When Evan and Billy attend their mum's wedding to Tim, they never expect the night to go how it does.



The evening turns sour when their new stepbrother, Lewis has been in a car crash with strangers and is in intensive care. What's even more strange is that Lewis doesn't ever hang out with anyone else so just who died?



This is a gripping book with mystery being the heart of the story as Evan tries to piece together just why the crash involved all people she knew and just what they were doing together. Evan is a likeable character and also a realistic teenager dealing with sex and relationships alike most teens do along with new step parents to deal with as well. There are references to drugs and suicide raising awareness of how they can go unnoticed but not without consequence.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Cat Clarke, please never stop writing. 
Having read Girlhood back last year (another book I loved and will be shortly rereading), I knew Cat Clarke was an author to keep an eye out for. I really enjoy the casual LGBT+ representation in her stories, rather than making a Massive Deal of it, as many authors seem to do. She also throws a lot of other contemporary issues into her stories - most notably, here, the issue of mental health in teenagers, which she covers really well. 
We Are Young is the story of Evan, a girl whose mother has just remarried a local radio DJ. However, on the night of their wedding, they receive a phone call informing that her new stepbrother Lewis has just been involved in a car crash. The series of events that occur continuing on from there are just as mysterious as you might expect them to be, but the outcome is (at least to me) completely surprising, and made this book one of the best I've read so far this year.

Characters
Evan is a brilliant character to have as your narrator. She’s fiery and down to earth. You would want her at your side if there was ever a problem. How we first get to know her is quite intimate. Something a writer normally leaves until we’re attached to the character to get us in on. It works though, I get it! I totally understand why she does what she does.
Her relationships with the people we meet are rather interesting, from her biological father she insists on calling Harry or her new ‘father’, Breakfast Tim and the persona Evan finds irritating. 
Evan’s relationships only get more complicated as we delve into her life in the band with her two exes. They make it work most of the time, and it’s understandable why they all stay together. The characters make it believable that this would be a healthy grouping. I love how real it does feel too.
Plot
The plot takes on a mystery crime thriller as Evan attempts to figure out why four teens who have no previous connections were in the same car during a fatal car crash.
It’s weird how it feels like familiar territory for Clarke, but also very new and wonderful at the same time. What I loved most, was as the plot progressed, Clarke was able to keep enough back from the reader, while Evan knew the truth. It brought a further element of suspense to the narrative.
Writing
I have always loved Cat Clarke’s writing. It’s refreshing, easy and comfortable; a stark contrast to the issues she deals with. She has this amazing ability to get under your skin and pull out all those emotions you never though you could feel for a person made of ink and paper.
We are Young is no exception to this. It highlights the issue of mental health, the media and the consequences of society not taking it seriously. This writing is not only for the YA community, but for anyone prepared to listen.

We Are Young is another powerful novel by Cat Clarke that combines suspense, serious issues, and real, flawed characters. Seventeen year old Evan’s mother gets married to breakfast DJ Tim on the same night that her new stepbrother Lewis is involved in a terrible car accident. As the only survivor, Lewis is scapegoated by the local media, but Evan and her journalist father Harry think there’s more than meets the eye. Their investigating turns up a complex story of disturbing truths, mental health problems, and complicated relationships that not everyone wants to face head on.

Clarke writes a rich narrative that gives a lot of detail to characters and their lives, particularly Evan and Lewis, which makes them feel realistic and immerses the reader in the novel’s world. As well as the tragedy and the problems with her new stepfamily, Evan deals with her relationship with her somewhat estranged dad, her complicated band-made-up-of-exes situation, looking after her little brother, and some teenage secrets she’d rather keep from her mum. Glimpses into the lives of supporting characters suggest similar ranges of things going on in their lives. This combined with the narrative that looks into solving the mystery of a tragedy makes the book feel multi-faceted: a young adult novel that combines the suspense of plot with richness of character and regular teenage concerns.

We Are Young is not a light book: it features death, a car accident, mental health problems, and suicide, along with abusive relationships and the pressures on modern teenagers. However, it is also a book full of finding support and working on the relationships that matter. Once again, Cat Clarke creates a vivid tapestry of older teenage characters who behave like teenagers do—not shying away from either the major issues in the narrative or others like drink, drugs, and sexuality—and uses a tense plot to keep the reader turning the page.