How We Fall Apart
Ebook
Overview
In a YA thriller that is Crazy Rich Asians meets One of Us is Lying, students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead.
Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top-ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends--Krystal, Akil, and Alexander--are the prime suspects, thanks to “the Proctor,” someone anonymously incriminating them via the school’s social media app.
They all used to be Jamie’s closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow the Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy’s full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.
Katie Zhao’s YA debut is an edge-of-your-seat drama set in the pressure-cooker world of academics and image at Sinclair Prep, where the past threatens the future these teens have carefully crafted for themselves. How We Fall Apart is the irresistible, addicting, Asian-American recast of Gossip Girl that we’ve all been waiting for.
A hooky #OwnVoices YA thriller: This diverse thriller features a twisty, suspenseful mystery through the lesser-seen lens of a second-generation Chinese-American scholarship student.
We’re growing Katie Zhao as a house author: We’ve launched Katie Zhao’s debut The Dragon Warrior in a big way, with a fantastic cover and B&N excitement, as well as a sequel slated for a year later. We’re excited to also build her in YA.
The author is an asset for promotion: Katie excels at social media, particularly on Twitter. She’s already engaged with other YA authors and has made great connections in the author/bookseller community.
Thrillers are growing in the market: With recent bestsellers like One of Us Is Lying, and B&N featuring a YA thriller endcap for other books in this vein, readers are seeking more stories in this genre.
Taps into the soapy, scandalous storytelling from popular book-turned-TV series like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars--but from a fresh, diverse perspective: This story plays with the tropes we’ve seen in popular media, but with an almost completely Asian-American cast whose specific experiences add another layer in a genre that has traditionally followed mostly white characters.
An author who personally connects to the deeper themes in the book: Katie wanted to portray Nancy’s family situation after watching her friends undergo something similar with their parents, and also pulled from her own experience to reflect the struggles of American-born teens from diaspora groups.
A delicious shock on every page. Zhao has written a modern Gossip Girl for the BIPOC set that serves up urgent insights on class, race, and the brutality of high school striving.
Through the eyes of her fierce, determined, and morally grey protagonist, Zhao unflinchingly exposes the pressures of elite high schools. This juicy thriller is steeped in secrets, betrayal, and toxic competitiveness--you won’t be able to put it down.
Dark, deceptive, and deliciously deadly, How We Fall Apart cuts to the core of the Asian American experience through a fast-paced, twisty academia thriller.
In this page-turning debut, Zhao weaves an exhilarating tale that shimmers with adventure, love, and loyalty. Readers will be enthralled up to the incredible and absolutely breathless end.
Dark, thrilling mystery. Readers who love Karen M. McManus will enjoy this fast-paced, dramatic story.
[The] first-person narration capably drives this fast-paced thriller to its unrelenting close.
This standout prep school murder mystery . . . . [Is] an enticing new treat for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Karen McManus.
Part thriller, part mystery, Katie Zhao weaves a suspenseful read that will have readers on the edge of their seat.
. . . this is one that fans of Sara Shepard and Karen McManus will kill to read.
- Title: How We Fall Apart
- Author: Katie Zhao
- Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 352
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781547603985, 9781547609987, 1547609982, 1547603984
- Resource ID: LLS:9781547603985
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T15:34:53Z
Katie Zhao is the author of the middle grade fantasy The Dragon Warrior and its sequel, The Fallen Hero. She grew up in Michigan, where there was little for her to do besides bury her nose in a good book or a writing journal. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in English and a minor in political science; she also completed her master's in accounting there. In her spare time, Katie enjoys reading, singing, dancing (badly), and checking out new photo-worthy restaurants. She now lives in New York City.
www.katiezhao.com
@ktzhaoauthor