I was unsure about this one, finding it difficult to engage with the deliberately chippy style and characters at first. However the story and back stories grew on me and started to flesh out the attitudes and actions of the protagonists and draw the reader into their lives and eventually to care about their fate, particularly at the end of the impulsive and revealing final journey.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2409544210
This wasn't quite what I expected - I thought it would be a funny tale of romantic disaster (not quite sure why!), but it's much more than that. Two colleagues who have become friends, with the possibility of something more, but both of them have complicated pasts. The slow reveal of Jackson's past was well done, as was the discovery of what happened to Frances' father, and the decline of her mother was really affecting. There were also plenty of light-hearted moments which broke it up nicely, otherwise it could have been a little gloomy. I read this whilst I was on holiday in an afternoon, so it's very readable!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and one which I probably wouldn't have seen but for NetGalley. I'm married to a teacher, and the author's depiction of life in a busy British secondary school matches everything I hear from my other half!

Frances, the lead character, is entirely believable - right down to Dog, her constant companion. In many ways, this is an everyday story of everyday folk, which makes it easy to identify with the characters and story line. It kept me engaged from cover to cover, with a few questions left tantalisingly unanswered.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys witty, to-the-point writing with great dialogue (spoken and unspoken).

I'm afraid it didn't feel "fresh, funny and life affirming" to me. So I feel a little disappointed and also short changed by the ending. The two main characters behaviour in the second half of the book seems at odds with the first half, without any real revelation as to why the sea change. I was very disappointed with the ending which came abruptly and left so many questions unanswered.

Poetic at times, funny at others and heart breaking in parts, an enjoyable read. I liked the back and forth in time which uncovered the characters part little by little throughout the story.

An enjoyable read, a little predictable but a good story. The stories main theme is family and focuses on two main characters Frances and Jackson, both with complicated families and even more complicated love life’s.
I got to the end of this book expecting so much more but it just ended! I’ve had to make a lot of assumptions but feel there is so much unsaid.
All in all an enjoyable read but has not left me wanting to read anything else by the same author.

Falling short is a totally captivating and moving story about two different people Frances and Jackson, they lead different lives and have their own personal struggles. Although they didn’t fall in love at first sight, as you move through the story, you follow their developing love story and watch as a beautiful friendship and relationship unfolds, although it is not without its rocky patches.

Witty and heartwarming, I thoroughly enjoyable and I highly recommend.

Enjoyable, if a little predictable. Proves we never know the whole truth about our family history. What parents will do to 'protect' their children.

Frances and Jackson are fellow teachers in a London school and until recently were firm friends. Now, at a time when they need each other more than ever they are unable to connect. Frances’ life changed course when she was 5 years old and her sailor father was declared missing at sea. Since then she’s had a string of unsatisfactory romances and become increasingly dependent on alcohol. Jackson’s past is also not without its problems which have put barriers in the way of his happiness too. On top of all that Frances’ elderly mother has taken to ringing her repeatedly at school and even worse turns up in a taxi all the way from Kent to tell her something but she can’t remember what. Part mystery, part romance I found it dragged a little but it’s good to see the problems of dementia tackled in a novel.

This novel has lots to recommend it - some very original character types that you don't often come across in a story of this kind (romantic lead approaching 60 and South African to boot) and lots of the writing is strong, certainly in the latter half - the first is less compelling. My problem was the main character - I just wasn't relating to her, which is odd as I'm also a single female English teacher. I felt that the author was trying to do too much with her - she seems pretty reserved on the whole, slightly detached, slightly dull, devoted to her dog, very small social group - and then in the later stages of the book, she's suddenly revealed to be a bisexual wild child, dancing drunkenly in her classroom after staying up all night after a bad date. It was jarring. Same with Jackson but in reverse. He spends three quarters of the story being a complete arse and then between midnight and 2am one night he miraculously drops all the neuroses he's lovingly nurtured for 20 years. It's as though the writer wrote most of it, went on an extended holiday, came back full of tequila, and just dashed off the rest in a much better mood!
That being said, it was prefectly readable if overlong, and I really liked Dog ...

This book had me gripped and was a nice light hearted read but with depth and beguiling characters and an addictive storyline too. A tale of love, unrequited and a take of loss too. Beautiful and I will highly recommend!

This was a very good story. Frances and `Jackson are Teachers and they are drawn to each other on and off. However, both have issues in their lives that leave them feeling that they 'fall short' and don't deserve happiness and permanence. Frances was apparently bereaved at a young age and Jackson is also remote from his family due to an indiscretion in the past.
I did like the story as it followed the characters and I am hopeful that there may be more about them in the future.
I would recommend this- I read it mainly in one sitting.

Really enjoyed this book - very well written, relatable and likeable characters. Liked the literary touches as well :)

Frances Pilgrim, a single, 39-year-old teacher. Her mother, dementia spreading its cruel web through her brain. Jackson, a middle-aged teacher with an eye for the ladies (and school girls). Drip-fed stories which evolve but insufficiently making the conclusion feel like it has lived up to the title and "Fallen Short".

I didn't really find this book a page-turner. The writing style is different from similar books in the genre - linguistically adept but I found some of the voices used jarring. I suspect that the author's writing style might be better suited to another subject matter to really bring out the humour and style that could make her work superb.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and publishers for the ARC.

Falling Short was really rather depressing. Frances Pilgrim has had a crappy childhood with a joyless mother. At 39, she lives in a studio flat and talks to herself a lot. Her bed is covered in dog hairs. She has a vague grasp on reality.
Frances teaches in a secondary school with an engaging cast of characters. The author is good on school politics. Frances finds her life is built on quicksand. The man she likes won't talk to her. He has too much baggage and very poor judgement. Her mother has rapidly developing dementia, and her life may have built on lies.
At this point, the story doubles down on the misery all the way to the finish line. You hope there is going to be a revelation makes it all worthwhile but there isn't. There is an attempt at a grace note but it is too late to make a difference.

This book "Falling Short" did just that.....fall short. The characters were very dull and the storyline was okay. Would not read again though

Enjoyed some of the book particularly Frances story but other parts were not really my cup of tea an ok read but perhaps better suited to different age groups

Frances is trying to look after her mother who has Alzheimer's and also still hold down a teaching job. I feel that this story did not deliver. I read to the end and thought it ended mid plot. I wanted there to be an adequate ending. This book is just not for me.

An unremarkable story - part family drama, part romance and part riff on staffroom politics - redeemed by high quality writing and some pertinent literary references. With characters I wanted to scream at and shake out of their self-obsession (as I guess was the author’s intention) and a good balance between periods of reflection and bursts of action, the book progresses without any great surprises to a neatish ending. I’d love to see the talented Lex Coulton find subject matter for her next novel that shows her considerable wit and style to greater advantage - I’ll certainly be on the look out for it.

The narrative follows the familiar plot device whereby two people who dislike each other at first sight eventually realise they are irresistibly attracted – and from then on it becomes a ‘will they won't they’ scenario. Frances and Jackson are the unconventional couple, whose wise-cracking banter makes the magnetism convincing – and the story sensibly falls short of a cliched Mills & Boon type resolution.