This is the sequel to Everything We Keep. I would strongly recommend that you read the novels in order to get the maximum benefit from the story. It is very difficult to provide a comprehensive review without revealing important details from Everything We Keep. If you haven’t read the first novel please stop here with my recommendation that this is a good read.

Spoiler alert: proceed at your peril.

James has woken up with the realisation that he has no memory of the preceding six years, including the facts that he has been married, his wife has died and he has two small boys to take care of. He does know that he is deeply in love with his childhood sweetheart, Aimee. The novel records his journey to discover who he has been, what he has done and the reasons why he has lost his memory. At the end he has a decision to make: does he stay with the life he has created or return to the one he remembers. Personally I think he does the right thing.

I actually preferred this novel to Everything We Keep. It is more of a mystery and less chick-lit. There are plenty of twists and turns and a satisfying ending which leaves the possibility of a third novel open.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

Everything We Leave Behind is the story of when James starts to come to it of his fugue state. It his journey discovering which life he wants to live..

While the story was good, I found the constant transfer from present to last to several years ago quite an effort to maintain the story. I had the audible version of the prior book and that assisted to keep me interested. I appreciated the authors desire to bring to light the issues faced in the story.

EVERYTHING WE LEFT BEHIND is a poignant story.....It captivated my attention from the first chapter...and did not let go until the final page. A beautifully written story. I loved Ms Lonsdale story telling gift. I have recommended this book to all of my local libraries...and to all of my reading friends.

This was the second book that I have read by Kerry and it won't be the last! Gripped from start to end! Great read and read in one sitting! Highly recommended!

Follow on from previous book, this time telling James story. Good to have read this straight after the last book. Enjoyable but hard to believe.

It took me a minute to get into it because I couldn't quite remember the details of the first book, but once it started coming back to me I really got into it. Just like the first one, it had great mystery and a nice flow. Ms. Lonsdale is a good storyteller. I didn't want to put it down. I think I liked reading James/Carlos side of the story even more than Aimee's and of course it ends with a foreshadowing for a next book, so I'll have to read that one also. My only recommendation is to cut out the language. It is unnecessary and just ruins pieces of the book for me.

This is one of those books that you will find impossible to put down! Well developed characters and a twisting, surprising plot, it has all the elements of a successful novel and it doesn't disappoint! This has become one of my favorite novels and I like this author. Great job!

Well, this book redeemed itself for me after my disappointment in the author's previous title, Everything We Keep. I didn't like the way the first book ended, and I was very concerned as to how the author would continue the story. Because I already had this title, I started reading it immediately in spite of my trepidation. It was soon evident that Everything We Left Behind was going to have a clearer plot, albeit an intriguing one.
This book was written from the viewpoint of James/Carlos, and captured my attention from the very beginning. It soon became clear that it was going to be much more to my liking. It held my interest and seemed more believable. Many loose ends were tied up, making it almost seem like this was a part of the original book. The first book introduced the characters and the conflict, but sadly left me flat and full of questions. The addition of this book to the story made so much more sense and brought me around to appreciating the author's course. Suffice to say, I would recommend this title to be read consecutively after the first for a full appreciation of the plot.
It would appear that there is to be a third title in this series. I will enjoy picking up this story once again without the fear that I had after finishing the first book. I look forward to Everything We Give.
I thank the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Carlos Dominguez is an artist in Oaxaca, Mexico. He has two young sons, although he lost his wife in childbirth. He gets along okay, especially with the help of the boys' aunt. 

And then he finds out that it's all a lie. 

Six years earlier, he had been in Mexico on a business trip when his life was threatened. He woke up in the hospital with painful injuries but no memory. A woman sat beside his bed and told him who he was--her brother Carlos. The trouble with that is that nothing she said was true. His real name was James Donato, and he was months away from marrying his childhood sweetheart when he'd come to Mexico. He was about to get everything he wanted in life when it was all turned upside down. 

After six years in a fugue state, not remembering anything before waking in the hospital, suddenly Carlos is remembering everything that came before. And he has to figure out how to raise two boys who are strangers to him (and who just lost their dad, in a way, just a few years after losing their mother). He has to learn how to live as James again after being Carlos for so many years. And, most importantly, he has to find out if he and his family are in danger and what to do about it if they are. 

In Everything We Keep, author Kerry Lonsdale told us the story of Aimee, whose fiance died right before their wedding, or so she was told. In Everything We Left Behind, we hear the other side of that story, that of the fiance, James, and what he had to go through after waking up in Mexico with no memory of what happened. 

Told through the unusual perspective of the two men, James and Carlos, Everything We Left Behind is the story of a family in crisis, of a man learning again what it is to be a father, and a journey of discovery for a man who had everything and lost it, and had everything and lost it again. The story of where Carlos has been and where James is going is a compelling ride of secrets and lies, of love lost and hope renewed. Tightly written and imminently readable, this novel is the perfect book to scratch that need-me-some-drama itch.  



Galleys for Everything We Left Behind were provided by Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley.,com, with many thanks.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
Could not put the book down. Book #2 in the Everything We Keep series (and there will be more). This is not a stand alone book. I can't imagine that it would be possible to even understand what is happening and without the back story, the book would have little meaning.
Chick lit, parts that are not very well written, lots of draggy moments in the first part of the book as one thinks the author is merely re-hashing book #1 (This book is a rehash of book 1 but it is told from the point of view of another character.) - and nonetheless I found the book deeply engaging with well-developed characters. Good light reading with characters that grab your heart.
3.5 stars generously rounded to 4.

I read this book courtesy of Netgalley immediately after reading Everything We Keep and I personally think this would be essential as I don't think it would work as a stand alone novel. It would also be advisable to keep the whole drama to date fresh in your mind as the to-ing and fro-ing of the narrative both in time and personality can be pretty confusing as it stands..

The premise of this novel is rather unusual and Kerry Lonsdale does a remarkable job of keeping it all real and keeping the reader engaged.

I felt that she handled the family drama rather well and I was totally engaged from the outset. However, I did feel that the confusion and upset, whilst being dealt with extraordinarily well with regards to the two young children and what the future held for them, and the same can be said of Aimee and Ian but I did feel that with Carlos/James and Natalya the emotional upset was overdubbed with sometimes graphic sexual activity. I have no problem with love/romance/sex in itself but I felt that it changed the dynamics of the book somewhat and would have preferred a more emotional connection.

I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the first, it was more confusing and less thriller/suspense but even having said that it was still an intriguing family drama although again I found the Donato family members less believable than the others but that maybe because I have no experience of this class of family.

With the first novel I was rather irritated by the authors continous overuse of the term snagging, the fact that everyone was at some time either wide eyed or dipping their chin. I am pleased to note that the snagging (which really did mar my enjoyment) has been curtailed but has seemingly been replaced by fluttering fingers!! Auto check cannot totally replace proof readers.

Everything We Left Behind is book two of a series of three novels. I don't normally read books that have sequels. I'm just not typically that kind of fan. But Lonsdale had me hooked at the end of Everything We Keep, and I had to know what happened.

The story is from the perspective of James. Or Carlos. And if you have not read book #1 you won't know who I am talking about. So go grab them both.

The details of each character, the way we make our way through the stories and figure out what comes next, it's enticing and as the author she is always a step ahead of us. Everything We Left Behind was such a great book. I'm a big fan of Lonsdale and her work, and will be reading everything that she publishes.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Everything We Left Behind.

It picked up right after the first book left off with some answers to Amie’s story. Bits were parceled out but only enough to wind you up to the next portion and change your idea of what was to come. Great summer read with a teaser!

I really enjoyed this book. It took a while for me to get into it but I persevered and once I got into it I couldn't put it down. A very good read.

The second book in this series, this time told by James now he is out of his fugue state.
A brilliantly emotional book, I enjoyed the second book as much as the first and cannot wait for the third book to be released.

Everything We Left Behind: A Novel (Kindle Edition)
I've read all of this author's books so far and wasn't sure I would like one from James/Carlos POV as much as Aimee's, but I did. I missed Aimee's thoughts in this second book, but finding out more of the background into what James' life, especially the six years as Carlos, was intsightful.

It filled in some of the things I'd wondered about in Everything We Keep. The parts that really sucked me in emotionally were James loss of Aimee and Natalya's loss of Carlos. Both were heart-breaking situations.

A great read that will make you anxious for book #3 in the series - out in summer, 2018!

Everything We Left Behind was the perfect followup to Kerry Lonsdale's debut! I fell in love with Lonsdale when I discovered her debut novel, Everything We Keep! I loved Aimee and her side of the story and couldn't put the book down!

When I saw that this book come out, Everything We Left Behind, I couldn't wait to find out more about "Carlos" and what happened to James!

The first half of the book filled in a lot of gaps and answered questions that kept me hanging in the first one! I enjoyed the past and present story of James/Carlos and was totally shocked by secrets that kept coming out!

There were some slow parts with a lot of details, which I understand, since we needed the backstory on James/Carlos! Every chapter I finished I told myself, just one more!

Kerry Lonsdale did a wonderful job keeping me engaged and I cannot wait until the next one!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Everything We Left Behind by Kerry Lonsdale is the sequel to Everything We Keep. At the end of the first book, James wakes up from his fugue state confused and with no memory of the prior years. Everything We Left Behind picks up right after the first book with James trying to figure out who he is. Is he James or Carlos? The point of view switches back and forth between James in the present and Carlos in the past, as he tries to rebuild his life once again. But now he has two young sons who only know him as Carlos and a sister-in-law whom he has falling in love with…as Carlos. James must also learn how to let Aimee go, who has moved on with her life. Meanwhile the threat of his brother, Phil’s, release from prison is hanging over his head. His other brother, Thomas, is trying to unlock his memory, convinced that he has very important information locked in his brain somewhere. Will Phil try to come after him? How can he protect his sons? Will he ever remember what happened? Will he be able to rebuild his life?
Everything We Left Behind wasn’t as exciting as Everything We Keep. I waited for the drama with Phil and Thomas which didn’t live up to my expectation. However, I enjoyed the drama and struggle as James/Carlos struggles with his memory as he comes to terms with his life. I only know the basics of how fugue states function, it was interesting to see how Ms. Lonsdale portrays it in this book. Your heart breaks for James as he comes to terms that the life he knew is gone forever and it breaks for Carlos as he knows that he may cease to exist and memory of his life in Mexico will be erased. The story was dramatic and intense as the family must rebuild itself. The end of Everything We Left Behind gives a hint that this story isn’t quite over yet. I look forward to the third book, Everything We Give, which is set to be released next summer. I recommend Everything We Left Behind. If you haven’t read the first book yet, I highly recommend you read it first. You will not be disappointed.

Everything We Left Behind
is available in paperback and on the Kindle

This is a great read and can't wait to read the next, this book has a bit of everything so held my attention from the beginning.
The story is told from James and Carlos's point of view which was a great way of getting more feelings and thoughts out there to us readers! I don't want to go into too great a detail as I don't want to spoil it for anyone but it is definately worth a read. This book has everything though, it's about a man searching to find out who he is and why and learning to let go of what he had and try and accept what he has.
I would like to thank netgalley and lake Union publishing for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.