How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao was described as Crazy Rich Asians meets One Of Us is Lying in the publisher's blurb, and I honestly can't think of a more apt description for this fast paced YA thriller. This impressive debut takes the reader into the pressure cooker world of Sinclair Prep, where the only thing more cut throat than the academic competition is the social rivalry. When Jamie Ruan, one of the elite both socially and academically disappears and is eventually found dead, it rocks the school to its foundations. Even more shocking are the anonymous messages that start to appear on social media suggesting that another student is responsible for the death. Jamie's former friend Nancy is determined to find out the truth, not just because she is one of suspects, along with three of her friends , but also because she is innocent of murder but has another secret that she definitely does not want to be revealed. She can't solve the mystery alone, but her friends are keen to help because they are also hiding secrets of their own.
This is a fast paced engaging read, and I think the character of Nancy has a lot to do with how much I enjoyed it She had an interesting backstory and her dynamic with Jamie was fascinating. I liked the exploration of what pressure does to young people . What let the book down slightly for me was the ending, it felt a little contrived and I think if the "incident" had been explored a little more thoroughly earlier in the book, it might have made the ending feel like a more satisfactory fit.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

How We Fall Apart follows Nancy, a scholarship student at the elite Sinclair Prep School, in the aftermath of the tragic death of her classes’ top student, Jamie Ruan. The whole school is shaken when they hear the news, but it only gets worse when an anonymous poster on the school’s social media app tries to pin the murder on Nancy and three of her closest friends, by revealing their deepest darkest secrets, one by one. Nancy and her friends need to find out the identity of the poster, and Jamie’s murderer, before they go down for a crime that they all swear they did not commit.

If you like Karen McManus books, or AGGGTM or any of the other trending high-school murder mystery books, you will absolutely love this book. It’s so fast-paced that I found myself saying ‘just one more chapter…’ for hours on end until I finished the whole book in two sittings, and it’s a really quick and easy read. It’s also quite terrifying at times, with the intensity ramping up and up towards the end in the lead up to the book’s big reveal.

The protagonist in this book was absolutely my favourite thing about it. I liked that Nancy’s friends - Alexander, Peter, Akil, Krystal and Jamie - were developed with their own troubles and backstories, but the depth of Nancy’s character overshadowed all of this. What on the surface came across as inconsistency with her actions turned into a complicated sense of self as the story went on, and Nancy’s erratic emotions and behaviour seemed completely justified as we delved deeper into her difficult relationship with Jamie, the school, and her other privileged classmates.

I wasn’t overly surprised by the ending, but it was written in such a dramatic and intense way that I didn’t mind that I guessed the ‘whodunnit’ element before it was revealed. It definitely felt worth the lead up with an intense and dangerous climax and there were enough suspicious characters throughout the story that it didn’t feel like it was too obvious.

I’d definitely recommend this if you’re in a slump or looking for a fun, gripping, drama-filled read, and I’m excited to see what Katie Zhao writes next.

Nancy Luo’s a scholarship student at New York’s exclusive Sinclair Prep, she’s popular and successful but she’s hiding a horrific secret. Then her friend and rival, rich, mean girl extraordinaire, Jamie Ruan, dies in suspicious circumstances, and anonymous messages point towards Nancy and her friends as possible killers. If Nancy can’t uncover the sender’s identity her past misdeeds will be exposed ruining her future prospects. Katie Zhao’s absorbing slice of dark academia combines a murder mystery with a vivid exploration of challenges faced by Asian American students under relentless pressure to succeed. Zhao’s characters are a little too thinly drawn and her plot - with its echoes of Gossip Girl - tends towards formulaic at times but this is still a fairly entertaining piece of fast-paced escapism.

This book follows a group of American Asian teens attending an elite private school, whose lives are turned upside down when their friend is found dead and they become the suspects.

The dark academia vibes were immaculate, with just the right amount of mystery, secrecy and revenge. The main characters were very interesting to follow, especially because their choices were sometimes morally questionable. I think my favourites were Alexander and Nancy.

I really liked the pacing because there was never a dull moment. The flashbacks every now and then were effective in moving the story along, though I did wish the reveal of The Incident happened earlier.

I appreciated the focus on academic pressure and the effect this can have on students’ mental health. I think this is something that definitely needs to be talked about more, particularly in high-achieving environments.

I’m happy with the way the book ended and am very excited for the sequel.

Actual rating 3.5/5 stars. This is the first instalment in the How We Fall Apart series.

Nancy Luo has always felt like an outcast at her elite prep school. She doesn't come from a wealthy family, doesn't holiday in far-flung destinations, and doesn't name drop famous names and places like most of her peers. She attends thanks to a scholarship fund and has found her way to the top of the school's social hierarchy thanks to best friend, Jamie Ruan.

Or, should that be former best friend, seen as Jamie has been murdered and the entire school seems to believe that Nancy and her other friends have information about the killer. The Proctor is the name of the unknown individual who is feeding secrets about the popular crew into the school's gossip account. Nothing they reveal has been a lie and it is only a matter of time before Nancy's deepest secrets and regrets are posted there too.

I had so much fun with this story. Pretty Little Liars meets Gossip Girl with an Asian MC and some dark academia vibes - what is not to love there? This was full of teen drama, lots of angst, and many mysteries. The ending turned a little unbelievable but I had a fun time throughout and am so eager for book two's release.

Nancy was an interesting main character and her slightly outcast status provided the perfect perspective for the reader to understand this elite and privileged world. Her friendship group were not as clearly depicted and I struggled to relate to them in the same way. I loved the dual focus on the present, after Jamie's murder, and the past, that revealed what this teenage girl was really like to those she was supposedly closest with, though. Nothing was at it seems here and no-one could be trusted, least of all, it was revealed, our insight into this world...

I absolutely loved this book. Dark academia with comparisons to Gossip Girl, PLL and then also throw in slight I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes...ticks all my boxes.

For some reason I love books that are set in academic settings of any genre but especially dark academia and thrillers that are set in prestigious schools and so this book did not disappoint. I think the reason I love them is because with such elite settings it is not beyond the realm of possiibility that there will be jealousy, rivalry, secrets and darkness and this book had that in bucketloads.
I liked the plotlibe, the chracters and the writing and I found it interesting that Katie Zhao chose to only have one narrators point of view as this added in a way to the intensity of the storyline.
I was gripped and it reminded me of everything I love about this genre in this settings, I loved it

"How we fall apart" is a Young adult thriller based in a high end prestigious school, with a murder mystery, many secrets and not normally my type of book, however, I could not put this book down and read it within 3 hours.

You really do get pulled into this story to figure out why events have happened the way they are and the secrets of the 4 students involved. This story is told in a single pov of Nancy and while I think multiple pov's would have helped with the flow of this book, I do think it would have ruined the way we read the story. "How we fell apart" really turned into a little mystery game for me, I was really suspicious of everyone and at one point was convinced I knew who it was (shock, horror I was so wrong). I surprisingly enjoyed reading How we feel apart, it touches on a lot of important topics, so many plot twists that really kept me hooked. I still haven't figured out who Anon is yet though but I really hope there is a book 2, I am very curious as to what the golden trio did.

I will defiantly be grabbing a physical copy when I can, if you are looking for something a little different from your normal reads, something that fits in the realm of Pretty little liars, Gossip Girl and a quick read I highly recommend this book for you.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for providing me with an Arc of this book via Netgalley.

I read this entire book in three hours because I could not put it down. 'How We Fall Apart' was an intense, dark thriller set in a prestigious school, and that is everything I love in a Young Adult thriller.

Although I flew through this book and was hooked the entire time, something about this book fell a little flat for me. I don't know what it was about it. I think maybe if it was a multiple POV book with the other three characters in the group apart from just Nancy's POV on its own, then maybe this book would have had more of an impact on me.

However, I really enjoyed the overall story. The 'Gossip Girl' like bad guy who spills the secrets of four people, the way this story touched on so many important topics such as mental health, racism, Asian stereotypes, the pressure of being a 'perfect' student and so many other important topics, the plot twists were a lot of fun and I enjoyed that this book ended on a cliffhanger which has definitely made me interested in reading the next book, if there is a next book in this world.

If you enjoy Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, Ace of Spades, then you should definitely check out this book as it reminded me of so many different elements of those shows/books that I enjoyed.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for providing me with an advance copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars!

Truly gripping and engaging, this is an amazing YA mystery that shines a light on the pressures many Asian American students face. This representation and being able to read about the struggles and different backgrounds of different people makes this book worth reading already.

We follow Nancy Luo as the news that her former best friend Jamie Ruan has died break. To make matters worse, now Nancy and her friends Krystal, Akil, and Alexander are being accused of the murder by an anonymous someone. This anonymous person seems to know all go the groups' darkest secrets, which only Jamie Ruan knew back from when they were friends.

In order to clear their names, the group of friends decide to find the culprit themselves before their dark secrets get spilled to the entire school.

In murder mystery terms, this book pretty much follows the crowd and the twist can be quite easy to guess if you're a fan of the genre and have read a few books. However, it is still extremely enjoyable and the characters are very well developed.

Overall, this is definitely worth a read and considering there will be a sequel coming at some point, definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

Is this book in any way original. No. Is it delicious, gossipy fun about teenagers behaving badly. Yes. For what this book is it is well worth the read.