I’ll Tell You Everything by Rebecca Kelley is an emotionally charged story about Amy and her biological daughter, whom she gave up for adoption as a baby. The novel follows the daughter’s search for answers as Amy provides multiple versions of the same story until the full truth is finally revealed.

Amy is clearly meant to be unlikable. Her erratic, often selfish behavior kept me engaged, though not always in a pleasant way. The shifting narratives made me question what was real, but Amy’s lack of honesty, ability to turn everything into a positive, and her frustrating unpredictability made it difficult to sympathize with her. However, this complexity is intentional—Amy is a deeply flawed, complicated person, and that discomfort reflects the complexity of the relationship at the heart of the story.

For readers who enjoy dissecting flawed characters, this novel provides plenty of layers to uncover.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishers for the Advanced Reader Copy. The book will be published on January 14, 2025.

Starting with a compelling premise—Ramona’s emotional journey to uncover the truth about her biological parents after reuniting with her birth mother, Amy. The setup is intriguing, as Ramona’s determination leads her to the summer resort where her parents’ romance began. Amy’s internal struggle to reveal the full truth adds tension and emotional weight to the story.

While the novel does a good job building suspense around family secrets, it sometimes falls short in delivering the depth expected from such an emotional narrative. The pacing, especially in the middle, feels a bit uneven, and some of Ramona’s discoveries seem predictable, lessening their impact. The relationship between Ramona and Amy, although central to the plot, could have been more fully explored to deepen the reader's emotional connection.

That said, I’ll Tell You Everything does manage to convey the complexities of family dynamics and the weight of hidden truths. It’s an enjoyable read for those interested in family drama, though it may leave some readers wanting more in terms of character development and emotional payoff.

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the arc in return for my honest review.

At first Ramona was a character that had some appeal to my taste as a character, but soon it wasn't anymore.
I'll admit I wasn't enjoying my reading experience with this book, maybe I'm not the right reader for it, maybe I'm not in the right mood? The thing is: I wasn't enjoying it, and I already have many books to read, so this is a temporary DNF. I might consider coming back to this book in the future before it gets published). I apologise to the author and to the publisher.

Amy Linden and her husband own a successful resort hotel in the mountains and share a son. On the surface, Amy has it all. Then, during an evening performance, she glances at the audiences and sees an unexpected guest. It’s Ramona, the baby she gave up for adoption twenty years ago. Ramona is there to learn more about her family. Who was her father anyway? At first Amy somewhat comically tries to keep Ramona a secret from her family while she drags her up and down mountain trails and around lakes, telling her the story of a grand love affair at this very same hotel with Freddy, the son of the owner. There will be more stories, more walks, an introduction to Amy’s husband and son, but Ramona is left neither knowing what to believe nor knowing the woman who gave birth to her.

I’ll Tell You Everything is a well paced and written, although disturbing, family drama. However, Amy Linden is such an unlikeable character that it is hard to see beyond that. Her self serving lies are at first shocking and then expected. Then come her inner thoughts of violence. Then her actions. Ramona should have stayed away. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Rebecca Kelley for this ARC.

I love great characters and I am all in when there’s a well written character. If the character’s are just meh, there better be a good plot.

Unfortunately, this book lacked both. And I really tried. I wanted to love this book. The idea is sound! I was ready for a good mystery. I’ll Tell You Everything did not deliver.

Ramona was the best-written character and I understood her motives, her storyline, etc. Everyone else? It just didn’t quite measure up to the expectations. I think where it fell flat was the lack of story build-up behind Amy. She isn’t well enough developed to carry the whole novel. She’s too two-dimensional and flat. Her storytelling to Ramona is flighty and in the beginning, it does make sense. But, by about 50% through the novel, it just becomes almost repetitive. We know she’s going to talk around the questions Ramona asks and then tell a long winded story that doesn’t say much.

I’m giving it a very generous 3 stars.

I am thankful that I had the opportunity to review this book but, it was not for me. There were multiple times that I almost DNF'd but I really wanted to see if it would pick up.. Unfortunately, it didn't. This is my first Rebecca Kelley book so I didn't know what to expect.

Ramona is adopted and finally gets the opportunity to meet her birth mother, Amy, and learn more about her and her father. Amy begins to tell her about the summer she was conceived and the blossoming romance only for it to be lies upon lies as Amy tries to protect the life she has built and her family.

I found the plot to be non-existent and Amy, to be boring and delusional. I also found it hard at times to figure out what chapter belonged to what character as so much of it seemed to be Amy's POV even when it's Ramona's chapter? Maybe I missed something somewhere along the way but the tense and tone didn't seem to switch very often even though chapter titles led you to believe it. The conversation where Amy is compared to a Nazi was also beyond out of place and insensitive in the way it was presented.

I will not be recommending this book.

This is the first time I have read a book from this author. It had a great concept for the story line and plot point, but I feel like it wasn't written as well as it could have been. The idea was about Ramona, an adopted girl, who is searching answers about her bio family, and she find out so much more. I think the main character could have used so much more depth to make the story more interest. Overall, it wasn't bad, but I didn't think it was that good. Thank you Net Galley ARC!

This novel had a lot of elements that drew me in: a strong sense of place – a luxury hotel in a majestic national park - and the story of family secrets and lies.

Ramona, a twenty-year-old college student has been raised by a loving, adoptive mother, but she has always wanted to learn about her birth parents. Finally, she has the chance to meet Amy Linden, her birth mother, now a glamorous woman who worked her way up from nothing to a co-owner of a luxury hotel empire, with a loving, successful husband and an adorable, young son.

When Ramona shows up, seeking her personal history, Amy spools her history out, over various recounting and shifting narratives, leaving Ramona ever hungrier for the truth. Although I love the concept of layered stories, with slowly revealed truths, the pace of this novel felt a bit slow for me, and I never fully got into the mindset of the characters. An enjoyable read, but it fell a bit flat for me, and I found myself wanting to feel more connection with the protagonists.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy - all thoughts are my own.

This was okay, nothing overly crazy good about it but it was okay. I would definitely give this author another shot, she has promise.

When I began this book I was thinking it was a mother connecting with her daughter after she gave her up for adoption. Then as I was half way through I was beginning to feel like it was a mystery. By the end I was not quite sure where this fits in. The story line was written well but I felt like I was missing something. I did enjoy the read but felt it good have some more to it.

I DNF'd this one about 50 pages in. I've been trying to get through it for a few weeks now, but I feel that I'm just not interested in it.

I thought it sounded like a great book, but we didn't much of a backstory on either Ramona or Amy before we went right to them meeting. The interaction at the play versus in the coffee shop felt very weird too, it was hard for me to decipher when those were taking place in relation to one another. Amy seemed so off-putting at the play, but then at the coffee shop it was explained like they've been best friends for years.

The father's name, Freddy Bennison, was waaay too close to Freddie Benson from iCarly. Once I read that it just took all seriousness out of the book for me. :(

The plot of the book has great potential to get messy and intriguing but I felt a lack of propulsion in the story. I kept finding myself putting it down and forgetting what I was reading. I think the author has great stories to be told, but this story was not for me.

3 stars for this book. An adopted girl who wants to learn more about where she came from and gets more then she bargained for. I wasn’t a big fan of the main character. She was so flighty and told Ramona more than she needed or wanted to know.

I didn’t really connect with the characters, but the plot had potential. While the read was predictable, it was still somewhat enjoyable. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I’ll tell you Everything by Rebecca Kelley

This story focuses on two women, Ramona and Amy. Ramona was given up for adoption by Amy when Amy was in her early twenties. Ramona locates Amy and connects with her to learn more about her biological parents and where she came from. Amy is married with a child of her own and is not willing to share information about Ramona’s biological father. Amy is an unreliable narrator. She is a complicated woman with a strong desire for success but loaded with guilt about her choices..

The story is told from two points of view (Ramona and Amy). It has lots of twists and turns as Ramona seeks the truth as to why she was given up for adoption and who her father really is. This story is about a mother’s love and the steps she would take to give her child a great life.

Thank you to @netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this advanced readers copy. The novel is expected to be published on or about January 14, 2025.

This was a very awkward read. Unlikeable characters, confusing, repetitive plot. I struggled to finish this book I’m afraid.

This book explores all the angles of adoption from the parent to put the child up for adoption to the adopt child now adult.

Ramona is just looking for who she is, Her birthmother Amy seems to not be giving her a straight answer!

I think I liked Ramona better than Amy… Either way this was a really good read read!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This plot was very blah and may have worked as a short story? But nothing much happened and I didn’t care about the characters. The writing itself was good, just the story was not for me.

I struggled with this book. It was slow, lacked plot, rather boring and the ending was predictable. Pretty disappointed.

Had me on the edge of my seat, I couldn't put this book down and had me guessing till the very end on what happens in the story.