A review by mrsjoylovesbooks
Together, Apart by Auriane Desombre, Jennifer Yen, Sajni Patel, Rachel Lippincott, Brittney Morris, Erin A. Craig, Natasha Preston, Bill Konigsberg, Erin Hahn

4.0

Together, Apart is a YA compilation of romantic short stories that all take place during quarantine/COVID-19 pandemic. If anything, these stories include the details of day to day life that teens and families are currently experiencing. There are some meet-cutes but with COVID concerns and anxiety as a part of the stories. The stories include lots of masks, social distancing, following ordinances such as no dine-in at a restaurant, Zoom classes, getting groceries and meals delivered, concerns about parents who are at risk due to their work, all the things that are genuine concerns in 2020. These stories bring to light that many young people are experiencing anxiety, loneliness from not being able to see their friends, and stress from online school. Of course, they’re all (clean) romance stories so there is always hope at the end of each story, which is something we all need right now.