Review: The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

In the tradition of Sarah Dessen, this powerful debut novel is a compelling portrait of a young girl coping with her mother’s cancer as she figures out how to learn from—and fix—her past.
Few things come as naturally to Harper as epic mistakes. In the past year she was kicked off the swim team, earned a reputation as Carson High’s easiest hook-up, and officially became the black sheep of her family. But her worst mistake was destroying her relationship with her best friend, Declan.
Now, after two semesters of silence, Declan is home from boarding school for the summer. Everything about him is different—he’s taller, stronger…more handsome. Harper has changed, too, especially in the wake of her mom’s cancer diagnosis.
While Declan wants nothing to do with Harper, he’s still Declan, her Declan, and the only person she wants to talk to about what’s really going on. But he’s also the one person she’s lost the right to seek comfort from.
As their mutual friends and shared histories draw them together again, Harper and Declan must decide which parts of their past are still salvageable, and which parts they’ll have to let go of once and for all.
In this honest and affecting tale of friendship and first love, Emily Martin brings to vivid life the trials and struggles of high school and the ability to learn from past mistakes over the course of one steamy North Carolina summer.

Publishes in US: January 26th 2016 by Simon Pulse
Genre: ya contemp
Source: Simon teen via Edelweiss
Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC (advanced review copy). I am not paid for this review, and my opinions in this review are mine, and are not effected by the book being free.
Series? no

Buy it: Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, Book Depository and Amazon.

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    I wanted to read the Year We Fell Apart because I like the sound of the mix between second chance romance and the friends to relationship. Harper sounds like she has made some bad choices, and she has to learn from them as well as face the fall out. She is also dealing with her mom's cancer diagnosis and missing Declan, who she has been friends with for so long, and did have a relationship with. 

    Declan has been away and now he is back, and through their other friend Cory, that Harper has stayed close to, they come into contact more than Harper thought they would. Thing are awkward, and it was a balance of flirting, trying to figure out where they stand with each other, and Harper trying to figure out whether or not Declan knows what has happened with the swim team and getting caught fooling around with another guy in the pool, and what he thinks about. 

    Harper also wants to confide in Declan about what is going on with her mom since Declan lost his mom when he was younger, and this is another thing that got them so close back then. But again, the distance and her mistakes cause her to stay back. 

    Declan was hard to get a read on in the present they spend enough time together because of Cory and because of the parties and then they're also together with the two girls from their photography class a lot. I can't tell if that one likes Mackenzie or if he is just trying to figure things out with Harper. There's moments where I feel like they are so close to getting back to their friendship were getting back to our relationship but then Harper and her insecurities or the mistakes that she's made will somehow get him between both of them.

    I did like her memories of the two of them and their first kiss. The good memories from their friendship and from when he told her how he was falling for her and they both were kind of questioning the beginnings of their boyfriend girlfriend relationship and they express you know that there everything to each other.

   Towards the end I did skim a bit, with the drama with her and Sadie, but I did like what she realized about her family, and the build up with her and Declan.

Bottom Line: Emotional look at Harper's year of regrets and her trying to turn it around.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Were you ever on any teams?