en-The Year After You - Nina de Pass review

09/05/2020

Up in the Alps, Cara's old life feels a million miles away. Nobody at Hope Hall knows her past. With secrets to keep, can Cara allow herself this chance to live again?

New Year's Eve, San Francisco. The most promising party of the year ends in tragedy. Georgina is gone and nothing will bring her back.

Nine months later, Cara's mother decides a Swiss boarding school will be the fresh start Cara needs. Up in the Alps, Cara's old life feels a million miles away. Nobody at Hope Hall knows her past - and she intends to keep it that way.Yet, as much as she keeps her distance, her new friends break down the walls she has so carefully built up - especially the offbeat, straight-talking Hector, who understands how she feels better than anyone. But the closer Cara grows to Hector, the more her old life slips away. Embracing life at Hope Hall means letting go of the past. With Georgina gone, how can Cara allow herself this second chance?

I chose this book because of it's title. 'The Year after you' spoke to me when I first read its title. I was so curious about this one, that I couldn't wait to dive into it when it came in the mail.

'The year after you' is a touching, fascinating and intriguing story that you can't put down. We see how Cara suffers from the loss of her best friend. She's completely recovered from her physical injuries from the car crash, but not from the emotional ones. She blames herself for the death of her best friend and she's drowning in guilt. Her mother sends her to boarding school in Switzerland to recover and find herself again.

I find Cara's character so intriguing and so well written. We see how she is losing herself in guilt after her best friend died in a car accident. She is lost and thinks she doesn't deserve to live anymore, that she should have died with her best friend that day. She won't let anyone close to her anymore, she has built walls around her to keep everyone at safe distance. She's afraid they'll find out the truth about her and the accident, and she afraid they are going to hate her for what she did. After a while she starts to open up to them, but this has its ups and downs. I loved how her recovery is written down and it feels like you are part of the story. We feel what she feels and it is heartbreaking. It seems so real and it is so inspiring that you can't put it down until you've finished it.

Every character has its own story to tell. It's not only about Clara, but also about everyone around her. This brings the story to a whole new level if you ask me. We can see a piece of their lives and how they've become the person they are now. I loved the fact that not all of the story is focused on Cara and her recovery, but also on other characters and their recovery and their struggles.

The evening of the accident is written several times in the book. It is different every time Cara tells it. It depends on how much she has opened up when she tells the story. The more she opened up and trust the person, the more details she spills on the truth about that evening. There are a lot of details added to the story which makes it unique and inspiring. I really loved how these details showed up every once in a while in the story. They were not necessary but they made the story more deepened and more touching.

I loved the story and it is one I will definitely reread many times in the future. It's so emotional and touching. I even shed a few tears now and then. It's a beautiful story and I definitely recommend it.

  • Author: Nina de Pass
  • Genre: Young Adult
  • Themes: Mourning, trust, friendship
  • Publisher: Ink Road
  • Publication date: 16 April 2020
  • Number of pages: 318 pages
  • Rating: * * * *