Luckily, the show We Were Liars came out to make this story a bit more relevant. I did read the book We Were Liars, but I’ll admit I didn’t remember much of any of it as it’s been so long. So it was great that the show came out so all the characters were very fresh to me. (PS the show is very well done, in my opinion, I would highly recommend watching.)

The author gives a note in the beginning stating that there are spoilers in this book for We Were Liars, but this book is still very standalone. One hundred percent agree with the author. Do not read this book, until you read We Were Liars. And also, this is my biggest problem with the book and more or less the theme of this review.

Why? 

Why connect the two worlds? Or have it in the same world as the Sinclairs but don’t have it so connected. I’ll avoid any spoilers here, but the connection between the characters in We Fell Apart and the Sinclairs in We Were Liars was absolutely unnecessary.  It felt forced and awkward and an added layer that was simply stupid. It didn’t add anything to the story.

Speaking of characters, I thought the character Holland was dumb. Maybe there was a point to her at the beginning of the book to add that tension with father Kingsley, but to have her come back into the story, her reveal and her scenes felt like a waste of time. 

I also really disliked the character Tatum. I thought he was written very surface level, but the reader was supposed to feel he was deeper than he was. As a very young girl driven story, Tatum, and (sadly) most boys in a young girl’s life, are very important in shaping their character. Tatum needed to be spot on and for me, he wasn’t built that way.

I would have liked the story more if it was just about Matilda finding her long lost family. All the characters were unique enough and interesting enough and played together enough where there was plenty of substance. (Even the characters I dislike mentioned above.) It could’ve been an interesting book if the author didn’t try to hitchhike it on We Were Liars. 

I mean, look how much I have mentioned We Were Liars in this review alone?

The twist that connects the two stories felt like a lazy jab. (Kingsley) It wasn’t clever. It wasn’t anything a reader could deduce for themselves. It was absolutely silly. And again totally unnecessary.

So I’m struggling. If the author wrote this more as a standalone, it would’ve been a solid 3 star book. Because she tried to connect the two stories in such an awkward manner, I have to rate it 2 stars. My morals won’t let me go higher than that. 

If you really miss the story, We Were Liars, you might absolutely adore this book. For everyone else, I wouldn’t recommend.

Amazon Link – Barnes&Noble Link – Goodreads Link

Stats: xxx pages – Expected publication November 4, 2025

**Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.