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:	9780062275356
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/29/2015
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)
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

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

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