2.5/5 stars

*I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Unfortunately this book did not hit the mark for me. I had hopes going into it, as the book heavily deals with grief and how to rebuild from it but that was the best part for me. The rest of it, however, was just all right. The novel can be split into two parts, and while the first half seemed to drag, the second part went by all too quickly. The pacing seemed off overall, especially near the end when a certain something happens that not only felt entirely unrealistic, but also wrapped up so quickly it felt like the entire scene was unnecessary to the plot. I know readers are expected to suspend their disbelief to a certain extent, but certain things towards the end completely took me out of the story. One thing I did like about the plot was the plot twist. When it first happened I wasn't totally convinced, but by the end the author managed to tie it all together quite well. I didn’t see it coming, but thinking back on the book there were definitely enough hints that made it realistic enough.

Besides the plot, I didn’t feel as connected to the characters or their relationships as I would have liked. Just like the pacing of the plot, I found some relationships progressing at a weird pace. I thought Kyle was an alright main character but because the book focuses so much on grief, I had hoped I would feel for him a bit more than I did. It wasn’t until near the end that I really sympathized with him, and I think it would have been better if I felt that way sooner. Overall I liked Marley the most, however I would have preferred if we had even more of her in the book.

This is definitely not a bad book as I did feel emotional at parts, but I feel like it could have been better if it was longer and better paced, giving it the time necessary to feel more of Kyle’s grief and to build each of the relationships in the story.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, I don't think it's a secret that I didn't like Five Feet apart. I started a whole youtube channel just to talk about it (video here, if you're interested https://youtu.be/ZtRCA1-DNrs ). But every time I go on a rant about it (and it happens frequently) I can't help but give credit where credit is do. The writing is good. Great even. So the second I found out the team behind it had a new story out, I couldn't wait to read it.

As of writing this, All This Time has a ton of excellent reviews from people who haven't even read the book yet simply because of their love for Five Feet Apart. So here I am as someone who hated Five Feet Apart who actually has read it to tell you that this is a really good book.

The writing, if anything, feels a lot stronger than Five Feet Apart and I think that comes from a better capability to examine characters inner emotions than was allotted with this team's previous work because of the original Screenplay medium Five Feet Apart was always meant for. A lot of people are going to love this book for its twists, a lot of people are going to hate it for it. I'm kind of in the middle and would be interested in seeing if this was originally where the narrative was going because a lot of the first half of the book had me certain this was going to end a completely different twisty way (I'm obviously not going to say what I thought that would be but a lot of clues reminded me of those in another book that I won't name to keep it spoiler free. Message me if you want that rec though because if your mind went the same way mine did with this, you need to read the book I'm thinking of).

At the end of the day, maybe All This Time isn't all that realistic so if that's what you're looking for I think you'll land in the "I hated it until the twist" camp. But if you choose to view it as a symbolic representation of grief, healing, and moving on I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did. I'd definitely recommend it whether or not you liked Five Feet Apart.