This was an excellent read and felt very realistic. I recently ended a friendship and this book resonated so much with the situation that I was in. I was able to relate to James in almost every way and the friend I ended it with was so much like Kat is was a little frightening. I would highly recommend this title to any high-schoolers who are navigating friendships and figuring out their future.

This book definitely did things most books don’t do. It focused on a friend breakup instead of a romantic couple. Anyone that has had a friend breakup knows that sometimes those can be worse than romantic breakups.

I thought this book was extremely well written. The queer rep was amazing. The flow of the book was effective in the way that we got both POV of the friendship, and it works from present day to going back in time so we see the friendship in reverse.

I think i didn’t connect with this one because I never had a friendship that lasted long and we had a friend breakup. So it was hard to relate to them in that way. I walked away not feeling happy or sad. I understood why they felt the way they did, but it didn’t sway me in either direction.

I could see this book being great for other people but it just didn’t hit me the way it has hit other people.

This e-arc was formatted terribly and was hard to read. I had to wait for it to come out and check it out from my library. I loved this book it was amazing I wish I could have actually read the e-arc though.

Wow this book was incredible. Finally a book that deals with friendships and friendship break ups which are never talked about. This book was so well written. I felt so much for both characters they both made me angry in how they treated the other but I could also understand their point of view. The nuance in their relationship was done so well. Both of them were at fault for their break up and it was so heartbreaking to read. I love that Kat comes out as bisexual and starts dating a girl. Their shift from friendship to dating wasn’t developed enough and felt rushed but it was a really cute relationship. There were times the dialogue wasn’t as strong or certain characters and subplots weren’t throughly developed. Despite some tiny flaws this book was an amazing intimate look at friendships and even though it broke my heart I loved every second of it.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

We used to be friends is very peculiar book, built in a curious and interesting way. There are two POVs, Kat's and James' and the book swings from month to month, starting with the end (or a beginning) and ending with the beginning.
Kat and James are best friends since they were little and they can't wait to go through their senior year, both of them full of hopes, plans and ideas for the future, colleges and boyfriends. But the senior year changes everything for them.

James' life is turn upside down when her parents, together since high school and considered, by her and everyone else, a true love story, break up and her mother left her and her father to live in another city with another man. She isn't sure anymore about anything, even her own relationship with Logan, now in college and she decided to break up with him, scared because her plans, inspired by her parents' love, fell apart. Seeing their marriage's outcome, she's scared to love her boyfriend, bringing herself to pushing him away.
To complicate things her best friend seemed less interested in hanging out with her and in trying to understand that something is wrong with James than to be with Quinn Morgan, who seems to have taken her place and Kat's attention. Jealousy and heartbreak pushes James to distance herself from Kat.

Kat's life, even though she wants others to think it's perfect, is not. Her mother died for a heart problem, leaving her paranoid and scared about her own health, her father decided to start dating and her boyfriend cheated on her because he was bored when she was away during summer. Her only constant is (was) James, even though slowly their relationship deteriorate, and her new friendship with Quinn. When Quinn kissed her, Kat realized how much she loves her and starts a relationship with her, slowly and without realizing, pushing James away. Or giving her for granted.

This book narrated their story, talking about their relationships, school, boyfriend and girlfriend, parents dating, parents separating, prom and dresses, colleges, friends. It shows, while talking about their friendship, with flashbacks too, how James' and Kat's lives change in such short time, how they find way to be more sure of themselves, or how to seek help, how to realize people around them, how to grown up, even when everything changes around you and you lose your benchmark.

Kat is a bit self absorbed, but like James, her character is complex. She's suffering, going through big changes in her life, her father dating, her bisexuality, her moving on after her mother's death. Around others Kat pretends she's perfect, she hasn't problems and only James and then Quinn pushed her to be more herself, to be fragile when she needs to be. To accept things and learn from them.

James is complex, quiet and introvert. She and Kat are really different. Kat popular and boisterous, James contemplative, alert, with her plans and thoughts. It's clear even in their writing style, because Kat uses upper cases and emoticons and esclamation points, while James is more accurate in writing and, when she slowly distances herself from Kat, her style becomes succint and almost cold.
James found her world turned upside down and she's forced to accept it, with her mother and friend.
I love her relationship with Logan, Who is an amazing, caring and funny person, always there for her, when they are a couple, when they are not and when they are figuring out, giving her space to sort herself and her feelings out.

I love how this book deals with emotions, heartbreak, grieving, funny moments and so on. I love how the ending left, at least as I see it, a sliver of hope for James and Kat and James and Logan. How it talked about jealousy, relationship,romantic and not, school and making choices.

Amy Spalding's writing style is excellent and she swings skillfully between the two main characters and it's clear who's talking by word choices, sentences and expressions. I liked the way the book deals with important themes (divorces, depressions, seeking help and so on) and how it focuses on changes and growing up.

Overall We used to be friends is a 4 stars reading for me, intesting, captivating and really well written.

I really liked the theme of this book which is about a friendship that falls apart. So many of us have experienced the devastation of such an event, but it's something that YA literature hasn't really explored. I think it's an important topic. That said, while this book has a lot to recommend it like well-developed characters, I really disliked the non-linear telling of the story. I feel it was unnecessary and confusing. E-book readers will find it particularly hard to follow the timeline as it's much harder to flip back in the book to figure out the timeline of events. Great idea, imperfect execution.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read We Used to be Friends in exchange for a honest review!

Man, I loved this book. Friendship break ups is a subject I’ve wanted to see in YA for so long, and I’m beyond happy this was my first read that highlights it. I really loved James and Kat and getting to see their relationship shift through their own perspectives. All of the characters were so well written and complex and honestly, I would love to see how their story continues because everyone just felt so alive as I was reading. I’m sad that this book is over, but I’m sure it’s one that I’ll have on my mind and in my heart for a long time.

We Used to Be Friends was achingly real. I couldn't put it down and stayed up way past my bedtime to finish but once I did, it actually hit so close to home that I didn't know how I felt about it at first. And it didn't help that one of the girls reminded me so much of someone I used to be best friends with (that's probably I didn't like that character) while the other vocalized a lot my feelings during my own bestie breakup with said friend. In this book, we get to see both sides of the story and it's told in dual timelines meaning half the chapters move forward while the other moves backward. It sounds complicated and kudos to Spalding for approaching it this way and making it work. At the start of their senior year, James and Kat are inseparable but by graduation they're no longer friends. James reflects a lot on the why's and how's (I totally relate) while Kat is mostly focused on being in love with her first girlfriend and assumes James will just be there even when she doesn't show much interest in her friend's life (clearly, I have a bias here). And I think my reaction is totally normal. Maybe some readers will sympathize with both girls equally but I wouldn't be surprised if sympathies sway to one over the other because of personal experiences. What's important is that both girls got equal representation. Whether or not you agree with either side, both perspectives are necessary to tell the story of a friendship breakup because it does take two people to get there and Spalding did an incredible job of telling a story most women, of any age, can relate to.

Do I recommend? | I do! Especially if you've gone through a BFF breakup yourself, this is so relatable.

As those of you who've been following my blog know, Amy Spalding's The Summer of Jordi Perez is one of my all-time favourite YA comteporary novels. So when I heard that she had another book coming out, and that it would touch on the heartbreak of friends "breaking up", I ran to get the ARC copy! Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish this before the book was released but I'll share my review regardless.

What I Liked

--I love the way Spaling writes teenagers. Both Kat and James were clearly written to be unlikeable but in a teenager way that feels really authentic and not in a way that felt like the author was trying to connect with teenagers.
--It took me awhile to get that the story is told chronologically from James' POV and reverse chronologically from Kat's POV, but once I got that it was less disruptive than I thought it'd be and a really interesting way of story telling!
--The shining star of this novel was Kat by a long shot! I loved her so much, but I could also recognize her flaws. She obviously really loved James but can be quite air-headed and definitely self-centered, though I can't blame her; she's a teenager who's experienced some major trauma. But she also develops into someone who actually makes room for other people to air out their problems to her. I did see a lot of myself in her when I was Kat's age: a people pleaser, someone who gives out a lot of compliments, trying to make people happy when she's not always happy herself. Kat truly believes in the best of people but on the flip side she tends to not see people are flawed; however, this was addressed wonderfully in the text and she grew to not only stop trying to be perfect but stop trying to fit other people into a perfect mold. Just in general, Kat's character development was one of the best I've seen!
--Quinn and Kat were so cute! Their love was the purest thing but there was also some awesome acknowledgement about pressuring your S.O .to be the kind of person you want them to be and letting them just be imperfect. I thought Kat's coming out as bisexual was done really well, but as someone who isn't bi, take that opinion with a grain of salt.
--I'm so glad that one of the lessons to be had from the book is that it's alright to be emotional and that it's important to be open about the positives as well as the negatives in your life.

What I Didn't Like

There was just one major part of this novel that I didn't like and unfortunately it was a gargantuan part: I absolutely hated James. She was a truly hateful, spiteful character and Kat is better off without her. Thinking about James too much literally makes me see red so I've made a bulleted list to organize my thoughts:

--She is so incredibly judgmental and always ready to believe the worst in her supposed best friend. And she never apologizes for her bad attitude or for making such flippant assumptions about Kat's intentions.
--She is a terrible communicator! She whines and mopes about how Kat won't listen to her but Kat asks her plenty of questions and she, being someone who keeps her emotions close to her chest, doesn't reply or even instigate discussions! She never tells Kat that she's unhappy with their friendship; Kat is, apparently, supposed to just be able to read her mind, I guess?? And she never apologizes for keeping Kat in the dark about things.
--Holy shit, she plays the victim like it's her goddamn job. She blames Kat for everything, and calls her a bad friend, and a whole host of other terrible things. And she never apologizes for making Kat feel guilty or for victimizing Kat.
--She just....never develops? For being one of the two main protagonists, she's incredibly static, never coming to terms with the fact that her parent's divorce caused her to pull away from everyone, including Kat. She is not honest with herself or Kat about this. And she never apologizes for her actions (are you starting to see a pattern?).
--She literally, internally and then externally, mocks Kat for feeling sad about her dead mom. What kind of monster is James?
--She thought it was stupid that Kat wanted to be prom queen. Like what's wrong with that????? Just 'cause you don't care...like seriously.
--She claims that Kat never cared about having equal rights, just that she could be the center of attention....Like how diabolic is it when you have a straight character telling a happily bisexual character that she doesn't actually care about social justice surrounding the LGBTQA+ community--her actual community--but that she just wants attention? How many times have bisexual people been told that all they want is attention and they don't really care about fighting for queer rights? That is just some blatant biphobia.
--It's really not hard to see that James was jealous of Kat and lashed out as a result, because Kat is sociable and James isn't. But who's fault is that, sugarplum? Not Kat's.
--She talked about Kat and Quinn behind their backs. That's very teenager like but at that point, I already hated her so I just fumed. Stay in your goddam lane.
--It is entirely James's fault that they aren't friends anymore. Kat never wanted them to break up and she sure as hell had shown that she can take constructive criticism and be a better person. James just refuses to give her a chance.
--As cruel as it may sound, I'm not all together happy that James got a "happy ending". Kat was far too nice to her at the end; I wished she'd torn her to shreds. And she never apologizes for acting like a shitty friend to Kat. I will never get over this fact, particularly because Kat apologizes. James never takes responsibility for her actions, and she just thinks she was right the whole time. What is the matter with her?

On an unrelated point:

--I don’t think the depiction of divorce was the best. There was a heavy emphasis on individual happiness not being something to seek when you're married. It seemed like there was an expectation that James's mom should have stuck with James's father despite not being happy. However, it's known now that staying with a partner and a family when you're not happy can lead to negative emotions festering and an eventual collapse of familial relationships. Maybe this isn’t the genre to discuss that kind of nuance, but it did irk me.

Conclusion
You know what's actually terrifying? Despite seeing elements of Kat in me, I was a lot more like James when I was in high school. But I am so grateful that I didn't let myself become as terrible as she is and I'm 100% in Kat's camp; she wasn't perfect but she was never actively malicious, like James. James can rot, frankly. So unfortunately, because of her I had to dock two stars (two freaking stars) from an otherwise delightful contemporary. Kat and her whole arc gave me such a warm feeling that it was worth three stars. I'd be just fine with a copy of this book but with James's shit cut out entirely.

My Rating: 3/5

I just got done reading this book a few moments ago and I have mixed feelings about this book. I love the idea of how it is a story about two best friends and their falling out during and after their senior year of high school. James and Kat have been best friends since kindergarten and know everything about each other. Then in their senior year both girls seem to draft apart from each other. After Kat breaks up with her boyfriend Matty she then dates a girl named Quinn and James breaks up with her boyfriend Logan after finding out her parents are splitting up after being together since high school. James is very closed lipped about this from Kat and things spiral out of control from there. One of the issues I had with this book was the timeline. I kept getting confused with everything going back and forth between different times during senior year. Plus to be honest the ending good have been better. I personal thought it was rushed.

I don't think I liked this one as well as I was meant to. Its a standard plot - long term friends suddenly find they are growing apart. There's the initial grasping, desperate effort to keep their relationship in its former state, the sudden realization of all the annoyances previously ignored or forgiven, and eventual dislike. This one adds in the element of telling the two sides of the story from two directions. This is meant to show us both perspectives at equal wight, so we can understand both and not take either character's side. Looking at it objectively you can see how both girls are in the wrong. I can't help but favor one perspective over the other though, meaning that we resent one character and are more inclined to forgive the other. With neither character especially likeable, I'm inclined to pass on this one.

Amy Spalding "We Used To Be Friends"

What an amazing story that is utterly relatable for anyone who have ever had a falling out of friendship. The story is about James and Kat told in alternating first person point of view, A wonderful contemporary YA novel that is told in dual timelines half of the chapters are moving forward and the other half is moving backward. I loved the way the chapters were told that really moved the story pacing well. It is a wonderful story of childhood bestfriends who were inseparable growing up and now have grown apart. We used to be friends is a wonderful and poignant story that you will love for the characters and the relatable story line.

I loved the premise of this book, I really don't think that enough books focus on what happens when you stop being friends with someone. This book also deals with that tricky time when you leave high school and move onto further education. It can be such an odd time with people moving all over the country and friendships and relationships being tested and so I am pleased there is finally a book covering this topic.

Kat and James are great characters to get to know over the course of this novel. They have each other as friends, or not as the case may be but they are totally full characters in their own rights with their own issues with relationships and family and issues surrounding their all important college applications. James is a very closed off person, I would have liked t get to know her more as reader but I understand that this was a character choice on the part of the author. I love the fact that we have LGBTQ+ representation in our main characters as well.

This books is structured as a dual narrative with James's storyline working backwards and Kat's storyline working forwards so it can be a little tough to get your head into a different time frame with each chapter. I would probably say that this book is best enjoyed in its physical form so that you could flick back and forth and remind yourself of what was happening to the other character during that time, this was harder to do with an audio. I am a massive fan of a dual narrative though and I like the fact that we get to see how one thing affects the other friend in the way that this book is structured.

I did feel like this book dragged at times. I enjoyed what was happening in the plot and with the characters 100% of the time but I'm not a fan of long chapters or leaving a book before I get to the end of a chapter but I had to do that with this book because each chapter is pretty lengthy. That is one thing that I would change about his novel, I think it could have read slightly quicker with slightly shorter chapters. I really like the subject matter, the character and the way it is structured though and it was definitely and enjoyable read.

This book absolutely broke my heart.

I think it's not a particularly original thought to point out that we don't really consider friendships ending as a breakup, but they actually really are. We tell our friends everything, and James and Kat have been friends for so long that their friendship is basically the defining one of their lives. James knew Kat's mom (who has since died) and that's such an important and actually kind of precious thing. 

One of my best friends from back home mentioned that one of the best things about us is that we know the other person's backstory and context, and that's what I kept thinking of here. James and Kat know the entire backstory. There's no real explanation that needs to happen for anything because they know; they were there. So the fracturing of that relationship was really painful for me to read. 

It's almost worse because it's so senseless. It's not like there was one thing that happened. Like real life, it's a ton of little things. And while I definitely am on one side, I could also see the other side, too. One side is more right, but both have valid points.

Highly recommended but be aware that you'll want to call your own best friend after.

I requested this book from NetGalley because the premise seemed interesting with alternating points of view during alternate timelines. My main concern going in was that it was going to get confusing.

However, it wasn't as confusing as I thought. The writing was simple and this was truly a fast-pace story. Unfortunately, We Used to Be Friends fell a little flat for me in certain areas. I was interested in exploring a friend break up kind of story, but the more I read the more I ended up disliking one of the main characters James. Throughout the novel I found James to be acting immaturely. 

James gets upset and eventually very bitter that her best friend, Kat, meets someone new, a girl named Quinn, and eventually begins to date her. The story didn't come across as two people who outgrew each other but rather James couldn't stop being immature long enough to communicate with Kat. Kat made a new friend and wanted to explore her sexuality and James got jealous. 

I definitely didn't get the ending I was hoping for, as I felt like the ending had no real resolution.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Netgalley.

Friend break-ups are an unfortunate and painful reality we don’t talk about nearly enough in society, so I was glad to see a YA book address this! And oof, a lot of this ended up hitting closer to home than I expected–with the best friend drifting apart, yes, but also discussions about college, class differences, romantic relationships, and bisexuality. And I originally felt a little disconnected from the book because I didn’t go to a public high school!

This book has a very specific structure, where James’ story starts at the end (the summer after senior year) and goes backward through time to the beginning, and Kat’s goes in the opposite direction. They mostly alternate months, so you don’t see the exact same scenes over again, and you get to see the pieces connect (although I wished I had a physical copy so I could flip back and forth to double-check months) and experience them together and apart. I found the beginning to feel exposition-heavy and a bit neat with the writing–the dialogue is definitely a bit cutesy if witty–but I felt less that way going on, and the situations are anything but neat. While Kat and James definitely had different personalities, outlooks, and voices…I’m not sure that always carried into the actual prose.

Because the story takes place over a year, each character really just narrates every other month, and and there isn’t quite a beginning, there were times where I felt like I was missing pieces of character relationships. But ultimately, it’s all the little things that pull these characters apart. There are a few big confrontations, yes, but both characters have so much going on in their lives from their parents (Kat’s widower dad is dating again; James’ parents’ perfect high school sweatheart marriage breaks up), to relationships (Kat’s boyfriend cheats on her and they breakup, then she falls in love with a girl; James re-evaluates her committed relationship to her now-college boyfriend after her parents split), to major college decisions, to parties. New people get in the way, new developments fail to be reported between them, all creating an atmosphere for distrust and drifting apart. And maybe, their personalities and paths just aren’t as compatible anymore. I really appreciated that both characters were not always likable, and neither was necessarily 100% right about her view of the other.

As I mentioned earlier, Kat and James have a distinct way of speaking and thinking, and that extends to the numerous text conversations (or lack of texting) throughout. Now, the Kindle version of the ARC was not great for formatting this, but I believe there are actually emojis in the text, which is great and I’ve been wondering if publishing and YA specifically has started to include this. (I’m such a nerd when it comes to digital linguistics.)

A couple of other quick things I liked: how grounded the LA setting was, as well as the school social structures, and how Kat’s girlfriend Quinn was so insistent about being seen as a person and not as something perfect.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Throughout my long reading history I have never before come across a book about a friendship breakup. I've lived through many and they're never exactly fun, so I wanted to see how Spalding would tackle it. Having read and enjoyed one of her previous books (The Summer of Jordi Perez) I knew that I could expect realistic and flawed characters and honest writing that doesn't shy away from the hard stuff.

Spalding perfectly captured that painful and slow feeling of growing apart that comes with losing a friendship you've had since childhood. Kat and James both felt they had reason to blame the other - and they were each justified from their own perspective. It takes two, after all.

The story is told in an unusual format - dual perspectives running across different timelines. Both girls tell us their senior year from their point of view, but James' begins at the end of the year and works forwards, while Kat's goes from beginning to end. I found it quite disconcerting for at least the first half, it's quite hard to wrap your head around where you are, especially if you leave off in the middle of a chapter. It doesn't come into full effect until the ending, which, OOF, was a punch to my feelings.

I did struggle to get through this novel. While I thought the ending was very well executed, I skimmed a lot of the middle. I just couldn't connect with the characters and found the format so confusing. I think both girls were well formed and realistic but I personally found them tiring. Seeing all the things each one has done wrong from the other's perspective put me off both of them and made me feel slightly like they'd be better off without each other.

I think Spalding has told and important story here and really filled a gap in the market. I personally struggled with the characters and formatting but I would say this is definitely a worthwhile read, especially for anyone who's experienced the unique pain of a friendship breakup.

“I had no idea how you could stand right next to someone and yet have no clue how to get back to them. Though I guess that now it’s more that I’m standing behind someone.”

This book. This book, you guys. We Used to be Friends follows two girls, James and Kat as their friendship dissolves. It’s no one’s fault and no one person is totally to blame, just something that sometimes happens- you grow up and you grow apart. This book is told in alternating points of view. James’ part of the story is told backward, reflecting over her senior year of high school while preparing to leave for college and Kat’s is told forward, following her through her exciting senior year.

If you’ve gone through a friend breakup I highly recommend reading this book. So many times you read about heartbreak and it’s linked to a romantic relationship and so while you can somewhat relate, you can feel like it doesn’t apply to you. But the first thing James does is state that her biggest heartbreak came from her friendship with Kat falling through. It’s important to note that while you might identify with one character or another, neither is blamed in this book. As you get to know the characters through their POVs you see that neither is a bad person, neither did something unforgivable for their friendship. You can absolutely see where each of them is coming from.

This book broke my heart. I think this is a very important book that many, teens and adults alike, will relate to. There is so many books focused on romantic love and heartbreak, but platonic relationships are just as important. And as Amy Spalding shows here, they are just as heart breaking.

I really enjoyed We Used to Be Friends; it's a book that's right up my street - a coming of age tale with a bit of drama. Amy Spalding does such a good job of telling both sides of the story - both characters are represented so well so that yes, they can be frustrating, but you can absolutely see where each of them are coming from. It's utterly heartbreaking and I think it will resonate with, well, pretty much everyone. Each person that reads this book will find something to relate to and, hopefully, find a new perspective on a familiar situation. The only complaint I have is that it was a little difficult to get into the story thanks to the structure of the timelines but if you stick with it it's easy enough to get used to.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Amulet Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. *

“I had no idea you could stand right next to someone and yet have no clue how to get back to them.”

Kat and James were once Inseparable. They’ve been friends since kindergarten and have always expected their friendship to last forever. Now as senior year gets to a close and life becomes more hectic, both girls slowly drift apart and begin to see that sometimes forever doesn’t always mean for life.

This book SHATTERED my heart. I haven’t cried while reading in so long and damn!!, Amy Spalding really doesn’t pull punches.

I loved both Kat and James. Did I get angry at them?? HELL YES! However, I could see both sides. They were going through so much. James was dealing with both her parents’ divorce and her recent breakup, while Kat was discovering she’s both bisexual and in love with her friend Quinn, while still grieving the death of her mother.

The romance between Kat and Quinn was nice and brought some light to the heartache, I do think at times it took over the plot slightly but not too much. The book was still very much friendship focused.

The timeline in which the story was told did confuse me. It went back and forth between different months- for example, James would be in November and Kat would be in April etc.- I get how it all lead to their friendship ending but as someone who tends to breeze past the chapter headings, sometimes I forgot. Some chapters were also much longer than they needed to be.

Overall, while it’s sometimes a hard read, I highly recommend this book. We Used to Be Friends is a shout-out to anyone who has lost and understands how painful losing a friendship can be.

“It’s incredible how I can act like a girl who still has a best friend.”

I’m delighted that this book is out there for teenagers and adults alike. We need more books like this, that highlight friendship-breakups, because they HURT.

I’ve read more books than I can count about romantic relationships of all kinds, from new relationships to relationships that are falling apart, but before now, I’ve never read a book that’s all about the end of a friendship.

We Used To Be Friends is the story of two childhood best friends, Kat and James (a girl with a boy’s name), during their senior year of high school. At the beginning, they are as close as two people can be, certain that they’re going to be friends for the rest of their lives. By the end, they’re not even speaking.

The fact that I’ve gone this long without encountering a book with such an emphasis on a platonic breakup is astounding, because who hasn’t experienced something like this? When you’re young, you think you’re going to stay friends with the same people for the rest of your life, but that usually doesn’t happen. This book captures the end of a friendship perfectly: it’s not always one big, dramatic moment that marks a breakup like in a romantic relationship, but a slow decline as you drift apart. And that can be even more painful.

The story is told in two timelines, one moving forward and one moving backward, like in the musical The Last Five Years (the title of this post is a reference, in case you didn’t catch that). James’ POV begins after the end of their senior year when she’s leaving for college, then moves backward to the beginning of senior year, while Kat’s begins then and moves in the opposite direction.

Even though this method of storytelling was confusing for a bit, I can’t imagine this book being nearly as effective without it. We truly don’t get to see the full picture until we see the whole story through both of their points of view. And the amount of dramatic irony is unreal; there were so many moments that I knew something was going on with one character, but the other character didn’t know, and I just wanted to scream at both of them. Plus, it made the ending even more painful.

Kat and James were both wonderfully complex and flawed characters. Kat, falling in love and starting to believe in a future she could be happy about, while James, in the wake of her parents’ divorce, shutting herself off from people and tearing down everything good in her life. From each of their own POVs, they were sympathetic and understandable, but from the other’s, they were frustrating and selfish. It was so clear how each of them felt justified in their own actions and their annoyance with the other.

Everything about this book felt so real, from the teenage interactions to the gradual decline of the friendship. It captured the sense of uncertainty at the end of high school, right when everything is about to change and you don’t know what’s going to last and what’s not. This book was melancholy, thought-provoking, frustrating, and hopeful all at once, and I definitely recommend it.