she has something to hide.

The story is good but the love story since is written by a man isn't thaaaaat romantic but isn't bad.


If you are a fan of 50 first dates, read this one, IMO, way better.

The plot was good, such an interesting concept, but I think it could’ve been a bit shorter. There were a few plot twists that I didn’t see coming, regarding Julie, and I also didn’t see where the dominoes storyline was going at all.
The ending took a turn I wasn’t expecting, but I wasn’t mad about it, it was kind of nice. I think me not really liking Julie had something to do with expecting something different.

As for the characters, I think my feelings about Robbie are very neutral, he wasn’t the most likable character, but at the same time he wasn’t unlikable either. I get the way he behaved because he was always so confused and lost because he had lost all of his memories, but he did get a bit on my nerves at times.
As for Julie, I did never fully trust her; from minute 1 I knew there was something shady about her, and I think Robbie did too, except we didn’t know what it was until about halfway through.

Overall, I enjoyed the story but at times I felt that it dragged out a little bit.

3.5-4 stars

I really liked the idea of this book, and it grabbed my attention from the very beginning.

Every 179 days, Robbie loses his memory, and he relies on instructions from his past self to get through his day to day routines. I really liked Robbie’s character and could feel both his loneliness and his apprehension to growing close to others. When Julie first came into the picture, I thought I liked her and that she could help Robbie learn to live a little and come out of his reclusive shell. But when Julie reveals her own secret, her whole demeanor changed, and I understood why Robbie was hesitant to trust her.

This story had a pretty steady buildup, but after all of the climactic scenes, the story seemed to fizzle out and the ending felt a bit rushed. I just wished I had liked it overall as much as I had in the beginning.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3944353240