Becky Albertalli
Amy Spalding knows that best friendships are love stories, and this one is complex, earnest, and unflinching. A must-read for anyone who's ever had or lost a friend.
author of Somewhere Only We Know Maurene Goo
We Used to Be Friends chronicles the end of a friendship with a bittersweet authenticity balanced by Amy Spalding's trademark humor. This book will break your heart only like a best friend can.
Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Like Water Rebecca Podos
Amy Spalding spins a story of friendship, family, love, and longing as perfect and bittersweet as the last days of summer.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Teens hurting from any breakup can find some solace here; while the book makes clear that sometimes splitting up is inevitable, it holds out hope that time apart and open conversations can bring people back together."
Booklist
"In alternating first-person perspectives, James and Kat each tell their stories, and despite their flaws, both become deeply sympathetic characters throughthe course of their narratives. . . The nonlinear structure adds some suspense to what is otherwise a bittersweet and potent examination of friendship, its failings, and its worth."
From the Publisher
Amy Spalding knows that best friendships are love stories, and this one is complex, earnest, and unflinching. A must-read for anyone who's ever had or lost a friend.”—Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
“We Used to Be Friends chronicles the end of a friendship with a bittersweet authenticity balanced by Amy Spalding's trademark humor. This book will break your heart only like a best friend can.”—Maurene Goo, author of Somewhere Only We Know
“Amy Spalding spins a story of friendship, family, love, and longing as perfect and bittersweet as the last days of summer.”—Rebecca Podos, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Like Water
"The author effectively conveys the ways that a desire for perfection can keep people at arm’s length, how not telling people things makes it harder to tell them later, and how silence can come to feel like a lie... Spalding shows with sensitivity how the pain of losing a close friend can seep into everything."—Publishers Weekly
"In alternating first-person perspectives, James and Kat each tell their stories, and despite their flaws, both become deeply sympathetic characters throughthe course of their narratives. . . The nonlinear structure adds some suspense to what is otherwise a bittersweet and potent examination of friendship, its failings, and its worth."—Booklist
"A good exploration of the heartbreak of losing a friend—and learning about oneself in the process."—Kirkus Reviews
"Teens hurting from any breakup can find some solace here; while the book makes clear that sometimes splitting up is inevitable, it holds out hope that time apart and open conversations can bring people back together." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"A captivating snapshot of a friendship that many teens will relate to. Spalding explores important questions while lyrically weaving the two stories together."—School Library Journal
New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Becky Albertalli
Amy Spalding knows that best friendships are love stories, and this one is complex, earnest, and unflinching. A must-read for anyone who's ever had or lost a friend.
Booklist
"In alternating first-person perspectives, James and Kat each tell their stories, and despite their flaws, both become deeply sympathetic characters throughthe course of their narratives. . . The nonlinear structure adds some suspense to what is otherwise a bittersweet and potent examination of friendship, its failings, and its worth."
Kirkus Reviews
2019-09-23
The friendship of two girls, best friends since kindergarten, unravels during their senior year of high school.
Kat, whose mother died two years ago, lives with her father. James (named after her father) lives with her mother and father—but her parents are heading toward a divorce. Both girls are also experiencing the ending of relationships with their boyfriends. Despite both dealing with absent mothers and broken hearts, the girls' paths forward are quite different and lead to the end of their friendship. At the root of their breakup is how honest the girls are with themselves and with each other: useful topics for any teen to consider. Over the course of the year, Kat discovers she is bisexual. The subplot of her relationship with her girlfriend, Quinn, is handled smoothly, without hand-wringing on anyone's part. In fact, LGBTQ rights take an unexpected central role as classmates start a fight for them to be crowned "prom couple." James and Kat each tell their version of senior year's challenges in alternating chapters. Kat's story is told moving forward while James' story is told in reverse. At times this helps to maintain suspense, but it also proves annoying, as motivations remain murky until the end. Set in Burbank, California, the book features seemingly white protagonists; diversity in secondary characters is indicated through names.
A good exploration of the heartbreak of losing a friend—and learning about oneself in the process. (Fiction. 13-18)
