We’ll Never Be Apart
288 Pages
Release Date: 10/06/2015
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Imprint: HMH Books for Young Readers
Genre: Teen/YA | YA Suspense | YA Mystery/Thriller
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller | YA Contemporary
Warning!
*Recommended for ages 14 and up*
This book contains dark themes and deep psychological issues that may be upsetting for some readers, particularly those with a sensitivity to death, severe mental health issues, and/or stories involving troubled youths with emotionally damaging and destructive pasts.
Some promises are meant to be broken…
Murder.
Fire.
Revenge.
That’s all seventeen-year-old Alice Monroe thinks about. Committed to a mental ward at Savage Isle, Alice is haunted by memories of the fire that killed her boyfriend, Jason. A blaze her twin sister Cellie set. But when Chase, a mysterious, charismatic patient, agrees to help her seek vengeance, Alice begins to rethink everything. Writing out the story of her troubled past in a journal, she must confront hidden truths.
Is the one person she trusts only telling her half the story? Nothing is as it seems in this edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller from the debut author Emiko Jean.
*E-ARC provided by Publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review*
First Impression: Well-written and psychologically disturbing, with a lead character who draws you into her story with a horrified fascination that grips you and refuses to let you go.
We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean is a fast-paced, deeply psychological thriller that not only captured my attention but held it in a dark, tight-fisted grasp. Using realistic and contemporary themes, We’ll Never Be Apart is a well plotted, well-researched, and well-executed young adult novel that really appealed to me as both a reader and as a lover of and undergraduate in psychology.
I was completely hooked and riveted by this story. Yes, I did figure out what was going on early on in the book, because the seeds are there and well planted, but that didn’t make it any less of a compelling and intriguing read for me. This was an expertly woven book and an extremely impressive debut psychological novel.
I found this book to be an absolutely enthralling read. It was everything I love in a psychological thriller and then some. I will admit the fact that it was set in a young adult mental health facility was particularly unsettling, but it fit the story and was actually the perfect place. The more I read, the more nervous and horrified I became for April. This is very much an in-depth look into the psychological nature of some of today’s most troubled youth, and how their experiences as young children can shape them into the fractured and emotionally compromised people they become. Such an eye-opening true-to-life read. Highly, highly recommend giving this book a shot.
Emiko Jean is an elementary school math teacher, whose work with children in foster care inspired her debut novel, We’ll Never Be Apart. Aside from reading, writing, and teaching, Emiko is passionate about bugs. She can often be found in the remote forests of the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her husband, hunting giant moths and cataloging rare insect colonies.