Member Reviews
DNF
I read up to 51% of this book as I adored the first book by these author's Five Feet Apart. However this book did not grab me at all. I found it boring, a bit odd and didnt connect with any of the characters. Sadly I could not continue.
“Once upon a time, there was a boy... He was sad and alone.”
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I feel all I can really say to describe this book is WOW. This is the first time I’ve read the works of these authors and it has only left me desperate for more, more, more!
We follow the story of Kyle, a teenager deeply in love with his girlfriend, Kimberly. They have an off and on again relationship, but he wouldn’t change it for the world. But, when Kim tries to break up with him, citing their differences and her longing to live life without him beside her, Kyle cannot accept it. In a last ditch attempt to keep his girlfriend, Kyle tries to change Kim’s mind. Yet, before he can, they find themselves in an awful accident. When he wakes in the hospital to find Kimberly has died, he has to navigate this new life without her. Can he do it or will he find himself buried in his grief?
Now, this certainly sounds like a depressing story - and in a lot of parts it is. BUT there is so much hope embedded that it’s surprisingly uplifting. You will need to have tissues handy because I didn’t half cry at some points.
There were a few bits and pieces - namely pacing and conflicting emotions - that had me a bit unsure. But overall, with the plot twists thrown my way and with how I enjoyed the story, I couldn’t give it any less than 5 stars.
Overall, All This Time is a brilliant story that I highly recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I’m sorry to say this story didn’t work for me on any level, so I’m going to keep my review short. I really enjoyed this author duo’s FIVE FEET APART, so I was eager to see another story from them. The cover is pretty and it felt like a style that fitted with their previous book.
This story takes the reader through death, loss, grief, healing, recovery and yet, does it really? From the first few pages, this story forced a seemingly emotional story on the reader. It felt too much, too soon. The protagonist Kyle was going through so much and yet I had a sneaking suspicion.
Honestly, the story didn’t relent, lurching from one emotional event to another, with Kyle, Sam and Kim then Kyle and Marley. I found the plot utterly ridiculous when at 65% what I suspected was coming, was realised. How I limped to the end, I’m unsure. This felt like an immature plot and read for me and I’m gutted to be saying that so plainly. I suspect this will work on a surface level for teen readers and for that I’m glad.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the early review copy.
A beautiful yet tragic coming of age story that will awaken all your senses and make you believe in love. Highly recommended!
I think this book covered some interesting topics in a very easy to read way which I do appreciate. It was however hard to first get into the book due to the characters when we initially meet them being so unlikable, all making bad decisions, and all round having bad people skills. This being said after a while it becomes very clear that this is to show the large transformation and growth each of the characters experience. Though the general story is something that has been done before in other films and books, the subplots give the story a new dynamic that i really enjoyed. I especially liked the family dynamic between the main character and his mother and they way that she choices to help him come to terms with his loss. Trauma and grief effects people in different ways and this book does a great job of illustrating these differences through its different characters. No one is perfect, and the flawed characters in this story show that beautifully.
After enjoying 'Five Feet Apart' (and the wonderful film adaptation), I was delighted to be approved to read Lippincott and Daughtry's new offering 'All This Time'. I can already tell this heartwrenching story will be a hit with the YA readers (with another adaptation to follow? Perhaps!).
Our main character, Kyle, and his high-school sweetheart, Kim, are in a car accident on the night of their graduation. Whilst Kyle escapes with severe leg and head injuries, Kim is tragically killed. As Kyle tries to move on from this horrific event, he meets the similarly grief-stricken Marley who provides hope for a new relationship and a better future.
The first half of the book is very sweet and I enjoyed reading about the romance between these two youngsters who had suffered from past trauma. However, I got too comfortable and had the rug completely ripped out from under me at the halfway mark, my perception of events challenged with a powerful twist. This is when the book really stepped up a notch for me, the clever plotting ramping up the drama and emotion.
Despite the ending being a little too obvious and convenient for my liking, this story emotionally resonates with the reader and will be devoured by teenage readers. It is nice to be able to recommend to my students a book with a largely healthy relationship at its centre and a message of love and hope.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
"All This Time' is the second magical book by an extremely talented duo Rachael Lippincott and Mikki Daughtry.
I must admit that just like 'Five Feet Apart' I read it at one go. The book is simply impossible to put down.
Kim breaks up with Kyle just seconds before their car accident and since that moment there are two parallel Kyle's lives the one in the hospital and the one in his head while he is in a coma. Even though Kyle can't communicate while he is in a coma, he sees and hears people around him, he also meets a new girl named Marley and together they create the best version of their lives. Together they learn how to forgive themselves, how to move on and how to be happy again. It's a story within a story and what makes it even more magical is the fairy talesque style of storytelling that makes it really wonderful to read.
It will break your heart multiple times, but it will also give you hope. I couldn't recommend a better book! Five well-deserved stars from me!
I really wanted to like this more than I did because I read Five Feet Apart - no, I devoured that book after the movie. This one fell flat for me. I went into this with high expectations because the writing was beautiful in the first book by these authors and I felt like this had so much potential.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Okay, so I could really see what this book was trying to do but it felt so...forced to me. I didn’t feel like I could relate to either characters despite going through grief myself. I think it tried to be metaphorical and too much John Green meets Jennifer Niven. It didn’t feel authentic.
2. I do love the writing though. These authors sure have some talent and I think this book just wasn’t their best. However, I can see this book appealing to younger YA readers.
3. I think the overall plot was boring. I felt like both characters just whined and it was overly predictable. I didn’t believe in the romance and the issues that occurred were just aggravating.
I really think this book had potential and I could see the message that was trying to be portrayed but the execution just didn’t work for me.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
What a whirlwind!
My rating for this book went from 5 to 2, back up to 5 and has settled on 4!!
It starts off in a very sad way. Kyle loves his girlfriend Kim. On one particular evening, they get into an argument which turns out to be fatal and Kim dies. Kyle has to deal with life without her.
So i loved the first quarter of the book and I resonated with the characters. However when Marley was introduced, i ALMOST stopped reading. It became too wishy-washy for me. I also really started to hate Kyle, so that never goes down well!
But then BAM! In goes a plot twist! And another! And another! You know when you get to the end of a book, you let your guard down because therr aren't enough pages left for something drastic to happen? You can't do that here. I had to read every single sentence slowly, because the writers kept us hooked until the very last page!
In the end, i did love the characters. Kyle in my head is Cole Sprouse (most likely because he was in the Five Feet Apart movie 😂)
I think this was written very well and it was very clever. Must read!
Kyle wakes from a terrible accident to find his high school girlfriend has died. After a chance meeting at the cemetery, Kyle finds love again with Marley. However one day, Kyle wakes up to find that he's been in a coma all along...
This is a heartbreaking story of love and grief that surprised me at every turn. Would recommend.
Emotional, captivating and beautifully written, All This Time pulls at your heartstrings and makes you believe in love again, even when you think it isn't possible.
I read Five feet apart earlier this year and when I read the synopsis of this book I was instantly intrigued.
All this time was a heart wrenching story, a story of love hope and heart break.
Follow the story of Kyle and Kim and Kyle and Marley and this beautiful story that will make you believe in fairy tales all over again
Kyle and Kim, it’s always been them. The seemingly perfect couple, the high school quarterback and the cheerleader, but they’re not as perfect as they seem. Kyle thinks they’ll be together forever, he has their entire future mapped out, that is until the stormy night of their graduation party when Kim breaks up with him. Tragedy ensues and Kyle has to learn to go on without her. For a long time Kyle just exists, he cuts himself off from everyone and everything around him.. that is until he meets Marley at the cemetery one day. What follows is a heartbreakingly sweet story of two people holding each other up and falling in love until tragedy strikes again.
I really enjoyed the first three quarters of All This Time, it was a beautifully written story that tugged on the heartstrings and kept me captivated. I loved the descriptiveness and the attention to detail woven throughout the book.
As for the plot twist.. I did not see that coming, which is unusual for me. I was just waiting for the story to take a completely different turn so I was pleasantly surprised by that.
Unfortunately the last quarter of the book let it down somewhat for me, which is disappointing because I loved it up until then. I found the ending to be rushed, unrealistic and a little odd to be honest. Certain parts added no real value to the plot or to the characters so it felt completely unnecessary to be included. However, I would still recommend All This Time because overall it’s a good book that will definitely give you all the feels!
3.75 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Children's UK for providing this in ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I got access to this book through netgalley as an E-ARC. This is such a hard book to review as their are plot twists that happen that I think if you knew beforehand would ruin your experience of the book. I would sum this book up by saying it’s about grief of the changing of plans: of what could be versus what is.