Dark, edgy and filled with emotional turmoil and the heavy feeling of loss, THE BEAUTY THAT REMAINS by Ashley Woodfolk tells the tale of a group of teens individually dealing with the loss of a loved one either through illness, suicide or a deadly accident. These are their stories, their reflections on the past, and their attempts to heal and give up the ghosts of guilt that haunt them. In the end, these seemingly individual struggles will find their healing through music and a band that, in a sense also died.

Ashley Woodfolk has given realism and life to her tale by not shying away from social issues that often carry stigmas, suicide, depression and LGBT awareness in an age group where hormones rage and emotional maturity has not been reached. Guilt also is a heavy them throughout this story. There is guilt of words said in moments of hurt and anger, guilt for surviving and guilt for not having done something, believing events would have played out differently.

Three deaths, the survivors left behind in pain and overwhelming grief, unable to move on as they rehash events, isolating themselves from both receiving and giving support.

Well written, heart wrenching and emotionally draining throughout, Ashley Woodfolk tells young adult readers it is okay to “feel”, yet unhealthy to not move forward. Certainly a book that will resonate with any reader who has loved and lost without finding a black and white road to closure, because just maybe, there is none, but life and love will go on as those lost will always be a part of those who survived.

Written in an edgy and slightly disjointed way, the atmosphere created seems to mirror the emotional turmoil being lived.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Random House Children's/Delacorte Press!

Publisher: Delacorte Press (March 6, 2018)
Publication Date: March 6, 2018
Genre: YA Literature & Fiction
Print Length: 336 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

I've only heard wonderful things about The Beauty That Remains and with a blurb from Becky Albertalli, I knew I had to read it.

I want to start this review by giving a massive trigger warning for this entire book because it strongly deals with grief and loss. The blurb just states that "tragedy strikes" for all the characters, not that someone important in their lives passes away. The novel does revolve around 3 different POVs and one of the deaths is a suicide so please be cautious when reading.

All three characters were unique. The novel had Shay, a girl who lost her twin sister, Sasha, to leukaemia. Autumn, whose best friend Octavia passed away in a car accident. Logan, whose ex-boyfriend took his own life. These unique characters were all connected through their love of music and in particular, a band called Unraveling Lovely. 

The characters were all compelling and engaging and their voices were distinct through the first half of the novel but once the characters' lives started becoming more connected, I did get the characters' voices confused sometimes. This annoyed me only because I spent the first half of the book wanting the characters to relate to each other and once they did, I got slightly confused about which POV it was.

My other reservation is that I also didn't really get a clear grasp for the setting and then once I read it took place in Queens (around 65% into the book), I was perplexed because there wasn't really a mention of New York City at all before. I was confused because most of these characters lived in a house, which I felt was odd for a city, and half of the characters were driving regularly when I think that most teens in a city of that size would use public transportation.

Other than the reservations above, the writing was beautiful and I can't wait to see what Woodfolk has out next. If you're a fan of reading contemporary novels with tough topics and compelling characters, I highly recommend The Beauty That Remains.

I've never read a book like this one. It's so lyrical,and raw and heartbreaking. Characters are so well developed that you actually thing all of them are real. This book will show you that even though it hurts now,there is always a hope that it will be better one day. This book left me breathless. And I hope it will leave you breathless too.

While I loved the premise of this book, it unfortunately was not for me. I made it about halfway through before realizing that I couldn’t connect with or care about any of there characters. I kept wanting to feel something for them (and almost did with both Logan and Shay’s stories) but something just held me back from truly connecting.

It definitely wasn’t the writing style. I thought the actual writing was beautiful without being overly flowery and showy. It my have been my own personal feelings and state of mind at the time of reading.

I do think this would be a great book to help teens process their own feelings of loss and grief, and would absolutely recommend it for someone in that situation.

Music brought Autumn, Shay, and Logan together and death wants to tear them apart...

Autumn knows who she is, a talented artist and loyal friend.

Shay is defined by her her bond with her twin, Sasha, and her love for music.

Logan writes love songs when his love life is less than perfect.

When tragedy hits each of them, they realize music isn't enough. Logan can't stop watching vlogs of his ex, Shay is trying to keep it together, and Autumn sends messages that will never be answered.

They each wonder what life would be like if this tragedy hadn't happened and what will they do next.

This book is definitely going to be HUGE in 2018. I really look forward to this authors future books to come. It is a very diverse and strong read that will give you all the feels!

3.5 stars. The Beauty that Remains tackles the deeply personal and complicated issue of grief, focusing on three teenagers who have lost a fellow teen close to them- a twin, a friend, an ex. Each of them is experiencing and acting on their grief in different ways, which will give readers an opportunity to either potentially see themselves reflected (if they have also experienced loss), or to recognize the various ways that grief may manifest. Many of the YA books I've read featuring teens tackling grief have really focused on one person's experience, and I do think that the overall impact of this book is greater by giving multiple perspectives. Learning how to live after loss is a complicated process, and this story reinforces that it isn't necessarily a linear path. The story lost steam for me for a bit in the middle, but the last 1/4 or so of the book did a good job wrapping up the three plots.

Pretty good! Lovely and quiet, a good book to read in one sitting and just enjoy. Grief has been done a lot in YA, but this is a refreshing, well-written take.

The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk

Logan has lost the love of his life. Autumn lost her best friend. Shay is twinless. None of them are okay and nothing is fine. The loss is with them everyday and it’s changed them all. The Beauty That Remains is their story, but its also the story of the ones they loved and the people that love them. The people who are with them as they gather the pieces and face one day at a time.

I like that Woodfolk took her time with each individual’s story and each individual loss. I like that each main character was not only dealing with the loss, but that the loss changed each one and caused them to grapple with different aspects of themselves. Told in alternating first person narratives readers are given an in-depth look at each person after the los,s which I think is important. Readers never get to know the characters outside of their loss and for a while it is that loss that defines them. Until they can find themselves again. And that is what this novel ends up being, coming of age stories prompted by the loss of a loved on. I thought it was really important that Woodfolk included therapy, which I know to some people still has a stigma but it’s such a useful tool and can be extremely helpful.

I’m a big mess of emotions and it’s okay. This book deals with loss in such a profound honest way. The story of three teenagers who have all lost someone close to them stings of grief and adolescence. As a woman in my early thirties, it’s hard to remember sometimes how hard it was being a teenager and grappling with coming adulthood. Reading books like this bring all of that back to me. I remember the pain of losing loved ones as a teenager and trying to process that loss and all of the emotions that came with it. It’s not easy and this book handles the emotional aspect of it beautifully and painfully. I recommend this book because it’s well done and full of an unbearable but all too honest human experience.

I started to read this and never got around to finishing it. I was enjoying it for the most part, but i was also very sensitive to the subject matter at the time and Im not sure that i can continue to read this.

Way too much going on for my taste. Too many characters, too many stories- too much, too much. It felt like checking boxes rather than authenticity of the voices of the characters that had a story to tell.

Some reviewers mentioned that it would be for fans of Silvera's works and if we're comparing, I'd say maybe since I'm not sure I've cracked the code of Silvera's work either.

There's a complicated-ness that becomes heavy and churns sadness. I am not saying that books don't need the darkness or sadness (because I'm the first to enjoy these over happy-go-lucky books anyway) yet it's drowned out by too many stories to keep track of when the characters do not get connected until about halfway through the story.

This would be a great book for a high school literacy class. The author has a good pulse on teen angst and diverse relationships. We get wrapped up in the grief each character endures after losing someone they love, a sister, a best friend, a boyfriend. We watch as each deals with the impact in different ways but ultimately is able to pull through in the end with the help of each other and a common bond over music. That said, it got a little shakey with how each knew the other and their connections became apparent almost as an after thought. This will be a popular YA read in 2018.

“We all nod. We get it. There’s no way to measure grief.”

I honestly don’t know what to say besides I ADORED this book. My heart broke in every imaginable way and was healed watching these characters on their journey. I felt their every pain, I laughed with them in their joy, and I was a crying mess multiple times. The Beauty That Remains is a stunning debut about grief, healing, and the things that bring us all together.

Things I Liked
EVERYTHING! (I’m not lying I loved everything about this book)

This book is so emotionally resonant. I felt everything along with the characters. I wasn’t a passive reader, this book demands you engage and invest yourself. Their pain is visceral and I felt it. (and I cried many times).

I loved the all characters we get. I feel like we really get to know each character individual and see how they handle grief differently, with each one having lost someone recently. Autumn recently lost her best friend, Tavia, and feels so empty and unsure - especially with the growing feelings developing between her and Tavia’s brother Dante. Logan is trying to rebuild after his ex-boyfriend died by suicide, and now he must deal with not only his grief, but also his guilt for how their breakup went down. Shay lost her twin sister to leukemia and is trying to convince everyone, including herself, that she’s fine. The characters are all going through so much and are dealing with it in different ways, learning as they go and making mistakes and trying to be okay. I connected with Autumn’s story immediately, and really became as invested in the others around the 40% mark.

All the side characters were great too - they felt like their own people, who’s lives intersected with the 3 main character, but had their own lives and were dealing with their own grief. They were their own people, and we got to know them as their own people. I appreciated it.

I really liked the mixed media elements woven through the story. We see texts, emails, blog posts and it really helped to establish both the characters who have passed, and their relationship with the characters who were still in the story.

And I appreciate the incredible diversity that each character brings to the story. Autumn, and her sister Willow, are Korean Americans and adopted. Dante is Latino. Logan is gay. Shay is black. I loved seeing so much diversity in the story!

Things I Didn’t Like
There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like. I thought the connection through Logan’s former band, Unraveling Lovely, was the weakest part - but I appreciated the serendipitous nature of it. I would have prefered to establish some of the history earlier, because we really don’t get all the pieces that connect these characters until around the halfway mark.

I just loved this book with my whole being. It was so amazing and made me an emotional wreck. I am confident in saying that this book will be one of my favorites of the year. The Beauty That Remains is a stunning debut about grief and healing that captures you from the very first page.

I received a copy of the book from Delacorte Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

YA books that deals with grief aren't a new phenomenon by any means. You can find them all over the shelves of your favorite bookstore. However, Ashley Woodfolk's marvelous debut THE BEAUTY THAT REMAINS takes a familiar theme and spins it into a compelling and engaging story that weaves the lives of three individuals together. This is a solid debut all around from the vividly drawn characters to the writing itself. With this only being her debut, I cannot wait to see what Woodfolk delivers after this.

The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk is a standalone YA novel about a group of young people brought together by music, and separated sadly by death. The story follows the POV of three people who have lost someone very close to them. We follow them as they grieve over the deaths that have left them emotionally damaged, with each dealing with it their own way.

Shay has lost her twin sister, Sasha, to cancer, and though she knew this was coming, she has a hard time dealing with her loss. As she says: she is now ‘twinless”
Autumn lost her best friend, Tavia, in a car crash. She releases her grief by writing emails to her dead friend daily telling her about life without her.

Logan has lost his ex-boyfriend to an overdose. Though a few months have passed since his boyfriend, Bram, dumped him, Logan has trouble dealing with his death. He will need the help of a psychologist to eventually help him.

All three of them know each other through music and band, though they are not together to help each other. Grief is always sad and emotional for everyone and their family or friends. The story gives us a look at their grief, and how they are emotionally affected by the loss, which also has them cutting themselves from their other friends; as we get to see their pain, anger and at times their self blame.
We also get to meet each of their families and/or friends who are also affected by the deaths, and in time they will each come together in their love of music, and the band that was the link between them. This is a difficult review to write, as it is a story that needs to be read.

Though at times I did find it a bit slow, the story was very well written, and grief can be depressing. Even with this subject, Woodfolk did a very good job keeping this emotional story moving and not allowing it to stagger. I thought this was a good story, though not my type of book. If you like YA novels with action, suspense and exciting, then this is not for you.

The Beauty That Remains is a well written story, with an excellent cast of characters that must find a way to get past their grief’s and move forward in life. Essentially they need to see the beauty that remains in life.

Three interwoven storylines: three beautifully drawn characters, each dealing with love and loss. The Beauty That Remains is set in the Queens, New York, music scene, one accessible to teens drawn to pop-punk and indie-rock.

Autumn is guilt-ridden over the death of her best friend Tavia in a car accident because she opted to hang out with Autumn’s brother Dante instead of going with her friend that fatal evening. Logan uses alcohol to numb the pain of his former boyfriend’s overdose. Shay is trying and failing to find a new normal after her twin Sasha dies of leukemia. Running away from situations that bring up overwhelming emotions has become her coping mechanism of choice. Logan and Dante’s band Unraveling Lovely, managed by Shay and her sister, has dissolved in the wake of a humiliating experience at a recent Battle of the Bands. Shay tries to keep the blog she and Sasha created, Badass Music Fanatics (BaMF) going, but writing reviews will never be the same as their work together with Unraveling Lovely.

The author’s passion for music comes through in her stories of practice sessions, band break-ups, and most importantly, the magic of the artist losing themselves in the moment of performance. Because the characters are African-American (Shay), Korean-American (Autumn), and hispanic (Dante), music fans of color who appreciate genres beyond the ones more often portrayed in media will appreciate finding a book about the rock scene with more racially diverse characters.

Another strength is the presence of the main characters’ family members, parents and siblings who are also working through their grief. Sometimes novels about teens reduce parents to off-stage roles, but in The Beauty That Remains, they are part of the narrative. The poignant descriptions of Shay’s mother who is left with a child whose face will forever echo that of the girl she’s lost is heart-rending. Autumn spends lots of time at Tavia’s house, not just because of Dante but because of her relationship with her friend’s parents. In contrast, Logan has avoided Bram’s mother, since his ex’s death. His own emotions are so out of control, he cannot conceive of having to deal with those of a grieving mother as well. Over the course of the book, with support from a psychiatrist and with urging from Yara, the girl Bram left him for, he reconnects with Bram’s mother.

Yes, it’s a lot of heavy subject matter and not the lightest read, with three characters suffering from grief, depression, and anxiety. But Woodfolk shows her characters’ best selves even in the depths of their struggles. In addition, she makes it clear that reaching for support is part of recovery. Logan sees a psychiatrist who manages to help him, after some initial resistance. Shay and her mom, along with Dante, venture into grief support groups.

As they each find a new way forward, the possibility of getting the band back together is tantalizing and fraught. Can Unraveling Lovely be knit back together once more? Against the rhythm of hope and despair in this outstanding debut novel, readers will pull for just one magical night when all is forgiven and all are healed.

The Beauty That Remains is a really solid debut from an author I will be looking out for in the future. I feel like the book was spread a little thin over the three different perspectives, but the strong writing and diverse characters show a lot of promise.

It is hard to write a good book about grief. First, you must convince the reader of the importance of the relationship between the protagonist(s) and the deceased; make them care about a fictional dead person as much as the characters supposedly do. Then you must also, usually, create a compelling story arc out of this grief. What will happen next? Where do the characters go from here? What are we reading for? Books about grief risk becoming "concept books", in that the concept is "this character is sad" but a story doesn't grow out of it.

I think this second point is where the book struggled a little. The Beauty That Remains follows three diverse teenagers as they cope with their individual grief. Korean-American Autumn has lost her best friend, Tavia, in an accident. Black identical twins Shay and Sasha have been torn apart by the end to Sasha's long battle with leukemia. And white Logan develops a drinking problem when his ex-boyfriend and first love commits suicide.

All three narrators have individual struggles, but these start to come together and overlap as the story progresses. Each is linked, in some way, by music, and Logan's old band called Unraveling Lovely.

The author puts a lot of emotion into her characters, especially in the beginning when painting in their backstory and relationship to those who have died. Woodfolk explores what it means to lose a twin - that one person who is so closely tied to you and has been by your side all your life - and what it's like to feel like you could have prevented the death of an ex if only... if only.

It's a timely story, as each narrator uses digital technology in a different way to deal with their grief. Logan watches Bram's vlogs, Autumn sends online messages to Tavia, and Shay turns to blogging about music. About a third of the way in, however, I felt like their emotions, the "concept" of their grief had been explored exhaustively, and that the story grew a little tiresome and repetitive.

Once we had established the hows and whys of the characters' grief, the book stalls, trying to extend these emotions into a family drama and a romance. I struggled with Autumn's story arc the most. It was far less compelling to me than Shay's and Logan's stories, the latter of which reminded me of Adam Silvera's amazing History Is All You Left Me. Autumn's love story with Dante, Tavia's brother, really bored me and was my least favourite part of the book.

A tough subject to tackle and not an instant favourite but, as mentioned above, I am very intrigued to see where this author goes next.

Well, that was sad. Woodfolk is a great new voice on the YA scene and her portrayal of grieving teens tugs at your mind until you want to cry as well. It's not perfect, but most of the flaws can be chalked up to it being a first novel, and I fully expect that as Woodfolk continues writing she will evolve and produce some wholly excellent work.

Following the John Green school of YA writing, this novel deals with tragedy right out of the gate and the grief doesn’t end. Three young people Autumn, Shay and Logan (and a big shout out to the diversity in the characters of this book) each experience the untimely loss of someone close to them. The book is a study in grief. Ultimately (but not for a very long time in the book) the three stories come together as their love of music unites them and helps them to heal. A tearjerker from the first page, this is a great example of an emotional young adult novel. However, the pacing was a bit slow and the coming together of the stories not quite satisfying for me.

Author: Ashley Woodfolk

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 352

Release Date: March 6th 2018

5 out of 5 stars

*I received this as an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I would first like to make the statement that I have several arc reviews coming up. Y’all know how honest I am and I am not afraid to give a book one star and that won’t change because I receive arcs. (Just wanted to make it a statement 🙂 )

Now where do I start with this book? It’s heartbreaking, raw, honest and pulls at your heart strings. I’ll leave the Goodreads synopsis down below.

Music brought Autumn, Shay, and Logan together. Death wants to tear them apart.

Autumn always knew exactly who she was—a talented artist and a loyal friend. Shay was defined by two things: her bond with her twin sister, Sasha, and her love of music. And Logan always turned to writing love songs when his love life was a little less than perfect.

But when tragedy strikes each of them, somehow music is no longer enough. Now Logan can’t stop watching vlogs of his dead ex-boyfriend. Shay is a music blogger struggling to keep it together. And Autumn sends messages that she knows can never be answered.

Each of them wonders: How different would my life be if this hadn’t happened? And now that it has . . . what’s next?

I kinda wish this book had a better synopsis because I feel like this one doesn’t do this incredible book justice. Seriously this book had me crying from the first page to the last, and that’s no exaggeration. This book talks about grief, anxiety, friendship, family, and love. A lot of people will bash Young Adult because they say it’s too immature and it’s all the same, but this book is so special, this book can help people who have grieving hearts, and this book can give someone comfort when people can’t give it to you. This book had extraordinarily written characters, and an amazing plot that weaved all these characters stories together. Each chapter was told by one of the 3 characters, Sasha, Logan, or Autumn and each of their chapters started off with something significant from the person they lost. For example Logan’s chapters started off with titles of his ex boyfriends vlog channel, Sasha’s chapters started off with a review for a band from her dead sister, and Autumn’s chapters started with her sending texts and emails to her dead best friend. This book is so much more than a Young Adult book, it talks about heavy topics that a lot of people are too scared to write about, or they are written about, just not well. Books like these are so important because they can spread awareness, help educate people, or just make someone’s day a little better.

This book doesn’t come out until march so I don’t want to talk about this book too much because I genuinely think you all should go out and buy this book and I’m not exaggerating. Even though this book deals with a lot of heavy topics there are moments of humor that will make you smile and I like that the book can still find the time to be lighthearted even though it is so heavy. I just think this book was written exceptionality well, and it made my heart feel so many different emotions like happiness and sadness. If you love books by Adam Silvera you’ll love this!! This book kind of shattered my heart but gave me smiles and tears for days. I just don’t have enough words to explain how much I love this book. You guys will HAVE to read this!!!

This book was slow to get into. The link between the characters was not apparent for a good portion of the book. While I like the topic of losing a friend and coping with grief in different ways, this book didn't hold my interest in a steady manner.