Author: Emiko Jean
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 6, 2015
Synopsis:
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? Nothing is as it seems in this edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller from the debut author Emiko Jean.
ReviewMurder. Fire. Revenge. This book definitely had those. We’ll Never Be Apart was part memory loss story and part story of recovery. It takes place in a mental ward on Savage Isle. Alice has been committed after a file killed her boyfriend Jason…a fire her sister Celie set. It is at Savage Island that Alice decides she has to kill Cellie.
This novel was written partly in flashbacks told through journal entries. The journal entries made it feel like I was reading two stories at once. It also helped to create tension and made We’ll Never Be Apart a very quick read.
Alice was an interesting and often contrary character. I really enjoyed the fact that she was totally unreliable. The Alice we saw in journal entries was a little different than the Alice on Savage Isle and although I guessed the twist early on I was interested to see how this story would end for her.
Chase was my other favorite character. I was always really suspicious of his motives and backstory even when I wasn’t given reason to suspect him of anything. I could’ve read an entire book just about him.
My only qualm with this novel was that I saw the big twist ending coming a mile away. I don’t know if there was too much foreshadowing or if I have just read too many similar books but this one was too easy to figure out. Still, I enjoyed the ride and Alice was interesting enough that I wanted to keep reading about her.
Overall, We’ll Never Be apart was a great, creepy, October read. I really liked the characters and although I figured out the twist early it didn’t take away from this well told debut novel.
About the AuthorEmiko Jean is an elementary school math teacher, whose work with children in foster care inspired her debut novel, We'll Never Be Apart. Aside from reading, writing, and teaching, Emiko is passionate about bugs. She can often be found in the remote forests of the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her husband, hunting giant moths and cataloguing rare insect colonies.
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