Pieces of Us by Stewart Foster is a heartfelt and honest story about four teens—Kyle, Zara, Maisie, and Callum—who are all going through tough stuff, but keeping it to themselves. Whether it’s bullying, anxiety, grief, or just feeling like you don’t fit in, each of them is carrying something heavy. They don’t know each other at first, but when they’re brought together on a residential trip, things slowly start to shift.
The book is told from all four of their points of view, so you really get to understand what each of them is going through. It’s emotional, but not overwhelming—more like quiet moments of honesty that build into something really powerful. As they open up to each other, they start to realise they’re not alone, and that sometimes the first step to healing is letting someone see the parts of you you've been hiding.
This is a brilliant read if you like character-driven stories with real emotion and hope. It deals with serious stuff, but in a gentle and thoughtful way.

A beautiful and heartbreaking book that looks at the friendship between two boys, each with their own issues and how they affect and change each others lives over a short period of time, how they come to mean so much to each other. The book deals with serious issues like eating disorders, grief, mental health. They are important factors of the book, but at the core it's about friendship and love of all kinds and how people can change each other over a short space of time but become part of someone for a lifetime.

This is one for readers who like Young Adult novels that cover several big themes at the same time, in this case: grief, body dysmorphia, bulimia, sexuality, parental expectation, friendship, starting university, and trying to make it in the music industry.
The main narrative is told in the 'you' second person and there are also several separate addresses to the departed friend in the 'you' form, plus many of the narrator's song lyrics.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

Upon publication, I will post the blub and this review on my blog and on GoodReads.

This is aimed at a bit older age range than Stewart’s usual books. It’s not a light read- starting at the funeral of Louis and then going back over the friendship of Louis and Jonas (who has poor body image and disordered eating).
Set in the early ‘90s, it beautifully describes the growth of their friendship and how they help and support each other. As their story unfolds, bits and pieces are revealed about Jonas’s issues with food and how he perceives himself and his worth to others, Although the eating is a key part of the story, it is not the focus. Brilliantly, when Louise is outed as gay, it doesn’t change anything about their friendship and closeness. There isn’t a happy ending, but there are glimmers of hope for Jonas in his future.

'Pieces of Us' is a hard-hitting YA novel that deals sensitively and authentically with a number of serious issues including disordered eating and mental illness. The novel is narrated by Jonas, a college student who is suffering from bulimia, and addressed to his best friend Louis, who appears entirely confident and comfortable in his own skin but also faces his own secret challenges. At the start of the novel we learn that Louis has died (but not how) and over the course of the novel, Jonas looks back on their friendship and everything they have been through together.

The novel deals frankly with the realities of living with bulimia, often making for uncomfortable reading but also illuminating, helping us to understand the triggers and anxieties Jonas is constantly dealing with, many less obvious. But there are moments of healing and redemption in Jonas's friendship with Louis which, for the first time enables him to open up and confide in someone.

Although this is a novel for (older) teenagers, adult readers may also enjoy the 1990s setting and some of the nostalgic references, from Top of the Pops to maintaining a long-distance friendship by using phone boxes.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this novel to review.

This books needs some serious trigger warnings. Quite harrowing reading and definitely not for children (older teens should be ok if not sensitive to the triggers) Hard-hitting account of two 17 year olds looking back on their friendship, after the funeral of the elder boy, age 18. It deals with sexuality and eating disorders. A powerful and emotional story which will definitely stay with me but just want to warn sensitive readers, as this is much more mature than the author’s other books that I have read previously.