I received a copy of this arc from NetGalley for an honest review. I appreciate that author Silvera writes a different type of teen/ya books with a story that many probably have not read before.

Good, well written characters handling realistic relationships and heartbreaking situations. I like the device of moving forward and backward in time in the narrative. In a novel more about developing relationships than exciting events, it keeps the reader interested, as details of each character are revealed a little at a time.

This book is phenomenal. I adopted it for my college course, and my students love it. It provided so much to talk about. I look forward to continuing to use it in my courses.

History Is All You Left Me is the newest book by Adam Silvera. I adored his previous book More Happy Than Not. (My review for that here.) I loved this story. Many teen books deal with death and dying, but typically that is the culmination of the story. It is more rare for the story to delve into the grieving process, and I appreciated the way this book took that on, especially as I'm currently still dealing with grief myself. The book would've gotten 5 stars, but the end was a little too neat and tidy for me.

My rating: 4.5 stars

It was bad enough when Griffin broke up with Theo, but how on Earth is he supposed to be okay with him dying? To make things even more complicated, Theo's new boyfriend Jackson has come from California to attend Theo's funeral. Jackson is the only person that even being to comprehend Griffin's grief, but how can he open up to the one person that Theo also loved?

I loved everything about this novel. Silvera takes readers back and forth through time, telling Griffin and Theo's love story in the past and the present. Readers will go through the journey of grief and confusion along with Griffin. Nothing is quite what it seems, and much more complicated than they could ever imagine. This book does deal with tough topics, as well as teen sex. Highly recommended for all libraries.

Adam Silvera is brilliant and this book is no exception. I strongly recommend anything he writes.

History is All You Left Me is proof that not all writers suffer from a "sophomore slump." Silvera offers readers the heartbreak we came to expect from his previous emotional roller coaster. Definitely a book that will linger in my memory.

History Is All You Left Me is an emotional, cathartic punch in the heart. I mean that as a compliment. Griffin has lost Theo, his best friend and first love, twice: first temporarily when they broke up as a couple and second permanently when Theo dies in a drowning accident. The story is structured in two timelines, the history of before where we see Griffin and Theo fall in and out of love in a well developed romance and the now as Griffin narrates to Theo his heartbreaking journey through the grieving process, highlighted by disorientation, resentment, unhealthy relationships, and selfishness.
The dual narratives worked well in the book, balancing out the light moments with the dark ones. It is also clear to see how Griffin romanticized the history, downplaying the bad times. Griffin's love for Theo is all consuming, but it makes sense given how their relationship evolved from best friends and later to boyfriends. Both narratives are infused by Griffin's struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder. Like the before timeline, Griffin's obsessive compulsive disorder is seen as a natural part of his life, but as we venture into the present timeline, it is clearly affecting his life and taken seriously by seeking treatment.
The writing is raw and lyrical, never melodramatic. We see how each cast of the characters deals with romance and grief differently. The mysteries of what happened between Griffin's and Theo's best friend Wade in between the two timelines kept the pace moving for me. I would have liked to gotten to know more about Jackson. Like breakups in real life, grief is also messy, realistic, complex, and painful. We may not agree with Griffin's actions in jumping into unhealthy relationships, but we can understand what led him to them and identify with his confusion and denial.
History Is All You Left Me is a book where you will need tissues at hand. There were several moments where I had a lump in my throat and never once it did feel contrived or orchestrated by the author. It is a smart, profound character-driven read that will leave you drained yet hopeful until the last page.

Captivating and heartbreaking. The dual timeline helps the reader truly understand the situation, and the characters are all so realistic.

This didn't hold my attention like I had hoped. I didn't relate to, or enjoy reading about the characters, so I had to put this one down.

I feel that Silvera gets the grieving parts of this story right. However, the plot meanders back and forth in haze that gives us a lot of telling rather than showing. This makes the end relationship reveal feel false completely fabricated out of thin air and barely stapled onto the bigger story. Also, Theo is kind of terrible.

This is a tough review to write - mainly because Silvera's first novel, "More Happy Than Not" was probably one of my favorite books of 2015. It's certainly difficult to follow such a strong debut and while I still thought this was utterly fantastic, I actually think I enjoyed his debut more. That being said, I can still sing this book's praises. There is no doubt in my mind that Silvera is a talented author and it shines through in his storytelling. His characters are compelling and human and ones that teens will instantly connect with. I saw that in "More Happy Than Not" and it was evident in his latest release as well. Additionally, this novel not only handles important topics such as grief, OCD, love, friendship, and moving on but also has the power to really engage teen readers and keep them turning pages. Overall, this is a definite must have for YA collections and Silvera is certainly a rising star. I look forward to seeing what he has in store for his readers in the future.

There is something distinct about Adam Silvera's writing voice. Something that feels raw and authentic and fresh. I was excited to read this book because I had enjoyed his other novel. I liked how this story unfolded, switching from the present and the past. It felt right that this was how we learned more about the characters.

Griffin's first love and best friend, Theo, has just died. We don't find out how until later in the novel. There are many things that we as the reader must earn. Griffin doesn't give up his secrets easily. This story explores friendship, and love, and loss, and how we can move our way through it (eventually).

dam Silvera made me cry again. He is good at making tears roll down my face. This is definitely an emotionally packed novel and had my heart breaking right along with Griffin’s.

Readers meet Griffin in the midst of grief. Fortunately, we don’t stay there mired in grief though. That would likely be overwhelming. Silvera made the choice to alternate chapters between the present and the history of Griffin and Theo’s relationship. Their friendship and romance are not always without pain, but at least in the beginning, those history chapters offer humor, love and hope. This balances out the heartache of the other chapters to a certain degree. It highlights how much of a loss Griffin is dealing with too.

Griffin isn’t only facing grief, but throughout all of the chapters, both past and present, he is dealing with an increasing anxiety about his compulsions. One example is his counting. He counts things and is incredibly uncomfortable with odd numbers. Uncomfortable is not even a strong enough word. With all of this going on, he starts to make some damaging decisions that are painful to watch. The characters in this novel were all too real for me and I wanted to jump into the story to offer comfort.

This story obviously focuses on navigating grief, but it also looks at some other aspects of simply being human. How much of ourselves do we show other people? How honest can we be with others and with ourselves?

Recommendation: Get this one soon.

Thus was a serious but enjoyable book. Griffin's grief felt unbearably real, and this occasionally made the book difficult to read, but it paid off in the end.

So much diversity in this book! Silvera really explored the intertwined relationships and romances with the characters, as well as Griffin's OCD. This was such an intense roller-coaster of a read. A really great mix of just enough humour to make the loss more "digestible". Through each of his novels, Silvera is improving as a writer and this one is exceptional!

A story about grief and memory and finding a way forward despite it all.

This book hurts so good. Adam Silvera is quite the genius of pulling on your heart strings. He's a god among humans. Not even 10 pages into this book, and I felt for the characters and just wanted to cry. I loved it.