This book was great and is such a fun read! The focus on high school dynamics is much needed and relatable. It covers a range of topics, including Disability, divorce, parenting, jealousy, self-awareness. I was especially in awe of the author’s ability to convey such heavy topics with the precision needed to reach a young adult audience. I highly recommend this book!

This was such a pure and tender book about best friends! I loved it for all its aspects and would recommend it to YA readers and I think it can also be read in groups of best friends! <33 Full review to come!

This book is SO great and wonderful. Going into this, I expected it to be more lighthearted, but this is truly a heavy and complex YA contemporary. This is a book about friendship and what it means for you to outgrow friendships. It's about people changing and not always being able to recognize the new person that they have become. It's about saying the wrong thing and not being able to come back from it. It's about mistakes and regrets and trying to forget. It is about holding onto the memories and being able to recognize the importance of a friendship during the time it lasted. It is a book about forgiveness, but not forgetting. I really appreciated that this book tackled female friendship and its many complexities. There is no black and white to this book; it's all about the messy gray areas in between. It's about discovering that the adults in our lives are not perfect, and everyone is dealing with something behind the scenes. I appreciated just how messy and real this book felt.

It also features the complexity of falling for someone and being able to trust someone again after past trauma. It is an ode to Shakespeare. It's an ode to music. To books and libraries. To cooking. To finding that person who understands you more than you understand yourself. To expecting imperfections.

This book is so lovely and so complex and it is one that I am going to be left thinking about for a long time.

At the time of writing this review, I stumbled across a song called “Passerby” by Patrick Droney and I really feel like it captures this book perfectly.

This was an incredible story centered around the dynamics of a friendship and the effects a changing friendship can have on us. It was refreshing to see the importance and impact of friendship examined, along with how to heal when an important friendship dissipates. While this story does involve a romantic relationship, it was refreshing to see more of the focus go to the friendships in the story.

This book touched my heart. As someone who lost there best friend, so much of this book was relatable. I enjoyed reading every part of it and loved how it all came together in the ending. For lose who have ever lost a friend, this ones for you.

YES. This book does justice to the power of a friendship break-up. Cleo's emotions were given space and validity, even when she made poor choices.

Y.O.E. You over everyone. Layla has been Cleo's best friend since she was twelve-years-old. They start sophomore year as close as ever but slowly their friendship implodes. By Christmas it's over.

Ashley Woodfolk's sophomore novel is so excellent. She tells the story through Cleo's eyes and alternates between the past and the present. Although, told from Cleo's perspective, it's clear that Cleo made some huge mistakes too. The dual timeline grants us access to the breakdown of the friendship but also to Cleo's recovery.

A friendship breakup can be so devastating, and I love that I ended When You Were Everything feeling like, although they went through a lot, both of these characters are going to be okay.

3.5/5 Stars

When it comes to contemporary it is so difficult to find a book about friendship and not a romance. Sure, there is a touch of romance thrown in, but if you are looking for a book about friendship, this is the one for you.

I honestly didn’t realize how much this book would hit home for me. I went through a few rough periods with friends while growing up. Thankfully those all worked out okay in the end, but this book really brought back all those emotions. I think it was a fairly accurate representation of how teenagers act when being mean to each other. Sure, some things got blown out of proportion, but they always do don’t they?

One thing I wish we got to see more of in this book though was a resolution. There was a little resolution in the last few pages, but I would have loved to see more of how their friendship resolved. Additionally, why Layla was so willing to up and leave Cleo. Sure, what she said wasn’t great, but to end a whole friendship over that just because the popular kids like you? Not cool.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I read it quickly and I think it was a good representation of what teenagers can be like at that age. Additionally, if you are looking for POC representation, look no further!

Told in dual timelines of then and now, ashley woodfolk's newest masterpiece is about what happens when both sides of a friendship implode.

*3.5 stars

I liked this!! I loved the writing and I appreciated that the story was mainly focussed on friendship and not as much on romance. I could also relate to the main character very much at the start (about losing friends), but after a while everything just got a bit too dramatic for me. It just felt like a bit too much at a certain point. BUT I did think the ending was beautiful! And if you like Shakespeare, you're going to love this because there are a lot of references to his plays.

I found this book hard to get into. It was slow at the beginning, I didn't love any of the characters, and I found myself not wanting to pick it back up after I put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Quite simply: this book took my heart, broke it into a hundred pieces, and then ground up every single piece until it blew away in the wind.

It's a book that I couldn't stop thinking about, between readings, and it is going to haunt me forever but I will shout its greatness from rooftops for years and years to come.

So how can such a heartbreaking book be so meaningful to me? Well, because the things that occur in the book, have happened to me and I guarantee to you, too, especially if you are a girl or woman.

See, Cleo and Layla are the best of friends even though they are opposites. Cleo is a shy, nerdy, Shakespeare & book-loving girl while Layla aspires to be on stage, singing for all, despite having a stutter. They meet randomly in a park, shortly after Cleo loses her loving Granny Gigi. Layla approaches a crying Cleo, comforts her, and the rest is history. This small park encounter leads to a shared life: sleepovers and secrets and loyalty and love and everything you'd expect with a best friend... Until the single moment that unraveled the entire thing.

Can you look back at your life and find a single moment that altered the rest of your life? Because I think that everyone has a moment, or moments, like that. Those moments that, in hindsight, you realize what you SHOULD have done, but didn't, what you SHOULD have said, but didn't, and how you SHOULD have acted, but didn't.

Knowing what you know as an adult, you'll see the very moment that altered the unbreakable friendship between Cleo and Layla. You'll see the mistakes they made, that shouldn't have been made. And you'll see how two people, who are so close, can grow apart and never be able to accept how the other has changed.

It broke my heart because I've lost too many close friends just like Cleo loses Layla. This book made me reflect on all the things I SHOULD have said and done and never did. It made me cry for all those special people I've grown apart from and, for some, lost entirely.

Although the book leaves you with some hope, in the form of a new romance with Dominic Grey and a budding friendship with two new girls, the hole that Layla leaves behind makes the holes in my heart ache for all the friends I've lost. Because, let's face it: people come and go in life but the best ones never truly leave your heart.

You'll also see and feel and understand how mean girls are to each other. It's one of the worst realities for females everywhere but utterly and devastatingly true. Females can be horrible to each other and Woolfolk captures this perfectly.

Like I've said, this is a lovely, heartbreaking read that I think everyone has to read at least once! Good luck picking up your broken heart pieces.

Thank you Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an eARC of this gutwrenching book. I gave it 4 stars and related to it so much. I think we have all lost friends along the way in our life and it is a tough path to navigate. When Cleo realizes her and Layla’s friendship is over, she tries to erase all of her memories of her. Following her journey of acceptance and growth was great and I will keep thinking about this book for quite some time.

I received a reviewer copy of When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk from the publisher Random House from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Cleo is going through a really hard time, she has lost her best friend, Layla. And her parent's marriage has fallen apart with her beloved father moving out. The book follows Cleo at present time trying to find a new life without Layla and learn to form new friendships and try to trust other people again. There is another timeline where we see Cleo and Layla's friendship fall apart.

What I Loved: This book is the kind of YA novel that isn't just for teenagers. This book will tug at your heart strings because we have all been there. We have all ended a friendship that was no longer working for us. This book does something really powerful, usually when you read a book you see the impact a romantic relationship falling apart has on your emotional well being and ability to trust again. But what happens when you lose someone who has been your person and thought would always be a part of your life? In a way that is as emotionally damaging as a break up. This book follows Cleo's journey to get pat her anger and devastation and form new friendships and learn to trust others. This is a really thoughtful and powerful.

What I didn’t like so much: Honestly, it's hard to choose what I didn't like so much. It was very thoughtfully done and can't think of anything to improve it.

Who Should Read It: People who love stories about friendships. People who love YA. People who enjoy excellent books. People who are skeptical about YA but love when it's well done.

General Summary: A story about finding friendship after you've lost your best friendship and learning to heal your broken friendship heart.

This is a YA contemporary about two girls who are best, best friends, until their friendship implodes and what the aftermath of that looks like. Cleo and Layla have known each other since they were both 12. They are both girls of color, living in bustling New York City. Going into their junior year of high school, it seems they've had a major falling out (and there are cute boys that have gotten between them, of course.)

There is a plethora of suspense as the story jolts forward in two time-lines, Then and Now, leaving readers to wonder how on Earth such a close and loving pair of friends managed to turn on each other so completely. As the story unfolds, one betrayal after another is revealed, eventually laying bare all of the gory details of the kind of online bullying Queen Bee mean girls are capable of. Cleo is a sympathetic narrator, even as she gradually admits to herself how controlling and difficult a friend she has been. This is a must read, especially for fans of Angie Thomas or Jacqueline Woodson.

A beautiful, bittersweet story about the painful end of a passionate friendship.

This is a story that manages to feel painfully real and true, as the small and great betrayals start tear away at Cleo and Layla's friendship. The story takes place through Cleo's eyes as she tries to understand what has happened, and how and whether to move on.

The language in this book is really beautiful, but what struck me the most was the honesty in the characters. They are real, charming, wonderful, sometimes terrible people, who love and hate and support and destroy each other as they grow. It's the kind of honesty in writing that lays all souls bare: the author, the reader, and these characters who somehow reflect some of the ugly secrets we must all hide inside.

This is a book I loved and cried over, and one that I really hope more people will make the time and space to read.

This book reminds me a lot of my experience in middle school and high school. I am well into my 20's and I still related to the characters. I truly loved all the aspects of this story. The representation was so amazing! I enjoyed how there was a reflection on how to treat people and our expectations of people. The only thing I didn't appreciate is that this story is supposed to focus on the friendship of the main character and yet her romantic relationship helped her through this hard time. But I did like the discussion of love and how people have to communicate and how it can change over time. I loved a lot of elements and I only wish the plot was a bit more complex and if the romantic relationship wasn't one of the main reasons for the main character to establish her confidence.

I wish I had this book back when I was in high school. I gave this book five stars because I feel like this is an important story!

4.5 stars! this book was absolutely incredible.

there are plenty of books out there that deal with heartbreak or the loss of a loved one, but there are so few that deal with the pain of losing a best friend, especially as a teenage girl. i related so hard emotionally to cleo in this book. her pain, her anger, her sadness.

the characters are sophomores in high school and it read very realistic to me. the drama was spot on and definitely realistic for high schoolers, especially one who is hurting and lashing out. i loved the romance, but i'm also so glad it was on the back burner for basically the entire novel. it was refreshing to read a contemporary that didn't have romance in the spotlight the whole time.

i really like the dual timeline aspect, but i will admit that it got sort of fuzzy for me. maybe i wasn't paying enough attention to when things were happening according to the chapter headers, but the timeline felt a little confusing to me.

i think the main reason i didn't give this a full 5 stars is because the MC did/said some nasty things and it was sort of brushed over several times that she was at fault too. i don't want to spoil anything, but i wish cleo took more responsibility for her actions, or at least acknowledged that she was being awful instead of always trying to be like "well it's your fault too!" but at the same time, i think it's also sort of realistic that a teenage girl who is hurting so badly and is very angry only wants to blame others for her hurt instead of realizing that she was also responsible for it. i guess i just wish there was more of a concrete conclusion of cleo owning up to her actions.

overall, i greatly enjoyed the majority of this novel, and i think it's an excellent sophomore novel! i'm definitely interested to see what Ashley writes in the future.

The ending of this hit me hard and I did like it a lot. I wish more people had read this so I could talk about it with someone! My biggest "issue" was that the reason Cleo and Layla's friendship ended was used almost like a plot twist? It actually stressed me out that we didn't know why they stopped talking for more than half the book.

I felt like it colored my reading experience a lot because I was constantly wondering what made them act like this and whether the reactions were warranted. Which I think meant that I didn't quite feel all the emotions that Cleo was feeling as I was supposed to. Which is not to say I didn't feel for Cleo at all, I definitely did and wanted to support and hug her and yell at her and all those things while reading. I'm just saying I think I could have felt it more deeply.

What Cleo did was bad and probably unwarranted, but I definitely got where she came from. Layla was being mean to her in a subtle way (Once again if your new friend calls your bff a bitch and you do nothing you're not a friend), and their problems could've definitely been solved by talking it out, but when you're 15/16 that's scary. Woodfolk created realistic teens who acted realistically even if they weren't always the best. They were learning and growing.

I really liked following Cleo's journey and seeing her learn how to be herself again. I appreciated the lessons she learned not just about friendship but about her parents as well. Learning that your parents are people too is one of the hardest things and I appreciated how it was dealt with. Overall I really liked this book and would recommend it.

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Love stories and breakups in fiction usually revolve around romantic love, but what about that deep platonic love? Friendships are deep and last years, but what happens when they're over? Society and media don't really explore what happens when friendships end. This book flips the script and tells the story of best friends breaking up.

Chloe is our protagonist. At first, her love for Shakespeare is so cringy because what high schooler likes Shakespeare? Usually, one forced to read Romeo Juliet, Hamlet, or Macbeth but Chloe knows her stuff. Her dad is a librarian in New York City, which explains her deep love and knowledge of literature. He walks on water to Chloe, but she learns reality doesn't always meet expectations.

Our conflict with the falling out between Chloe and Layla, who started out the year as best friends. We have two parallel timelines: one where Layla is still friends with Chloe and another where they're not speaking. The mystery is the inciting incident that caused the two to split. When the timelines converge the focus becomes: how does one move on?

This is a heartwarming and heartbreaking read. It's a book that I recommend for younger humans, especially. Adults can enjoy this too, but it may pull on our older heartstrings a bit more.