This book exceeded my expectations, I was really impressed.
I think it's very hard to write from a child's perspective but the character of Aoife is very well written and fleshed out. It reminded me a little of The Boy In The Striped Pajamas which is high praise for sure.
A special, moving and emotional book.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

All That’s Bright and Gone is a very intriguing novel that explores mental illness in a family. It is very sad to read about the mother being in a mental institution while the young daughter struggles to make sense of things. She is really too young to absorb many of the events that occur in her life. The story revolves around her and what happens as time goes on while she is being taken care of by her uncle. I read this book in two days! It is a very fast read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something that is different and a novel where you feel what it is like to be mentally ill and how it effects the family dynamic,

"I know my brother is dead. But sometimes Mama gets confused..."

In All That's Bright and Gone we meet six-year old Aoife, who is trying to figure out what is going on in her world around her. On a normal day out, Mama suddenly stops the car and gets out to talk to Theo the son she lost years ago. Aoife knows better than to talk to things that aren't real, Mama said so herself. This is why young Aoife is not allowed to talk to her imaginary friend Teddy, but Teddy is real and she wants the world to know.

After Mama lands herself in the hospital, Aiofe is sent home with her Uncle Donny. Teddy likes Donny, and so does Aoife, he's her favourite. Young Aiofe has so many questions when she gets home, questions that her uncle can not answer. Aiofe realizes that the only way to get Mama back home is to find out what happened to Theo all those years ago. Young Aiofe embarks on a magical journey with the help of Teddy and her best friend Hannah, and gets into a lot more trouble in the process.

I had mixed feelings about Aoife, I wanted to love her but I often got very frustrated at how sheltered her character was. Although in the end her character development is strong, I disliked how innocent she was to so many concepts. This book had me wanting to sit down with the adults and just explain to them how much of a poor job they were doing explaining concepts to her. Due to them, Aoife was often left confused about major situations in her life.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

*4 Stars*

ARC kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read and I found the characters interesting as well. Shows that some people believe in religion and some children have imaginary friends. Lots of good things happened in this book to help the characters with their unknowns.

This was one of those books where I wanted to have a serious talk with all the adults about the need to explain things to children. No matter how small they are they deserve more than "soon" and "maybe" and "your mother will explain it to you when you are older." In All That's Bright and Gone: A Novel we meet a little girl called Aoife who suffers in the worst way from not understanding what is going on around her.

I enjoyed the story and I loved six year old Aoife and the understandings she tries to create for herself as she goes along. I was cross with all the adults who were supposed to be looking out for her and yet could not even be bothered to remember how to pronounce her name. Sometimes I found the book very slow and filled with a bit too much trivia about how Aoife spent her day. The ending was unexpected although I was just beginning to wonder if all was not as it seemed.

Overall a pleasant and enjoyable way to pass a few hours.

I enjoyed this book which kept my interest as I was curious as to what had happened - love that it was told through a child’s perspective and the thoughts she had and how the decisions others made impacted her

All That’s Bright and Gone by Eliza Nellums a four-star read that will shine brightly. This was a great story and such a great way of narrating the story from the perspective of six year old Aofie who is adorable in her own right, at least over her name she is, she is this little creature who wants to get to the bottom of things that a girl her age just shouldn’t know. The details are good, but at times do go a bit far and into too much detail, but if you like thrillers that will keep you guessing you will enjoy this.

I don't know how I feel about this one. While I liked it and thought the writing was good, I was also confused at some points. Most of this, I think is due to the formatting issues in the Kindle version. Hopefully, they'll be sorted out by publication. I did like Aiofe, and I thought that having the story told in her young voice was a compelling way to tell the story, as well as because she was so young, as readers we understood some things that she didn't right away. I did think it ended a little quickly, and there are a few loose ends that I would have a more detailed explanation. Overall, not a bad story and a quick mostly fast-paced read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc, in exchange for an honest review.

I always love a book from an interesting perspective, and reading from a child’s point of view is certainly unique.
It was well done and well thought out, and our main character is certainly likeable.
I felt a little detached from him, though, and wanted to feel more connected to him.
Overall it was a nice story that certainly let kept me entertained, and I would love to see more from this author in the near future!

This was a fantastic story told from the perspective of 6-year olf Aoife as she, and the reader, try to uncover both what is happening with her mother (shes confused and in hospital) and what happened to her brother (he died and no-one will talk about it).

I love stories from a child's perspective, it's a very effective way of revealing a story but is difficult to do well. In All That's Bright and Gone, Eliza Nellums uses it spectacularly. I loved Aoife, her observations and experiences are both extremely child-like while further revealing to the reader a bigger, more complex picture.

It is a thrilling and immersive reading experience, Aoife is endearing and the other characters are well-developed - I particularly loved the friendship with Hannah. I loved the twists throughout the story as Aoife discovers more about her family and what happened to her brother.

6 year old Aoife will steal your heart from the beginning of the book. She has a mother with mental illness and an older brother who died when she was little. Aoife doesn't remember much about her brother but she knows she has to solve the mystery of what happened to him in order to help her mom come home.
There are so many ups and downs in this book I could not put it down until the end. It is told from the perspective of a brave little Aoife. You see how a child is dealing with mental illness and death in her family. A great read that will make you laugh and cry throughout.

I dint think I’ve ever read a book that is written from their perspective of a 6 year old child. At that age, there was so much she didn’t understand about the circumstances that surrounded her mother and adults around her. Her 8 year old friend and she decide to “solve the mystery” of the death of her brother. That, along with her mother’s health issues make for an interesting story.,

The story is told through the eyes of 6 year old Aoife as she is left to piece together the story of her family after her mother is sent away after a mental breakdown. The story has you playing guessing games of what happened to her older brother Theo with the help of her imaginary character Teddy. This book was hard to put down, I wanted to keep reading more and more!

I'm having a difficult time reviewing this book. Why?

First, I received an advanced ARC. I realize this was not the edited version, but it was so oddly spaced I had a hard time determining who was speaking. This isn't the fault of the author, but it made it a difficult read, which made it hard for me to be drawn in. I decided to assume I would have been more drawn in with the final version.

Secondly, it was written from the pov of a child. This was truly well done, and I believed the thoughts and actions of the child. On the other hand, it made me have to work harder to read the book.

This was a well written, thought out story. Just not as good as I had hoped.

I. Love. This. Book. I have never read anything like this in my life. It's a book for adults but written from the perspective of a six year old. The way Aoife was thinking the whole time was exactly how I would think of things as a kid. Aoife represents every child who goes through something traumatic and their parent is unable to escape the cycle of trauma so the child is drawn in. You could understand the effects of trauma on Aoife and her way of thinking, interacting, and surviving. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

What a good book! I loved how Eliza wrote this book through a 6 year old point of view. The storyline was heart breaking and I felt for everyone in this book at one point or another.
I look forward to read more from Eliza!

Title: All that’s Bright and Gone

Author: Eliza Nellums

Length: approx 250 pages

Publisher: Crooked Lane Publishers

Publication Date: December 2019

Genre: General Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

My rating: 4/5

Summary:

The story is about 6 years old girl named Aoifa pronounced as EE – Fa. The story narrated from her perspective, is her quest to solve the mystery behind her elder Brother’s murder.

My Take:

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for reading and reviewing this wonderful book.

The story transports you to the world of a 6 year old innocent girl who is still grasping things based on the happenings around. It was a welcome change from reading the books from a grown up perspectives. Author has done a fabulous job of describing things the way a little child would. Though sometimes the actions portrayed pertained to the older version of the girl. The same can be ignored though.

The story is a bit slow paced with lots of details given for describing scenes, enabling reader to identify with the surroundings and imaging the scenes right in front of you. The pain of a six year old is beautifully portrayed when she’s away from her mother and missing her. It just takes your heart away.

The characterisation is great but depth is only in the main girls character. Her uncle Donny is an adorable character. The mystery of her friend Teddy whom only she can see is a surprising mystery solved in end.

The revelations towards the climax does leave your jaw dropped but a very satisfactory ending. The climax was totally unexpected and that’s what makes it a great read. The ending leaves you feeling full and happy.

I would recommend this book to everyone who wish to read something new. A great job by the writer.

This was an interesting book. It was reminiscent of Room as it was told through the eyes of a 6 year old girl. It gave a unique perspective of how children view the world and what is important to them and how the world is interpreted. This reminded me as the mother of a six year old that it is important to explain things and not always shield children from reality. I read parts of this book to my daughters as it give a nice explanation of what I do for a living working for “sea pee-ess” and what can be misconstrued and how important children’s safety is.

“Mama says I should ask politely and be gracious about the chance to learn something new.”

I enjoyed, All That’s Bright and Gone, and will be looking forward to reading more by Eliza Nellums. Solid 4 stars!

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for my advanced copy of, All That’s Bright and Gone, in exchange for my honest review.

***Will post to Goodreads a month before publishing and Amazon/B&N on publishing release date.

A truly lovely book. Told from the perspective of a child, it is moving and unexpectedly thrilling. Despite the fact that it is about the death of her brother and her mother's mental illness, there are still moments of lightness and humor, too. I cannot wait to see what Eliza Nellums does next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read it.

What a fantastic read!! It took me totally by surprise; when I read the blurb, I thought it was going to be about a six year old coping with brother’s death. It turned out to be so much more than that! I loved this story, I thought the author did a wonderful job at not only keeping me hooked from start to finish, but writing from a 6 year old’s point of view. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to write a novel about such a heavy subject from a child’s point of view. But I thought it was done very well, it seemed very real and made the story all the more interesting. Aoife does not understand the magnitude of the things & conversations happening around her and the reader is left to read in between the lines and piece things together, which made me feel very much apart of the story.

The characters were great, the writing was great, the plot was full of twists and turns; this book is going straight to my favorites shelf!