Evan’s mother marries the local radio DJ, ‘Breakfast Tim’, and on the same day, they get a call that her brand new step-brother is the sole survivor of a horrific car crash. A media frenzy starts and blame is placed on her step-brother Lewis – a stoner with no friends. Everyone thinks the crash was drugs-related, except Evan. Things don’t quite add up. So with the help of her journalist and recovering alcoholic father, she sets out to find out what really happened that night. 

I read my first Cat Clarke book last year, which was Girlhood, and I adored it. (You can read my review here). So when I heard that another Cat Clarke book was to be released this year I was super excited, and We Are Young did not disappoint.

We Are Young is an outstanding contemporary novel. It featured a lot of heavy but important topics such as death, suicide, mental health, alcoholism, drugs, dangers from unprotected sex, emotional abuse, etc. So, while the cover makes the story appear lighthearted and fun – and while it does have it’s moments – it really is a darker story. A story about finding your way through bad times. The main focus of We Are Young was mental health in young adults. It didn’t romanticise depression or bipolar but it highlighted the dangers of not seeking help, or not having any support network.

We Are Young was pretty exceptional in the way that it had a heavy mystery aspect but also did have some pretty awesome character arcs with some really great development. Equally plot and character driven. I especially loved Evan, our foul-mouthed, fierce, determined, but kind protagonist. There were also some really great themes of friendship and I loved Evan and her dynamics with her two exes, Sid and Daze. I especially loved Evans relationship with her father, mother, and brother and her step-brother. 

There was a little bit of romance, Evan is bisexual and her LI, Daze, is a lesbian, but it wasn’t at the forefront at all and it was very slow burn. It was sort of a lovers-to-friends-to-lovers kind of thing and I really loved it.

We Are You is a raw, angry, and unflinchingly honest book about the lack of support for people with mental health problems. It’s a call to arms for more mental health support programmes for young adults. Overall, We Are Young is a powerful and gripping novel that I highly recommend.

Wow, what a powerful and beautifully written book. I loved it from start to finish and it reminded me of just how brilliant Cat is. I am in awe.

As always with a Cat Clarke novel, there are important teen issues being dealt with at the heart of We Are Young

From the outset, we meet troubled characters but the real big issue doesn't become prevalent until much later in the story. We see blended families, teen drug use, a horrible accident, unprotected sex, sexuality being addressed and staying friends with exes. But much later we are brought into the big picture and mental health becomes a huge issue.

Evan is a wonderful character, she is so rich and deep. It's great to have a protagonists that isn't always loveable. It made this book so great to read and quite different from most other YA novels. Cat Clarke is a prime example of what the YA literary market should be about; helping young people understand what is going on around them and to see that they are not alone. The list of useful contacts in the back of the book could save lives.

I am so grateful to NetGalley and the Publishers, Quercus Children's Books, for giving me a copy of We Are Young by Cat Clarke.

THE DEEPER YOU DIG, THE DARKER IT GETS

I have been a major fan of Cat Clarke's books since I picked up Entangled back in 2011, so I half know what to expect when reading a book written by her. However I still find myself shocked and getting whiplash at the plot twists.

Firstly, the cover. I love the new covers Cat Clarke is using, this is only the second one I own as all the others have the older covers. But I love how the book cover ties in beautifully with the side plots of the book, plus in a way it also ties in with the main plot.

I am still in love with her writing style and this book was giving me a twist on Entangled - which along with being my first Cat Clarke book is also my favourite! With We Are Young now coming in as my second favourite OR maybe even tied for first place with Entangled.

Something I also love about this book is that even the minor characters have backstories and have fully fleshed personalities. Plus some - a lot - of books have characters who have been friends since person, I know this can happen but I love it more when characters have 'ex' friends where they just drifted apart over time, and that is shown in this book. It adds to the realness of this book. Along with the natural flow of the book where, nothing is magically swept under the carpet and how they then magically get better. This book has none of that because it's not realistic.

This book is dark from the outset, you know this before even reading it due to the back cover: 'Three people died and no one's asking why.' And even on the front it does read: 'The deeper you dig, the darker it gets.' That is very much true for this book as the main plot, slowly poisons the characters and the side plots.

This book does deal with mental illness and it is something that to the best of my knowledge, has been written accurately and shows all aspects of the illness. It shows you that just because someone looks happy on the outside, it doesn't mean something isn't going on within.

SO ROUND UP... Cat Clarke has done it again, with her amazing characters that are flawed in a way that kicks you in the teeth - a good thing I swear - I did not see one of the side plots coming, I was so focused on the main plot line that it didn't even cross my mind but this side plot sits hand in hand with the main plot that explains a lot.

"But it's also for the rest of us. For anyone who's ever felt voiceless and hopeless. Because we do have a voice, and there is hope. Even - maybe even especially - when it doesn't feel that way."

This is my first Cat Clarke book for some reason but it certainly won't be my last. This book was a brilliant blend of dark, intense drama, mystery, humour and just the right amount of romance.

What really stood out for me was the voice. The dialogue and first person narrative both made Evan feel like a real person and I thought she was a great character. I was really drawn to her drive to find out what happened and I loved how complex she is. She has a lot going on and that struck me as very believable! 

The mystery of this book was also very compelling and ultimately an important message came through it.There was a good balance of an exciting main story arc and other threads that kept my interest. I also liked the strong cast of secondary characters, including adults! A family dimension in a YA book is always good with me.

I read this book in only 24 hours and I'd definitely recommend it if you want a fast-paced YA with brilliant characters and an intriguing mystery.

There is so much that I liked about this book, seriously, I need to find more books like this to read, because I found it so refreshing. I got totally hooked in by the mystery element of the story and ended up reading the entire thing in a single day. There is so much I want to talk about, but I am going to be deliberately vague because the whole point of the book is discovering the truth, and the last thing I  want to do is spoil anyone’s reading experience.

First things first, our main character, Evan, is awesome, I loved reading about her. She’s a queer (probably bisexual) guitarist, and when we’re introduced to her she is sneaking drinks at her mum’s wedding and flirting with a waiter. She is an incredible layered  and well-developed character with interests and flaws, she feels really realistic.

One of my favourite things about this book is the way it addressed and handled a variety of important topics throughout the story. Firstly, it’s really sex positive, the main character has a regrettable one night stand, she’s embarrassed, but it’s what she wanted at the time, and she handles it maturely. Through this sexual health, and safe sex are also discussed, which I was really pleased about, because it’s so rarely talked about in Young Adult books, and it really should be. On top of that this book challenges the myth that you can’t be friends with ex-partners, as Evan used to date both of her band mates in the past. I love that it’s not a source of tension in the group. Mental health and related issues such as stigma and cuts to support services are also discussed, it’s incredibly relevant, and I’m glad that the significance of these things are being discussed.

While I can’t say much about the amazing plot of this book, I can say that I really enjoyed the writing style and the story flows well. I really enjoyed the focus on family relationships, and the complexity that they can have. The parents were an important part of this story, and I liked how that was handled. If you’re looking for a gripping read this summer, with interesting characters, and some surprising twists, look no further. I highly recommend this.

I was apprehensive about this book at first, after not being particularly impressed with some of Cat Clarke’s previous novels that I have read (Undone and A Kiss in the Dark) . However, I am glad I received an ARC to read as I actually loved this book. A really gripping story with a diverse set of characters that deals with many difficult themes like mental health and depression.

The story starts immediately after a terrible car crash in which 3 teenagers are killed and one is critically injured and left in a coma. This sole survivor is Lewis, Evan’s new stepbrother after her mum’s recent whirlwind romance with Lewis’ father, the radio host ‘Breakfast Tim’. The blame for the crash is being placed on Lewis but Evan does not believe it and tries to find out the truth with the help of her journalist father Harry.

The first reason I loved this book is the excellent characters. Evan is a bold and outgoing character who learns and changes throughout the book. The relationships with her adorable little brother, her mum, her stepfather and her father all develop and evolve in the book and all of the characters just felt very real and flawed and interesting. She also has difficult relationships with her best friends and bandmates, Sid and Daze, who are also both her exes. Evan makes mistakes that hurt her friends in the book but recognises them and puts in the effort to repair her damaged relationships.

This book also was just really engaging. The mystery of the events that led up to the car crash are the main focus of the plot and the story keeps urging you to turn over the next page which I always love. I finished this book in a day as it was so fast-paced and unputdownable. Piece by piece, bits of information are revealed but it is not clear what happened until you are very far into the book. Other plots, like the growing tension between Evan and Tim and the will they/won’t they relationship with Evan and Daze, were also interesting to follow.

This is a really great contemporary novel with elements of mystery and plenty of plot twists. A unique YA that has family dynamics at the core of the plot was really good to read. The aspects of the book covering mental health were done sensitively and intelligently and I enjoyed the political undertones that were weaved into the narrative. I highly recommend picking up a copy of We Are Young when it is released next week on 3rd May.

Evan is at her Mum's wedding to a local DJ when the festivities are interrupted by news that her new stepbrother has been in a terrible car accident. Something about the accident doesn't make sense to Evan so she reconnects with her unreliable father to dig into the story and find the truth. 
The positive bits:
Clarke does tension and pacing well. Her books are always easy to read and don't get boring and this one is no exception. As a teacher I'm always glad to see a book with LGBT characters as there simply aren't enough of them. Especially L/B books with female characters. I have students who are die hard fans of Cat Clarke so this one will definitely be on my list. 

The negative bits:
Clarke often straddles a line between contemporary and psychological thriller and it just doesn't work for me. It doesn't go dark enough for a thriller and as a contemporary novel I feel the voice of the character is a little bland. However that is personal opinion and I certainly don't think it means she's a poor writer so I will happily recommend this book to students I think might get something out of it.

I loved this book, life was busy so I had to put it down so many times when I just wanted to keep reading to find out what happened, what was Lewis involved in?? It just goes to show we should never judge a book by its cover, life has many challenges and sometimes we have to face difficult decisions. Evan is brave and proves herself a worthy friend, trying to reach out to many who just don't know who to speak to or what to say. Cat Clarke understands perfectly how difficult being a teenager is today. A must read for those who work with teenagers.

Well, this kind of screwed me over emotionally. Which isn't to say I didn't like it, because it was powerful and well-written, but it did kind of make me feel like crap. It deals with some fairly heavy themes (death, suicide, mental health, emotional abuse), so just bear all that in mind and don't go into it expecting something lighthearted. I didn't, because I've read a couple of Cat Clarke's other books, but it's worth reiterating just in case.

I was actually slightly put off this book by the cover, which made me think it was going to be full of references I didn't get. There's just something about vinyl that suggest the kind of music and pop culture references which go straight over my head. But thankfully that wasn't the case. I think the records are there because Evan, the protagonist, is a guitarist in a band and is passionate about her music, but it almost stopped me from requesting the ARC. I guess it's true what they say... don't judge a book by its cover. 

As with all Cat Clarke's books, this punches you right in the feelings. It's got it all: friendship feelings (complicated by Evan's best friends being her exes), family feelings (both positive and negative), and death feelings. The book more or less opens with a car crash, which kills three teenagers, one of whom Evan had been friends with when she was little. They hadn't been close for a while, so she doesn't feel anything at first, but the moment when her grief hit was... intense. The fourth person in the car was her stepbrother, Lewis, whom she really doesn't know very well. Lewis didn't die, but his arm was amputated and he's in a coma for a lot of the book. 

Over the course of the narrative, as she tries to figure out what happened with the crash, Evan gradually gets to know Lewis better -- and realises her stepdad isn't quite what he seems, either.

She also has a younger brother, and her relationship with him, her mum, and her biological dad (who is an alcoholic) are just as complicated and full of feelings.

It's hard to talk about why this book emotionally screwed me over without too many spoilers. I'm reluctant to use the word 'triggering' in the context of a book that deals with mental health issues, because I think it was actually done pretty sensitively. Obviously, any book that deals with issues like suicide isn't going to be a walk in the park, and probably shouldn't be recommended to someone who might not be in the best place mentally, but I felt like Clarke struck a decent balance between addressing issues and not dwelling on them.

However... I'm not great at dealing with death. I am actually terrible at dealing with death. Especially premature death. I lie awake at night filled with existential terror that I'll die young without achieving anything, or that the people I care about will die and I won't be able to cope with, and this book somehow managed to set off both sets of feelings. It had siblings and friends dealing with the loss of their siblings and friends, so that side of it was hard, and then there's also the whole concept of teenagers dying in the first place.

I don't even know WHY I read books about death. I've got to stop doing it, because I always end up feeling anxious and miserable afterwards. (Also, I had an accidental nap shortly after finishing this and had some really disturbing dreams which, surprise surprise, involved death. Woke up feeling awful, and it wasn't just because I'd slept through dinner.) 

Point is: if you're more emotionally stable than me (or just better at dealing with grief in particular), and you want a book that will hit you right in the feels, this one's for you. As a bonus, it's got some cute queer representation (Evan is bi, one of her best friends is a lesbian), and there's also a strong focus on music that I enjoyed. 

But I probably won't be rereading it unless I want to make myself cry (in the bad sense of crying over a book, not the good sense). 

Real rating: 3.5*s. I live in anticipation of NetGalley one day allowing half stars. 

--
The above review is on Goodreads. My book blog is currently on hiatus due to my dissertation being due in two weeks, but hopefully I'll be able to cross-post it there before too long.

We Are Young first seems like it could be any novel, we have a girl who is struggling with her family dynamics as her Mother weds the local radio DJ and her alcoholic father is an absentee one at best. However, within a few short pages everything in Evan's life changes. Her now step-brother is in hospital, several of his friends are dead and nobody can figure out what the hell has happened!


There is of course the mystery of what happened to Lewis that runs right through the book but really, at the heart of it all is the relationships between all of the different characters. Evan's family life is a bit of a mess and she's doing everything she can to protect those closest to her, however in order to do that she's going to have to mend some bridges and work closely with her biological father to work of the mysteries.


There are a lot of moments in the book that are genuinely disturbing. Something is completely off with her brand new enthusiastic ever-happy step-dad.....but what is it? What will Evan discover as she tries to find out what happened in her home town? Ahh I just want to talk about everything! But I made a promise to myself to keep this a spoiler free zone...! This book is real, flawed, full of emotion and one hell of a ride. This is another one that I managed to read whilst I was at work - not because it's simple or anything like that, purely because the adrenaline and fast-paced writing kept me turning the pages. I highly recommend!

This is without a doubt the best book Cat Clarke has ever written, and that’s saying something given how brilliant her other books are! I started reading it at midnight and finished it at 4am!

We Are Young is an outstanding ya contemporary novel that focuses on Evan, a truly engaging character from the outset. 
Evan’s mum is remarrying, and her new stepfather - local breakfast DJ, Tim - has a son 2 years older than her called Lewis. The story opens with Lewis being in a catastrophic car accident which sees three teenagers die and Lewis’s life changed forever. 
Something about the circumstances of the accident don’t ring true to Evan, and she’s not happy for Lewis to take the blame. So whilst he is in a medically induced coma (not really a spoiler!) she begrudgingly joins forces with her real dad, Harry, who she has a tumultuous relationship with given his alcoholism and previous unreliability, to put his journalistic talents to the rest to uncover the truth.

It’s fascinating to read how her relationship grows with her dad whilst they delve in to the dark secrets held by seemingly everyone involved in the crash- it appears that no one was really telling the truth and that no one can be trusted.

As well as this, there’s the confusing (for her) dynamic that exists between her and her two exes Daze and Sid. The three of them are in a band together and both of them still seem to have a strong connection to Evan, so jealously is rife. Something happens which fractures this friendship and I truly felt for Evan at this point. (So hard to say why or what I felt without giving anything away!) 
One of the things I’ve always loved about Cat’s books is that she has an innate ability to write a diverse cast of characters without it ever feeling like she’s ticking boxes. In this case, Evan’s bisexuality just *is*, it’s not a big deal to her or her family. In this book, each character is well rounded and individual and is important to the plot- there’s no one in it just for the sake of writing them, they all have a part to play. 

This book truly explores the idea that people can give the world a certain image of themselves whilst feeling something completely different on the inside. It’s powerful, raw and at times utterly unflinching in its ability to shock, cause rage and it feels like a call to arms for more to be done to support mental health programmes for young adults. This book needs to be read in conjunction with Moxie by Jennifer Matthieu as it is hugely empowering as well as enjoyable. 
I can’t wait to share this book with my friends! 

This book feels in part like a psychological thriller, so much so that it’s really made me want Cat Clarke to write an adult crime book! 

Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The mystery elements of this novel aren't outlandish, in fact they're completely believable. Evan's stepbrother is the sole survivor of a car crash. He shouldn't have been there. None of them should have any reason to have been together in that car. But the papers don't care, the authorities don't understand, and Evan only has her deadbeat Dad to help investigate. What she discovers is surprising, but not outwith the realms of possibility. This book delves into the idea of the millennial generation, and how they actually are, versus how the media portrays them. Clarke shows that, as always, it's far more complicated than what goes on twitter or, more accurately, the local radio station. This could have happened in any seaside town, and the underlying narrative of control and abuse will leave you questioning who was really at fault in the end. 

The truth is infinitely complicated than the story you hear, but does that mean it should still be told? And at what cost?

An excellent read that is firmly recommend to fans of YA. The book unravels pacily yet totally tension filled, I couldn't wait to solve the various mysteries. The revelations are well written and the ending comes with a great payoff. A timely and poignant read.

We Are Young, a young adult novel by Cat Clarke, is due to be published in May 2018. The heart of it is a mystery novel, with the protagonist, Evan, trying to figure out why her stepbrother has been in a car accident with three other, seemingly random, people.

This was another book I ate up in an evening, reading all through my dinner until I could get to that perfect ending. It’s a very gripping book, the mystery being solved piece by piece, and the stakes raising higher and higher until I literally had to walk around my living room to console myself.

My first point, is that there was a lesbian/bisexual relationship in the book that didn’t control the narrative. I’m a lesbian, and I’m tired of books that are just teenage girls figuring out they’re gay, and the entire book just cliché after cliché. Evan is bisexual, and Daze, is a lesbian, and there is a will they-won’t they relationship running throughout. No spoilers, but it was a very satisfying ending.

Tim, of breakfast Tim fame, kept me guessing throughout. Again, I can’t spoil the novel, but he constantly kept me on my toes, I could never tell what role he was playing. Doting father? Loving husband? Grieving widower? Or, scheming and treacherous lowlife? Clarke weaves a wonderful story that had my heart in my mouth.

One point I have to bring up, is that Clarke never went down the creepy step route with the relationship between Lewis and Evan. It would be so easy to slip into the ‘forbidden love’ route, but instead, Clarke keeps the relationship purely family. It makes for an interesting and exciting story, especially as step siblings are barely written about in YA novels.

Overall, We Are Young was a fantastic novel, that I would highly recommend. Clarke is on top form, as she always in, and manages to write a captivating and stomach clenching story, where the mysteries roll off the page.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for a review.

WE ARE YOUNG is an important and immersive read for teenagers and adults alike, exploring themes of family, romantic relationships, friendships, mental health and abuse. We join the protagonist Evan, on her search for the truth behind a community tragedy - a car crash which caused 3 teenagers to die and her new stepbrother to be hospitalised. 

Why were these 4 individuals in this car in the first place? What was their connection to one another? And why was Evan's stepbrother, the bedroom hermit, involved in it at all? ... But Evan will soon come to realise that the answers to these questions are much more complicated than she could have ever anticipated.

This is a novel that will stay with readers long after they've turned the final page. With a writing style that is witty, tight and very carefully crafted, we are drawn through a narrative where indeed, there is a degree of mystery to be resolved - with this striking sense that not all is as it seems, an intricate and evolved foreboding that drives Evan's character to explore beyond the trope of 'well, whodunnit then?' to unpack issues of honesty, identity and trust. 

Every single character is layered and credible, with authentic voices, motivations and inner lives that propel the plot forward at an exciting and engaging pace. Whilst the crisscrossing relationships across the cast of characters create a good amount of conflict and drama, it never results in melodrama, as these romances, friendships and inter-family dynamics are constructed with an authentic and insightful eye. 

The main strength of this novel is the delicacy and maturity with which it explores issues of mental health, especially with young people. At no point is it patronising or does it oversimplify the individual's experience, but instead considers what we, as a society, face today - the pressures, anxieties, expectations and judgments that impact our mental health. This book sends an important and necessary message about our treatment of illness and our bias towards those silent struggles, which is why it is a novel relevant for each reader, no matter how young or old. 

The only reason I gave this 4/5 stars was because there were a handful of moments which seemed a bit too 'neat', skimmed across interactions to resolve subplots or move the main plot onto the next major point. That isn't to say these instances were heavy-handed, but there was a noticeable increase in pace that seemed at odds with the overall rhythm of this writing. 

Without doubt, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It will leave you angry, inspired and hopeful, but ultimately more aware and appreciative of the people around you.

When it comes to Cat Clarke I either love it or I hate it, and unfortunately for me this book just fell short. I couldn't connect to any of the characters and, while the plot was slightly engaging, everything was a little underwhelming. That said, I found the family dynamics very readable between Evan and her brother Billy, her father and new step-father, but most particularly with Lewis. I wish this had been explored even further since step-families aren't all that common in YA; in fact, there seemed to be many underdeveloped relationships in this, though I did like the mother-daughter perspective.

Having read ‘Undone’ a few years ago (a book that’s had a pretty secure spot as one of my favourite books of all time), I knew that Cat Clarke was an author to keep an eye out for, and that’s a huge part of the reason why I requested this book. I enjoy how she doesn’t make a massive deal of LGBT+ representation and includes it casually, unlike many other YA authors. She also throws a lot of other major contemporary issues into her stories in a way that is neither romanticised or sugar-coated.

‘We Are Young’ is not a light book. The plot is heavily centred around death, a car accident, suicide, and mental health, along with scenes of abusive family relationships and a discussion of pressures on modern teenagers. And the characters are teenagers that actually behave like teenagers do, not shying away from the larger issues in the story (death, suicide, mental health) or the smaller ones, like drinking, drugs, and sexuality.

The only thing I disliked about this book – and it’s an extremely small thing – is that the opening chapter features a character called Vince witnessing and discovering the car accident. But then we never see him again. And I’m just wondering how he’s coping after seeing three dead teenagers and a living one with half his arm ripped off.

But, other than that, this book is close to flawless.

As well as the bad parts, ‘We Are Young’ is a book about finding support through the tough times and focusing on relationships that matter. The book ends with the contact information for many organisations if you need help or advice.

I always find Cat Clarke's books impossible to put down, and this one is no different. This is a gripping story about four teenagers - seemingly strangers to each others - involved in a car crash, and the sole survivor's attempts to uncover the mystery of why they were together that night. It's intriguing and pacy and the slow revealing of a seemingly nice character's true nature was really quite chilling. Great LGBTQ+ rep, too - the MC Evan is bi and in a band with her two exes. Brilliant!

Right now YA is on fire with Mental Health books. They are captivating, educational, emotional they go deep dark and heavy and they are changing perspectives about mental health (which is amazing by the way). Unfortunately this read didn’t do that for me at all. It was a bit all over the place and although I got the point the author was making it seemed to come from nowhere. 

I could not take to protagonist Evan at all, and for me if I can’t connect with the characters, then it’s just not good for me. She really was far too much. 

I like books to be believable even though they’re Fiction when it comes to books like these and unless Evan had some sort of power that lets her know everything then it was totally unrealistic. 

I’m really sorry.
Your plot was really good though!