How We Fall Apart is set at an elite, private high school called Sinclair Prep. Our main character Nancy is one of the few scholarship students amongst the crowd of insanely rich teenagers. The side characters are her friends Alexander, Krystal and Akil, and when their former friend Jamie turns up dead, the four of them get accused of her murder by “The Proctor”, an anonymous person online. The group has to try and find the true killer with the looming threat of The Proctor releasing their secrets to the public one by one.

Things I Liked:
I loved seeing a dark academia novel with an all-Asian cast. Though it had quite the typical murder mystery plot, I found myself unable to stop reading. It kept me quite engaged throughout the whole book! I won’t say the characters were likeable—I don’t think that was even the point—but I found myself quite attached to them nonetheless.

I love how many different important topics How We Fall Apart covered. Taken from Katie Zhao’s statement about the book, she says “this story raises questions about the structure of our hyper-competitive school environments, strict upbringings, racial identity, the model minority myth, and the sacrifices we make to maintain the narrative and image of immigrant success—which may or may not be worth it, in the end”. I think she expertly explored these themes in a nuanced way, all smoothly intertwined in the main plot—as it should be, because these things are all deeply ingrained in Asian/diaspora culture, academic environments and so on.

Things I Didn't Like:
The writing fell into a similar pattern I often see in young adult contemporary books. In an effort to grasp teenage slang and texting, the dialogue often just comes off as a bit cringey and out of touch. Similar to this, I find it quite strange when a book’s plot revolves around the idea that the school has their own social media gossip app. I don’t think this exists for any school. In my experience, the same concept exists in real life but instead of a school having its own app, students will create an Instagram account for their classmates to send anonymous confessions that they will post. I urge all adult authors who write teenagers to have actual teens read through their draft. They’ll provide some great insight!

Initially, I thought the side characters were quite well fleshed out. But I felt like all of them (except Alexander) were forgotten about once The Proctor released their secret. Or, their secret became the only thing that was mentioned about them. I was disappointed by this because they had so much potential in the beginning half! I also wished there would have been more character development, some of them did quite bad things with little to no repercussions.

I also think this book was really unrealistic at points. Surely this group of teenagers would not be this calm about being accused of murdering their former friend?? They joked quite a lot about it, and were way too analytical about how to catch the true killer. They seemed to move on way too quickly from “oh my god, we’re being accused of murder” to “okay, now let’s just try to catch the real murderer”. I was also confused at how Nancy’s mother never found out that she was a suspect, when even their principal was aware that the police were inspecting them.

Conclusion:
How We Fall Apart is a book that is created from a good idea, but falls a bit short of its goal. This book was an enjoyable read, though sometimes a bit unrealistic and out of touch with teenagers. However, I still look forward to read book two, and the rest of Katie Zhao’s books!

"Katie Zhao turns to the dark academia sub-genre in How We Fall Apart to expose the toxic nature of competitive academics. Set at an elite prep school where students fight for the coveted position at the top, the added element of murder mystery makes readers question just how far the students are willing to go to make it to the top."

[rest of review included in link]

Prep school murder mystery - dark acedamia story with Asian protagonist?! Sign me up! The premise of this story made me so excited and it delivered.
A murder in an elite boarding school causes a group of friends/ex friends to attempt to figure out what’s going on. They are being threatened by a mysterious person who is leaking their secrets. Broken abd damaged characters trying to survive the harsh elitist lifestyle with a mysterious and murderous figure out to get them. It was face paced and grabbed my attention right from the beginning. The YA thriller books keep delivering!

This is absolutely amazing. The writing was so great, pulling me in from the first second I started reading. I loved the characters, how complex they are and I love the setting of NYC. I love how diverse our cast is, giving us insights to different cultures and ways of life. I can not wait to read the next one!

I received an advanced copy of How We Fall Apart through NetGalley so I could share my review with you!

Content Warnings: Murder (off-page), anxiety, drug use, verbal abuse, physical abuse, bullying, racism, and student/teacher relationship, parental neglect, and panic attacks.

The top-ranked student at Sinclair Prep has been found dead, and there are only a handful of suspects. Jamie Ruan had everything going for her in life: she was the top of her class, popular, and financially well-off. Yet none of those things matter now that she has died. In the aftermath of her murder, Jamie’s friend group become the top suspects in an investigation driven by social media tips from someone known only as “The Proctor.” Nancy, Krystal, Akil, and Alexander were once Jamie’s closest companions, but now all their actions are under close watch. With the threat of their secrets being released into the world, the quartet must catch the killer before it is too late.

You can get your copy of How We Fall Apart today from Bloomsbury Ya!

All of my favorite thrillers have one thing in common: a good high school or boarding school setting. If a thriller is set at school, I am more than likely going to fall in love with the story, no matter how hard I might resist. So, naturally, when I saw the premise for How We Fall Apart, I knew that it was going to be on my must-read list for the year. Even with how high it was on my anticipated-releases list, I still wasn’t expecting how much I was going to love this book! The stakes were so high for Nancy, I couldn’t help but reading the whole book in a single sitting. And, after the way that the story ended, I am so excited to read the sequel when it comes out next year.

My Recommendation-
If you love thrilling YA novels with a prep school setting, you need to pick up a copy of How We Fall Apart! I would especially recommend this book to fans of Ace of Spades and One of Us is Lying!

Thrillers aren't a genre I turn to often, but I loved this one! With its dark academia leanings and the all-Asian cast, it was a wonderfully refreshing read. As someone who went to a ridiculously competitive PWI of a high school, and specifically as a South Asian immigrant in that space, I related a great deal to this book. I appreciated how carefully Zhao presented the difficulties immigrant face, and how immigrant family dynamics work sometimes, and most importantly how children of immigrants feel immense pressure to compensate for their parents' struggles by being high-achievers, and how these children can often have a very specific view of the world as they single-mindedly try to live up to expectations. I also loved how the author attempted to represent Asianness in its diversity with this cast of characters (in terms of ethnicity, social class, etc.). I can't to read book 2!

I love dark academia thrillers and when I read that this was like One of Us is Lying meets Crazy Rich Asians, I was totally in. However, it's almost too close to One of Us is Lying with the murdered student and the mysterious notes left by "The Proctor" accusing each of the four friends of murdering Jamie Ruan. But I went with it because One of Us is Lying is one of my faves. I guess I was expecting a bit more - something totally new and different from this formula.

But I LOVE the Asian American cast. There aren't enough YA books with all Asian Americans! I enjoyed reading about the differences in socioeconomic status between the characters, like how Nancy is on scholarship essentially raised by her immigrant single mother versus Jamie Ruan who comes from wealth and privilege but of course, that has its downfalls too. I like that it explores mental health and extreme academic pressure. What I didn't like so much was that I didn't feel like I really got to know any of the characters, except for maybe Nancy because we were in her head. The others felt a little glossed over. The ending was slightly disappointing too, although I'm assuming there will be a sequel.

I really appreciate that the book starts with a trigger warning I find this so helpful to readers, and this story does deal with mental illness, drugs, and violence which may be upsetting for some readers. The story is certainly a darker tale and full of twists and drama. The school setting is well written and provided an interesting cast of smart and powerful characters. The social media aspect of this was also interesting and used well throughout the book. It's a great creepy mystery that was hard to put down.

While this story will grip readers, it's the picture of academia and success that is often held over young Asian-Americans and the pressure for them to not only succeed, but rise to the very top. This book should be well-loved by the Karen McManus readers out there, and I hope it is just as widely shared!

One of the things I feel like this book captured really well or conveyed really well is the high-pressure experience of being a student at an elite school. Nancy not only feels the pressure of her school program and being a scholarship student surrounded by rich kids from privileged families, but also feels intense pressure from her parents to do well and make all their sacrifices worth it.

At first I found it difficult to connect with Nancy because she’s bitter and aloof. As I started to see more and more of her life, I felt like it made a lot of sense that she acted the way she did. Her relationship with Jamie was complicated and pretty toxic, but it made sense that they stayed kind of bound up in each other. So that was another thing that I ultimately felt was strong about the story.

Some of the scene changes felt abrupt to me. It sometimes felt like the writing was a little rushed, so I read the beginnings of scenes sometimes more than once trying to figure out if I’d missed something. Or maybe there was a flashback or timeline change that happened quickly. Sometimes I struggled to follow those, but maybe that was just me.

I think all in all there are some really strong things about the story– and I really enjoyed the experience of reading a suspense story with an Asian cast. Hopefully HOW WE FALL APART does really well and paves the way for other books like this!

I think readers who enjoy suspense stories will like this one, especially early high school readers, like freshman and sophomores.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I've been following Katie Zhao for quite some time on Twitter, and I was pretty excited to see a dark academia story that focuses on Asians, especially since dark academia, in general, is built on whiteness.

How We Fall takes place in Sinclair Prep, where we follow Nancy, Krystal, Akhil, and Alexander as they are blackmailed after the death of Jamie Ruan, the top student in their year at Sinclair and their former friend. Nancy, Krystal, Akhil, and Alexander all hide very big secrets that threaten to destroy their planned futures and their current standing at Sinclair.

This book does really well with its themes - the idea of the Model Minority, the idea that the American Dream is a meritocracy, the themes of privilege and power as it relates to class and money. Having Nancy and Alexander as scholarship students when everyone around them pretty much all come from families of immense wealth (and thus, power) was an interesting way to explore these themes. There is also the very familiar pressure that many Asian kids face of the expectation to be the best, and this book does well to show the (admittedly extreme) lengths that these teenagers will go to try to achieve that. Zhao allows her teenage characters to be very messy and chaotic beneath the perfect exterior that each child is pressured to be, and that was a choice that you don't see very often with Asian characters in media.

However, I do wish that I saw more of the character's relationships - as someone who has been in those pressure-cooker, competitive, not-quite healthy environments, a lot of the friendships shown made me wish that there was a bit more balance to what was shown in the book, especially the details of Nancy's friendship with Jamie. I get that it was an incredibly toxic friendship, but there were brief hints of positives in their relationship from a pure friendship perspective that I wish was explored a bit more so that the complexities of their friendship could really be laid out. I get the sense that there was more to why Nancy and Jamie were friends for so long besides the reasoning that was given in the book of the fear Nancy had if she wasn't friends with Jamie, but we simply didn't see it, which ended up giving a very one-dimensional view of only the negatives in their friendship, when in fact Nancy does hint that there had been good things too. I also wish more was shown between our group and their friendships, especially since there were plenty of hints of how The Incident had banded the five of them together, but we never actually got to see those moments that would lead me to believe that the others in the group are each individual's closest friends at Sinclair.

Overall, this was a fast read that I enjoyed. Make sure you check out the content warnings - there are a lot of darker subjects that get discussed! I would recommend this book to people who are fans of Pretty Little Liars or One of Us is Lying.

A thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the ARC.

The story and plot sounded so intriguing, but unfortunately I just did not connect to any of it.

The writing was too slow and the pacing was painfully slow.

DNF unfortunately..

I was provided an ARC of this novel in order to conduct an interview with the author. Please see the resulting discussion below:

1. How We Fall Apart is your young adult debut novel, having previously published two middle grade novels (The Dragon Warrior and The Fallen Hero) with another, Last Gamer Standing, still to come in 2021. How does writing for a young adult audience differ from writing for a middle grade audience? Is there a target audience you prefer writing for?

Young adult and middle grade are certainly very different age categories, and there isn’t a ton of crossover in the readership. For me, the biggest differences in writing across age categories are voice and theme – especially handling darker themes. The middle grade voice tends to skew younger and humorous. While humor can certainly be (and is!) present in young adult works as well, I tend to find that YA does take itself more seriously and that the handling of the humor is different. For example, a middle grade character might shout out something very silly during a serious battle moment, but we don’t typically see that happen with serious moments in YA. Additionally, the themes in middle grade center around kids finding their place in the world, and YA expands on that theme with more focus on coming-of-age too. Typically YA doesn’t shy away from darker themes like death, grief, mental health, etc. but it’s more rare to find middle grade that confronts these darker moments.

I don’t think that I have a preference one way or another. My natural writing voice is more humorous, which lends itself more easily to middle grade (which is why, I think, my first middle grade novel The Dragon Warrior ended up being the book to break me into the industry, versus the several young adult novels I drafted before that went nowhere). But I love writing both middle grade and young adult for different reasons. It’s just so great to get to connect with young readers of different ages, and see parts of my younger self reflected in them.



2. How We Fall Apart has been described as being part of the ‘dark academia’ sub-genre. How do you define dark academia and what do you think are some essential elements of this category of fiction that How We Fall Apart incorporates into its story? Why does Nancy’s journey work so well in this setting?

The dark academia sub-genre is gaining popularity and the definition is broadening, especially since 2020. My understanding of the genre, as it currently stands, is that it encapsulates the passion for obtaining knowledge, learning, reading, writing, etc. and is traditionally very Eurocentric and focused on the Western classics. Another trait of dark academia is that something dark occurs at the school – a secret society, mystery, murder, etc. How We Fall Apart is set at an elite prep school where a murder mystery occurs, as well as centers around the students’ borderline obsession for educational achievement, so that’s what makes it dark academia. However, I would say that this book departs from the Eurocentric leanings of the genre. There isn’t much romanticization of the Western classics, and it’s more concerned with critiquing the way that high schools – and the education system as a whole – pressure students to a breaking point. Nancy’s journey works well in this setting, because How We Fall Apart unravels these seemingly high-achieving students to make a point about the toxic, competitive mentality that’s found in these school environments. Nancy’s story makes a point that this is even more true for students of color, who face further barriers and are often pitted against each other for limited spots.



3. Secrets and confessions play a pivotal role in How We Fall Apart. Each chapter begins with an anonymous confession by a student at Richard Sinclair Preparatory School, and Nancy and her friends have their darkest secrets revealed by an adversary over the course of the novel. What’s one secret or fun fact about yourself that others might not know?

Even though I write about teens who have deep, dark secrets, I’m a very boring person myself. I wish I could share a juicy secret, but I don’t really have any. (Though, I suppose that’s probably something that someone who does have secrets they don’t want to share would say…)

A fun fact, though, is that I also really love singing. I did choir all throughout school, and then a capella in college. When I was young I even considered a music career (very briefly). I decided against it, because I have too much stage fright for that life, and singing would have to be what I loved most in the world for me to pursue it. But as an introvert whose head is always in the clouds, writing is my one true love.



4. Despite her incredible accomplishments, hard work and dedication, Nancy often struggles with feelings of alienation and imposter syndrome, never truly feeling like she belongs at the competitive private school she’s attending. What would you say to young readers who are struggling with similar feelings?

Honestly, I just want them to understand that it gets better. Life gets better. But I know that at that age, I ignored all the advice from others who said life would improve after high school, that we’re more than our grades and college acceptances, so I feel as though my advice now might not reach the people who need to hear it most. But I hope that if they read How We Fall Apart, they will see their struggles reflected in these characters, and through that understand the message I’m trying to tell them.



5. In addition to the aforementioned feelings of alienation and imposter syndrome, Nancy also puts a great deal of pressure on herself to perform to the best of her ability and achieve success at any cost, even at the expense of her own health and well-being. This pressure seems to be informed, at least in her part, by her identity as an Asian American and as the daughter of immigrants, as well as by the myth of the ‘model minority’. Can you speak a little about this aspect of the story?

How We Fall Apart is infused with themes that are often tied to Asian American upbringings, like family sacrifice, American dreams, diaspora musings – and the discussion, or lack thereof, of mental health. Traditional Asian households tend to dismiss mental illnesses as “made-up” or “laziness”. In my experience growing up in such a household, perfection was the standard, and anything less than that was seen as “not good enough”. ADHD, mental illnesses, any condition that might make someone unable to learn and/or grow at the pace society has deemed standard – all of that was chalked up to laziness. There is no such thing as learning disabilities. It also doesn’t help that American media is obsessed with portraying Asians as studious and nerdy, as “model minorities” and overachievers who all attend top schools. Such pressure leaves no room for error for Asians teens – and certainly no room for taking care of one’s mental health, or diagnosing mental illnesses. This level of perfection has spawned incredible work ethic among a lot of kids and teens, but it also creates an impossible standard by which young people, especially young children of immigrants, are measured and valued.

Thus, in How We Fall Apart, I wanted to explore what happens to these Asian teens who are thrust into the privileged, pressure-cooker, competitive, toxic environment of Sinclair Prep. Despite the fact that they’re so young and have all the time in the world to prove themselves, there is a crushing amount of pressure on them. The characters are desperate to make it into top universities, to fulfill their families’ American dreams – and it really ends up destroying them. I wanted to critique just how toxic it is for Asian Americans to be brought up in this sort of environment.



6. Nancy could arguably be described as an unreliable narrator. She hides the truth from the reader and from herself and I often found myself questioning her motivations and transparency. What are some of the joys and/or challenges of crafting an incredibly complex and morally grey character like Nancy?

I had a blast writing Nancy. I haven’t tried writing an unreliable narrator before. It was fun hiding truths from the readers, making them question what’s real or not, and creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and illusion in an already dark and atmospheric novel.

The greatest challenge of writing a morally grey character was trying to decide how far I could allow Nancy to push the boundaries, before she would become purely unlikable to readers (especially since Nancy is female, and we know what society thinks of morally grey female characters…) Also, for me personally, it has been a challenge accepting that How We Fall Apart is a love-it-or-hate-it book for this reason, unlike my fun, funny middle grade. There will be readers who drag this book through the mud, and they are well within their rights to do so. I had to mentally prepare myself for How We Fall Apart to receive a very different reception than my previous novels. But I did my best to write the book I wanted to see on shelves. I did my best to write a morally grey protagonist by striking a balance, showing Nancy’s motivations to make the terrible decisions that she does. I only hope that the readers who love morally grey characters will love Nancy too.



7. Despite being a victim of murder early on in the novel, Jamie Ruan is an important, powerful character whose presence lingers on every page and in the lives of those she left behind. To many, the enigmatic Jamie is intimidating, cold, calculating and even cruel, but the reader is also given glimpses of moments of insecurity and vulnerability where it becomes clear there is much more to Jamie than initially meets the eye. Who is Jamie to you, and what do you think drew Nancy and the rest of her friends to Jamie in the first place?

Jamie is one of my favorite characters (even though I know authors aren’t really supposed to choose favorites…) so I’m really glad you asked this question. Jamie was written to be Nancy’s foil, someone with similar drive and ambition but wealth and resources that Nancy lacks. Nancy fixates on the disparity between hers and Jamie’s socioeconomic statuses, which creates tension in an already tense friendship. But still, Nancy and her friends (and everyone at school, really) are drawn to Jamie because of her charisma, popularity, and status. She’s the person they all want to be, and they see her as flawless. By the end of the book, of course, we see that Jamie’s perfect image actually takes a great deal of effort to maintain, and comes at a terrible price.



8. Ghosts and hauntings play a prominent role in How We Fall Apart, which I found really intriguing. Nancy and her friends are haunted by the immortal words of the school’s founder, Richard Sinclair (“In inceptum finis est” or “In the beginning, is the end”), the failure of previous students, the death of Jamie Nuan, the secrets which threaten to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard for, and the pressure and expectations of their peers, families and themselves. Why was this element of the story so important for you to include and how does it compliment the novel’s central themes of achievement, expectation and failure?

I’m really impressed with how well you read into the themes of the story, even the school motto In inceptum finis est and its symbolism. Ghosts and hauntings are often elements of gothic and/or dark academia literature, but at Sinclair Prep, these “ghosts” are really the horrific reality of what this cutthroat school has done to its students. The sense that I wanted to create is that Sinclair Prep is a very insular, circular environment. What comes around, goes around, and though students may graduate, they never truly escape what they endured to achieve excellence. I feel as though I am haunted by my own high school experience, and I wanted to explore that sense in this novel.



9. How We Fall Apart explores a number of incredibly important topics, including racism, mental illness, self-harm, anxiety, drug use and inappropriate and/or abusive relationships. What’s one thing you hope readers will take from the novel?

I would want readers to understand that there are indeed moral lines that should not be crossed, even for those of us who strive to do our best, even for those of us with immigrant parents for whom we want to give the world in return. Do not become so wrapped up in becoming a hero, that you instead become a villain.



10. The conclusion of How We Fall Apart is absolutely satisfying but I was so engrossed in Nancy’s story I was sad to see it come to an end! There also seem to be a couple of lingering secrets and unanswered questions I’d love to see explored further. Can eager readers like myself look forward to a continuation of Nancy’s story in a sequel in the future?

I don’t know about a sequel, but I do have a prequel idea in mind that would follow the story of the Golden Trio and their scandals at Sinclair Prep two years previous (if you know, you know). I ended this novel on an open note because I wanted to give the sense that the story, and all the drama surrounding Sinclair Prep, lives on after this conclusion.

Dark academia excellence. This one of my most anticipated releases of 2020 and it did not disappoint. I can't really talk much about what I loved for fear of spoilers, but if you love rich teens, dark academia (but not just involving white people), and murder, read this! Like now, Cannot WAIT for the sequel!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I read this book in one sitting because I could not put it down. And thanks to Netgalley, Bloomsbury, and Katie for the ARC!

Premise:
Who's the first murder suspect when your best friend goes missing? You.

That's what happens to Nancy Luo when her best friend Jaime was murdered. But when Nancy, her friends, and the whole school begin getting messages from "The Proctor" Nancy and her friends work to uncover the real killer.

Characters:
Each of these characters felt like a real human being. Maybe that's because I went to a private school for elementary and saw these people in real life, but either way, Katie did and incredible job writing each character. I was in Nancy and Alexander's places when I was at my elementary school, not being able to buy the fanciest clothes or new phones, while everyone around me bragged about it.

On the other side of things, Jaime, Krystal, and Akil all had massive amounts of money and while they're friends with Nancy and Alexander, the dynamic is fascinating.

Overall I highly recommend this book. The mystery, darn academia, and character dynamics are all spot on and I am so happy to have read it!

How We Fall Apart is a masterfully crafted story about the epic highs and lows of academia ;) mixed with murders, gripping main characters and relationships and good pacing. Got a bit slow in some parts but definitely worth the push through

Thanks to NetGalley & Bloomsbury USA Children's Books for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. I DNF'ed this at 20%.

This Pretty Little Liars inspired mystery book has an all Asian-American cast that get dragged into a murder investigation. Each student has secrets they've tried desperately to hide that are now coming to the surface much to their dismay. Who murdered Jamie, the top student at the school?

Sadly, I could not finish this. I also didn't realize I had read the author's previous work, The Dragon Warrior, and was extremely disappointed by that one too. I kept pushing through to see if the writing had improved since then but....nope.

My issue with both books is the shallow writing that lead to shallow characters and plot. Everything is surface level, nothing is deep. Which makes for a lack of an interesting book since everyone is literally predictable and shallow.

The character motivations sometimes didn't make sense either, like why was Nancy best friends with spoiled rich brat Jamie? Jamie constantly put her down in the flashback chapters and I literally could not understand why Nancy kept hanging out with her, especially when Jamie made fun of Nancy's mother. Ugh.

Too frustrating and dull, not a fun read.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I liked the characters, their friend dynamic, and how the story unfolded. It was a bit predictable for me, and I was able to figure out most of the twists. But I didn't mind as I just really enjoyed the story overall. I also loved that it was populated with a diverse Asian-American cast and that it showed the pressures that children of immigrants are under.

I really, really, REALLY liked this book, I ate it up in a couple of days and I honestly think I would’ve eaten it up in one night with some caffeine (alas my body said- “sleep Marisa”). Overall, How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao earned 4 stars from me; for its fast pace, ambitious as well as diverse characters and social commentary on social class and the mental health of our youth. Reminiscent of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, How We Fall Apart is perfect to satisfy anyones craving for mystery, drama, and murder! TW: abuse, self-harm, violence, parental neglect, panic attacks, drug use, mental illness, an inappropriate student/teacher relationship, racism, and suicidal thoughts..

“I wanted the past to stay in the past. But if there was one thing I’d realized, it was that the past never stayed buried long. The messiest parts of our pasts, coming back to haunt us now, one by one” (Zhao loc 1042).

Notably what stood out the most to me was Zhao’s writing style. How We Fall Apart was written in the first person with sections of flashbacks, as well as; social media posts and text messages. This style made the story very fast paced and fun as we got details about characters and the grand scheme of things from different sources. It’s amazing how Zhao mapped it all out in order; figuring out exactly what events to reveal to the readers and when! This style was great and contributed to the dark and sardonic tone of the story.

“ Confession 12
I’m going to Stanford to study engineering in the fall. I don’t like Stanford or engineering. I’m only doing it to make my parents happy…-Anon”(Zhao loc 1134).

Social media post like the one above appeared throughout the story at what appear to be random times, but they contributed to the overall picture of the school and the pressure felt by the majority of the students.Though they are small and quick I noticed how Zhao was very specific with what was stated and they reminded me of the restrictions of Twitter. The posts seemed to be limited in how many characters could be used and were all anonymous. Zhao’s attention to detail contributed to her social commentary on the importance of mental health of our youth as well as the tone. They added to the idea of “whispers” all around the school, to the idea of how the students always had to be on top of their game because they couldn’t be sure who was watching. In addition, the posts helped move the story along and at times worked as tools to foreshadow the events to come. The social commentary continues through the protagonists observations and thoughts; demonstrated in the quote below.

“ The problem started at home. It started with the parents who always pushed for more, more, more. Why were they never satisfied? The problem lay with this school, with all these institutions. Walls too high to climb, doors shut to all except the most privileged. Lies about not seeing color. Lies about merit-based education, about hard work translating into success” (Zhao loc 2462).

I found quotes like this one so bold and amazing. It’s something that I felt was only ever talked about amongst peers. The fact that it’s in a book calls out the institutions and also supports the young reader who will read this and see they’re not alone and they shouldn’t have to push themselves to pieces. I’m glad there is such a supportive and considerate story like this out in the world. It brings to light the reality for so many in what seem to be exaggerative events, but there is so much truth to this story it’s scary. From the ruthlessness to be on top when it comes to grades, appearances, or extra curriculars, or social standings to being so envious you start to think unspeakable things. I think a lot of young readers will be able to relate and find comfort.

“ I could not chain myself to the safety of the ground when I knew I was born to fly. Born to burn fast and hot and bright” (Zhao loc 2599).

Lastly, the protagonist, Nancy, is amazing! Our hero who at the end I could not help but admire for her ambition. At the beginning I wasn’t too sure how to feel about her, but I love her growth and ultimately she knows what she wants and will take it. One of my favorite lines (above) is said by Nancy, it's inspiring, intimidating, it's Nancy.

I hope you’ll check this book out! Thank you to Net Galley for the free e-ARC

If you’re into Gossip Girl with the darkness of Pretty Little Liars… this book is for you! The secret lives of this group of friends is mind boggling but juicy lol. Jaime Ruan dies and suddenly “The Proctor” starts harassing friends Nancy, Alexander, Akil, and Krystal through the Tip Tap app. This book was suspenseful and hard to put down especially as their secrets start being revealed one at a time. I appreciated the Author including scenes and thoughts from the characters POV about class differences and sacrifices their parents made for a chance at a better future. This was one of those books I HAD to stay up and finish. Needless to say I needed an extra cup of coffee and concealer the following morning. Do I regret it? NOPE. It was worth it and I had a really enjoyable experience reading this YA thriller. Although it wasn’t a major part of the story, I loved the Anon postings at the beginning of each chapter for comedic relief. I’ll be on the lookout for future releases by Katie Zhao!

Thank you NetGalley, Katie Zhao and Bloomsbury YA for allowing me to read and review and ARC of How We Fall Apart!