I absolutely love and adore Emory Lords books. From the first one Zi encountered about a girl who hits in big in the signing industry to stories of love and friendship her books never miss the mark. I am beyond excited to read and acquire this for our location. I will be sharing a full review, but I’m excited to see she is incorporating a bit of mystery into her books as well. I love the relatability if her characters and also how ou4 main character will stop at nothing to figure out the mystery of the loss of her friend. The cover is vey intriguing as well. I almost thought it was the girl who played Wednesday friend Enid, but it draws you in to pick up the book as well.

I really wanted to like All That’s Left to Say more than I did; the synopsis sounded good and, as always, Emery Lord’s writing is of a very high quality. In the end, I struggled to keep picking it up to read more, so I think this particular book just wasn’t for me.

The depictions of Hannah’s grief over the loss of her cousin, Sophie, were tangible and relatable, and anyone who’s been through any kind of loss will know exactly what she was feeling. For me, this was the best part of the book, along with facets of Hannah’s stuttering romance (no spoilers as to who it’s with), which I thought would be more compelling than it was.

All That’s Left to Say seemed to drag it’s feet to get to the point, and I think it could have been much shorter than it was. It got a bit repetitive after a while, though I did like the dual timelines (junior year and senior year), and the overall theme of uncovering the truth and moving on.

Important themes and issues are explored throughout this book; I have no doubt it’ll resonate with YA readers, and will hopefully lead to important conversations and a greater understanding of substance abuse. While it wasn’t one of my favourite reads of the year so far, All That’s Left to Say is still a book I’d recommend to teens and young adults, and indeed anyone who’s a fan of Emery Lord. She’s an author who’s not afraid to tackle the tough stuff, and that’s never a bad thing.