Rating: 2.5 / 5
“Jamie has four former friends. Each friend has a secret. One day, Jamie goes missing. Which friend is guilty and deserves punishment? A) The one who sunk the lowest to get highest, B) the one who ruined a girl three years ago, C) the one hiding a criminal, D) the one who traded conscience for grades. Happy testing, -The Proctor”

Book Details
-YA Thriller / Murder Mystery
-Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and Mean Girls vibes
-Asian Rep
-Set at an elite prep school

The premise of this book was intriguing to me, especially the above quote and figuring out which secret applied to which friend. This book could be great for anyone looking for a book version of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars that also incorporates conversation of privilege and class, and specifically how these impact Asian / Asian American main characters. My favorite part of this novel was that it was a thriller that also brought in some of these conversations, because many books in the genre don’t. So, this was the main aspect I was invested in.

Unfortunately, other than that, the rest of the book just wasn’t exactly for me. I think some of the Gossip Girl / Pretty Little Liars vibes made it read young, so even though I like some YA I think this particular book I would have liked more when I was a younger reader. And it was just a bit underwhelming for me.

But I could see others potentially enjoying these pieces and it was a very quick read. I definitely wasn’t bored while reading ever and the drama kept me invested. And I do enjoy that the author provided content warnings themselves at the start of the book.

Overall, I really wanted to like this novel, because I’d heard so much about it, but it just wasn’t my favorite. But if the premise sounds interesting to you, then this may be a better fit for you than it was for me!

One of the comp titles for this novel is One of Us Is Lying, a book I enjoyed from beginning to end, so I went into this with some high expectations.

The competition to be the best at Sinclair Prep is cutthroat. These teens put an enormous amount of pressure on themselves and each other, while some of their parents demand the best no matter the cost. Stress levels are through the roof. Most of the student body look up to these five students, so when Jamie turns up dead and the mysterious Proctor begins making accusations and threatening to reveal dark secrets about the other four, their reputations are tarnished to say the least.

This is a short, quick read that I finished in less than twenty-four hours. It moves along at a brisk pace, and the developments come pretty fast. These characters are supposed to be best friends, especially Nancy and Jamie, but I sure wasn’t feeling the love between most of them. I even wondered how and why they became friends considering the way they treat each other. Of the five of them, Nancy and Jamie are especially unlikeable, but I’m not sure if that’s what the author intended. I can’t imagine many readers would feel sympathetic toward them fpr most of the book. I figured out the identity of the Proctor – kind of (no spoilers) – but the reveal requires quite a big suspension of disbelief. Looking at other reviews, several have mentioned that fans of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girls would be the intended audience for this book, but I haven’t seen either of those shows. Maybe that’s why It didn’t work for me as much as I’d hoped, but I’m glad I read How We Fall Apart and will look for future novels by this author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK! Katie Zhao is a fantastic writer with sass, charisma, and utter control of her craft. Relatable characters, dark academia vibes, murder, betrayal....what more can a reader want? AMAZING!

I have just finished it moments ago. It was such a ride! Intense, deep, and intriguing. Sooooo good.

If you love books like : One of Us is Lying, All Our Twisted Secrets, They Wish They Were Us, and Don't Breathe A Word... HOW WE FALL APART is YOUR BOOK.

I went in expecting school life-murder mystery, but turns out HWFA is that... and so much more. I love how this book talks about underlying issues this "perfection standard" people around us keep pushing into our heads. How far someone is willing to go down... in order to go up. I love how Katie's characters are so rich in personality, how they did their best to carry their responsibility and deal with pressures and traumas. How all those different personalities and issues merged into one captivating story.

Not going to lie, I don't know how Katie packed all that into 300+ pages because there was a lot of underlying issues AND dramas going. Not a single moment to take a breath--I read it in one sitting. And staring blankly at a wall for a moment after I finished it because so many things to processed.

Nancy, Krystal, and Akil are amazing, but Alexander is amazingly adorable.
CAN'T WAIT FOR BOOK 2!!!

How We Fall Apart is a YA dark academia thriller that follows four elite prep school students after the murder of their former friend. When the queen bee and top-ranked student of Sinclair Prep, Jaime Ruan, goes missing only to be found dead, Nancy and her friends-Krystal, Akil, and Alexander-are immediately suspected of her ex-best friend's murder. Especially after accusations and threats to expose their darkened pasts from a mysterious social media presence known as "The Proctor." to protect themselves. They must uncover the truth about jaime's death before their secrets are exposed-secrets that could ruin their academic futures and social standings.

In short, I really really enjoyed How We Fall Apart. I pretty much finished most of the book in one sitting, partially because I was on the plane and partially because I could not put it down. How We Fall Apart is beautifully written and full of suspense and totally unpredictable plot twists that enrich the experience. I did not predict that ending happening the way it did, but it felt very full circle. Jaime Ruan is such an interesting character, and I know that she's already dead which makes it unlikely, but I would absolutely love a spinoff all about her. I loved all of the main characters so much!! Also I feel like the book really handled the inclusion of text messages well, and the headers of the chapters titled "confessions" with a small one-line anonymous confession was such a nice touch.

I also really appreciated the representation of various asian ethnicities within the novel. The interactions between Nancy and her mother felt very authentic to me, and feels organic to the experience of growing up bilingual and in an Chinese-American immigrant family. Also I enjoyed the inclusion of Mandarin pinyin in the dialogue :)

"Everyone thought Jamie Ruan was perfect. Nobody knew what she was willing to do, how far she was willing to go, to maintain the flawless image she'd crafted."

As a human being who was the literal target audience for Gossip Girl back in the day, How We Fall Apart is my jam, and the fact that it is a more diverse and inclusive re-envisioning? *chef's kiss*

I'm not sure how many books this series is slated for, but the fact that we get at least one more story with these characters in this prestigious world has me salivating for a time machine, because take me to next year please. Zhao presents us with a familiar premise: 4 students with secrets are being blackmailed after the death of their friend, the popular, successful queen bee, Jamie Ruan. The story is told from Nancy Luo's POV, with some little snippets of confessions and messages from their school's app called Tip Tap, which is where the anonymous threats are posted publicly. As we follow the narrative, we discover each secret that these 4 are hiding, while also working toward discovering another secret involving the 5 students and another, previous student from the school named Em. Almost all of the questions are answered by the end, except one secret that will set up book two.

"Become the best. Or else. Back then, I did not understand what Mama was asking for, what granting her wishes would cost me. Then, I did not know a debt of life could only be repaid with life. With blood. And so I promised, and so I vowed. For family. For everything we sacrificed. I would die trying."

One of the major themes in this book, as described by the author, is the pressure that many Asian children feel to overachieve, in an attempt to find their worth for parents who sacrificed everything to give them a better life by moving to America. Also, the disparities shown between the kids at Sinclair Prep who were born into privilege and the ones who were not, regardless of race or culture, are so thought provoking. Yes, this book is an entertaining expose on past mistakes coming back to haunt you, but there's a lot of real meat to the character progression in this book, and some really dark, heavy subjects are touched upon. There were a few times I wanted to throttle Nancy based on her choices regarding a certain someone, and you'll definitely need to suspend your sense of realism for the big reveal, but I thought this was a creative, intuitive YA novel that had me fully engaged from beginning to end. I am anxiously awaiting the follow up novel after that ending!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please note that this book contains depictions of abuse, self-harm, violence, parental neglect, panic attacks, drug use, mental illness, an inappropriate student/teacher relationship, racism, and suicidal thoughts. I understand these themes may be triggering and would suggest proceeding with caution.

Review to be posted on GoodReads on July 5, 2021:

When the “Queen Bee,” top of the Junior Class, and captain of the volleyball team is found dead shockwaves roll through Sinclair Prep. But the waves never die down as an anonymous “Proctor” keeps posting taunting messages on social media threatening Jamie’s four former best friends to confess their deepest secrets, or be outed on social media. Nancy has the 2nd highest GPA in the Junior class and has worked extremely hard to get there. She’s a scholarship student, and one of those 4 friends being threatened. Jamie knows she has deep, dark secrets that could ruin her scholarship and future college plans. How she got to be in Jamie’s inner circle, and just what secrets she and the others have to hide will slowly be revealed as the pages turn while they scramble to uncover the Proctor in whatever methods they can thin up.

As someone who teaches at an international school in Asia, I definitely recognized many students among the characters in this book and have seen firsthand what the pressure to succeed can do to students. (Also, as a teacher who has taught an AP class and proctored AP exams, I do have a few notes for the publisher and author to consider changing to make things more accurate before this goes to print.) Zhao has dreamed up a very believable, if heartbreaking, cast of characters. The pacing is excellent. The amount of current time and flashbacks was balanced really well. And it took quite a while to figure out who was sending the messages and why. It was a very character-driven mystery. Getting to know them is essential for figuring out the mystery, and right up to the end you don’t know what to trust about any of them. The teens in this are dealing with a lot of messy issues, but I felt like Zhao wrote them tactfully and I appreciate that the book opens with a list of trigger warnings to protect those that may find this more harmful than entertaining. The book makes some good points about the university-entry system and the pressure teens are facing to get in. As a note of hope, one of the good things to come out of the covid pandemic is a decrease in the importance of standardized tests as many universities waived the need for them for the past 2 graduating classes and focused more on the student as a whole so don’t end this completely depressed. If you are looking for a gripping mystery that centers around school and an Asian American cast of characters facing very real teen issues, snatch this up.

Notes on content [based on the ARC]: Probably around 15-20 minor swears and 2 strong swears. There is no sexual content on page or any graphic discussions, it is strongly hinted that a student teacher guy and girl student are having a physical relationship, but it is all left up to reading between the lines. There’s also a girl/girl relationship for a little while, but in both relationships only a kiss on page. Jamie’s body is never described. It just says she died (and never says exactly by what method, just that someone helped her finish a suicide attempt). There’s another incident that is a bit bloody, but not super descriptive at the same time. There’s a fatal fire that injures some others (minimally described). A past fight that left someone in a coma is mentioned. It is just mentioned that one teen has a physically abusive father. One of the teens has a drug problem. There’s a scene where teens pressure each other to drink to bad points. And several of the teens have mental health issues that aren’t being cared for.

<i>I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

⟾ 3.5 stars

i'm so sad. idk if my expectations were way too high, but everyone was talking about this book and it was a bit underwhelming. it wasn't bad by any means, just not as polished as i liked.

i didn't connect with any of the characters. idk if i was supposed to feel pity for them, especially for nancy, but i didn't like any of them. the relationships between the main cast of characters felt underdeveloped and i wished we'd get more /real/ interactions. they jumped from not really being friends to being bffs. the relationship between nancy and alexander had so much potential to turn into something nice, but it didn't.

the mystery was good. i figured out who was behind this from the start, but it didn't make the book any less enjoyable. it's very easy to read and it keeps you engaged from start to finish. i did wish it was a bit more polished, because some twists felt a bit too convenient. all in all, this was a good read, i didn't hate it by any means.

thank you to netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Children’s books for sending me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I flew through this book. I had to find out who the murderer was. The ending was surprising and shocked me. I felt that all the characters had a lot of issues but it made the book more interesting. I think the whole concept of how far would you or your parents go to help you succeed was very interesting. It’s a whole world of the super rich that I think is always assumed. If you’re wealthy you can seemingly get away with anything. I loved how each character had a secret and how each was unveiled. My one critique is that I wish that the repercussions for the secrets were harsher. I would have liked to see the author really make the main characters fall from grace and spiral further. How far would they really go beyond just hiding a secret. How far would they go to cover it up or makeup for their indiscretions? I would definitely recommend it. It was a fast paced quick read.

Fans of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girls will eat this up. Readers looking for more substance and character development with their mysteries will probably want to look elsewhere.
Thanks to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the electronic ARC.

I adore a good mystery thriller, probably more than any other genre and sadly in the YA department, they can be really hard to find. Thankfully, this wasn't the case for Zhao's latest read.

This story was so good, so hard to put down and at times, so very heartbreaking. I absolutely loved every minute of it and can't recommend it enough!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book.
3/5 Stars.

Look, the Crazy Rich Asians meet One of Us is Lying + the cover drew me in to request this ARC. I tend to do this a lot where I don't really know what I'm getting into, but I was pleasantly surprised by this ARC. It was fast paced and felt short (I read it in one afternoon) and kept me engaged with it. It really was just short though, which meant that many of the characters lacked development (okay, all of them did) besides just their secrets being revealed to the world.

The influence of Crazy Rich Asians is evident with the classism demonstrated in the novel, along with the intellectualism often associated with Asian families. It portrays it well, and I think it demonstrates a light on the pressure high school students face -- especially those attending private schools.

It really felt underdeveloped though, but I didn't know who the Proctor was until they were revealed (and honestly hadn't even guessed that) but the hints ARE there if you look hard enough. Also, good lord it was kind of messed up....a lot.

This book is not my usual style. As a white kid who grew up in suburbia, a lot of the drama here is something very outside my experience.

I found myself hooked though. I did not love every page, but it was a compelling read. And while the resolution is less than realistic, fans of Gossip Girl will enjoy the unreality of the book.

This is a fun YA thriller for fans of Karen McManus and Sara Shepard. I personally couldn't put it down, even as it got crazier and crazier. I really enjoyed the AAPI and LGBT representation throughout, though I wish that the characters had been more developed. Was it far-fetched? Absolutely. Will I still read the sequel? Oh you know it.

*Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

What would you do if someone found out your deepest darkest secret and is blackmailing you? Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend Jamie Ruan (aka the top ranked student at Sinclair Prep) is found dead. Nancy has always been second place to Jamie. They were more frenemies than actual friends. Jamie was the top rank student... terrorizing people, destroying reputations, and even taking things further to remain at the top. When her father was arrested for embezzlement all her friends left her but she still remained the top student. Nancy’s mother had worked as Jamie’s maid before Jamie’s father was arrested... but now that Jamie is gone soon Nancy finds that the top is open for grabs... too bad someone else has different plans. Nancy and her friends ( Alexander- a fellow scholarship student whose’s brother use to be a top student before he was expelled, Akil- a track star and top ranked student who is dependent on pills to maintain his top spot, and Krystal-a fashion icon at the school who was a delinquent in her past) find an anonymous poster calling themselves “the Proctor” who is threatening to reveal all their dark secrets if they do not confess to what happened 2 years ago... to a student named Em who use to be their friend. Nancy has been in a secret relationship with her teacher and if her secret gets out... then its all over for her and her friends. Soon they find themselves racing against the clock to uncover who the Proctor is and trying to keep their reputations in tact.

This story was basically a recast asian-American version of Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars, down to the student-teacher relationship, the anonymous blackmailer posting their secrets, and friends to enemies relationships. If I’m being completely honest I was on the side of the Proctor and couldn’t really find myself liking Nancy or Jamie. As an Asian myself, I completely understood the pressure that comes from your family, from yourself, to be the best, to do whatever it takes to try and not disappoint anyone and just make your parents struggle worth it. I understood where Nancy was coming from, from the part of you wanting something that was just a little self destructive because being perfect isn’t that great. But on the other hand.... eh. Overall the story is only the first in a series and is left with an ending that definitely means theres a sequel as there is still so much more apparently that needs to be explored. If you enjoy stories like How We Fall Apart, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, The Perfectionists, then this is right for you!

*Thanks Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Children's Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

thank you so much bloomsbury for this arc!

3.5/5 stars from me

let start this off by saying, i had very high hopes for this book and it was kind of underwhelming. i feel as if some characters could’ve been more developed as well as some relationships, like alexander and nancy’s. i feel as if the last 10% of the book was awkwardly paced, but regardless of that it was still an enjoyable read. when you find out who did it, i promise you would’ve never guessed. it almost reminds me of pretty little liars and how we found out who A was, like it was very unpredictable so i’ll give the book that. i kind of loved it though, because it involved a villain speech and i love a good villain speech. through and through the story was interesting enough and for that i’m happy.

Decent but not great...the story of teens hiding multiple secrets at a high-achieving, high-pressure prep school in NYC. When one of them is murdered and an anonymous source begins spilling all of their secrets, everything they’ve worked for begins to come crashing down. Not especially suspenseful, and I didn’t like any of the characters.

This story opens with a girl named Nancy, who is a scholarship student at Sinclair Prep, a school with many overly wealthy students. Most, like Nancy, seem to come from Asian parents who expect them to be perfect and achieve great things. Nancy resents the privilege of the other students there, especially her "best friend" Jamie, who throws their socioeconimic differences in her face often. I'm only adding the quotes here because Nancy's mom works as a maid for Jamie's parents, so it seems very reminiscent of the short story "The Stolen Party" by Liliana Heker. Are they really friends? Can the kid who doesn't know the difference between want and need be best friends with the maid's kid?

When Jamie turns up dead, the mystery begins and the fingers point to Nancy and her circle of friends, who seem a lot like acquaintances instead of close friends (their interactions are limited, so we don't get a feel for their relationships). None were likeable or even memorable, although we only get to know Nancy and catch glimpses of Alexander.

A fast read, but predictable. My low rating comes from two things: First, the reveal (who did what). I swear, I heard a trombone go wah-wah-wah in my head when the person was revealed. Second, the ending. There was no ending after the reveal; it just kept going. And that's when I looked it up on Goodreads to see that it said "#1" next to the title. Oh. It's the beginning to a series. Nancy learns a big secret and then the book ends. The reader does not know that secret. I understand that this leaves a new mystery set up for book 2, but the ending felt unfinished.

I had high expectations for How We Fall Apart. Not only because of synopsis, but the hype that I have seen surrounding the book. Seeing dark academia in YA, especially with Asians, was something I was looking forward to. I myself wish it was better than presented.

Our story follows Nancy, a scholarship student at Sinclair Prep. Her life spirals into something different when her reputation is being threatened by something from her past, as well as being blamed for the murder of her friend, Jamie. In order for the blackmail against her and her friends to stop, she must admit to what she did in the past.

I finished this quite fast, mainly due to the short chapters and fast pacing which I enjoyed. The story had potential to be something greater than it was, which disappointed me. The story is like any cliche murder mystery placed in high school, and it reminded me of Pretty Little Liars in a sense.

Not only that, but the story was predictable. I figured out who done what about from the first time this "mystery" incident was presented. Along with this, I felt like none of the characters had chemistry or were even likeable, save Alexander. They did not seem to really be "friends", but instead acquaintances in my eyes.

Being an Indian-American myself, I related to the sense of having pressure put on you in academics. It can be stressful and demanding, but I felt like it was misrepresented in this book. Obviously, not all Asians experience the same thing, but it seems like this was far fetched in some sense of the story.

My two star rating is not a one due to the ending. It was left on a note to make you wonder what Nancy found out, and set up the sequel. It seems compelling, but I'm not sure if it is compelling enough to read in the future. Only time will tell.

Thank you to NetGalley, Katie Zhao, and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advanced ebook readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had heard wonderful things about this book and I was very excited for it. Especially when it was pitched as Crazy Rich Asians meets One of Us is Lying.

Unfortunately, however, this book was not it for me. I think the subject was incredibly important, and the author did a great job of bringing to the forefront the very real concern of unrealistic expectations in elite schools, especially for Asian American students and often times for other immigrant students as well (something I have personal experience with). This was covered incredibly well and I would love to see more of this in books.

However, where the books fell flat for me was the overall writing style and the characters themselves. There was a lot more "telling" than "showing." I also felt the characters were all very superficial, meaning there was no nuance to them. They were pretty much interchangeable characters because we didn't get much depth to any of them.

Still, I think a lot of people will love the fast paced speed of this book and will be excited at the possibility of a sequel.