“It’s a question of equality, and here there is none.”
Title: We’ll Never Be Apart
Author: Emiko Jean
Series: Standalone
Publication: October 6th 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages:288
Source: Publisher at ALA
Summary from Goodreads:
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?
My Thoughts:
Wow… okay, goodness gracious I don’t even know where to start with this. I guess I can begin this way – I loved it. We’ll Never Be Apart surprised me, and I have to tell you I enjoyed it very much. After the last book I had read and had been looking forward to, I was sort of skeptical about starting this one – but I found myself entranced from the very first page. There was something so strange and compelling about the voice, I couldn’t look away once I started.
If you are looking for a thriller to cuddle up with as we fly through October, this is a perfect choice. I haven’t read many thrillers up until this point, but based off of what I felt, this book was a masterpiece. It had me on the edge of my seat, second guessing myself, and rooting for the character at the same time.
This book revolves around Alice, a seventeen year-old girl who has just been committed to Savage Isle Mental Health Hospital. When the book opens up, Alice has just survived an attempt on her life orchestrated by her twin sister in the hopes of killing both Alice and her boyfriend, Jason. That right there was what caught me, this book opens up with a prologue in Celia’s point of view (the twin) as she burns down the house. Let me tell you, boy did it give me the chills. So, once at the hospital, Alice is determined to get some answers and get revenge on her sister for what she has done. She enlists the help of Chase, another (swoonworthy) resident of the hospital, and chaos ensues.
This book was pure brilliance. The characters were complex. They were imperfect, broken, and yet heart-breakingly beautiful. I wanted Alice to win, I wanted Chase to heal, and I wanted Amelia’s parents to come for her. As I have already said, Alice is our protagonist – and I loved her voice. I think the biggest aspect of my love for her was her stubborn nature; it’s there, but she doesn’t let it stop her when she actually needs help. Another reason I loved her so much was because of the things she did not tell us outright. This book is told in two separate ways. We get both Alice’s narration, and then snippets of her journal entries at the end of each chapter. These journal entries shed some much needed light on everything that happened to Alice in her past and how it made her into the girl we meet in the first chapter. She was remarkable, really. Then we have Chase, the hunk of the mental hospital. God, that sounds weird just thinking that – but it is true. Chase is no hero, he is no knight in shining armor and he sure as hell is not perfect. But, he is exactly what this story and Alice needs. I loved him, I really did – no explanation needed other than that. Then we have Amelia, she isn’t as big of a part in this story as Chase is, but I do feel as if she played an important role in bringing Alice out of her shell. Amelia is Alice’s roommate and I absolutely adored her. She would be an amazing friend to have, and Alice knows it and embraces it whole heartedly. All in all, the cast of characters this book contains made it worth reading for them alone.
Now, the plot. Okay, I saw lot of people saying that they could see the twist coming from the very first page, but I think they’re damn crazy. I HAD NO FUCKING CLUE! I was sitting in my bed reading, and then all of a sudden, Bam! Plot twist out of fucking nowhere. Emiko Jean has such a specific writing style that lets nothing slip, even if there were details that I was meant to catch they complete evaded me because I was so focused on everything else. And, boy, let me tell you this: if you go into this book with the intent of solving the “mystery”, you are going to be sorely disappointed. There is no mystery to solve besides the missing thoughts in Alice’s head. There is a lot of suspense, though. I’m not sure if it was meant to be that way or if it was meant to bring about sympathy, but Alice’s flashbacks and PTSD were both terrifying and tear jerking at the same time – especially the one about the cat (don’t ask, just roll with it).
Nothing you read is as it seems. Emiko Jean has created the world’s most brilliant smoke screen. Everything is laid out in a very specific way that won’t make sense until the book is finished. Every last detail is important, the more you read, the more everything intertwines. We’ll Never Be Apart is a complex web I can’t even begin to fathom how to untangle. Even the title is important! Okay, that might be saying too much – but shhh… you didn’t hear it from me.
Overall, this book was the perfect read. It was fast paced, engaging, heart-wrenching, and a completely thrill ride. I needed to know what was happening, I needed to see more, I just needed more. We’ll Never Be Apart is one of the best thrillers I have ever read and I can’t wait to see what Emiko Jean comes up with next. Add this to your October TBR immediately!
Reed's Reads & Reviews 