Book Review
Title: We Used To Be Friends
Author: Amy Spalding
Genre: YA/Contemporary
Rating: ***
Review: All I knew about We Used to be Friends going into it was that it is told in dual timelines, one moving forward and one moving backwards, and it follows the friendship of Kat and James, a girl with a boy’s name. The story opens in the August after graduation and we are introduced to James as she briefly explains the breakdown of the friendship between her and her best friend, Kat. James is heartbroken but her life is moving forward as she is leaving for college, but she does make the effort to text Kat and ask her if they can keep their Christmas tradition. We then jump back to the September of their senior year and we are introduced to Kat. Kat is having the worst time as she learns her boyfriend Matty cheated on her which is made worse but James and Logan’s seemingly amazing relationship. Kat and James both have absent mothers in their lives, but while James’ parents got divorced, Kat’s mother died and her father is considering dating after two years and this doesn’t sit well with Kat, which leads to her meeting Quinn, a girl from school who is instantly strikes up a friendship with.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we have moved back again to June of James and Kat’s senior year. We can see in the space of their final year James and Kat have grown apart. By the time Logan and James have broken up which explains their awkward conversation in the first chapter but we can see that James was trying to hold onto her friendship with Kat but Kat displays a very selfish attitude that I don’t like and I completely agree with James about them moving apart especially since Quinn has seemingly replaced James in Kat’s life. However, after graduating Kat makes a huge deal about James not telling her that her parents had split up or that she was going to a different college when she should have been supportive when these were things that James didn’t want to talk about. Afterwards she heads to Logan’s house and kisses him as that is the only place she wants to be in that moment, and we move forward again to November of their final year. We can see that even in November James and Kat’s friendship was unravelling as Kat becomes closer to Quinn and they eventually being “dating”, we also know that James is hiding things from Kat because she doesn’t feel as close to her friend anymore and Kat is choosing the share more stuff with Quinn because she is more opinionated than James in her opinion.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, I was really enjoying the story and the dual timelines isn’t as distracting as I thought it was going to be and it adds another layer to this story. When we jump back to April we get to see more of Kat and Quinn’s relationship, but it is clear that James isn’t happy about it especially since she refuses to form any sort of friendship with Quinn driving a wedge between them. However, we also learn more about her home life and how she isn’t on the best terms with her mother since she split up with her father and not just because of the breakup but because it is impacting her future as she was rejected by UCLA, but can’t go to Michigan because her father can’t afford it. It was nice knowing that James didn’t plan to keep it from Kat, but the more time passed the less she actually felt that she needed to tell Kat every single detail of her life. However, we do she a vindictive streak in James we haven’t seen yes as she makes some comments about Kat and Quinn’s relationship, not in a homophobic way, it is just she believes she knows Kat better than Quinn and while she knows Kat likes Quinn, she also believes that the charade with prom isn’t about equality but more of Kat’s desire to be prom Queen and nothing else. Kat’s relationship with her father is also strained as he starts dating again and she isn’t ready for her father to have another woman in his life but rather than talking to him like a sensible person she doesn’t say anything and I can’t already tell it is going to come out in a huge outburst later on in the novel.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we jump forward to January, where we mainly follow Kat in her relationship with Quinn and her applications for college. Things being their downhill spiral when she learns from Logan that James broke up with him and not the other way around as James led her to believe. After that she learns that Quinn lied to her about applying early for the same college as she was scared, she wasn’t going to get in and when Kat is accepted, she begins feeling that everything isn’t as easy as she first thought it was. She also had the added issue of her dad dating Diane who is really nice, but she feels that her mother is being erased by this new woman in her father’s life. We don’t see much from James here only a few text messages which are short and to the point which Kat hates. Despite following two characters, I personally like James a lot more than Kat even though we don’t utterly understand everything that is going on right now. We jump backwards to February, where James and Kat are still trying to make their friendship work in the same way it did the year before, even with a trip to Disneyland sans boyfriends but Kat brings Quinn making James the third wheel and it really hurts her but she goes along with it anyway.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, the trip doesn’t end well as Kat and James end up arguing, James feels hurt that Kat is still friends with Logan and didn’t tell her and while she doesn’t say it James also resents being the third wheel but before we can get further into this we jump forward to March. After the Disneyland incident, the gap between James and Kat has widened even further and both can feel it and it gets strange for Kat when she has her first real argument with Quinn as Quinn tells Kat she wants to be seen for who she is not the perfect girlfriend that Kat has imagined her to be in her mind. Surprisingly, it is Diane who gives Kat the advice she needs, and it works helping Quinn and Kat’s relationship get back on track especially since Quinn has been accepted by the same college. They also start a petition for the rules surrounding prom King and Queen to be changed, however, Kat has been neglecting James when she should see that her best friend needs her right now or at least have the confidence to say she knows that she broke up with Logan and ask why but she does none of these things opting to focus solely on Quinn, which seemed like a really crappy thing to do but we jump backwards to December. In December, we get to spend more time with James who is struggling with the new arrangement of her family but makes do except when she is forced to spend Christmas Eve which her mother and her new boyfriend, Todd and not with her father she bursts into tears and that isn’t something James does often unlike Kat. I did like the fact that even James can see that the version of Quinn, Kat is dating in her mind is absolutely nothing like the real Quinn, but she doesn’t say anything as Kat seems to be happy.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, as we move through the Christmas period and New Year’s we are beginning to see the gaps in events filling in and it changes our perspective on certain events and characters but what I am really hoping to find out is why Logan and James broke up in the first place and how they get back to where they were in the opening chapter and how James and Kat had the massive meltdown we saw that ended their friendship. We get to see how prom plays out and it isn’t good as James decides not to go causing so much anxious and worry in Kat, but Kat doesn’t even see that she is part of the problem. However, this is all overlooked when Quinn and Kat are crowned prom couple which was a special moment for Kat that James wasn’t there to see. They also say I love you for the first time and truly mean it and it marks a milestone in their relationship which was nice to see. Kat is also getting along with Diane and coming to terms with her mother’s death, she hasn’t gotten over it but she understands that it is ok to like Diane as a person and to be happy for her father and yet still miss her mother. However, I was really angry that during the Christmas period, Kat went to visit James after having a bad day and didn’t even ask how her holiday was going or even pay enough attention to notice that James’ mother and all of her stuff was gone which was extremely obvious. At this point we realise that neither James or Kat is perfect, but Kat seems to have more blame in the relationship falling apart than James as James tries as hard as she can but Kat just doesn’t seem to notice until there is a massive James shaped hole in her life and by that point it is already too late. As we jump backwards to October, we learn that James’ mother was having an affair and left their family for Todd and in the wake of that she realises that the 15-year plan she has created for her and Logan was based on their relationship. As that relationship hasn’t worked she breaks up with Logan even though it breaks her heart to do it and his too, however, the next morning her mother is gone, Logan is gone from her life and the only other constant Kat is drifting away thanks to the introduction of Quinn so James feels completely alone and I can’t disagree with her. If I had to take sides during this friendship, I’d be with James all the way because Kat should have been aware that James’ group of close friends was nowhere near as big as hers and been more attentive and supportive of her supposed best friend.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we jump forward to July where we get to see the collapse of the friendship and while both says some hurtful words, Kat leaves no longer having a best friend and realising that she was right about being selfish and falling so hard into Quinn that she didn’t have time for anyone else and she begins making an effort to make herself better but she still doesn’t reach out to James and time is passing quickly when we bounce backwards to August. The book ends just before where it began which was nice but I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to see whether the girls mended their friendship since that was what everything had been building too. Overall, We Used to be Friends was a very interesting and the bouncing bath and forth in time isn’t disruptive at all as it helps piece the story together a little at a time from either girl’s perspective but the ending/beginning was really lacking for me.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this copy for review consideration from the publisher.
Commenti