ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I was so excited to read this book.

I read Five Feet Apart back in 2019 and I loved it. It was everything that I wanted from a YA contemporary and it definitely changed my mind on the cancer kids in love trope that was first set up by John Green when The Fault in Our Stars was released. With another book by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott on the way, I had high expectations for it and I was happy when it lived up to them.

All This Time follows main character, Kyle, the perfect boyfriend to Kimberly and popular boy at school. He has always thought their relationship would last... until it doesn't. When Kimberly breaks up with him, his whole world turns upside down as their car crashes and Kyle is the only one who is still alive. Still reeling from Kimberly's death and dealing with a serious brain injury, Kyle confides in Marley, a girl he sees around the hospital. As the two help patch each other's wounds, a spark of romance blooms between them and Kyle is left wondering if he is headed for another crash moment in his life.

My main issue with this book was with the story itself. Whilst being beautifully written, I found that the second part of the book didn't make sense with a lot of things not adding up. Where in the first part, we were seeing Kyle processing the death of his ex-girlfriend and learning to open up again, in the second part we saw him trying to find Marley again in a world vastly different to the one that happened straight after the car crash. I wondered if everything that happened after the first part was really necessary. If the book kept to just the first part then I reckon I would've liked it and rated it even higher since the second part didn't make any sense to me.

I cannot reason with you why I didn't like part 2 without disclosing some spoilers. In the simplest of terms, this part felt very fairytale like and very unrealistic. After waking up to the reality of a world without Marley in it, Kyle tries finding her again and when he does, he tries and tries again to tell her that they met before in his dreams. I found it unrealistic that somehow in some way, Marley realises that she actually does know Kyle and they form a relationship just like that. If you don't mind technicalities then I'm sure you would love this book but for me, as some who deems herself to be a logical minded reader and reviewer, I couldn't give this book the love it surely deserved. I wanted to know how they could've connected on that kind of level, how Marley remembered Kyle out of nowhere, just like magic. I wanted an explanation and it frustrated me that I never got one.

Going on with the story here, I found the plot to be pretty predictable. I already assumed what would happen by page 100 and my predictions weren't wrong. While predictability isn't necessary a bad thing in a book, I expected more from it, something to surprise or shock me but as I read on, even the second part of the book didn't make me do a double take because I knew that plot twist was coming up. I predicted that what I was reading in part 1 wasn't the whole story and I was right. I could tell it was coming from the start and to prove myself right, I started using a check-list of sorts as I mentally ticked off all of my predictions and smiled whenever I got them right.

Whilst part 1 was great in terms of story, I found that character wise it fell a little bit flat. I got really annoyed by Kyle's character at the start. I found him to be whiny and annoying and I started to dislike his narrative voice. Thankfully, in the second part he got better and he became a much more readable character in my opinion but it still didn't make up for the second part of the book which, as I mentioned before, confused me a lot.

All in all, I did enjoy this book and thought it was beautifully written but there were some parts that didn't steal my heart namely with the characters, plot predictability and the technicalities of part 2.

ACTUAL RATING: 3.8 STARS

This had me all up in my feels more than once. An easy read with a heavy topic at the centre, this story thrives because of strong characters and a sweet romance.

One for any contemporary lovers.

3.75 stars

All This Time
Authors: Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott
Genre: YA Romance
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ / 5
Reviewed: Maya

[Trigger Warning: car accident, death of a loved one, graphic injury]

I was so happy to realise these authors wrote the famous Five Feet Apart because I absolutely adored that book! The storyline of this book was so interesting and flowed very well, although some incompentent person on Goodreads did not use a spoiler warning and completely ruined the main plot for me. Overall, this did affect my enjoyment of the book as I did not find the plot as interesting as it would have been and was able to understand the mystery immediately. Kyle and Marley’s romance was so sweet (a little cliche) but enjoyed their quirks as they really added to the personalities. The writing was so powerful and I was glad that I was reading it on a Kindle so I could highlight full passages. I also loved that I could see the story unfold from the male’s perspective because I have only read YA romances through a female POV, so it made an interesting change. The storyline is plausible, but I enjoyed the writing and character developments too much to let it affect me. I recommend this book if you want your emotions to go on a wide roller coaster ride and need a simplistic YA romance (also beware of Goodreads as the spoilers are still up but I have flagged them, so hopefully they will be hidden soon).

Huge thanks to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster (Australia) and of course Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was set for the 7th of October, 2020.

With thanks to Netgalley for the digital arc. all opinions expressed here are my own.

So I confess I didn’t read the blurb. When I saw that Rachael Lippincott and Mikki Daughtry (the authors of Five Feet Apart) had a new book out called All This Time I knew I needed to read it.

But, because of not reading the blurb I didn’t see the first “twist” coming and was completely shocked...then I read it! I became fully invested in the story and loved the characters though kept expecting something bad to happen. When it did I was even more shocked as I didn’t see that storyline coming. I wanted to go back to the way things were. However things eventually fell into place and I enjoyed my reading experience.

A solid three star read.

I just adored this novel by Rachael Lippincott and Mikki Daughtry! I loved the main characters Kyle and Marley and thought that their story was really captivating and written so wonderfully. I also need to acknowledge the plot twists for a minute because WOW I definitely did not see those coming! A beautiful story of friendship, grief and newfound love, this one definitely had me reaching for the tissue box a few times and reinforced my belief that fairytales do exist if you just believe. A definite must read for those who love a great contemporary romance read! 💕
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A big thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Australia for this advanced digital copy to read and review!

3.5 stars! This was the kind of book I probably would have loved more if I was younger and also from a different demographic. I didn't realise this at first, but it started as a screenplay written by Mikki Daughtry, and was adapted into a novel by Rachael Lippincott.

All This Time is an adorable, fluffy romcom that believes in true love and is full of all of your favourite guilty-pleasure tropes, while simultaneously executing a classic "unbelievable" plot idea. It's going to sound similar to all of your favourite rom-com movies, but in a way that's okay - it's just different enough to keep you guessing, and keep you caring.

I started out the book extremely cynical of the main character, a quarterback in love with the cheerleader, who spends the first half of the book being obsessive and essentially moping around. But then in the second half, everything was turned on its head and the main character started growing up and learning what was important. There was strong character development, and yet my feminism senses remained a little uncomfortable with the way the character of Marley was portrayed.

This book surprised me, in a good way. It's a very good book - I just worry that I might have stopped reading early in the first half if I wasn't invested in reading it as a NetGalley book, and for me this is its main downfall. The characters, without the plot from the second half of the book, just weren't compelling enough to draw me in. Maybe I don't see enough of myself in them, because they're the "popular kids". It doesn't take away from the brilliantly executed plot, and the well-designed, subtle morals of the story, but the characters just didn't click with me.

Thankfully, I know they will definitely click with someone else. The authors have put a little gem out into the world which will resonate with many people.

Grateful to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for giving me an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tragedy, heartbreak, love and a future of happiness.

Kim and Kyle have been dating forever. Typical young love, break up to make up. It’s time for collage and at graduation Kim breaks up with Kyle to pursue her dreams. She’s lost herself I. Kyle and need to figure out who she is without him.

They are driving in a storm and crash, when Kyle wakes up Kim is dead and he’s been in a coma with a server brain injury. There’s no one in the world that understands the pain he’s in. Until Kyle meets Marley.

They find each other when they are both broken, their loss consumes them and they find comfort in one another. Everything come to a head when Kyle suddenly looses everything he’s ever wanted before he even got it. Love heals all wounds and goodbyes aren’t forever.

This was an emotional, heartbreaking YA novel. I was drawn in by the interesting plot, and was not disappointed.

The characters are great and the story is interesting. It made me mad at times, but that's to be expected with this type of book.

I really enjoyed the writing style too.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

Content Warning: death, grief, car accidents, mental health

This book was beautifully written, with a fast pace and some-what interesting characters. However, what lost me was the plot. The first half of the book was lovely, I was anticipating to give this book a higher rating from the first half alone. However, the second half of the book just didn't make sense. I don't fully understand what happened, or how it even makes sense. I shouldn't be leaving a book confused.

Ultimately, this book has a lot of potential and sadly I think it was lost towards the ending. There's definitely people who are going to love this book, but sadly, I was not one of them.

What I loved most about this book was the characters, while the writing was really enjoyable and not too much to take in, the characters really sold it for me. They were all flawed and complex and they all made mistakes and this made them feel human and real. There were times when you loved them, times when you hated them, and that’s just the human experience so I loved how all the characters were written.

I do feel the need to comment on the writing again, though. While my favourite aspect was the characters, the writing was such an important part. There was something they included in the tone which tells you to prepare for something, that tells you things are a little off and to pay attention. But when the turning point finally hit, for me specifically, it was nowhere near what I expected. I was sat there just staring at the screen trying to process what I read knowing that it completely blindsided me, my brain expecting a completely different turn of events, and I really loved that. Books that take me by surprise really do become favourites and highly rated.

This book would be a 5-star read if there wasn’t this lull in the first third that made it hard for me to get through and keep reading. I stuck at it, knowing there was a really strong chance finishing it would be worth my time, but it did feel like it was dragging on, that’s the only criticism I have for this whole book.