Book Title: We Were Beautiful
Author: Heather Hepler
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Description from Goodreads:

It's been a year since fifteen-year-old Mia Hopkins was in the car crash that killed her older sister and left her 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 could consume 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 cafe 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 is always on Mia's mind--she realizes that she's not the only one with a painful past.

Over the summer, Mia begins 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 night Rachel died.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

In We Were Beautiful, Mia struggles to piece together the night of a terrible accident that killed her sister and left half her own face horribly scarred. After the accident, her family is torn apart; Mia’s mother abandons her to join a convent, while her father leaves on a trip to find himself. Mia is sent to live with a grandmother she doesn’t know in New York City. Her grandmother gets her a job at a bakery where Mia is introduced to Fig and Fig’s group of friends. The book follows Mia’s journey as she learns to cope with grief, guilt, and finding a way to continue living.

We Were Beautiful did a good job of showing what a profound impact a traumatic event has on someone’s psyche. Mia feels that she is totally to blame for her sister’s death and therefore doesn’t deserve to be happy, to laugh, to joke around, or really experience life. She is in a dark place, and keeps having nightmares and flashbacks to the night of the accident. I like that the book talks about her going to therapy and seeking help, and how even that is not enough. It takes time to cope with a traumatic event this huge. The book does a good job of showing that it’s a slow process and there will always be difficult feelings to cope with.

I also thought the book did a good job of showing how parents struggle with grief, and that they don’t always make the right decisions. Mia’s parents can barely look at or communicate with her, leaving her to grieve on her own. Her mother even gives up full parental custody. It’s hard enough for Mia to deal with being in the accident, but to lose her parents’ support in the aftermath adds a whole other awful element.

The novel mainly explores the importance of found families, community, and friendship. Mia moves to NYC feeling lost and alone, but ends up becoming a part of the Brunelli family by working at their bakery. She develops a relationship with her grandmother, and forms an eclectic group of friends. These are the people that help Mia heal by showing her that while many people have experienced trauma, she needs to confront her trauma to move forward.

There is a romantic story line in this book, but I like that it’s not the main focus. Mia’s relationship with Cooper wasn’t the most exciting. I didn’t really see what was connecting them other than their traumatic childhoods and feeling like they really “saw” each other. She’s only in New York City a short time and they spend very little time together, so their relationship isn’t fully explored. I think if we saw them go on more dates together or have more conversations, the connection would have made more sense. I also think it would have been a good idea to leave the romantic relationship out this story. I believe it would have been powerful to see Mia heal just through connections with family and friends.

Overall, this was a quick and enjoyable read. It definitely deals with some unique themes that you don’t often see in YA, and I would recommend it to those looking for a change of pace.