How We Fall Apart

Product Information

Horrible, twisted misdeeds, for the chance to have everything, everything this school had promised us. Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of this book. And Zhao extends this character development and backstories to so many of the other side characters. I was a freshman in high school eight years ago (holy shiz 😬), but there are things that I remember like it was yesterday. I’ve been getting really into dark academia recently and this book sounds ideal for the next time I’m in the mood for a fast paced mystery.

I do wish it had a little more intensity because it’s a thriller and I did want more from Nancy as well. There didn’t seem to be any effort from these groups to find out who is posting because they clearly have a desire to see the characters humiliated and punished. The intense competition Katie focuses this story on is something you don’t always notice until you’re separated from that situation, at least for me. What I didn't enjoy as much was the way some of the situations these characters found themselves in were too unbelievable.

I liked that it was about that secret, but I think someone else being the person behind it wouldn’t have stretched my believability so much. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends – Krystal, Akil, and Alexander – are the prime suspects, thanks to “the Proctor,” someone anonymously incriminating them via the school’s social media app. Each has a secret Jamie knew, and now the Proctor is revealing them one by one, damning them all to expulsion and throwing them to the wolves. HOW WE FALL APART is a twisty academic thriller about the children of immigrants fighting to stay top of their classes as their former best friend dies – and they’re accused of the murder by an anonymous social media poster.

It helps create a tension and pacing as it’s clearly they’re come out across the book, so they’re are almost like little milestones to reach. That being said, there are common Asian stereotypes perpetuated in the novel – but I personally didn’t think too much of it since I assumed it was commentary.

As rumors spread that Jamie was murdered, an anonymous post on Tip Tap, the school's gossip app, from "The Proctor" points to Jamie's best friends--Nancy, Krystal Choi, Akil Patel, and Alexander Lin--as the prime suspects. It gave them all more depth, because at first they are pretty much perfect masks as we’re only in the MC’s heads.

Gr 9 Up—In this dark, thrilling mystery, high school junior Nancy Luo's former best friend Jamie is found dead. While Alexander is another scholarship student whose brother’s expulsion years ago haunts him to this day.An entertaining start to YA thriller/mystery series showing the darkside of academia life in a prestigious Preparatory School and with characters who have plenty of secrets to hide. HWFA is intense suspense as much as it is sharp criticism of the competition in schools, a fire that is fanned particularly in the Asian American community. uk will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing. Which I feel is a pretty common set up for a modern mystery, so I’d take the comparison with a pinch of salt. I would’ve liked more backstory with their friendship and how that fell apart, especially since it feels like an integral part of the story.