What's Broken Between Us

by Alexis Bass

Overview

From Alexis Bass, author of Love and Other Theories, comes her heartbreakingly beautiful second novel, perfect for fans of Gayle Forman and of Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything.

A year and a half ago, Amanda Tart’s brother got behind the wheel drunk, killed his best friend, and paralyzed his girlfriend. Today, he’s coming home from prison.

Amanda’s been the one living with the fallout, made worse by her brother’s recent unapologetic TV interview. People think he’s a monster. Still, she loves him. It’s her dark secret, until she starts getting close to Henry again—whose sister is paralyzed from the accident.

A year and a half ago, her brother destroyed his life. Now Amanda has to decide if she’ll let his choice destroy hers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062275370
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/29/2015
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	853 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Alexis Bass grew up in Washington, went to college in Arizona, and currently lives in Northern California, where she works in marketing. This is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

09/21/2015
In a story about sorrow, regret, and love, Bass (Love and Other Theories) traces high-school senior Amanda’s struggles during the aftermath of tragedy. On the night Amanda’s older brother, Jonathan, graduated from high school, he was responsible for a drunk-driving accident that left a friend dead and his girlfriend, Sutton, nearly paralyzed. While Jonathan spent a year in jail, Amanda brooded that she should have done more to prevent him from getting behind the wheel. After Jonathan is released, community members complain that his sentence was too light, and Amanda feels guiltier than ever. Told from Amanda’s point of view, this novel offers a frank, thought-provoking account of one teen’s response to an unbearable, irrevocable situation. The relationship between Amanda and Sutton’s brother (whom she has been avoiding) unexpectedly deepens into romance, making her emotions all the more complicated. Meanwhile, Jonathan’s reconnection with Sutton may be more detrimental than therapeutic. Rather than placing judgments, Bass focuses on her characters’ emotional scars and strained relationships as they quietly grieve lost life and innocence. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

This well-done realistic novel presents an honest look at the aftermath of bad decisions. VERDICT Hand this to fans of Lurlene McDaniel and Simone Elkeles.” — School Library Journal

“This novel offers a frank, thought-provoking account of one teen’s response to an unbearable, irrevocable situation.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

11/01/2015
Gr 8 Up—Amanda and Henry have danced around their feelings for each other the entire time their siblings, Jonathan (Amanda's brother) and Sutton (Henry's sister), have been dating. They finally decide to act upon them the night of Jonathan and Sutton's graduation, not knowing tragedy is about to strike. While the two of them leave a party for privacy, Jonathan, Sutton, and their best friend Grace head to another party. Jonathan, drunk, crashes the car, killing Grace and nearly paralyzing Sutton. A year later, he is being released from prison and Amanda, now a senior, is not sure how she feels about everything. Her feelings for Henry still exist, but she's spent the last year keeping all of them pent up. Henry, trying to help Sutton, wants Amanda's help keeping his sister and Jonathan apart. Amanda is more worried about her brother staying out of prison. Amanda and Henry have to decide if they are ready to heal and focus on each other. The narrative is told from Amanda's point of view, starting before Jonathan's release from prison and flashing back to the events that changed everyone's lives. Jonathan, Grace, and Henry are fully fleshed out, and even the secondary characters are distinct. References to drinking, sex, Alcoholics Anonymous, and drug testing are included throughout the story. This well-done realistic novel presents an honest look at the aftermath of bad decisions. VERDICT Hand this to fans of Lurlene McDaniel and Simone Elkeles; purchase where realistic YA fiction is in demand.—Natalie Struecker, Atlantic Public Library, IA

School Library Journal

2015-09-16
On the night of their high school graduation, Jonathan Tart drank, drove, and killed a female classmate, shaking an otherwise "boring, run-of-the-mill" suburb to its core. In a clever twist on a topic that has often been visited in teen fiction, Bass tells this story from the perspective of Jonathan's younger sister, Amanda. Innocent yet guilty by association, Amanda has spent the past year and a half of Jonathan's prison sentence struggling to reconcile her love for her brother with the self-imposed burden of being the repentant face of a seemingly remorseless killer's family. What little progress she's made will be put to the ultimate test now that Jonathan is coming home. Unfortunately, while the premise is intriguing, the story never quite lives up to its potential, largely because there is so little to redeem Jonathan's destructive and repugnant behavior. Aside from blood ties, it is nearly impossible to comprehend Amanda's devotion to him. As a result, the story's most promising plotline—Amanda's struggle to claim a life and identity of her own—cannot sustain the weight of her older brother's dark shadow until it is far too little and late. The novel may be told by his sister, but make no mistake, this is Jonathan Tart's tale. A great idea that gets lost along the way. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews