I really enjoyed reading this book and sharing Cara’s headspace.
The writing style was easy to follow and I found myself becoming emersed in the plot.
Grief is never an easy emotion and I expect it is even harder to write about, it affects people in different ways and they all have ways and means of coming to terms with it and accepting it.
This is what I liked about this book.
It was real, there was no quick and easy fix for any of the problems presented. It took time. It took a lot of self exploration and steps forward and backwards and even at the end it wasn’t neatly tied up.
There was the beginning of closure, sure but I didn’t feel disappointed with the ending, like it had been tied up neatly in a bow or something.
So yes I am really happy that I got to read such a well written and thought provoking book.

Despite this book being set within grief of teenagers it was a really uplifting read. Focussing on both grieving the loss of of loved ones and the loss of potential futures the characters were well developed and believable as teenagers who had seen too much loss in their young lives. Yes there were typical teenage concerns, however that is what made it realistic,

In this book we meet Cara a 17 year old girl who lost her best friend in an accident. She is sent to a boarding school called Hope in Switzerland by her mother to make a fresh start. At Hope Cara meets new people but because of her trauma she has trouble letting them into her life.
This book deals with grief, guilt, friendship and family. I loved the way the friendships were build and how Cara developed herself after her trauma. I loved how Hector and Cara developed their romance and how Cara was able to cut through Hectors thick wall of emotions.
The book was nicely written and I hope to her more from Nina de Pass in the future.

"This time round, despite what will inevitably come after, I will be honest. It's the only hope I have." - Nina De Pass, The Year After You

I requested this book from Net Galley to review, it was one of my very first advance reader copies, the cover art alone peaked my interest. Then I read the synopsis and thought it would be a interesting and easy read.

Before I begin, I'd just like to say that this review contains thoughts and opinions that may spoil the plot. There are topics covered in this story that may be triggering to you such as: PTSD, grief, suicide and survivors guilt.

As a preface to the main story, the main character Cara survives a horrific car accident on New Years Eve, but her best friend Georgina does not.
The story begins nine months after the accident, Cara is struggling, she is consumed by guilt and grief. Her mum has sent her to a Swiss boarding school in the hopes that it will be a fresh start.

For my full review see: https://readbyamity.wordpress.com/2019/02/21/review-the-year-after-you/

This book ticked all of my boxes, easy to read, had me laughing, crying, internally screaming at, and empathising with the characters. It explored some difficult topics, and showcased beautifully how hard it is to be forced to endure the cruel things the world can dish out to you. I found the writing well developed, and it exceeded my expectations.

For these reasons, I rated this book a solid and well deserved 5 out of 5 stars. Would most definitely recommend.

3.5 stars!

Only three chapters in and I was ready to DNF this book. But then I realised that 13 year old me would have absolutely devoured it, and so I gave in. I got rid of any expectations and decided to take this book's roller coaster ride. Turns out; I actually enjoyed it!

I think this book is perfect for 13+, it deals with recovery and several mental health issues in a responsible way.

The humour of this book is just perfect. There's not one solid 'comedic' character, but rather each of the friendship group gets their own funny moment. The friendships are a nice dynamic and have a level of depth to them.

A compelling boarding school YA novel all about overcoming trauma and the saving grace of true friendship – a perfect book to snuggle up with on a snowy winter's night.

Nina de Pass's debut YA novel is a fab read - I devoured it over a couple of days, racing to discover more about the secretive characters and their dark pasts, and to find out if, and how, they find redemption.

Cara, the main character, is sent to boarding school in Switzerland as a last resort to overcome the trauma of a car accident in which her best friend died. But there's more to the story than that, and if Cara is to start over, she must keep the truth from those who would befriend her. Yet at the same time, can she really forge new, lasting friendships if she doesn't come clean about her past?

For anyone that has ever felt lonely and struggled to face their demons, Cara's story will feel familiar and cathartic. If the prose is sometimes a little heavy on the foreshadowing, it's hardly a deterrent to read the book as the characters are each unique and complex, and the strength of their relationships will draw you deeper into the story and its glittering, magical setting in the snowy Swiss Alps. Keep a tissue nearby - it's a sometimes emotional ride!

The Year After You by Nina de Pass portrays a story of grief, guilt and forgiveness. The story follows the main character Cara, as she struggles through the days, weeks and months after her best friend, G, is killed in a car accident. After several months of seeing her daughter in pain, Cara’s mother decides Cara might find her way through her pain at a boarding school in Switzerland, a new place where Cara can start over. But when she arrives at Hope Hall in the Swiss Alps, Cara still struggles to move past her grief and overbearing guilt. However, the possibility of new found friendships with three students in her year might be enough to help her finally move on. In particular, she connects with Hector, who understands where she comes from more than anyone. First, she has to decide if she is strong enough to let him into her life.

I was really happy to receive the ARC of this book, especially after falling in love with the cover and the glowing reviews I’d read. However, now that I have finished this book, I feel that the expectations bought on by the gorgeous cover and other reader’s reviews has were too high and I have ended up feeling underwhelmed by the plot and the characters. I’m going to try and explain why, but to be honest, I’m not entirely sure why this book just didn’t grab me.

It took me quite a long time to get into the narrative and to connect with Cara as a character. It wasn’t until about halfway through the book that I really thought I could see who Cara was as a person, but in the first half and even in the second, I still couldn’t quite connect with her. If I don’t feel like a main character is really speaking to me, it makes it much harder for me to fall into a story. I felt that I really wanted to know Cara more, but I think because she herself was so out-of-touch with most things expect her own internal grief, I was unable to know who she was outside of what she was dealing with. Her connections with the other characters and her own self felt lost to me in comparison to what she was going through from her past with G. And, honestly, I sometimes struggled with actually liking her up until near the end of the book.

I felt the same about many of the other characters, too. With Hector, I wish there’d been a little more characterisation. To me, he felt like a bit of an enigma and I would’ve liked to know more about him, rather than him being that person to help Cara get through everything because they shared difficult pasts. I wish there’d been more of Ren and Fred, but their backgrounds, problems and relationships with each other and the other characters were more backstory in comparison to Cara’s narrative and Hector’s as well. There isn’t anything particularly wrong with that, but I just felt like I wanted to really, step into these four characters lives and the book just didn’t quite get me there.

While I liked the themes of grief, guilt and forgiveness that were explored and enjoyed Cara reaching a point where she felt better in her own skin again, I found the portrayal of these themes when they weren’t connected to Cara sometimes shallow, that they could’ve gone a lot deeper. While I liked the inclusion of certain issues, I felt that there were sometimes too many things being explored that meant there was less time dedicated to the main story line, and this meant that some plot lines felt forced or out of place in the scheme of things.

While on the whole this book didn’t work for me, I do want to say that Nina de Pass’s writing was easy to read and often whimsical in style. There were times that I was really wowed by her portrayal of the issues and Cara’s internal feelings. One particular description, which I can’t say more on because it’s a spoiler, really did make my heart skip with the beauty in the words. These moments of particularly good writing and the exploration of mental health and guilt, among others, were definitely the highlights of this book. It’s a shame that everything else didn’t click with me as I’d expected and hoped.

Really good book! There was not all that much happening at the start and I felt it was a bit slow to get into, but past the first bit I really enjoyed it!

The story focuses on Cara and her life as she attempts to face up to the aftermath of a life changing event. I really loved the setting for this book and felt that the author gave enough detail to allow me to clearly imagine the school without it feeling like the flow of the story was interrupted. I also loved that the characters weren’t perfect people who always made the right choice and acted in the best way possible. The characters felt real and relatable. At times I was on their side, exasperated with them, down right annoyed and heartbroken. An engaging and enjoyable read. I would highly recommend this book.

*4.25 Stars*

Cara has lived something traumatic and her mother decides to send her to a boarding school in Switzerland so that she can process and heal. But Cara has a lot of trouble connecting considering how guarded she is. And who could blame her? But Hector and Ren insert themselves into her life and Cara can't help but feel things and it's not without its challenges.

I'm a sucker for boarding school stories and this was no exception. I loved the mountains setting and I could picture the snow and even feel the cold. The characters were all layered and all around interesting. I felt for Cara a lot and I really liked Ren and Hector. Cara's pain was very relatable and touching, it even moved me to tears. I really liked how everything was balanced and how the interactions between the characters were told, especially the flashbacks. I do love an unreliable narrator.
I did see most of the big twists coming though and I couldn't understand why everyone was so angry at the end, and it made me mad on her behalf. I also wasn't all that swept up by the romance. But all in all, this was simply a great story about friendship and grief.

This is a wonderful, soul-searching, but sad story of hope and grief and it is one of the best books that I have read in a while.

It is set in Hope Hall, a Swiss boarding school located in the Alps. For me, one of the things that Nina de Pass did very cleverly was using the setting to maximum effect in THE YEAR AFTER YOU. Since my childhood, I have loved boarding school settings, as everything is so much more intense when in close proximity, such as romantic liaisons and relationships which tend to run at a different rate.

The main protagonist in this novel is Cara, who I found to be exceptionally frustrating at times, though this did not spoil the story for me in any way. From an honesty point of view, she was pretty unreliable as a narrator, however, I had a great deal of empathy for her because of what happened to her best friend Georgina. I loved that Nina de Pass developed Cara’s character so well.

I really liked all of the characters in THE YEAR AFTER YOU because they were so well formed as people with their own parts to play and were not just added after-thoughts to make the protagonist look better. For me, the story-telling also held some poignant messages about support mechanisms of friends and family and mental health issues.

I think that THE YEAR AFTER YOU is a book that I will remember. I would certainly recommend reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Black & White Publishing and Nina de Pass for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.

I loved this a lot. This book deals with topics like mental ilness and guilt (PTSS). The author did a great job of writing the characters, they are very believable. The setting is a boarding school so that's always interesting. I love how you kept learning more about the main character's problems and why she isn't perfect. But she too deserves forgiveness!

So, great book for young adults or just adults. Possible trigger warnings: guilt, homophobia, suicide, mental ilness.

5 Words: Friendship, grief, blame, second-chances, forgiveness.

Content Warning: Grief, PTSD, homophobia

This book. This glorious, gorgeous book. It broke my heart and lifted my soul and I really don't think I can put in to words how much I loved it.

I think I'll start with the setting. I am a sucker for boarding school settings, the way that everything is so much more intense in close quarters, how relationships run at a different pace, the family-like quality of the people around you even (especially) if you don't like them or like them more than you think you should. And The Year After You absolutely excelled at manipulating the setting into emphasising the story. All at once the place is remote and lonely, crowded and loud, passions were heightened and everything held a new level of drama.

Hope Hall is like a motley collection of broken people finding themselves and learning to love themselves. It's a place full of hope and a little expectation, with support networks and an incredible view and I want to go there please.

The Year After You has the most amazing characters too. I loved Cara, even if I did find her frustrating at times. She is absolutely an unreliable narrator, and it is done in the best way. I absolutely adored her, but I wanted to give her a huge hug and a good shake and tell her to be honest all at the same time. I emphasised so much with her, and I loved the journey she took within herself between the pages. I felt her fear, her pain, her anger. She is open minded yet guarded, honest yet always lying. She is so incredibly complex and I love her dearly for it.

I loved Ren and her loyalty. She's a soft lesbian Hufflepuff, and honestly so relatable. I want to give her a squish and thank her for being amazing. She doesn't have the easiest time at Hope Hall due, lets be honest, to shitty people. And at times she can be a bit shitty because of it but I don't blame her because Same.

When it comes to the boys in the story, I actually have a lot of time for them both. They're juggling secrets, staying loyal, looking out for each other. They care, and they show that they care. They love their friends and they show that. And sure the road might get a little bumpy, but doesn't it always?

I loved the fake relationships, the half truths, the slow burn, the steady revelations. The Year After You is like the perfect YA novel.

And the writing itself, oh my. Excellent characters, excellent setting, excellent plot, excellent writing. I will absolutely read anything and everything this author writes next. I loved the expression on the pages, I picked out so many quotes. So. Many. Enough that I'll be sharing my top ten after the blog tour. It's lush and expressive, and full of feeling.

Honestly, The Year After You by Nina de Pass is marvellous. It was my first read of the year, and over 20 books in is still my favourite. It will take a lot to knock this beauty off the top spot (I don't think that'll happen).

"People always hurt the people they care about." Her mouth transforms into a pitying smile. "That's why it hurts so much."

That was an emotional journey if I ever saw one.
I definitely tend to stop myself from reading books like this, but when I actually finish reading them, it’s like I’ve been given this gigantic reward.
My favourite books of all time have been things like ‘Neverland’ by Margot McGovern, ‘The Sister Pact’ by Stacie Ramey and ‘Love Letters to the Dead’ by Ava Dellaira, all of which follow in the same vein as this book.
I think there’s something so beautiful and haunting about this book. The atmosphere is so encompassing, like a shroud of energy - not the bad kind though - that leaves you in a trance-like state.
I love, love, LOVE all of the main characters in this story. In fact I could go so far as to say I loved all of the characters because they were so developed as people and not just as props to make the protagonist look good. It had those important messages about friends, family, support systems and mental health. It was just a lot of really good things and it hit the right points for me over and over again.
‘The Year After You’ is one of those books that will stick with you for a long time. Would definitely recommend picking this up!

Have you ever had so many options and ideas in your head not to be able to sort it through? So many emotions, so many thoughts that the clutter becomes indistinguishable? How can you put down on paper in a linear and clear way what you feel about something, and analyse that something for people to understand what goes on in your head? I finished The year after you almost a week ago, I read it in less than Four hours and I honestly am still struggling to bring this review to you. I feel like words– no, I feel like my words and my vocabulary is not enough in the four languages I can speak to sort through the level of love that I have for this book.

The year after you managed in so many things for me that in those three hours I sobbed my heart out and fell in love and was born again. This book managed to make me fall in love with a female character, things that didn’t happen since I was 14 and that made me realise maybe my path was not properly a straight line. This book made me fall in love with a genre that I thought I was maybe getting too old to find relatable. This book managed to position itself in a timeless moment in my heart and gain a position into my favourite pile and I’ve already propositioned it to so many people I lost count. It’s the book I twitted about mid-reading ( things that I rarely do because of obvious reasons – first among them my peculiar relationships with endings and how I seem to never be satisfied with them, but not with this one! ) …

So what makes it so special? What makes this simple newborn not yet published young adult into this gem? Well, This book and its characters are like a diamonds, pressed by the weight of their guilt they’ll find a way to polish themselves and shine… in other words:
character growth.



This book is not simply a journey, doesn’t only have representations, isn’t simply about teenagers in a boarding school in the Alps. this book is about grief, about guilt and self-hatred. This book is about touching the ground and realising you have the strength to push back up. You can’t grasp that possibility while you are falling, gravity will pull you down, but once your feet hit the ground, once you have something to leverage onto you can push through the pressure and come out of it anew. The pain will always be there when you lose someone so important they will always be a hole in the frame of your life, but that guilt, that pain will slowly fade away and you are left with memories. You need to keep on pushing or you’ll die with them.

This book surprised me, and I’m not easily surprised, every turn every discovery, every piece of honesty was raw and real as a punch in my feels and I felt like I could breathe again only at the epilogue. Feeling for others is easier than feeling for yourself, running away is all good on paper but you need to face things to actually grow, and this book helps you go through a daunting process, feeling every bit of it but without triggering anything that might make my anxiety spike up! It’s a story about acceptance, about people that love with the tools they are given, about teenagers that become adults maybe a tad bit too early. It’s a story about hope, a hope that you didn’t even dream of on the first page.

Would I love another book? Hell yeah! Tell me all about Rae babe! But in general, I’m glad about how this book is, and I’ll treasure it forever.



what to say, Nina de Pass is now definitely one of my favourite authors and currently my only favourite young adult writer. Her character is vivid and flawless. You start her book and think you see typical tropes but soon you discover that there is so much more.
The ending was flawless, the middle was superb, I love the communication and the total absence of stupid “misunderstanding” Just for the sake of it. This book is outstanding, The cover is amazing, the writing is enchanting, I just want to go on the alps and open a boarding school for kids who might need it now!



Would I recommend it?!?
I will personally walk you to the bookshop on the 14th of February
and force you to buy and read it!
Now that’s what I would call a Valentine’s date 😉
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
booksandcurves.com
@booksandcurves

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with and arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot put into words how much I loved this book!
When I started this book I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did but I couldn’t put it down until I finished it.
This book took me on an emotional roller coaster and I spent a majority of the book with tears streaming down my face.
Cara is such an amazing and complex character. I just wanted to hug her so badly. Her emotional journey was turbulent and amazing.
She was engaging and I felt every emotion she was feeling as if it was my own.
I adored Ren and thought she was such an amazing friend to cara when she was at her lowest.
Hector was probably my favourite character because I connected most with his story.
I love how this wasn’t an insta love story but one that slowly grew into something amazing, genuine and beautiful.
Overall I have to say this book is now one of my favourite books ever. I connected with it in a way I haven’t connected with a book in a long time.
I felt everything while reading this book and it was defiantly worth the ride on the emotional rollercoaster!
If this book is any indication Nina is going to be one of my all time favourite authors.
5 stars isn’t enough for how good this was.

This book was so good! I devoured it within one night and it kept me on my toes throughout.

The story tells us about Cara who moves to a Swiss boarding school in order to escape her troubling past. The issue is, she can't seem to. She meets different characters with their own demons, an example being persistent Hector. As the book progresses, more is revealed as Cara starts to come to terms with that happened to her.

"The Year After You" deals with topics of grief, guilt, love and acceptance. The writing was fluid and Cara's obvious struggle was evident.

I definitely recommend this book and therefore give it a 4.5/5