I can appreciate Crossan’s storytelling but I have to say I’m just really not a fan of the story told i’m verse format, and knew I would be forcing myself through this.

I have reviewed this title on Goodreads and include the link below. Please follow the link for my review.

DNF. I couldn't connect with this book at all and found it really hard to get into. I had high hopes for this, which is a shame.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Well blow me over with a feather; We Come Apart is bloody fantastic.

We Come Apart is by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan and it is a story compromised of dual-perspective poetry. It focuses on the lives of Jess and Nicu. Both are young offenders and both have their own interesting backgrounds. Jess is from a broken family struggling to get along with those in her life – friends and family. Nicu and his family have emigrated from Romania and he is struggling to fit in with the ways of life in the UK.

The two of them form a friendship and together try and fight the forces that are against them.

We Come Apart is both heart-warming and heartbreaking. I consumed it in one sitting and at times was genuinely holding back the tears. It is a brilliant story that should be read by all.

We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan is available now.

For more information regarding Sarah Crossan (@SarahCrossan) please visit youtu.be/0szY-FFsOIQ.

For more information regarding Brian Conaghan (@BrianConaghan) please visit his Twitter page.

For more information regarding Bloomsbury Publishing (@KidsBloomsbury) please visit www.bloomsbury.com/childrens.

This book had such great potential but for all the wonderful writing and character development that took place, it still felt very disjointed. I did really enjoy the relationship between the two characters and couldn't help but get swept up in their journey together but yeah, there was just something about reading the book in verse that made it hard for me to keep coming back.

Definitely recommend picking it up for yourself and checking out some other reviews because I feel like I'm in a minority.

I really wanted to like this book, as I thought the premise; bad girl with problems meets immigrant boy with problems, and the form (alternating narrative perspectives in verse form) were interesting. However I was disappointed and found We come apart a frustrating read.

I think my frustration came from the fact that the plot and characters seemed undeveloped, and at times the dialogue felt cliched, and even perpetuating stereotypes which I thought the book wanted to counteract.

Some of the writing was lovely, but I really wouldn’t recommend this, so my true rating is 2.5!

Sarah Crossan can do so little wrong in my eyes, but I'm not a huge fan of the paired writing structure so beloved of YA authors. Nevertheless, it's a light, easy read although there is often a marked difference between the quality of chapters. It remains creative and confident throughout.

A ‘Romeo and Juliet’ story of troubled teens underpinned by themes of immigration, racism and domestic abuse. Told from the viewpoints of the two main characters in verse.

I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did, but We Come Apart is probably my favourite book of the year thus far (I'm actually hoping that it's not the only book I'll give more than 4 stars to, but we'll see). We Come Apart is beautifully written; it's actually in verse, with dual POV from the main characters, Jess and Nicu. I once wrote in a review that I find epistolary novels really hard to get into, and novels written in verse are no exception to this feeling. Which is why I was really surprised that I connected so much to the characters and enjoyed the book so much. I do really think this is a testament to the authors' writing ability.

The two things I loved about this book were the characters and the writing. The authors present characters with depth who are realistic and have to deal with their own struggles and flaws. I felt a lot of injustice and anger at the way both Jess and Nicu were treated at times in the story, but also felt joy and happiness when they found times where they could be themselves and when they started to realise the love that was blossoming between them.

This novel deals with some interesting and important issues. To put it plainly, Jess has a hard home life; both her mother and her go through domestic abuse that her stepfather puts them through. As well, she is dealing with issues with friends and is finding it hard to understand who she really wants to be. On the other hand, there is Nicu, who only recently moved to England, and who does not know much English and struggles to make friends. His traditional father also pressures him to get married and move back to their homeland.

At first, I wasn't sure how two characters with such different lives could ever meet, let alone become friends. But their friendship was written so well that it felt realistic and organic. Throughout the novel, the characters go through so much and show a lot of character growth, especially in regards to the attitudes and outlook that they have before.

The writing was also lyrical and just a joy to read. It was easy to understand and was never overly descriptive or metaphorical. I think it very much suited the story. The two POVs have such a different writing style which really provides insight into the two characters, but never felt forced and went well together. You do really come to care for the characters and invest in their stories.

If there was one drawback, it's the ending. I haven't read any other reviews so I'm not sure if this was an issue for other reviewers or maybe it's just me, but I really did not like the ending. I think this is partially because I did come to connect and care for the characters in the story so much, which made me feel that much worse when things didn't pan out so well. To an extent, I also think the ending was kind of realistic. But, I have to admit, I felt sort of betrayed. The ending just came out of nowhere, and it was quite abrupt. I wasn't expecting it. And I feel, after the lead up of the whole story, for it to end like it did; it defeated the whole point of the story. There was never a clear moral to the story, but I felt confused as to how we, the reader, was meant to feel after the ending. Were we meant to feel like life is unfair and sometimes it remains that way? Which is a super depressing question to leave the readers with. As well, the ambiguous ending left so many questions unanswered. It felt unfinished; I wanted to know what would happen to the characters. They ran away from their problems and nothing was resolved. Overall, the ending left much to be desired and left me feeling unsatisfied and let down.

I don't want to detract from the novel too much, because it was still a really good book. I loved the characters (maybe a little too much) and the writing style and the way it made me feel so many emotions. We Come Apart is such a great story that unfortunately did have an ending that wasn't satisfactory. I still think it's worth reading regardless of the ending, but just a warning it won't leave you feeling very happy at all. 4.5/5 stars

Book Review:

We Come Apart was the first book that I finished this year and I started it on a whim thinking that I could just start it that night and finish it in the morning. This was a very made mistake as I was captivated by this book and stayed up way later than I should.

We Come Apart follows two teenagers in this verse novel with one narrative told by the respected authors. It wasn't something that I knew much about when I first started and was surprised by the narratives of both characters and their journeys throughout the book with the ending being a big surprise.

Both Crossan and Conaghan capture characters whose voices need to be heard and make you care about them through their trials and tribulations. This makes it an enjoyable and captivating novel.

The Verdict:

We Come Apart is an interesting and captivating novel that will leave impressions on you, which will leave you thinking about it months after you first read it.

Thank you very much for allowing me to read this title; I am trying to read as widely as possible ahead of the Carnegie/Greenaway nominations and awards for 2018 and your help is much appreciated.
As a Carnegie/Greenaway judge, I'm not allowed to comment about my opinions on specific titles so I can't offer an individual review on any title as I stated on my profile.
Netgalley now requires a star rating so I am giving all titles 5 stars so as not to disadvantage any title but this does not imply any recommendation of the book above any other.

Short read about two London teenagers in difficult home situations who find hope in each other. I enjoyed the verse aspect but found the book rather bleak.

We Come Apart is great.

I love the fact the novel is written in verse. This works really well and makes the book stand out from other YA fiction.

I loved both characters.

Jess tries so hard to put on a brave face and act like a touch cookie who’s taking on the world. I love that she is actually very vulnerable, trying to keep her head above water and rise above her awful home life.

Nicu was amazing as well. I really felt for him, when he’s treated like a piece of crap because he foreign and the tragic events that unfolds when he’s trying to do the right thing. My heart bled for him.

I love the way Jess and Nicu friendship develops. It’s brilliantly told.

We Come Apart is incredibly sad. The ending made me cry.

Plot: Nicu and Jess come from two completely backgrounds. Nicu is a Romanian refugee suffering awful racist bullying at school; Jess is suffering with her own abusive home life. Each feels isolated in their own way and are the most unusual pairing as friends, but (of course predictably for the genre and title!) they are drawn to each other.

My thoughts: While We Come Apart is a YA novel so quite a standard read for me, it was a really interesting one for reasons that are different to my usual. First, it’s told in alternating chapters between the two characters but written in verse. Secondly, it’s also written in the characters’ own voices, so Nicu’s chapters at first may seem confusing because they’re written in broken English. The effect of this however is something outstanding. It brings you closer to understanding the frustrations of the characters, and the telling in verse makes the pace of the story run so quickly that it’s almost impossible to put down.
The story itself was good and I liked it, however it was the way it was told that kept me gripped. It does have that rushed instant love storyline that many YA books have, but I do sometimes love that. It’s one to read even just for the different way of storytelling.

A very relevant read in these times of Brexit and discussion about immigration. This book makes you think and feel and as in the real world, happy endings are usually the thing of fiction.

I've read one book by Sarah Crossan before (One), but never something by Brian Conaghan. I really loved One and it had such an impact on me, so I had high expectations for this. I actually wasn't aware until I started reading it that it was written in free verse like One, and I was pleasantly surprised! When I read One, it was refreshing to read something written in a style I've never read before, so I was excited to get started with We Come Apart. It made is such a fast read - I probably read the whole book in an hour or two, max.

I loved the writing styles straight away. The story is told from two POVs - Jess, an English girl with an abusive step-dad and a tendency to bunk off school; and Nicu, a boy from Romania who speaks in broken English and is set to marry into an arranged marriage sooner than he'd wish to think about. Jess and Nicu form an unexpected friendship, and the story follows them as they get to know each other.

Jess' family life is awful, and I found myself rooting for her to get out of her horribly toxic home. I also hated the people who bullied Nicu. It was so relevant to now: kids called him a 'gyppo', spat at him for being a 'foreigner' and told him to go back to where he came from. There were even mentions of Brexit and his 'kind' ruining the country. I really hated them all and I really hoped he's stand his ground. He didn't deserve that!

The ending came so suddenly. The whole story wasn't overly fast-paced, but the ending raced! I was so surprised that it ended when it did and I really want more to the story! It was so well-done though and when the characters are thrown into the unknown, the reader is too.

I really enjoyed this book. It was different to most books I've read and it was a very quick read. I liked how it was so relevant and topical with the themes of racism, and it really made me think about how people from other countries feel. It almost made me want to give it to every racist bully in the world and say to them, "READ THIS and see how it really affects people!"

I can't wait to read more by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan!

Can read review in the link provided!

This was the first time that I have ever read a book written in verse and I surprised myself by really enjoying it. I thought it added a dimension to the book that would have been completely lost had this been told as a normal novel.

Contrasting the lives of Jess and Nicu, We Come Apart shows just what can happen when two people from two very different worlds come together. The story is told in alternating ‘chapters’ from each of their voices. Initially this can be a little confusing as it doesn’t explicitly tell you who is speaking but once you learn their voices it is easy to tell.

I loved reading Nicu’s chapters in broken English and how his vocabulary developed along the way. It was a very clever way of showing the complexity of the English language too and some of what Nicu said did make me giggle a little. I thought Nicu’s character was absolutely adorable. Whilst I was initially a little less positive towards Jess, it soon became clear that there was much more going on with her than first meets the eye and there were many moments during her parts where I was holding my breath for her.

Overall I thought this was a quick and interesting read although I was hoping for a bit more from the ending. The character development was excellent and I enjoyed reading a story in a less traditional format.