A bit late with my feedback but what an amazing story. It tugged at my heartstrings & I just could not put it down. Fabulous!

I was completely hooked and drawn into the world of sisters Willa and Laika. Willa's life changed forever when she was 17 and her 13-year-old sister Laika vanishes on her way to school. The story moves between life just before Laika's disappearance and the time leading up to a dinner party hosted by Willa's best friend Robyn. The characters are wonderfully well-developed and the story is lovely.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Quite a slow burner ,Willa's sister disappeared on the way to school 25 years ago and it has defined her life for ever as she believes she is still alive as no body was ever found .This is a story of grief ,sexual awakening ,abuse and sisterly bonds .I thought it was going to be a thriller but it isn't more a family drama .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

This book follows the story of the disappearance of Willa’s sister Laika when the two were children. Willa is the “golden girl” in the family and Laika appears cast as the troubled child, but it is clear that there is something going in in the home which is very wrong, which we find out as the book unfolds.
25 years later,Willa is at a dinner party hosted by her friend Robyn when a familiar face from the past appears. Can we finally find out what has happened to Laika?
I loved this book. It’s so much more than a mystery, it’s about relationships and how things which are broken can be put back together in beautiful new ways. There a story about the Japanese art of kintsugi threaded through the book which illustrates this wonderfully.
Highly recommended.

Things don’t Break on their Own opens with a dinner party and quickly we meet the main protagonists, Robyn and her old school friend and ex lover Willa. Some of the other dinner party guests will play key parts in their story - the question is who and why?
Willa’s sister Laika disappeared in her teens and was never found - an event that shattered Willa’s life and affected all future relationships with friends, family and lovers.
As we return to the events of the past it is clear that Willa’s home life was extremely broken and Laika was the main victim of their father’s cruelty. In contrast Willa’s time with Robyn's family brings her to understand what a normal life can be like. The question is can she ever embrace a happy and normal relationship while Laika is missing?
This is a clever book which reveals much while keeping you guessing. There is little more to add without spoilers I’m afraid!

This is a brilliant debut. Lovely writing style that completely engages the reader . It's cleverly plotted and although told over multiple timelines and characters’ POV it’s never confusing or convoluted.
I will definitely look out for other books by Sarah Easter Collins and can happily recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Penguin General UK for this ARC.

I don't really want to give too much away about this book! Laikia goes missing on her way to school on day and after extensive searches she is never found either alive or dead. Her sister never gives up in the hope that one day she will be found alive. 20 years later and the truth about what actually happened on that day and after is about to come out!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this novel. I will be highly recommending it.

When Laika vanished as a teenager it affected her mum and sister very badly.

Fast forward 20 years and is the truth of that night about to come out?

A very well written book which goes back and forth in time as the story goes on and we get to see what really happened back then.

4 stars

This immersive tale is a poignant Pandora's box of emotions, fears, and dark secrets. It is told from multiple viewpoints, giving the reader an omnipotent view of events and each character's actions and emotions. Tracking back from the dinner party, the reader discovers why Laika disappeared and what happened to her. The protagonists' complex emotional journey makes this riveting. It is disturbing and dark in parts but also empowering and uplifting in other ways. The female relationship dynamics are believable, the emotions realistic, and the vibrant characters are compelling.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I was invited to read and review the debut novel "Things Don't Break On Their Own" by Sarah Easter Collins. Thank you Penguin Random House UK for the ARC

This is a story of how a family is fractured by the disappearance of thirteen year old, Laika. The book opens with at a dinner party with friends and family around the table. The conversation becomes fraught when the discussion turns to the fallibility of childhood memories. Then one guest makes a surprising revelation that forces Willa to rethink everything about her missing sister.

This is a slow burn story but definitely a page turner. It's cleverly plotted and told over multiple timelines and POVs. The characters are complex and very well drawn. When the reveals came they were unexpected and I certainly didn't see them coming. Overall I found this to be an original and compelling read.

An amazing storyline with characters that stayed with me between reading bouts. The type of book you want to finish quickly but wish it would never end. Laika goes missing and it recounts how it affects the lives of her family and friends.

Robyn and Cat have three children; twin boys and a daughter. They have invited a number of their relatives to a family gathering. Attending are Robyn’s brother Michael who has brought Liv, his new partner. Liv is a psychiatrist who’s specialisation is false memory syndrome. Cat’s brother, Nate, brings his French girlfriend Claudette, Also present are Willa Martenwood, Robyn’s ex-lover and long standing friend and her partner, the boorish Jamie who appears less than happy to be at this gathering.

As the dinner progresses it becomes clear that Willa’s sister, Laika, disappeared when Willa was only 13 and this has had a profound impact upon her. Both were walking to school , Willa following in Laika’s footsteps, but only Willa got there. Of Laika there has been no sign, and it’s now been 25 years since she disappeared.

Ever since, Willa has been searching for Laika . She has never got over the loss of her sister, indeed she keeps thinking she has fleeting glimpses of her and this has stopped her from progressing with her life. Though everyone presumes Laika is dead, Willa refuses to believe it

The book makes quite a slow start until we begin to understand more about Willa as Sarah Easter Collins leads us through Willa’s life, weaving past and present together as we see how Willa and Robyn met and fell in love, only for Willa to find herself unable to accept her sexual orientation.

Robyn and Willa reminisce, revealing more of life in the Martenwood household and over much wine the dinner party guests discuss memories and how they can become distorted. As discussion and reminiscences join together, we realise that there is a harrowing and difficult story being told here; one that is dark and deals with a dysfunctional family and what happens behind closed doors.

Though I thought I was going to be reading a mystery and a thriller, this book is rather more literary fiction, but not for the faint-hearted. It is a character-driven story in which the protagonists are a lively and vivid bunch that you can easily picture.

The narrative perspective moves from Willa to Robyn and then to Laika herself as we understand the complexities and the awfulness of Laika’s childhood. It’s hard to read but nonetheless absolutely compelling. Sarah Easter Collins’ writing is full of tenderness and compassion without any saccharin.

There’s poignancy too as Robyn touches on her father’s illness and though there were hardships, the compassion shines through in Collin’s stunning prose. Sometimes traumatic, often heart-breaking, Sarah Easter Collins peels away the façade of her characters to reveal the vulnerabilities beneath.

Verdict: Things Don’t Break On Their Own wasn’t quite what I had anticipated going in, but it turned out to be an immersive, beautifully executed story about grief, loss and renewal. With multiple points of view from wholly convincing characters, it is painful but satisfying and ultimately a warm and compassionate read. It is hard to believe that such a well-crafted story is a debut. I am so very glad I read it.

i'm so sorry, i just found this interminable to read - one of those books that isn't fun or interesting enough to be a good mystery, and isn't well-written or compelling enough to be lit fic. didn't care about the characters, felt them all paper and cartoonish.

I enjoyed this book - but it isn't one that will stay with me.
I found the pacing to be very slow, without any real payoff and no real twists.But even though there wasn't any big twists or reveals I still managed to get lost at times when reading.
I just didn't get along with this at all.
Just OK.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
What an outstanding debut novel. The story is slow to start, but as we get to know the characters, the story becomes intriguing. Twenty five years ago Laika disappeared. What happened to Laika, was she snatched as she walked to school on her own, only a short time behind her sister, or did she leave of her own accord. Her family are dysfunctional to say the least, Her sister Willa is the only one who believes that Laika is still alive, her life has been defined by her sisters disappearance, she will never give up hope or searching.
The story is told in the past and the present, it’s so much more than a story of a young girls disappearance, it’s about the unbreakable bond of sisters, friendship, discovering sexuality, family violence, abuse, hope and above all, love.
I loved all the characters especially Laika, Willa and Willa’s great friend Robyn.
Congratulations to this new author on this beautifully written book.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. A good debut story, which was something different. It was on my tbr list for a while, & unfortunately seemed to slip down the list. I wish I had read it sooner. A story of loss, mmories, longing, families & friendship. It is told through the different characters perspective, but this takes nothing from the reading.
I can recommend this book to readers who are looking for something different.

This was a beautiful story which starts quite innocently with a dinner party. During the party one of the guests, Willa, becomes quite distressed when she believes that another guest is in fact her long lost sister, Laika, who went missing as a child. The life stories of these two sisters then gradually unfolds with some twists and turns along the way. Beautifully written and a real page-turner! I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

This was just OK for me, I feel like I have read very similar books just like this one so many times and didn't see anything really different, but it was OK to relax with on a sunny afternoon. Character driven and and not a bad story.

This book initially hooked. I loved the start and it really felt like it was shaping up to be a 5 star read. However, about 3/4 of the way through I felt that the story got a bit far fetched and lost its way. Not for me I'm afraid.

The book started out very intense and with twists and turns . It engaged me right up to about three quarters way through and then it started to slide off a bit . An ok read but just found the ending lacked a punch .