“I make myself a promise: this time round, I will fight like hell. This time round, despite what will inevitably come after, I will be honest.”
Title: The Year After You
Author: Nina de Pass
Published: February 2019
Pages: 274
Publisher: Best of YA (I read this book in Dutch)
Rating: 7/10
Trigger warnings: Coping with grief, PTSD
First posted in Dutch on May 19 2020 and updated on June 19 2025.
San Francisco. New Year’s Eve. A tragic accident after the party of the year. Cara survives. Her best friend, G, doesn’t.
Nine months later, Cara is still struggling, consumed by guilt and grief. In the hopes of giving Cara a fresh start, her mother sends her to boarding school in Switzerland, a place where no one knows what happened–and where they never will, if Cara can help it.
But her new classmates Ren and Hector won’t let her close herself off. They are determined to break down the walls she has so carefully built up. And maybe Cara wants them to . . . especially Hector, who seems to understand her like no one else does.
The problem is that the closer Cara gets to Hector, the more G slips away. If moving on means letting go of the past–and admitting what she did that night–Cara’s not sure she can.
She’s not sure she deserves a second chance.
A contemporary set at a boarding school in Switzerland? I’m sold.
The title The Year After You already indicates that the book will contain a fairly intense subject. Main character Cara has had quite a few tough months. She is sent to a boarding school by her mother, so that Cara gets the chance to start over. A boarding school in a beautiful location. Not that Cara appreciates it. It is different from San Francisco, but on the other hand she was no longer in the middle of social life there. Cara slowly starts to appreciate the new environment. She even makes friends. Although she will never forget what happened nine months ago. Her new friends notice that she is keeping things back. It is difficult for Cara to open up. Only Hector knows how to slowly break down her wall.
I found the characters very realistic. In addition to Cara, her friends felt like characters with intention and fully developed. The author has clearly thought about this. The tension between Cara and Hector in particular is very well developed. Cara is not the most likeable character and I can imagine that as a reader you can identify less with her. But I did understand her actions. The author describes this very beautifully and powerfully.
Nina, the author, makes big topics in this book discussable. It is clear that she has done this with great care. Nina’s writing style is pleasant and easy to read. However, I still missed something in the story. Perhaps this is due to my own expectations, but I think that the settings and certain events could have been used much more. Due to spoilers, I cannot mention the latter. Some events could have happened earlier, so that I would feel more involved as a reader. As if I were standing next to the main character in the story. Now I had the idea that I was floating a bit as a reader, which made the story less appealing to me in the beginning.
The Year After You addresses many topics around mental health and the author has written this with great respect. A book full of emotion, developed characters and a beautiful setting!
Love,
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