We Were Beautiful by Heather Hepler

We Were Beautiful

by Heather Hepler

The trace amount of alcohol in her bloodstream. The tremendous amount of guilt on her shoulders. A severely scarred face that is a daily reminder of the car crash that killed her sister. But when Mia finally pieces together her memories of the night Rachel died, the shocking truth might be as jarring as the crunch of metal.

 

It’s been a year since fifteen-year-old Mia Hopkins was in a car crash that killed her older sister, Rachel, and left her own face terribly scarred. The doctors tell her she was lucky to survive. Her therapist says it will take time to heal. The police reports claim there were trace amounts of alcohol in her bloodstream. But no matter how much she tries to reconstruct the events of that fateful night, Mia’s memory is spotty at best. She’s left with accusations, rumors, and guilt so powerful it is quickly consuming her.

 

As the rest of Mia’s family struggles with their own grief, Mia is sent to New York City to spend the summer with a grandmother she’s never met. All Mia wants to do is hide from the world, but instead she’s stuck with a summer job in the bustling kitchens of the café down the street. There she meets Fig—blue-haired, friendly, and vivacious—who takes Mia under her wing. As Mia gets to know Fig and her friends—including Cooper, the artistic boy who’s always on Mia’s mind—she realizes that she’s not the only one with a painful past.

 

Over the summer, Mia starts to learn that redemption isn’t as impossible as she once thought, but her scars inside run deep and aren’t nearly so simple to heal … especially when Mia finally pieces together her memories of the awful night Rachel died.

 

We Were Beautiful is:

  • A unique coming of age story about tragedy, forgiveness, and love
  • Written by acclaimed, award-winning author Heather Hepler
  • Perfect for fans of Robyn Schneider and Justina Chen.
  • A poignant, clean YA romance unafraid to explore serious contemporary life issues

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

5 of 5 stars

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Rating: 4.5 Stars

It had been almost a year since an accident claimed Mia's sister's life, and fractured her family. Her mother left physically, while her father left emotionally. Initially, Mia was resistant to spending the summer with her estranged grandmother, but it turned out to be one of the best things to happen to her since the accident.

I have a penchant for grief books, and this one was dripping with it. Mia's family had been dealing with the loss of her older sister by ignoring it and disconnecting. I was happy Mia was sent to be with her grandmother, because it put her in a new environment, with new people, who pushed her to share her feelings, and whoa! Mia had a lot of feelings. The biggest one being guilt. Though it took most of the book for Mia to remember everything that happened that night, I did know that she blamed herself. Through sharing her pain, she learned to deal with her feelings and forgive herself. I was really pleased with the progress both she and her father made regarding her sister's death, and liked that Helper gave them the opportunity to heal together.

This book was filled with great characters, who brought this story to life. Among my favorites were the Brunelli family. My mother is the oldest of nine children, and when I was younger, living in Brooklyn, I was surrounded by a HUGE extended family, who share quite a few similarities with the Brunellis. That clan was loud and chaotic, but they immediately saw that Mia needed somewhere to belong, and they took her into their fold as one of their own. I loved all the familial interactions, and I also really enjoyed spending time at their diner. Aside from all the hijinks, there was a lot of quality food prepared, and I had fun being a part of it.

The Brunellis weren't the only ones to adopt Mia, she was also pulled into the tight-knit Art Attack group via Fig (of the Brunelli family). This was one interesting group of kids. They all seemed to share a love of art, but there was also a musician and a competitive eater in the mix. And, yes, I did get to attend an eating event. Each of these characters had a lot more going on behind the scenes, and helped Mia see that there were other people out there also dealing with pain, loss, and abandonment.

There are a lot of parts in this book that broke my heart, but there were way more that touched me and filled me with joy.

Overall: A beautiful and touching story of loss, healing, and forgiveness with an ending that left me smiling and shedding lots of happy tears.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 March, 2019: Finished reading
  • 29 March, 2019: Reviewed