This endearing YA novel features graduating senior, football playing Kyle. He is a confident romantic who forces everyone to love him, even the reader. He's charming, he's flawed, he is kind, but he is also, like most teens, fairly self-centered. The novel begins like a shot, full of action and contradiction of expectations. He's on the cusp of adulthood, his girlfriend is breaking up with him (again), and a car accident changes the trajectory of his life. What follows is a story full of stories, healing, and new-found love. But can his life possibly get any better than it is right now with Marley, the girl he met in the cemetery, who helps him process his loss and pushes him forward to living past the grief?
Daughtry and Lippincott weave a tell that is full of surprises. The pieces of the puzzle that didn't add up to me made sense in the end and I valued the way they pulled it together. Nicely crafted YA romance.

Kyle is excited to graduate high school and start his adult life at UCLA with his childhood sweetheart, Kimberly. But not only does she break up with him the night of their graduation, they get into a terrible car accident that leaves Kyle in the hospital with serious injuries and Kimberly dead. When Kyle wakes up, he has no idea how to process a life without Kimberly - -they were together since middle school and were best friends since they were little kids. His supportive mother tries to help, having had a similar experience when Kyle's father passed away, but Kyle just feels so lost in his grief and his uncertain future. Then he meets Marley, a young girl facing the same grief and sense of loss as Kyle. Marley and Kyle can feel each other's pain and spending time together gives them a sense of comfort they can't seem to find with anyone else. Despite enjoying their time together, though, Kyle's debilitating headaches still plague him, he keeps having visions of dead-Kimberly in the strangest places, and something just seems "off" even though Kyle can't quite figure out what it is and he's the happiest he's been since the tragic accident. No one can stay this happy after such a devastating loss...

Thoughts: This is one of my top favorite books of 2020! I don't even know if I can describe what this story will do to readers. The grief Kyle feels is almost tangible, that's how beautifully it is portrayed on the page, and Daughtry and Lippincott have weaved together such an amazing story with a plot twist readers won't see coming. I certainly didn't! Readers will love every single character and will keep turning page after page experiencing Kyle's highs and lows right along with him. I can't wait to share this book with my high school students! It's not easy to find a really "deep" YA novel from the teen boy perspective that covers tough topics, so my only wish is that the absolutely gorgeous front cover would be altered a little to be slightly less feminine. It's a beautiful cover and I adore it, but it's going to make it hard to "sell" to my teen boy readers, reluctant or not.

This book has left me feeling conflicted. Mainly because I'm not sure what genre I would place it in. I get that it is meant to be a contemporary romance, but I just didn't particularly find much romantic about it. I think this definitely has teen appeal-it is certainly a quick read. The characters have parts that are relatable as are the relationships between them.

That being said the relationships are where I'm struggling here. The codependency between Kyle & Kimberly is addressed, but that same level of obsessive codependency between Kyle & Marley is made to seem somehow more acceptable and like it represents the ultimate love story. To me it just seemed rather unhealthy.

For libraries: If you have die-hard fans of Five Feet Apart, this one will do very well in your teen collection.

I didn’t love this book. The characters lacked dimension. It was hard to empathize with Kyle. Although I did love the way he rose to the challenge of accepting responsibility for his own life and grief. Overall, it may be a suitable book for a teenager but it wasn’t a love affair for me.

Really enjoyed this and would definitely purchase for my library's collection. Unique story line, and definitely similar to Five Feet Apart as it felt like it was written to be a motion picture.

I think the main reason I wanted to pick up this book was the cover. It is gorgeous. But as I was reading this book, it was a struggle to keep my interests. The synopsis sounded heartbreaking and bittersweet. But the actual plot was a little unbelievable in a way I just couldn't get on board with. I generally like YA novels, but this one kind of let a lot to be desired.

All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott, is a sweet love story that twines its way through a maze of medical trauma, brain injury, and self-discovery. After a tragic car accident following a breakup with his childhood sweetheart, Kyle grieves, mourns, and moves on with the girl of his dreams, only to discover that nothing is what it seems. This quick read is about the power of stories to save and build lives, exploring them as a kind of third space – a necessary refuge to go to for healing, growth, and centering.
I recommend this story to readers who enjoy YA romances as well as mysteries or magical realism.

I’ve never read Five Feet Apart, but after reading the new novel from Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott, I may have to go back and rectify that situation.

All This Time, the newest offering from this pair of authors, introduces us to golden couple Kyle and Kimpberly. They’ve grown up together, they’ve been together, they have plans to go to college together. But a car accident on prom night changes all of that. When Kyle wakes up in the hospital with a head injury and learns that Kimberly is dead, he’s devastated.

But then he meets Marley, a quiet, shy girl who has also experienced loss – they meet in the cemetery – in the form of her twin sister. She’s holding on to the belief that her sister’s death was her fault. Kyle and Marley begin a tenuous friendship, and as they work to heal each other, their relationship strengthens.

And then things go terribly wrong. And I am screaming that I want to explain EVERYTHING, but that would mean revealing spoilers that I don’t want to do. But I will say that this story took twists and turns that left me alternately grinning, cheering, and crying. Daughtry and Lippincott weave this amazing world that feels like a fairy tale – in fact, Marley is a teller of stories and fairy tales are her favorite. I wish I could gush about all that is so RIGHT about this book, but without spilling details I really can’t.

Just know that if I could, I would read this book fresh over and over again and love it more every time. So good I did not want it to end. And even right up to the end, the authors keep you guessing whether it will be a tragedy or comedy. READ THIS BOOK.

Although I have never read Five Feet Apart, I have heard good things and was excited to read the authors’ new book. At first, it appeared to be a typical love story without much substance, but then there was a twist and it became much more.

I was intrigued to read a YA book with the voice of a teen boy, as most of the books I read are mainly voiced by girls. Kyle has to come to terms with who he is, both after being unable to play football anymore as well as without his long time girlfriend Kim. He has to face the fact that he may not have been a great friend or boyfriend and he has to learn to be a better person overall.

I could relate well to the parents in this book, especially to Kyle’s mom as she watched her son struggle and tried to help him through. She was a wonderful mother figure and the mother / son relationship was nice to read about. Marley’s character was also one that I enjoyed reading. She is also coping with grief and expresses herself through writing stories, which I could also relate to.

This book wasn’t as meaningful as some of the YA books I’ve been reading that address a wider issue like racism or body positivity, but it was a quick and entertaining reads that I think teens will love.

First published September 1, 2020 (Booklist).

Kyle and Kimberly have been a couple for years, and with their best friend, Sam, they are graduating from high school. It should be a time of celebration because the three of them will attend UCLA together in the fall. But Kim reveals she’s attending Berkeley instead because she wants to know who she is by herself. Kyle, upset, takes his eyes off the road as they continue their disagreement, and they end up in a massive car wreck that results in Kim’s death. Grieving, Kyle blames himself and withdraws, while experiencing hallucinations and flashbacks of Kim before her death. Once he finds the courage to visit Kim’s grave, he meets a girl named Marley, who mourns the death of her twin. In an unsurprising move, Kyle and Marley fall for each other, but the plot twist, which surfaces almost too late in the story, saves the day. Is there a happy ending? It’s not a spoiler to say yes. Readers who loved the writing team’s Five Feet Apart (2018) will eat this one up.

Kyle's story of recovery from tragedy is filled with flowers and fairy tales. Some might consider those two things to be useless in the face of grief and suffering. What this story reminds us of is the power of storytelling and the restoring power of hope. Filled with lush descriptions of flowers and evocative scenes of redemption and reconciliation, this book is surely on its way to the big screen. I would love to see Kyle, Kim, Sam, and Marley tell us their story in technicolor. For readers who are happy to suspend reality a bit, this will be a welcome emotional rollercoaster. In the end I was glad I jumped on.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I received this arc and e-arc from the publisher for a tour. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: All This Time

Author: Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommended For...: romance lovers, second chances romance

Publication Date: September 29, 2020

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: 15+ (romance, death, PTSD)

Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Pages: 336

Synopsis: Kyle and Kimberly have been the perfect couple all through high school, but when Kimberly breaks up with him on the night of their graduation party, Kyle’s entire world upends—literally. Their car crashes and when he awakes, he has a brain injury. Kimberly is dead. And no one in his life could possibly understand.

Until Marley. Marley is suffering from her own loss, a loss she thinks was her fault. And when their paths cross, Kyle sees in her all the unspoken things he’s feeling.

As Kyle and Marley work to heal each other’s wounds, their feelings for each other grow stronger. But Kyle can’t shake the sense that he’s headed for another crashing moment that will blow up his life as soon as he’s started to put it back together.

And he’s right.

Review: For the most part I thought that the book was fairly well done. The book had a lot of emotion behind it and I thought that the characters were well done which is too good things that you want to look for when you are reading a ya contemporary. I also thought that the author did well with the pacing of the book.

However I really didn't like the storyline that well and the two characters relationship really drove me batty. I don't really think that they should have been together and the relationship feels very unhealthy. The book dry sound the point that these two are epic lovers but really it just feels very dysfunctional and something that I would see in divorce court within two years of their marriage.

Verdict: It was good, just didn’t flow that well for me.

This is a story about trying to find a new happy ending.

This was a lovely, quick read. I didn’t feel especially attached to any of the characters, but the themes were very relatable (heartbreak, disappointment, realizing what you thought was perfect isn’t.

3.5 stars, but rounding to 4 because of the mental health representation.

Umm...I think I'm just perhaps the wrong audience for these books. At one point in my life I would have loved them, so I'm rating them as I would have as a teenager.

** spoiler alert ** ~ Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review! RELEASE DATE: September 29 ~

'That's the first thing you said to me, remember? Once upon a time.'

This book really put me through the wringer. It started out so strong, such a great depiction of grief and learning how to accept one's feelings and then... then it got really, really dumb.

I appreciated so much of what was going on, what Marley was providing for Kyle, and that's when I had the thought, What if Marley isn't real? I thought that would be very fitting and a great way to symbolize Kyle's journey dealing with his grief. Unfortunately, this book simply took things too far.

As I kept reading, another thought crept into my mind, What if Kyle is dreaming all of this and he'll wake up back where he started? Lol that would be so incredibly stupid.

Little did I know that not only was this the case, but it got even worse and more over the top. More over the top than the whole thing being him in a coma? Yes. And no, I don't know how the authors managed to pull that off, let alone how it got past the editors.

Not only was he in a coma that whole time, BUT MARLEY WAS REAL AND WAS READING HIM THEIR ENTIRE STORY.

Yes. I did not make that up. Besides the obvious logistical problems this brings up (how did none of his family and friends- let alone the nurses!!- never see this random girl reading to him literally ALL THE TIME????), but it also just... rubs me the wrong way. Like. Why is it okay that this random girl chose an incapacitated boy to build an entire relationship with????? How was she even allowed in the room???? I just. No.

I thought the escalation would end there. It couldn't POSSIBLY get worse, right? Wrong.

Kyle buys her a dog. Yup, just buys it online and it shows up and he just gives it to her without consulting a single person for permission! Always good to give a dog to a person you just met without even telling them to get any supplies, let alone ask if they have the time and energy to devote to it. Anyway, as annoying as that is, it is NOTHING. I repeat, NOTHING compared to the what happens next.

Marley jumps in front of a car to save a child because she feels guilt about her sister dying in the same way. I'm not done yet. Then, when she's in the hospital, her injuries don't seem to be that bad, and the doctor says that she's simply choosing to die. I'm not even going to mention how harmful that could be to someone dealing with terminal illness or grieving, but you know what, it gets even worse. So then, MARLEY DIES. Yup, she straight up flatlines. And then- and here's the kicker!- she simply chooses to come back to life!!! She just wanted to say bye to her dead sister!! Haha! Yes!! So good to completely discredit every good lesson about grief previously provided by this book by romanticizing death!!!!

And then the book just ends.

So... yeah, I think it's fair to assume I'm not too keen to read more from these authors, though I do like their writing style. If the synopsis of their next work piques my interest I'd be willing to give it a try, but so much of this just had me in disbelief of how bad it got.

I'm giving it that extra star, bumping it up to 2, because up until he woke up from the coma this was a solid 4 star book. Marley being real brought it down to a 2.5, and then the whole her dying and coming back to life randomly in the last like 20 pages solidly drove it down into a 2.

Honestly I'd highly recommend not reading this book, but it was easy to read, and the beginning held some merit.

THIS BOOK. It was the rollercoaster of emotions that I didn't know I needed. Just when you thought it was too easy, Mikki and Rachael throw a wrench at you. THEN, just when you think you've made it through, RIGHT TURN. I flew through this in a couple of days and it's been awhile since I was so addicted to a book. I felt so broken along with the characters that I couldn't put it down...I NEEDED them to make it through this dark tunnel that is life.

ALSO Nods to the hourglass style cover, the flowers, the glorious writing style, and these characters that I loved so much.

*Thanks to the folks at Netgalley for an eARC*

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

“All This Time” is a young adult book centered around an incoming college freshman named Kyle, whose girlfriend Kimberly breaks up with her the night of their high school graduation party. Shortly after this happens, the two of them get in a car accident. Throughout the course of the story, the reader not only sees Kyle recover physically from the accident, but also sees him deal with grief, after he is told that Kimberly had died in the accident and that he had missed the funeral. In addition, Kyle is introduced to a girl named Marley, who previously lost her twin sister, and as the two of them befriend each other and help each other through their grief, Kyle feels like he might be starting to fall in love with her. Towards the end of the book, however, there’s a huge plot twist – Kyle had actually been in a coma for a year, and Kimberly is still alive. Kyle decides to remain friends with Kimberly, and tries to find and befriend the real Marley.

This book is definitely a very emotional one, but I still really liked it regardless. I loved the writing style, and I think that the way that this was written made the book even more interesting to read.

First off, this book is from the same author of Five Feet Apart and this one involves a kid in a coma. I think it’s an interesting premise and I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds. This book will be released on September 29th and I’ll have an updated review then. I think this will be a 4 or 5 star rating for me.

I went into this book not knowing much about it and was quite surprised by some elements of the story line. I highly recommend reading All This Time. It is a very quick read and definitely has many plot twists that I didn't see coming!

I received a free copy from NetGalley. When your high school girlfriend says she is not only no longer going to the same college as you but breaking up as well your world changes. It changes even more when you then get into a car accident killer her and severely injured yourself. How do you recover? Kyle not only has to recover, he has to decide to live again. Maybe Marley, who he meets at the cemetery and has also suffered loss can help him. But just when things seem to be getting better, can things now be too good to be true again?