Leah Jones and Axel... Let me tell you this book breaks you in some ways! I loved it so much! You do not want to miss adding this to your TBR!! Can there friendship/love still stand? I know the answer and soon you will too!

💜❤️ All That We Never Were ARC Review ❤️💜

Thank you so much to Alice Kellen, Sourcebooks Casablanca and netGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

All That We Never Were is a contemporary romance set in small town Australia and book 1 of the Let It Be duology. After tragically losing their parents, siblings Oliver and Leah are left to pick up the pieces. Oliver has accepted a job across the country that will help him support 19 year old Leah while she’s finishing high school. But she hasn’t been the same since the accident, and Oliver doesn’t want to leave her alone. Without any other options, he reaches out to his best friend Axel, who agrees to let her live with him. When Axel sees just how lost Leah is, he’s determined to help her recover as long as he can keep his attraction to her a secret…

This was definitely a heavier read than I expected but I did enjoy it. This book had dual PoVs which I did like - Seeing Leah find herself again after tragedy was really enjoyable, and seeing Axel grow from a big brother role into a relationship mindset was interesting as well. I did feel like Leah was doing a lot more of the pursuing than Axel did, and I usually prefer it to be a little more balanced, but that’s a “me” issue and not a book issue.

Overall this was a three star read for me. I really like the friends to lovers trope and this one was a good read with the dual PoVs. This book was definitely a slow burn but it did pay off later in the book, so two flames for spice

If you’re a fan of tropes like brother’s best friend, childhood friends to lovers, age gap (ten years), and finding yourself through art and music, then definitely pick this one up!

Review will be posted to Amazon upon publication

This was really not my cup of tea. Forbidden romance between a 30 yr old mega-bachelor and his best friend’s younger sister (19yo old) who he has known from her birth. Their families were best friends up ‘til the friends parents passed away in a car crash with the sister in the car - the only survivor. Axel, make lead, considers his best friend like a brother, and in essence the younger sister like a younger sister, though she’s always had an unrequited love or crush on Axel. They have to live together as a favor to the older brother while he takes a job in Brisbane. The sad girl in mourning believes she’ll never paint in color again… until Axel intervenes. It’s incredibly cheese and kinda uncomfy. Could’ve easily been a short story (would be more effective). It was like 1-2 chapters were stretched for an entire book and… surprise… it’s TBC with no real resolution. Yuck.

Wanted to love this. Started off slow. I stayed with it. Midway, the book was very Colleen Hooverish. I had hopes. I felt like Axel was so mysterious that we never really understood the darkness. Because of the larger age gap, it wa slightly awkward. Knew early on that this was meant to have a sequel. Wanted to love it. It was ok.

This book has me really conflicted as I can see it been a good book of written better. The chapters were short and not always enjoyable I would have liked the chapters to be a bit longer and more in depth. The characters are so well written but I didn’t connect with them at all. I wasn’t 100% sold on the age gap in this book as the male character was just so frustrating. Thank you to net galley for letting me review this book

This book left me uneasy. That's the best way to describe how I feel. Slightly icky, kinda pissed...something I'm not used to feeling from books.

**SPOILERS**
It started off really interesting and I was sucked right in. That's why I even rated this 2 stars instead of 1. A teenager is grieving the loss of her parents and is forced to move into her brother's best friend's house. He's presented initially as a father-type figure because of their age gap, and sort of a know-it-all about life. Yes, because at the wise old age of 29, he surely knows how to bring someone through grief. It was annoying, but I pushed through.

Anyway, he moves from father/much older brother figure to the person she's apparently been obsessed with since she was a child (and a child she still is, based on her behavior and naivety). There was a little bit of a disconnect between the initial information the author gave and about a third of the way through the book. I don't know if that was purposely done or not, but it was jarring.

It felt like the whole book was a build-up and they rushed through to all-of-a-sudden-banging-and-being-in-love. It just all felt so wrong, seeing as how the first part of the book built him up to basically be her family. And the ending? What the f&*# was that?! I didn't even feel like I wanted more.

Leah has fallen into a deep depression after losing both her parents in a car accident. Leah was the only survivor. Her older brother Oliver has to work outside the city to make enough money to put Leah through college. Oliver leaves Leah in the care of his best friend Axel anytime he's gone. Axel remembers how vibrant Leah used to be and wants to get her back to her old self. It's the brother's best friend trope which I love but this book is no different than any book you read in 2014. There's nothing new. This has been done before. The characters aren't great. The chapters are short so the writing comes across choppy. The ten year age difference between Leah and Axel didn't bug me but the story ends exactly how you think it will.

A book that portrays a real story about overcoming a loss whose pain is immeasurable. Sometimes we are confronted with a pain so sudden and so intense that, just like that, we see our world in colour become black and white before our eyes. That's what happened to Leah, who found herself groundless in a fraction of a second, becoming a person full of pain, sadness and apathy that led to depression and PTSD, from which she could not let go. When in a twist she ends up living with Axel, her first love, finding herself confronted with a world full of colour, life and feelings, contrary to her own. Leah is forced to deal with the pain, to feel and to overcome all the anguish she holds within herself.

This is a story that holds us from beginning to end - with short chapters, alternated between the past and the present and 2 POV's that give us the perspective of the 2 MC - just as I like 👀

The author's writing is simply addictive, poetic and ravishing, with such fluidity that we find ourselves turning page after page, finding ourselves at the end of the book and asking "now what?!". Yes, there is a GIANT cliffhanger, which leaves us distressed by the future of the two and wanting to know what will happen next.

This story is absolutely beautiful, the simple and natural way it unfolds and turns into pure colour…it is wonderful to read. How they heal and teach each other what it is to feel, love and LIVE, overcoming their greatest demons together.

The references in this book are absurdly spot on 🤌🏻 - the Beatles, the art, the colour, everything makes us enter the story, understand it and live it as if it were ours.

This book is, for me, pure emotion. It makes us experience a thousand and one emotions, hope that everything will be fine and that Leah's world, now gray, will regain the colour it deserves 🥺.

Read and, especially, *feel* their story. But make sure you have the second one at hand because no one can stand that ending 🥵

Thank you netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy to read.

The story follows Leah after suffering the loss of her parents as she navigates living with her brothers best friend Axel. Leah has been in love with Axel for a lifetime.

This was an easy read, there were lots of lovely poignant moments of reflection on slowing down in life. I didn't find myself connecting with the characters as I don't feel we got to know them too much. Leah was quite sullen and hidden away for the first half of the book. I enjoyed that it was told from two points of views the whole way through. Also love the short chapters which always makes reading more enjoyable.

That said it was an ok read, I would happily read a sequel.

3.5 stars.

All That We Never Were by Alice Kellen follows the story of Leah and Axel.

After the sudden death of Leah's parents, Leah struggles to cope with their deaths as she finishes her last year of school. Her brother, Oliver, who has been taking care of her but gets a job opportunity in Sydney, hundreds of miles away. Not wanting to leave Leah alone at home, he asks his best friend, Axel, if he could take care of Leah. Leah moves in with Axel and as they spend more time together Leah starts to feel like herself again with him.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I will start with describing the positives. The book has two of my favorite tropes, age gap (Leah is nineteen and Axel is twenty-nine) and forced proximity. I also liked the way the author broke up the book throughout the months, really showing that trauma like this doesn't disappear within a matter of weeks. She focused on Leah's trauma and gave awareness to the different types of PTSD, specifically the type that Leah has.

However, the negatives of this book is that it had way too many chapters. I know that was done on purpose to signify the passing of time and what was going through the main characters minds but some were so vague that they didn't need to be there. I also didn't like how Axel's own trauma wasn't clearly announced until almost the end of the book.

Besides the positive and negatives I listed, I can't wait to read the next book in the series once I get my hands on a copy of my own. I can't wait to see what happens to Axel and Leah's story, especially the way this book ended.

*Please be aware that this book does deal heavily with emotional topics pertaining to the deaths of family and PTSD.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the premise of the book regarding grieving, learning to find joy after a major loss, and finding love in someone you’ve known for so long. The beginning of the book seemed rather slow for me and took a while to get in to; a lot of the beginning story was background and much more passive plot line. It seemed like a lot of the action and romance hit towards the end and was over before I knew it. I would recommend this to someone who enjoys slow burns and is romance heavy, especially to a fan of the trope of “best friend’s sister/older brother’s best friend”

Heart shattering and beautiful, I really enjoyed this book. If you’re looking for a emotional, forbidden love story this is it! Also the cover is gorgeous.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. Overall this was an ok read. It didn't draw me in as much as I was hoping. I normally finish a book in 2-3 days and this took me almost 2 weeks. I wasn't looking forward to reading more but did want to see how things played out.

Thank you NetGallery for this ARC! It was a good book with a good story(brothers best friend too) but it was slow at times. It also felt as if pieces were missing and one second would be the present and the next it’s the past with no warning. Overall it has potential to being good!!

19 year old Leah has experienced a tremendous trauma losing both her parents in a car accident. Her older brother, Oliver, takes her in, but Leah is not the same girl she was before. After Oliver's work puts him on a temporary work away schedule she moves in part time with her brother's 30 year old best friend, Axel. Axel makes it his mission to bring Leah back to life with tough love. Of course, the more time they spend together, they can't ignore the budding attraction between them. But what will happen when it comes to light?

This book had potential, but I think a few things didn't work. First, this book was translated from Spanish to English. I think some things got lost in translation and the book read choppy. The dialogue also sounded awkward. Second, I didn't love the characters. Leah wasn't fleshed out beyond her trauma. I felt like I knew nothing about her. Axel came off more as a jerk than the grumpy older brother's best friend. I spent more time annoyed with him than loving him. And the supposed attraction from forced proximity? Nowhere to be found. I was hoping for more. This book ends on a cliffhanger. I would be interested to read the end of the story, but wouldn't go out of my way.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

this was easy and quick to read . And sure, it lacked a bit of substance, but I've read worse. Thank you and NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t like to not finish a book. Sometimes, very rarely, I have done it before. I try to really give the story and its characters a chance. Writing a novel must be so hard, you out pieces of yourself out there in the world, for everyone to read it. And that is scary.

All That We Never Were by Alice Kellen is about 19-year-old Leah, who lost her parents during a car crash, one she survived. It has been almost a year and Leah is struggling with her grieve, but her (ten years) older brother Oliver is offered a job in Sydney. Not wanting to leave her alone, he asks his best friend Axel to take Leah in and make sure she won’t starve and still go to school. Leah starts to feel again during her time at Axel’s house and is slowly but surely coming to terms with the fact that life won’t ever be the same.


So although I have finished All That We Never Were, it was not for me. It was a big yikes, from the characters that all lost their minds (Justin and Oliver were the only reasonable ones in this whole book) to the storyline of Axel being a whole 10 years older!! Axel gave me the big ick, he is selfish all throughout the novel and the way he is trying to help Leah through her grieve feels like bullying almost… ugh, let me just tell you I would have ran far far away from this man-child, if this was a real situation I would have found myself in.

One of the problems I think lies in the translation from Spanish to English: the conversation between characters does not flow nicely and feels clunky at times. Even just the regular flow of the story feels haphazardly sometimes.

While All We Never Were is not going down as one of my favourite books, I can see that it may be just an issue I had with the characters. If you like flawed characters and just need a read where you really don’t have to think too hard about it, this might be for you.
For me, I finished it, but I was not happy while doing so.

This book was interesting. I did find the relationship/age difference between Leah and Axel odd, especially since Axel is Leah’s brothers best friend. I was definitely surprised by the ending. I found that I had a hard time connecting with the characters, which made reading the book a little difficult. Thank you NetGalley and Alice, and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC!

This book did not resonate with me in the way that I wanted it to. Not to say that the writing is poor, but I feel that there may have been something lost when translating from Spanish to English. This is a different kind of story that involves navigating through loss and grief while also having a romantic storyline. This was not for me but may resonate with other readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for sharing this ARC!

This is the first time I’ve picked Alice Kellen’s book and God! This is so so good. I started to read this story knowing very little about it because I liked the cover but not only the cover but the story was so great. I have found a story of courage, love, friendship, family, surfing, art and music and above all else, moving on.
Leah has just lost her parents in an accident that she has survived. Her brother has to take care of her and he gets a good job in Sydney, so Leah stays at Axel's house, her brother's best friend. Axel is ten years older than Leah and he has always seen her as her little sister.
I've loved Axel’s and Lea’s slow burn love story. I have been frustrated, suffered, laughed, cried and felt all the anxieties. I also loved how the author deals with the issue of loss, grief, depression, anxiety and the whole process that all of us experience when we lose someone we love.