Let me first say, I have read almost all of Camille Pagan's novels. This one is my absolute favorite!

Alzheimer's disease is devastating to think about. When it hits a family member, it is traumatizing for every single person living through the times before the diagnosis and wanting to deny it; to the moment when it has truly become a reality and decisions must be made.
The book is told by Laine, a physically distanced daughter, and alternates with her mother, Sally, who realizes exactly what is she is losing and must explain this to her family, before she is unable.
The story has friendship, fear, wishes, and acceptance! It has romance, secrets, sadness and joy (in the true sense).
"Say yes to your heart" is my favorite quote in this story, as the pieces of life begin to come together for this wonderful caring family!
Well done!

I was not really a fan I found the book hard to get into I probably wouldn’t recommend I have never read anything from this author before so I’ll have to give other books a chance

I was slightly disappointed after reading this book because I was expecting a romance. However, this was more about a woman and her family. While I did finish the book because I cared enough to see what would happen, I would only recommend this book if you go into it knowing not to expect a romance.

At it’s core, ‘Everything Must Go’ is about being true to yourself.

It’s told from the perspective of Laine, who is at a crossroads in life with her marriage and her family. Ultimately, she’s figuring out how to communicate what she really wants, even if what she wants doesn’t make everyone’s life easier.

It’s also told from her mother, Sally’s, perspective, as her health is declining and family secrets are being uncovered.

Initially, I was interested in Laine’s journey, especially her relationship with her mother. It felt relatable. It was easy to put myself in her shoes and wonder what I would do in her situation.

Midway though, I found myself becoming a bit frustrated because it seemed like Laine’s perceived obstacles were much bigger in her head than reality. Her inner dialogue was repetitive and it took awhile for her to grow. The ending was also pretty neatly tied up in a somewhat unbelievable way.

Overall, I really enjoyed Camille Pagán’s writing style. It flowed and was a quick read for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advance ebook!

A warm, wry novel about secrets, second chances, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters. This was one of those books that sucked me in from the beginning and didn’t let go until I finished! I thought it was well written, with absolutely flawlessly done characters, and absolutely unputdownable.

Once again, Camille Pagan has written a book that brought out all of my emotions! This is a story of a family who must learn to stick together when faced with a difficult diagnosis. I flew through this book, as Pagan has a wonderful writing style that immediately pulls you into the story. Loved it!

I really enjoyed this book - the characters and story captured my attention quickly and I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next. I enjoyed that it was a story to make me think more about my own relationships and if I should approach things a little differently.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of Camille Pagan’s latest book. I thoroughly enjoyed this story about family and finding yourself.
Highly recommend!

Laine is at a crossroads and needs to make some major decisions about where her life is headed. She wants nothing more than to have a baby but her husband, Josh, keeps saying he isn't ready yet. Laine's mother's memory is slipping more and more often recently. When Laine becomes concerned for her mother's wellbeing she heads to New York from Michigan and sees just how bad her mother's conditions has gotten. To Laine's surprise her childhood best friend, Ben, is living in the neighbourhood again and Laine has the chance to rekindle her teenage crush that never went anywhere.

I have read several other novels by Camille Pagan and like her writing style but this was one of my least favourite of her novels. I found this to be a bit predictable and was bored at points. I finished the book but didn't feel like I was pulled into Laine's story and her passiveness annoyed me. This was a perfectly alright book but nothing special and I'm sure I'll forget it sooner rather than later. I'll give it 3 stars because I like the author and felt that she handled the struggles of a family dealing with their mother's Alzheimer's really well and it felt very realistic. Laine as a character developed throughout the book and became less passive which was a winning plot point for me. I would say that you can skip this one and you won't be missing much.

Love this Author's writing, she never disappoints me . This was no different very very fast pace , likeable characters , sweet moments and lol moments. A great pick me up book. I highly recommend this book and this author in general. Thank you netgalley for my complementary copy

This book is definitely a must read, I really like Camille Pagan writing, very funny and very real life.
And also love all of the covers of his books 📚

Everything Must Go by Camille Pagan is a heartfelt novel that deals with being a caregiver to an aging parent while trying to balance your own needs and wants. Laine is the main character who decides to divorce her long-time husband in the midst of grieving for her dog. She is called back to New York by her sisters, who fear that their mother's heath and mental resilience is fading, but Laine is tasked with being the one to handle things - something she really doesn't want to do. When she is reunited with her childhood best friend, Ben, and becomes her mother's confidante, Laine begins to see her life as it should be and for the first time advocates for herself.

I enjoyed this novel and I feel like the themes are common and relatable for a lot of readers. Where the book falls short for me, is that it is lacking tension and most of the conflict is internal to Laine, much of it repetitive. All the characters are likable and get along, their reactions to problems are dealt with quickly, and even at the height of drama everyone is relatively emotionally stable and reliable. It was lacking the emotional "oomph" that interpersonal drama and tension would bring. I also think the chapters where Laine is organizing her friend's house could be shortened because it didn't contribute much to the central storyline. Overall, I recommend the book, as it was well written and engaging. 3.5 stars / 5

Advanced uncorrected proof copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Book Review 📚

Everything Must Go by Camille Pagán ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A sweet story of self discovery while dealing with an aging parent.

As a people pleaser myself, I was drawn to the main character Laine. After her beloved dog dies, she discovers that where she is in life is not what she actually wants. Little does Laine know, to get the life she wants, she has to learn the hard way to say yes to herself more while at the same time, saying no to others more. While also coming to terms with her moms admission to early onset memory loss.
You won't want to miss this sweet story.

Thank you to @netgalley and Camille Pagan for this ARC! Be sure to grab your own copy April 26th 2022!

This did not turn out the way I had hoped. I'm not sure how Laine and her husband have managed to stay married for so long since there is no feeling or connection between them at all. I'm not going to lie, Laine seemed a little dry to me. It was quite easy for me to become bored.

'Everything Must Go' has alternating viewpoints between Laine and her mother Sally. Laine is a professional organizer going through a life crisis as her mother experiences memory loss half-way across the United States. Laine was also coming to terms with her marriage struggles while also being reunited with her childhood best friend. I enjoyed this book and often found myself wondering what I would do if I were in Laine's situation. 4*

Laine Francis believes she no longer fits in back home in New York City so when she has to move back to help her mother after she becomes ill, it does not go to plan. Her childhood best-friend/could have been lover suddenly is back in her life and her whole world is tipped upside down.

Laine is a fantastic main character, I think she really has a little bit of every part of me in her. The naiveness, the people pleasing but also the stubborn and sad parts of her too. I really liked her as a character and was rooting for her to think of herself and choose what she wanted throughout the whole book.

The way dementia was written about in this book was brilliant. Such a sensitive topic but written about so carefully. I read in the acknowledgements that the author's family actually went through this and it's beautiful to see how she translated her own pain into a beautiful piece of work.

I really really enjoyed this book and it most definitely made me tear up at the end which I always thinks warrants a book, a great rating in my eyes. I rated this 4 stars and would definitely recommend to family and friends :)

I'm one of those people who get annoyed by characters who are so DESPERATE to have a baby that every third sentence is about THE BABY (often not yet born, and in many cases, not even yet conceived). So the blame is all mine for reading another book, 'Josh and Gemma Make A Baby' because there, the title literally tells you what it's about, and I have written a review of that as well.

But this book is called 'Everything Must Go' and I went into it thinking that it was about something else, and not about a hypothetical baby, but the baby part took up a MAJOR part of the story. Honestly, what kept me reading was Sally's struggles with dementia and how the family handles it.

Having a parent who is getting on in years, age-related conditions are a very real possibility, and it's easy to put myself in the shoes of Laine and examine my reactions if I were faced with those kinds of decisions.

This is a novel about family, and about living life on your terms, and not doing what others expect you to, but being honest and truthful about what you want in life, and having the courage to ask for it and pursue it, no matter what the cost.

The story is told from the POV of Sally, and her middle daughter, Laine. When Belle, Laine's dog, dies, she realises that she's going to be utterly alone, because even though she and her husband Josh have been together for 15 years, and married for 13 of those years, he still doesn't want to start a family, because career-wise, he's always on the verge of the next big thing, but never quite gets there.

She realises that she and he want very different things from life, and she asks for a divorce. Josh doesn't think she's serious, and it's just her grief over Belle's passing that is making her say these things.

Then Laine gets a call from her older sister, Hadley, who lives in New York. Hadley has a great husband and a bunch of kids and they're rich to boot. Hadley has noticed that their mom Sally has been behaving erratically lately and she's worried about her and needs Laine's help because her hands are full taking care of all her kids.

Laine goes to New York and at first, she doesn't see anything off about her mom's behaviour, but soon, she starts noticing things that indicate that all is not right with her mom's mental state.

Adding to all this is her chance meeting with Ben, her best friend from childhood with who she had a falling out, and with whom she was never able to reconcile. They talk about things and clear the air and decide to rekindle their friendship.

Hadley and Piper (the youngest sister, who has kids of her own) expect Laine to come and live in New York and take care of their mom when she tells them that Josh and she are divorcing. Because with no Josh, no kids and no Belle, they just assume that she's a free bird now.

Laine has other plans though. Her biological clock is ticking, and Josh or no Josh, she is determined to have a baby. She keeps this from everyone for a long time, because she is torn between staying in Ann Arbour or going to New York, staying with Josh, or divorcing him. She believes that her mother has always been selfish and manipulated her into doing what she wanted, and she's a bit resentful about that. However, after a heart-to-heart conversation with her mom and also after following Ben's advice, she realises that she MUST follow her heart and ask for what she wants.

She tells Josh that she DOES want the divorce, she tells her sisters that NO, she cannot and does not want to come and stay in New York and stay with their mom and take care of her, because she wants to have a baby and raise it in Ann Arbour. She also admits to Ben that she loves him and ...surprise! He's always been in love with her too! Frankly, I think the reason why they had a falling out was lame and a huge assumption on Laine's part, and they could have tried reconciling later in life once they were adults, but hey, characters displaying maturity and common sense would mess with the plot and disrupt the timing of the rekindling of all the feels.

No, not to worry, they don't leave Sally to fend for herself. A solution for that is neatly wrapped in a bow and presented to us as well, though, in real life, the decision of how to handle a parent with dementia is much more difficult and gut-wrenching than portrayed here.

Sometimes in life, you have to make some tough decisions, and people may see you as selfish or resent you for wanting to live your own life on your terms instead of being a self-sacrificing martyr, but you gotta do what you gotta do. And sometimes, it's all in our head, We think we will be judged and resented by our family or loved ones for the decisions we make, but they surprise us by showing us their full support.

I guess what the book is trying to say is -speak your truth, have the guts to ask for what you want, learn to say NO, stop trying to be NICE to everyone, go after what your heart desires, without any regrets, be honest with yourself, and stop beating yourself up and feeling guilty for wanting what you want, don't assume things, and STOP TRYING TO LIVE UP TO OTHER PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS!

It's sweet and emotional and a bit sad to read sometimes because if you put yourself in Laine's shoes, it's scary to think of what you would do when you had to decide the fate of a parent whose mental faculties are deteriorating fast.

But there are happy endings all around so you end on a feel-good note, even though the solution feels a little too convenient and forced. However, it was a good balance of sisterly bonding, familial love and responsibility, self-realization, and a dash of romance. Overall, would recommend it!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had mixed feelings about this book after I finished it. I felt Laine just jumped from situation to situation very rashly. She makes a major life decision without a lot of thought. Then she jumps into another situation while still entangled with another one.
The novel deals with dementia which is sad.
Out of all the characters, I liked Josh. I felt empathy for what he went through and he was still willing to help.
I was just dissatisfied with this novel.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Cute little fast read that I enjoyed in between thriller books. She thinks her place is in New York but find out it’s not. There’s a place for everybody. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy of this book.