I had such high hopes for this one and whilst I liked the set up and the plot, something wasn't clicking for me. Liv's story was my favourite timeline and she ended up being one of my favourite characters, along with Roo. A quick listen but not one of my favourites, unfortunately.

I went into this thinking it was going to be a really emotional one, but it was different to how I expected. The overall story was a good one but I would have liked more of Will’s story I think, and the impact of life on his mental health.
Liv’s story and her finding out about her mum and Will was a good one, and I enjoyed seeing her mature before our eyes as she started to appreciate Emily for being more than just her mum.

Heartfelt and sweet. I really enjoyed it and was gripped from the start. I love it when a book surprises you.

This was a real emotional roller coaster for me. As a teenager in the Brit Pop years so much of the nostalgic detail of Emily's POV resonated pretty hard, so those parts were definitely my highlights. But Liv's story rang just as true, especially her passion for music. Yet this was so much more than about first loves and cool music, with some pretty difficult themes covered with great sensitivity and compassion. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the author's next read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this book. I read this so quickly - I loved the back and forth of timelines and putting the pieces together, as well as the idea of a fallen rockstar. This was a really fun read!

I totally agree with many of the reviews for this book - if you liked Daisy and the Six you'll love this book and fall in love with all the characters. I couldn't put this book down & it's definitely a 2-day beach read. Thanks for the ARC!!!

Before I start, there’s content some readers might want to be aware of - check out at the end for more details. I was intrigued with this one as the blurb markets it towards fans to TJR (I was sold!) Thankfully I was granted access to a review copy.

I will admit that I struggled with earlier parts, but once I got going with this, it really had me hooked. The two timelines and multiple viewpoints really worked with this one and there’s an element of the mystery behind Will’s death. I loved how this one played out, and how given the connection with music, and it made me cry.

Thanks to NetGalley, the team at Avon Books, and the author for the opportunity to read this review copy.

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⚠️Content warning/potential spoilers: there’s reference to mental health and suicide.

I finished this a while ago and it has taken me a long time to write this review. I've realised that I don't think I can do it justice other than to say I'm still thinking about it now, and that it's 100% one of my favourite reads of the year, if not my number one. When We Were Young had me hooked from the first sentence. Dual timeline, multiple narrators, well faced, beautifully emotional, some mystery mixed with romance, and a stunning cover to boot.

I can't believe this is a debut novel. I'll be looking out for Elaine Hastings' next book and will be recommending this one to everyone!

This book make me cry! Very well written and a beautiful love story.
The chapters are split between past and present, with 3 narrators.
A great debut which must be read!
Can't wait to see what this author does next.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I mean wow! Being a big fan of Daisy Jones and The Six, this book appealed to me. A character driven story is very much to my taste and I couldn’t wait to read it.
This is a beautifully written, emotional story about love, memory, and second chances. Told over a dual timeline, the love story between Will and Emily and the tragedy that follows, and the healing between Emily, Scott and their daughter Liv in present day. I can’t believe this book is a debut novel, it’s written perfectly, I read the whole thing in two days! Perfect pacing, perfect chapter length and an emotional ending!
The writing is gentle, emotional, and full of heart, this one will stay with me, it’s got to be one of my favourite books

When We Were Young has a lovely cover and is the sad tale of a 1990s musician and his great love, Emily. The novel alternates between flashbacks to Will’s life in the 90s and present day, with multiple narrators. Will finds great success as a musician, but is overwhelmed by the pressures to create, perform and tour. He commits suicide, and crushes his lover Emily in the process.

Cue to present day, and the story alternates between the point of view of Emily, her ex-partner Scott, and their daughter Liv. I found this part of the story to be very difficult to get through. Emily hates her job and her life overall, and seems to be living in a fog, unable to move on from Will’s suicide decades prior. Liv is extremely manipulative, lies to her friends and parents in order to sneak around with her boyfriend. She does many things to pry into Emily’s past, even though her mother asks her multiple times to stop doing this. Her selfish nature and disrespect shown to her mother was particularly cruel.

This novel felt really grey to me. The mood of the book is very depressing until the last two chapters. Will’s suicide, Emily’s unhappiness, Liv’s selfish and duplicitious nature are all very negative. I assume that the author is trying to show us the difficulties and pain of complex grief, but as a reader, the content felt very heavy and the characters very sad. I had a hard time feeling connected with any of the characters, or the story, other than feeling sorry for all of them.

I think this novel will appeal to a reader who enjoys emotional stories about painful loss and grief. A reader who is interested in 1990s rock and musicians would find this novel interesting. The tone and subject matter were too sad and intense for me, but I’m sure there are many other readers who would love this book.

Thanks to Elaine Hastings, Avon Books UK, and NetGalley for providing an advance reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

When We Were Young is a fast moving, easy to read debut novel. It has a dual timeline and three different POV’s which keeps the story interesting and entertaining. It’s relatable and funny at times, with a unique storyline about a young musician and a young artist who fall hard for one another. Fast forward 16 years and we explore what happened to Will and Emily back in the late 90’s through Emily’s daughter Liv exploring her mum’s history she has never shared with her.

It deals with themes of suicide, drug use and mental health problems whilst ultimately being a story about love, friendship and family.

It was an enjoyable read and an interesting storyline. However I was hoping for more character depth. The book deals with some very serious topics but unfortunately I felt they weren’t explored in any great detail and there was a focus on the fast-paced storyline over emotional depth. A fair few times I was left frustrated at end of a chapter as I just wanted to hear a bit more. Could it have just been a me problem or bad timing, quite possibly. 🤷‍♀️

Oh gosh, I knew this story was gonna be an emotional one and it really was. It felt really bittersweet and is such a complex love story.

Will, a young musician back in the 90s, with a very promising career ahead of him falls in love with extremely talented artist, Emily. They seem to be the perfect couple in love. However, a few years later that all changes.

From that awful day back in July 1999, Emily has been living with so much grief. Fast forward to 2016, a single mother with a teenage daughter, life has pretty much been on hold for Emily. There's been no desire for art, no love life, she's just existing really.

When Liv her daughter uncovers that her mum knew Will Bailey back in the day, she can't quite believe it. Liv is determined to uncover what her mum has been hiding. What she does discover will change the course of hers and mum Emily's life forever.

I still can't believe this book is a debut novel! The duel timeline and different POV's really make this story even more heartfelt and emotional. Exceptional story, which did make my lip wobble quite a few times.

Oh Will 🥺🥹

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I really enjoyed this one. It was definitely an emotional read from start to finish. I love music so watching Will's career grow during 90s and seeing the positive and negative impacts it had on him was really interesting!

I loved the multiple POV and the dual timeline. Emily, Will and Liv's POVs all felt important to the overall story. There's so many themes explored through those three narratives - love, loss, grief, guilt, acceptance. Relationship struggles with Emily and her daughter and also Will and Emily and his family.

It's very messy and complicated but that's what makes it feel real. I felt like each character went on a journey.

Only thing I wasn't sure about was Scott. The romance storyline with him at the end felt a bit rushed and unrealistic.

That being said, it is a really beautiful story that I would fully recommend.

Reading When We Were Young by Elaine Hastings felt like walking through a memory, one that was equal parts beautiful and bittersweet. From the very first chapter, I was completely swept away.

What I loved most, what truly made this story unforgettable, was the way Hastings wove together multiple points of view and the past and present timelines so seamlessly. Seeing the world through Will, Liv, and Emily’s eyes gave the story such depth. I didn’t expect to fall for all three of them, but I did—equally, and wholeheartedly. Their voices were so distinct yet deeply connected, and watching their lives unfold across different timelines made the emotional weight of the story hit even harder.

There’s something so powerful about how every storyline eventually aligned, little details that seemed small at first came back around in the most heartwarming and heartbreaking ways. I found myself holding my breath, waiting for the moments where past would crash into present, and when they did, it was devastating in the best possible way.

Hastings has this rare ability to write emotion without ever overdoing it. Every feeling, grief, longing, hope, regret, was written with care, and it felt real. I found myself thinking about my own “what ifs,” the people I once knew, and the version of myself I left behind.

When We Were Young isn’t just a story about love, it’s about growing up, letting go, and holding on to the people who shape us. I’ll be carrying this one with me for a long time.

I was drawn in by the beautiful cover and intrigued by the story as it has been compared to Daisy Jones and the Six. If you enjoyed Daisy Jones, you will enjoy this one.

A story of love and heartbreak. I read it over 2 days and didn’t want to put it down.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

When We Were Young was a heartbreakingly beautiful book reminiscent of Talking at Night by Claire Daverly. Both books took a few chapters to get into their groove, but drew me in, and made me anxious to put them down. I didn’t have high expectations for this book, because of its cover. I was expecting more of a teenage, fast-paced, slick, superficial book. Boy, was I wrong. This novel has multiple points of view and chapters from different perspectives, with daughter Liv, surprisingly (to me), being the main point of view. A car accident changes Liv’s life when her mom, Emily, reveals that she had a relationship with 90’s musician, Will, a talented artist who died before making his second album. The perspectives shift mainly between Will, Emily, Liv, and jump in time from the early 90s to present day.

Emily is living such a punishingly small life. She is disconnected from herself and her teenage daughter; sleepwalking through her existence. As a therapist, I thought that was an accurate portrayal of unresolved, complicated grief. Emily was so stuck in blame and fantasy. Her perspective of Will, so colored by her grief, gave her a child-like view of him. This perspective, shared by Emily and Will, is so strong that it takes the reader time to see Will accurately, and not like some romantic hero. In fact, I was swept up in the tragic romance of it all, sitting in Will and 20 year old Emily’s perspective, that it took time for me to take a step back and see who Will really was. As someone who lived through the Kurt Cobain 90s, and was a teen when he killed himself, it was so easy to be transported to that perspective of a Kurt being a fractured-romantic-genius-artist, and discount his substance use and the pain he must have caused to the people in his life, both at that time and also what his daughter must feel like today, living with that legacy. Thanks Scott, for giving me permission to see Will more accurately. I wish Emily could have done so sooner as well.

Hastings captures a teenage perspective so well; the feeling that everything is so meaningful and so fragile at the same time. The details about the music festivals and concerts were so vivid. I loved the supporting characters (Rue!), they all felt real. It was so beautiful to see both Liv and Emily develop and grow up through the course of the book. And Scott, oh Scott, I was so glad to see more of him as the book progressed. The epilogue killed me; I was crying in bed as I finished. I loved this book! I hope it gets recognized for how special it is. 4.5 stars. Thanks to Net Galley and Avon Books UK for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

2⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an advanced copy of When We Were Young.

Liv finds out her mom used to know Will Bailey who was a famous singer years ago but she refuses to talk about him. So Liv decides to do some digging on her own to learn about her mom and Will.

I was really excited about this one but it felt like it really dragged out a little too long for my taste. It just seemed like this big build up to nothing really.

When We Were Young by Elaine Hastings is such a beautifully written story.
I was hooked from the first page, and the way the story unfolded kept me happily reading.
I really enjoyed the characters and the storyline. I found the characters were relatable and I was rooting for them.

Such a beautiful whirlwind of love, loss and learnings! This is definitely a must read for summer 2025.
I absolutely loved following Will, Emily and Liv’s stories and uncovering it all through the past and present.
I really enjoyed how at times this book didn’t follow what I expected to happen and instead kept me immersed and wanting to know more!