Thank you Bloomsbury USA Children's Books for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
Two Second Review
★★★ ½ ☆ // 3.5 s t a r s
In the most basic sense, How We Fall Apart is basically your average run-of-the-mill YA high school mystery. By average I mean there's a group of friends, a dead/missing friend/student, every adult does just about nothing, and the "villain" so to speak hides behind a screen in a game of ultimate cyberbullying. Also, it's super Asian which is >>> (An Indian semi-MC who does sports, I was shocked to say the least. Why he not studying? Drugs? You crazy boy.)
The Book
Trigger Warnings: drug usage, mental illness, racism, violence, student/teacher relationship (the tea, the spoiler, the thing that convinces you to read most likely…)
Release Date: August 17, 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Genre(s): YA, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
Series?: yes, this is book #1
Page Count: 352
Premise:
Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends—Krystal, Akil, and Alexander--are the prime suspects, thanks to "The Proctor," someone anonymously incriminating them via the school's social media app.
They all used to be Jamie's closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow The Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy's full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.
Review
I have one thing to say. And that is: Mass texting an entire school is not a thing. Why does it feel like so many mystery plotlines revolve around that? I just sit there like, "This literally cannot happen." And even if it could, how the hell would they all have this person's contact saved. Like literal bruh.
Okay, so this book basically follows a group of four high school juniors who are pretty much trying to prove their innocence in the death of their former friend. Sound familiar? Wonder why…*cough One Of Us Is Lying cough*. Anyway, as is expected, all these main characters have their fair share of secrets, some of which are just slightly over dramatic and more than a little unbelievable. I won't say them here because spoilers (I wonder if there's a way to hide spoilers on here like on Goodreads…), but let's just say Krystal? Probably could've dialed that down.
I definitely think some of the more interesting parts of the book came in the form of the struggles the main characters faced. For example, Nancy and how she's a scholarship student at a private high school full of rich kids (sans Alexander). Also, factor in that she's Asian American and the book really highlights pressures students experience against these barriers.
The plot. It was so dramatic that it was like GIVE ME MORE, but at the same time it was so extra that in the back of your mind you're always going, "really?" The dialogue. You could almost explicitly tell that it was meant for almost younger young adults, I guess. I'm sure a twelve-year-old could read this and enjoy it maybe more than a fifteen-year-old could. That's mostly because when the characters end up being the same age as you, you almost expect them to act and do exactly as you do, and when they do anything remotely juvenile-esque you're like okay maybe this isn't for me?
Also, the book was fairly short, only about 350 pages. Which left much to be desired. Especially regarding the suspense, I definitely could've used more. This had a severe case of, "Oh, your classmate was murdered? Well, okay. Get to class!" Hopefully that will get better in the next installment, and hopefully at least one or two characters will become more attachment worthy. Especially because Anon doesn't count.
Finally, the finale. The reveal was…meh. As soon as just about anyone starts this they'll dwindle from two to one options as to who the mysterious "Proctor" is, and almost everyone is going to guess right. That being said, the way the reveal went down was slightly surprising because we didn't really get any hints as to it being that way, but maybe that just adds to the intrigue. I'm sure if a reread happened, I'd find little tidbits that would be utter eye-openers.
❝ Everyone thought Jamie Ruan was perfect. Nobody knew what she
was willing to do, how far she was willing to go, to maintain the
flawless image she'd crafted. ❞
All in all, How We Fall Apart was a pretty good mystery with a group of students out to clear their names, face secrets being revealed along the way, and full of over-the-top drama. No stress because the cliffhanger wasn't huge, but there are more secrets to be unveiled…
Tropes…
— dark academia thriller/mystery in New York (can you deny that that's a trope)
— murder mystery whodunnit + "false" blame
— adults? who are they and what do they do?
— rich x poor dynamic
Read…If You Liked…
One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus (bc obviously)
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (it vibes similar, the dark academia-ness)
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (i don't really see the similarities, but yk Asian and drama so there is that)
Watch…If You Liked…
Gossip Girl (haven't actually watched this, but i'm not dumb, ik stuff ab it, there are similarities)
Pretty Little Liars (same here, have not watched, but similarities galore)
One Of Us Is Lying (dropping this here for everyone who hasn't heard it's gonna be a show soon!)
ADD HOW WE FALL APART TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELF
random q to drop comments <3
What's an upcoming book you have super high hopes for?
(Our Violent Ends, for sure. also, Bloodmarked, I'm so excited)
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