Review: The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

Few things come as naturally to Harper as epic mistakes. In the past year she was kicked off the swim team, earned a reputation as Carson High’s easiest hook-up, and officially became the black sheep of her family. But her worst mistake was destroying her relationship with her best friend, Declan.

Now, after two semesters of silence, Declan is home from boarding school for the summer. Everything about him is different—he’s taller, stronger…more handsome. Harper has changed, too, especially in the wake of her mom’s cancer diagnosis.

While Declan wants nothing to do with Harper, he’s still Declan, her Declan, and the only person she wants to talk to about what’s really going on. But he’s also the one person she’s lost the right to seek comfort from.

As their mutual friends and shared histories draw them together again, Harper and Declan must decide which parts of their past are still salvageable, and which parts they’ll have to let go of once and for all.

My Review: 4 Stars

I really enjoyed getting to see all the different relationships unfold in this book.  There was some drama sometimes, but that didn't keep me from liking the book.  There were a lot of various relationships, including family, friendship, and romantic relationships.

There were a lot of different friendships in this book.  There was Cory, a boy who had been best friends with Harper since they were young children.  There was never anything other than friendship between them for either of them.  He was also best friends with Declan, so it sometimes was hard for him to see him and Harper struggle with their relationships, especially when they had broken up in the past.  Harper also becomes friends with Gwen and Mackenzie who are in a photography class with her.  She takes a little bit to warm up to them, but the friendship with them is good for her.  The main reason she seems to be wary of them is because she thinks Declan likes Mackenzie, but that doesn't really end up being a problem.  Sadie is another of her friends and isn't very good for her at all.  Sadie seemed selfish and only into partying and hooking up with guys.  She always seemed to ditch Harper for guys and leave her with some guy that Harper wasn't really interested in.

This book also explored Harper's mom's sickness since she has cancer.  It was tough to read about some of that.  Clearly, this wasn't good for her family.  Luckily, though, I do think her mom was going to live.  And it was interesting to explore this beside Declan's mom having been killed by a drunk driver, which was very sad.  Having struggles with their mom was something that Harper and Declan could understand about each other.

I think Harper and Declan work well as a couple, even if it took them a while to get past their problems.  They had been friends since they were kids, so they really understood and knew each other.  I also thought they were pretty cute sometimes when they were joking around and teasing each other.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie