This is a beautifully written book about the way that we deal with grief and the way that those around us can help us through that pain. Told from the perspective of three different teenage characters who have all lost loved ones. This story takes the reader on a journey with each character as they deal with their grief. There were moments in the story that had me in tears. I like the way that each story was told, as well as how music tied them all together. The three losses were all different as well, which added to the strength of the story. The author is able to touch on many different types of loss and the different relationships that we have in our lives. Very well written and I look forward to more from this author. Thank you netgalley for an opportunity to review this book and exchange my honest opinion.

In Ashley Woodfolk's YA contemporary THE BEAUTY THAT REMAINS, three teens deal with the loss of a loved one who was taken from life too soon. Autumn's lost her best friend to a car accident and finds herself in a complicated relationship with her best friend's brother. Sasha's lost her twin sister to cancer and begins to suffer from panic attacks that keep her from being able to fully live. Logan's lost his ex-boyfriend to an apparent suicide and is obsessed with finding out what happened in the months since their break-up. Each of them is desperately trying to redefine their voice in the world, and it's a local band that ties all their stories together.

THE BEAUTY THAT REMAINS is a tear-jerker of a story that is also filled with so much hope. It realistically deals with the question of how to move forward after losing a loved one, in particular when those who are gone and those who are left behind are young. Having lost my own sister very suddenly when we were both teenagers, this story hit close to home.

You know whenever a new diverse book starts being talked about on my twitter feed I have to jump on Netgalley and search for it. In this case it wasn't different. When I saw that Becky Albertalli blurbed it I was super excited. I love a good sad book that messes with your heart and it could have easily been a favorite if I didn't thought the story was a bit confusing due to the multiple points of view, that's not my favorite. All characters have so much to give that they could each have their own book and that makes THIS book a challenge to keep up with them. It is an amazing book with deep characters and interesting plot.

Through alternating point-of-views, The Beauty That Remains follows three teens in the aftermath of death. All discover more layers to the people they thought they knew intimately. And all carry a burden of guilt: Autumn was hanging out with Tavia’s brother – rather than Tavia – the night of Tavia’s car crash; an angry and hurt Logan tells Bram he hopes he dies alone – and then he does; Shay feels her very existence is a reminder to her friends and family of her dead identical twin.

Each is fixated on the social media imprints their deceased friends/exs/siblings have left behind. Logan watches videos left by Bram, an aspiring vlogger with a mild following. Shay relives the band reviews posted by Sasha on their Badass Music Fanatics website, and feels like stepping up to continue their work would be like displacing her sister. Autumn sends Hangouts messages and emails to a person who will never receive them. Each tries to cope with loss in their own way, ranging from physically self-destructive (alcohol abuse) to psychologically damaging (trying to be perfect in order to fill the gap left by the deceased).

I found the story to be a bit disjointed and had difficulty tracking the ancillary characters – Paige, Alexa, Deedee, Faye, even Perry, to some extent . . . these people just blended together for me. There were thoughts and actions that felt very authentic and unique to those surviving a loss, but the overall grieving and healing process at times felt a little rushed and diluted over the three central characters’ arcs. Each character’s situation was complex enough to warrant more fleshing out of story and development. The concept of everyone being fixated on a defunct high school band didn’t work for me, and the amount of times Unraveling Lovely just “happened” to be on in someone’s car, bedroom, etc., felt really forced and distracting. Logan and Autumn are both stuck somewhat in creative blocks – Logan unable to write new songs, and Autumn unable to finish a sketch of Dante – but when they do find their creative muses again, the tension has long been lost and the payoff seems haphazard.

I found the cadence of the writing to be strong, but – and this may sound weird – the word choice was lacking. A few examples:

In a scene where Autumn is sketching a picture of Dante, she notes the differences between Tavia’s and Dante’s faces. First, I sharpen the shape of the oval to echo his square jawline. But sharpening would make the oval pointier; a square jaw suggests a blunted oval.

I try to find my footing in this room, in this relationship. Is Nico – the guy who kissed my ex, the guy who introduced him to drugs – a drummer, a dealer, a liar, or my friend? Or is he somehow all of these things at once? Shouldn’t this type of sentence be structured around things that are at odds with each other? It is not as if someone being a drummer disqualifies them from being anything else on that list. (Is he somehow a drummer, yet also a liar?!)

From Logan’s POV: I shut up and walk over to the whiskey, which is still on Nico’s dresser. (Preceding this sentence is a paragraph-long speech from Nico, so, no, Logan, you didn’t “shut up” – but you could “stay silent and walk over.”)

If you are the kind of person who thinks, What? Who even points that stuff out? then you will probably have a more enjoyable time with this book than I did. Just encountering sentence issues every few pages was distracting for me.

One of my main peeves in YA books is when the author drops pop culture references that are more in their wheelhouse than a teen’s. The epilogue – which presupposes the reader has seen Love Actually, an R-rated, limited release movie from 2003 – seemed a little odd, as most of the target audience for this book will have been born after its production, and I don’t know that Love Actually gathered much of a cult following.

Overall (writing nuances and Love Actually aside), this would be a good fit for a teen who is struggling with grief – although I would recommend Goodbye Days and Words in Deep Blue above it.

There are so many wonderful things about this book! It was beautifully written. The characters were rich and heartbreaking and I absolutely loved the diversity in the book.
My main problem with this book was that it seemed like there was just too much going on. I could see this book easily being split into 3 books, where then the reader would be able to go more in depth with each set of characters. I almost felt like as soon as I was starting to follow one plot line, we jumped to another one right away. I would have loved to be able to focus on just one set of characters and really get to know them better, as opposed to reading about each set in very short bursts.
But this might work for other people, so I would definitely recommend this book.

I haven’t had a book that truly blew me away this much since the beginning of this year, and I haven’t been promoting a 2018 release as hard as this one. It’s impossible to describe the well of deep love that runs through me for this book. We follow three grief stricken teens, which just tore a raw wound into my heart to see them in such deep pain trying to cope with their big loss of the death of a close one.

We have Shay, who runs an indie music blog and was an ex-band manager, and recently lost her twin sister to leukemia. There’s Autumn, an adopted Korean bookworm, who just lost her life-long best friend to a tragic car accident. Then there’s Logan, a gay guy who played bass and was a lead singer, whose ex-boyfriend had an overdose. The one thing that brings these lost souls together is the power of music.

The plot itself is slow moving, there’s not really much that’s happening. It’s more a character based journey through life, which was the perfect thing that I needed at that moment (also the reason that I;m in a huge book hangover.) If you appreciate a raw and authentically real writing style, run don’t walk to the bookstore the day it’s released.

I’ve been saying this for the past couple of years, but we are in sore need of more realistic and diverse teen characters like the ones we have here. Woodfolk has a way with words, is a natural storyteller, because her writing seems to flow effortlessly and she absolutely nailed it with the three different POVs. So much can go wrong with multiple narrator, it’s a risky move to make and rarely well done in my experience, but I can praise Woodfolk for perfection with this, to the moon and back always. (Which is the highest praise from a moonchild like me.)

What I could really appreciate is that there wasn’t a tragic moment/accident that happened on page; this book didn’t focus on the thing itself. It shows the after-math of this life-changing tragedy among those people who are the closest.

My favorite scenes balanced the delicate line of grief-stricken pain and loving nostalgic memories. Some the scenes had nothing to do with that, it was just a bunch of teens going to a concert of their favorite band, or a new romantic relationship blooming, or the support of the closest best friends. I kept on imagining these characters as real people in my city, because I cared and truly deeply connected to every one of them. And that my friends, is the highest praise that I can give for a book. 10,000/10 stars

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own**

Odd to read this just after The Window: both books include twin girls who have been "untwinned" (yes, it's a thing) and run track. Instead of one person grieving, here we have four, all bound together by their loss of someone somehow involved with the band Unraveling Lovely. They're a diverse group in just about any and all ways you can think of "diverse" and the author does a great job of making that feel natural, not an example of diversity because it's "in" or "cool". So yay for that!

But... the multiple POVs, the relatively stereotypical plots and subplots and character arcs? If only they'd felt as natural as the characters themselves.

ARC provided by publisher.

Thank you to Random House Books and Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for the advance reader copy The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk in exchange for an honest review. Woodfolk’s debut novel is a sad, sad book dealing with a trio of teens who try to make sense of the loss of three other teens (sister, friend and ex-boyfriend. The characters are well drawn, and authentic dealing with devastating grief, loss, love, and devastation. Each of the three teens narrates through chapters as they tell their stories, uncertainties, and speak to the power of friends, family, and relationships. As the book moves forward, the reader will be gripped by Shay’s, Autumn’s, and Logan’s loss, their sympathetic stories kept me turning the pages, as they use their love of music, friendship, and family to find “the beauty that remains” after their lives are irrevocably changed. This book stole my heart, teens will love this positive, affirming tear jerker. Highly recommended!

This book dealt with interconnected stories of varying grief in teens' lives. It felt realistic and is sure to connect with young readers.
A readalike to Turtles All the Way Down.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review,  so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
This is an amazingly beautiful heartfelt story of loss and grief, very well written,  and touching.
This was my first book by this author,  I absolutely enjoyed every second of it.  It was fast paced and just alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a 4 star rating!

Autumn, Shay, and Logan are connected through music—and grief. Autumn, who lost her best friend just weeks ago, is struggling to find herself without Tavia here to guide her. Shay’s twin sister Sasha died after years of fighting Leukemia almost half a year ago, but the debilitating panic attacks she’s trying to hide from her family and friends are threatening to undo her. Logan is drinking and lashing out, unable to cope or heal after the suicide of his ex-boyfriend Bram. He hasn’t been able to write a song since. They all used to be connected through Unraveling Lovely, the epic band put together by Logan, managed by Shay, and always cheered on by Autumn. With so many griefs and secrets separating them, will music be enough to bring them back to themselves and maybe even back together?

The Beauty That Remains is such a beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of grief and healing. Woodfolk’s writing is lovely and earnest. Autumn, Shay, and Logan’s experiences and griefs all felt entirely distinct, and it’s particularly interesting to see characters in three different places with their grief and responses to it. Autumn, whose loss is most recent, struggles to release her emotions at all. Shay’s grief and sorrow has manifested in a panic disorder and anxiety that she’s trying to hide from her loved ones so they don’t worry. Logan, who doesn’t know how to process his grief over someone he had barely talked to in the months leading up to his death, falls into bad coping mechanisms that push everyone away. All of their issues and feelings were explored with such care and empathy, and I especially appreciated that there was never a magic cure for anyone. Autumn’s feelings for her best friend's brother Dante don’t magically make her sorrow and guilt go away, and although the support of Shay’s friends is very important it doesn’t cure her panic attacks.

It’s a sad book of course—the whole premise is about these three young people dealing with unexpected death and grief—but it never feels over the top or unnecessary. The Beauty That Remains feels like a very honest portrait of what it’s like to lose someone you love and the difficult journey of trying to keep going after that kind of loss. Ultimately, though, the book is very much about hope: the hope of things getting better, the hope of healing, the hope of everything good that’s left even after you lose someone you love. The title really says it all; this book is about discovering “the beauty that remains” even after devastating loss, and hope in time—and with help—you can begin to find it again.

This is just a lovely example of what a great YA book can be, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Adam Silvera’s History is All You Left Me, and Nina Lacour’s We Are Okay.

This is a beautiful, heartfelt story of loss and grief, good for fans of Adam Silvera. Beautifully written, very moving.

I didn't expect to read the entire book in one afternoon...but once I started reading, I was so engrossed in the story, I couldn't stop myself. It's definitely the kind of book I'll be recommending to our customers (along with a package of tissues!)

I loved this book until I got to the very end.

I received thisARC from Netgalleyin exchange for an honest review.

Death has a way of driving people apart but also bringing them together. The book focuses on 3 people who are grieving over their losses, be it a sister, a best friend, or an ex-lover.

At first seemingly completely separate stories, but are all eventually brought together because of a shared interest. I do think one character's connection to all of this was a bit stretched but it'd be too much a coincidence if it worked too well.

The author did capture the grief of it all well. And she did a good job capturing the emotions of the "side characters". The people dealing with the people experiencing a deeper grief or guilt.

There’s not enough words for me to describe how much I loved The Beauty That Remains! So so so breathtakingly beautiful! Tears & smiles for days, this book will stay with me forever. Full review will be posted closer to release date, on my blog (www.mandaareads.blogspot.com & www.goodreads.com/mandaareads_) so hurry up 2018 because this books need to be in my hands NOW! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an e-copy!

We begin by being introduced to three different characters (Autumn, Logan, and Shay) within the first three chapters and we are given an insight as to what maybe happening, but it won't actually register until the end of the chapter. I don’t know about you but I was left with an ache in my heart for each character. I instantly wanted to gather the three of them and just hug them. Although it may seem like these three characters live different lives, we start to get a sense that they may be connected after all through a band called Unraveling Lovely. For Autumn, it's her best friend's brother's band, for Logan he was the lead singer, and for Shay she was the manager and close friends with one of the bandmates. After the fallout of this band, the band members drift away and live their separate lives and we see our main characters suffer a tragic tragedy.

The book itself is about grief and how everyone has a different way of coping with loss and finding something that will give them closure and a sense that it's time to let go after x amount of time. Personally, I was not able to fully understand exactly what they are going through, but I do know the pain of unexpectant loss of someone. Also, I will admit this book had me in tears quite a few times… ok more than a few. I cried and repeatedly texted my best friend that I love her and am extremely grateful to have her in my life and I can't wait to make her read it when it releases in 2018.

The characters were beautifully written and I loved how diverse they all were. The book was well written although there were a few parts where I just want to grab X person and shake them asking what are you doing? I didn't expect to love it as much as I did; I have found a new favorite.

3 1/2 stars

Ashley Woodfolk weaves together three different stories of tragedy, all told from the viewpoint of a young teenager who has lost someone (a twin, a best friend, an ex boyfriend).

I really enjoyed most of this book. I loved Shay's relationship with her mom, the two of them trying to figure out how to exist in a world without her other half and without her daughter. I liked that Logan was forced into therapy and ended up finding meaning and help within himself. Autumn was likable and relatable, a young girl who still speaks to her dead best friend via normal forms.
I got a little annoyed with the fact that (it seems like) nearly all YA books now are centered around music. It felt a little trite, especially when Autumn's story seemed out of the music fold and kind of forced in.

Overall, I would recommend this book to all readers :)

I loved this book and its portrayal of grief. I've read a lot of multiple-perspective books where the author does a poor job of differentiating the various characters' voices from one another, but this one was expertly done. Every character had a unique voice, and all of their grief rang true to me. This was a fantastic book and I will definitely be pre-ordering it for my classroom library!