We'll Never Be Apart

Holy crap, this book was good. It's centered in a mental hospital and tells the story of how one of the main characters has ended up there along with her journey in the mental hospital. The story was intriguing from the very beginning but only got better as the book when on. Almost every chapter has a part of a journal entry from Alice and it was pretty interesting at first. To be honest, I found myself less interested in the journal entries near the end and just wanted to know what was going on. However, those parts were so important. Jean does a wonderful job of drawing you and not letting go. I read this book in one day, unable to out it down for too long of a period at a time. I needed to find out what was going on and guessed at it show more just as the truth was being revealed. It was quite the ending and I just honestly couldn't believe it. Such a good story and worth every single star. show less

4.5 stars

We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean is a twisty, turny, edge of your seat psychological thriller. Set against the backdrop of a mental hospital, this young adult novel is a riveting mystery written in first person from seventeen year old patient Alice Monroe's point of view.

Alice and her twin sister Celia have had a very rough life. In the foster care system from age six, they bounce from home to home where they befriend another foster child, Jason. Suffering heartbreaking abuse at the hands of those who should have been protecting them, Alice, Celia and Jason help protect one another from harm. However, Celia has developed an unhealthy obsession with Alice and she turns to arson whenever she feels her sister slipping away from show more her. When Jason re-enters their lives after an earlier separation, Celia is threatened by the blossoming romance between him and Alice. After a trip to beach goes tragically wrong, the twins are sent to Oregon State Mental Hospital on Savage Isle while Jason winds up in juvie. Jason's attempt to help Alice escape is thwarted by yet another fire and tragically, Jason dies while Alice and Celia manage to survive the blaze. Now back at the hospital awaiting trial, Alice and another patient, Chase Ward, try to track down Celia before she can attack Alice again.

Alice is an uncooperative patient but there is no getting around her private and group therapy sessions. The doctor in charge of her case suggests keeping a journal to help her understand the events of her past and these entries provide a heartrending look into her life from the time she and Celia lost their grandfather and entered into the foster care system. As she reflects on the series of events that culminated in their first trip to Savage Isle, Alice is stunned by emerging portrait of Jason and the events that led her, Celia and Jason to this point in their lives.

Alice is essentially the good twin who is unfailingly upbeat and positive whereas Celia has been troubled right from the start. Alice is an excellent student who hopes to use college as a means to a better life while Celia skips school and sets fire to cope with her problems. Alice is overjoyed when they are reunited with Jason but Celia's jealousy over their fledgling romance takes a very twisted turn. Alice seems to be an unwitting accomplice to Celia's unsavory fascination with fire and Jason's need for revenge but her love and loyalty for the pair clouds her judgment as events spiral out of control.

Despite the rumors and secrets swirling around Chase, Alice eagerly accepts his offer of assistance. She tries to keep from getting too close to him but he sweetly and rather humorously manages to sneak past her defenses. Their friendship takes a bit of a romantic turn as they join forces to find Celia but Alice cannot help but feel betrayed by him late in the story when she discovers one of the secrets he has been keeping from her. Convinced he can help her face certain facts about her past, Chase takes matters into his own hands, but in doing so, will he cause Alice irreparable harm?

We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean is a suspense-laden psychological thriller. The novel is incredibly well written with a rather ingenious and engrossing plot. The characters are superbly developed and quite appealing despite their troubled pasts. In spite of a few suspicions about how the various story arcs would eventually play out, the overall story is quite enjoyable and the conclusion contains a few unexpected plot twists. A very intriguing young adult mystery that I highly recommend to readers of all ages. show less

Full Review on my blog!

We’ll Never Be Apart is a riveting psychological thriller from page one. It’s a mystery…a thinker…and full of suspense. From the first time I saw the wickedly amazing cover… I knew I had to read this book. The cover just grabs you and doesn’t let go.

The story revolves around Alice who is now in a mental facility after surviving a fire that her twin sister, Celia, started in an attempt to kill her and her boyfriend Jason, whom sadly did not survive. Alice is recovering and trying to get answers about her life and the events that led up to the fire. Alice is determined to find her twin sister and get revenge for Jason. She tries to come to terms with what her sister Celia did by writing her memories of show more her bad childhood in a journal. When she realizes that Cellie is in a different ward at the hospital, Alice makes it her mission to find a way to get to her and make her pay by killing her.

A piece of Alice’s plan just happens to be a boy she meets in her ward, Chase. He has some demons of his own and as he and Alice become closer, his story is revealed a bit more and he happens to be more than just the cocky troublemaker he presents himself as. Honestly, Alice is the perfect level of sarcastic which I love and her interactions with Chase made me smile. I mean the romance? (Kind of romance-y) between Alice and Chase was cute, but Alice’s constant moaning over Jason kind of ruined it. But when they first met Alice really tried to win him over to help her out with her plan, are some of my favorite interactions between them. I loved seeing their characters develop.

Emiko Jean is a great writer. Her words were quite poetic and beautiful even with the grittiness of the story. The whole book had this dark, almost spooky feel to it. I had a lot of fun with this and the characters were both engaging and well fleshed out. I would pick up another book by this author without hesitation in the future, in fact I can’t wait to read more of her work!

I recommend it!

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A YA thriller, We'll Never Be Apart is one of those books that has left me unsure exactly how I feel about it.

The story is an intriguing one. Alice Monroe is in a mental ward on Savage Isle, locked in with her fractured memories of the fire that killed her boyfriend, a fire that was set by her twin sister. The story is told through present day scenes, as well as journal entry flashbacks. As Alice regains more of her memories, the readers learn more about what happened.

So why am I left giving this book a middling score?

On the one hand, I found it really gripping. I read it in about twenty four hours, and felt my heart in my throat in a couple places towards the end as the action really started to pick up. I definitely wanted to keep show more reading to find out the truth behind what happened.

On the other hand, it read as frankly ridiculous at times. Even accounting for sweeps of the imagination and unreal, given the setting and protagonists, parts of it just seemed overwrought and so unlikely. To me, the main twist was slightly predictable, but mostly reasonable given the context of the story itself, but so many little moments just jolted me out of the story with how unlikely they truly were.

Also, I found it completely impossible to like Cellie, the twin sister, at all. I suspect this was done purposefully by the author, but having a main character so unlikable with seemingly no true redeeming qualities can make for a less than engaging read. I did not completely find myself on the side of most of the other main characters as well, which was also an issue. I completely understand that because of their circumstances, the author wanted readers to find them sympathetic in their flawed natures, but Jean went, in my opinion, too far in emphasizing those flaws.

In the end, this was a suspenseful, flawed book with an interesting twist that kept me flipping pages, and left me somewhat unsatisfied. I'd be curious to see what Emiko Jean comes out with next as she grows more as a writer. show less

I was looking forward to reading this book so much. It sounded spooky and interesting and I was really getting into it as I was reading. Alice and Celia are twins who have experienced some pretty traumatic things in their lives and have been through a lot together. The have witnessed death, accidents, abuse, but all things considered they are doing ok ... for the most part. The there is a murder and Alice is getting blamed for something Celia did and she is not sure how to get herself out.

The beginning of this book was wonderfully captivating. The characters are interesting and the writing is past and present intertwined. The reader is lead through the current situation and also Alice's past and how she has gotten to this point. I was show more really liking the way it was going.

Then when I was talking about the books plot with my husband, he made a revelation into what the ending might contain, and it turns out he was correct. Here in lies by issue with the book - the ending was too predictable. Granted, I fell victim to this beautifully written amalgamation of past and present and wanted to believe my hubby wrong. I was disappointed with the ending and I hate admitting when he is right. show less

En líneas generales diré que me gustó, pasé un muy buen momento leyendolo.
En las historias donde tienen dos líneas de tiempo generalmente te atrapa una y la otra no y en este caso eso no me pasó, me atrapó tanto la historia pasada como la actual.
El final no fué para novedoso, (ya se lo veía venir desde el principio...) eso sería el único punto en contra de la novela, no fue un final épico ni nada por el estilo.

This is a psychological thriller.

Alice is in a mental ward and has only one desire: kill her twin. Alice and her sister have always been inseparable, especially following her grandfather’s death when they were left to the foster system. Cellie has always protected Alice, but she has a penchant for fire, setting them just to see things burn. She is cruel and Alice has protected her. After Cellie kills Alice’s boyfriend--Jason--in a fire, leaving her with scars, Alice is determined to kill Cellie

When she meets a boy, Chase, in the mental ward who agrees to help her, Alice has to regain her memories and find truths that she has hidden from herself about her entire life. She has also been blamed for Jason’s death and will have to go show more to court for killing him. She doesn’t want to be held responsible for Cellie and knows that Cellie cannot be cured at the facility. She just needs to find her.

I haven’t decided if I’m purchasing this novel or not. The journals of Cellie and Alice’s lives before Jason’s death and subsequent time in the mental facility shed light and clues as to the truth. I find this novel geared more for older teens than middle school age. show less