Scan barcode
hello_lovely13's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I’ve been waiting for this book to release, and I finally read it! Zhao sets the tone of the book so well, and it everything feels so realistic. I especially appreciate the care that went into the subtleties, such as details that concern Jamie’s relationship with her father. Alexander Lin is my new comfort character. He is a pure cinnamon roll that needs to be loved and protected! It’s hard to find something related to dark academia that has a diverse cast (something I’m always on the prowl for), and this book NAILS it. This book brought up so many true and tough topics that need to be discussed more. I was definitely brought back to my competitive, anxiety-filled, under-too-much-pressure self when reading because Zhao set it up so well (I said it once, and I’ll say it again, Zhao NAILS the tone). There are so many complex characters that are lovable, yet hatable at the same time (again, except Alexander, who only deserves love). Zhao blends diverse stories and backgrounds so well that the characters felt real. It’s just a well done book! I’ll admit, there is a bit about the twist that I personally was just *eh* about, but otherwise…just spectacular! Also, props and great respect for Zhao adding the trigger warnings in the Author’s Note at the beginning of the book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racism, Drug use, Self harm, and Panic attacks/disorders
sarah984's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I liked the more realistic aspects of this book but the mystery aspect was disappointing and somehow I liked and disliked the ending in equal measure.
The main characters are a group of Asian American students at an exclusive private school, brought together through a mutual friendship of sorts with a popular girl and through what the pov character refers to as "The Incident": something that they had all participated in two years before and sworn to secrecy about. It's obvious what the thing was and the way the narrative dances around it is annoying. The popular girl dies suddenly, and suddenly the friends are being threatened via social media using secrets only the dead girl knew. The resolution to this is ridiculous and some of the secrets are a bit silly.
The better part of the story is the focus on the characters themselves, especially Nancy. As the daughter of immigrants who gave up everything to come to America there is immense pressure to perform, be strong, and reach that elusive American Dream. The way this plays out in Nancy's relationship with her mother was really well done. The other characters are less three dimensional but do illustrate this in various ways.
I liked the ending in the way that it demonstrated who Nancy was at her core - this isn't a game but she's going to win it - but it bugged me that the reader never gets to find out what the big secret is.
The main characters are a group of Asian American students at an exclusive private school, brought together through a mutual friendship of sorts with a popular girl and through what the pov character refers to as "The Incident": something that they had all participated in two years before and sworn to secrecy about. It's obvious what the thing was and the way the narrative dances around it is annoying. The popular girl dies suddenly, and suddenly the friends are being threatened via social media using secrets only the dead girl knew. The resolution to this is ridiculous and some of the secrets are a bit silly.
The better part of the story is the focus on the characters themselves, especially Nancy. As the daughter of immigrants who gave up everything to come to America there is immense pressure to perform, be strong, and reach that elusive American Dream. The way this plays out in Nancy's relationship with her mother was really well done. The other characters are less three dimensional but do illustrate this in various ways.
I liked the ending in the way that it demonstrated who Nancy was at her core - this isn't a game but she's going to win it - but it bugged me that the reader never gets to find out what the big secret is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Blood, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Racism
racheldkidder's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Racism
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
brynn_books's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall, this book was really good! It's basically Crazy Rich Asians meets Pretty Little Liars meets Gossip Girl meets One Of Us Is Lying. It's a murder mystery with an all asian cast which is great. I loved all of the characters relationships and their interactions with each other. It was interesting to see the differences between class that were so prominent in this book.
I liked how the flashbacks were woven throughout the story revealing bits and pieces of the story. It was really interesting to finally get the last flashback and understand exactly what happened 2 years ago. I will say that the ending was slightly disappointing.
This book has the perfect dark academia fall vibes. It was the perfect book to read for the time of year I read it (around October). Also, I went into this book expecting a standalone, but now I need the sequel. I need to know what that last secret is.
I liked how the flashbacks were woven throughout the story revealing bits and pieces of the story. It was really interesting to finally get the last flashback and understand exactly what happened 2 years ago. I will say that the ending was slightly disappointing.
This book has the perfect dark academia fall vibes. It was the perfect book to read for the time of year I read it (around October). Also, I went into this book expecting a standalone, but now I need the sequel. I need to know what that last secret is.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Self harm, Mental illness, Violence, and Drug use
soljovis's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
0.25
I’ve thought about nothing for the past 24 hours except how angry this book made me. Every adult in this book failed every child. A 14/15 year old girl in a relationship with an adult man is a victim of a predator. This happens TWICE in this book with no consequences for either of the predators but both girls are publicly shamed and portrayed as the seducer. Fucked. Also the characters were shallow and unlikeable and the twist ending was like a bad episode of PLL. I understand what the author’s intent was with this book but all the messages were overshadowed by melodrama and overtly problematic plot points. I have so many more issues with this book but I will leave it here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Suicide
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
ame_lepage's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is probably the most copy-paste book that I've ever read.
If you've seen Pretty Little Liars, this books is the same thing, with more representation. And I mean, I love Pretty Little Liars, it's one of my favorite shows, but please give me some originality.
I think it was a pretty average book. I thought I had guessed the ending, but turns out I didn't. I didn't think I would read the sequel but that ending... I need to know what is going to happen.
It didn't reach my expectations, but I still think it is a pretty good book.
If you've seen Pretty Little Liars, this books is the same thing, with more representation. And I mean, I love Pretty Little Liars, it's one of my favorite shows, but please give me some originality.
I think it was a pretty average book. I thought I had guessed the ending, but turns out I didn't. I didn't think I would read the sequel but that ending... I need to know what is going to happen.
It didn't reach my expectations, but I still think it is a pretty good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’ve really been enjoying dark academia books these last few weeks, and definitely wanted to read this book after seeing so much hype surrounding its release.
Overall, I liked it. The characters were complex and well-written, and honestly, I felt bad for most of them. Sinclair Prep’s cutthroat nature kind of terrified me, as a white person that attended a public school and never truly tried to be top of my class. That and the anonymous person leaking secrets gave me Ace of Spades vibes, and it worked well.
Zhao did a decent job crafting the mystery, and an excellent job balancing the dual timelines. The main reason for my rating is that I found so much of this book’s plot predictable. Although I never imagined the culprit’s identity, didn’t even come close and was quite surprised by the reveal, I guessed almost everything else. I’m not sure if this is on the book for being predictable or on me because I’ve read a fair amount of thrillers, but nonetheless, I figured most things out early, and that took away from a lot of the story’s suspense and intrigue.
Despite that, I do still recommend the book, and I can see myself picking up more of Zhao’s YA in the future.
Representation
Overall, I liked it. The characters were complex and well-written, and honestly, I felt bad for most of them. Sinclair Prep’s cutthroat nature kind of terrified me, as a white person that attended a public school and never truly tried to be top of my class. That and the anonymous person leaking secrets gave me Ace of Spades vibes, and it worked well.
Zhao did a decent job crafting the mystery, and an excellent job balancing the dual timelines. The main reason for my rating is that I found so much of this book’s plot predictable. Although I never imagined the culprit’s identity, didn’t even come close and was quite surprised by the reveal, I guessed almost everything else. I’m not sure if this is on the book for being predictable or on me because I’ve read a fair amount of thrillers, but nonetheless, I figured most things out early, and that took away from a lot of the story’s suspense and intrigue.
Despite that, I do still recommend the book, and I can see myself picking up more of Zhao’s YA in the future.
Representation
- Chinese protagonist and side characters
- Chinese bisexual side character
- Korean sapphic side character
- Indian side character
- side characters of color
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Self harm, Racism, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Drug use
Minor: Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts
Adult/minor relationship: between a major character and a student teacher at the academy Mental illness: most major characters have depression and/or anxiety Drug use: one character uses Adderall to keep up with school and extracurricular performance, among other reasons Physical abuse: mentioned, but not actually on-page; refers to parents beating their children for not getting perfect gradesdeadbookishsociety's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Trigger warnings : death, overdose , drug abuse , racism , classism , murder, underage drinking, grooming , arson
This book left me shook , I couldn't really write or speak about it and I had to gather my thoughts before I even thought about what happened in the book, it was so fast paced and perfect that I didn't even realize I read the whole book in less than 24 hours , it was griping , shocking and very entertaining.
I have read so many thriller in the past few months but I never saw the twist coming in this book , they always were foreshadowed but I didn't really spotted them until that actually happened .
For this book the mystery was just a part of it, it wasn't the main thing or theme of the book , this book showed us a part of how it is it be a person of colour in a place where the systemic racism is so deep rooted how a poc has to go through so much to prove their worth and the fact that they deserve to be there and so is the situation for classism , how there is a vast barrier between people just because how much they earn or what position they hold in society.
How we fall apart is about friendship , love , identity , betrayal and how far you are willing to go to make a place for yourself in a place where you feel an outsider .
Jamie, Nancy , akil , Alexander, Krystal and every single character that were shown in the book were flawed, they were humane they made mistakes and faced the consequences in the same way or some other . Jamie who is a rich popular queen bee who is the best at everything and has everything she ever wanted has secrets , dark ones and those ultimately catchup to her one day and it's over for her and then it created a loom over her ex friends who have betrayer or have been betrayed by her .
I don't know how to explain this book expact that it's totally worth your and my time and that I'm looking forward to the next book .
This book left me shook , I couldn't really write or speak about it and I had to gather my thoughts before I even thought about what happened in the book, it was so fast paced and perfect that I didn't even realize I read the whole book in less than 24 hours , it was griping , shocking and very entertaining.
I have read so many thriller in the past few months but I never saw the twist coming in this book , they always were foreshadowed but I didn't really spotted them until that actually happened .
For this book the mystery was just a part of it, it wasn't the main thing or theme of the book , this book showed us a part of how it is it be a person of colour in a place where the systemic racism is so deep rooted how a poc has to go through so much to prove their worth and the fact that they deserve to be there and so is the situation for classism , how there is a vast barrier between people just because how much they earn or what position they hold in society.
How we fall apart is about friendship , love , identity , betrayal and how far you are willing to go to make a place for yourself in a place where you feel an outsider .
Jamie, Nancy , akil , Alexander, Krystal and every single character that were shown in the book were flawed, they were humane they made mistakes and faced the consequences in the same way or some other . Jamie who is a rich popular queen bee who is the best at everything and has everything she ever wanted has secrets , dark ones and those ultimately catchup to her one day and it's over for her and then it created a loom over her ex friends who have betrayer or have been betrayed by her .
I don't know how to explain this book expact that it's totally worth your and my time and that I'm looking forward to the next book .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
aargot1's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Addiction
Minor: Body shaming
luxvestravitae's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship