Yikes! I'm disappointed with myself and with this book that I didn't like it as much as I was hoping I would. It really wasn't a bad book, story-wise at least and in theory, but the writing and the development could have been much better. I'll explain.
The story itself starts promising. Ella is reeling over the death of her best friend Haley from a car accident where she was the driver six months ago. She has no memory of said accident six months ago, but she knows she was drinking. She feels depressed and the weight of guilt from having been the driver, and her grief consumes her. I can understand her depression and her pain. Coming back to school without her besite was going to be hard. Right away, I feel myself sympathizing with Ella.
Where the book went wrong was that some of the romance was very forced, very rushed, and wasn't very well developed. The side characters also had very little depth, although I did think creepy Mr. Wilkens and Seema were a little better than the others, but even they were annoying. Beth and Rachel could have been used more to make the world-building more fleshed out (not to mention, they were a good lgbtq rep, but they ended up woefully unutilized and just faded in the background in the end). And Scott...well, he was just a jerk for no reason most of the time.
The writing at times was awkward. Maybe its a little too YA for me, I don't know, but I've read YA books before that did better expressing their themes and developing their characters. I also didn't like how at times the characters themselves summarized the events of the book or going into lengthy explanations of their motives. Ther was also alot of exposition that made the events feel kind of rushed.
On a more positive note, Hayley, I really liked, and I enjoyed getting to know her in her diary.
Some of the revelations that unveiled in the book did actually surprise me despite the story taking somewhat of a predictable turn. I do like the message that Harlow sends with the friendship between Ella and Hayley as well as the story she was trying to create about abusive relationships and other tough topics.
Again, I really wanted to like this book more than I did

What a tear jerker! Straight to the heart.

This book centers around grief of a best friend, as well several other challenges the main character faces. The twist was so great!

My jaw was dropped throughout this whole book. It kept me on my toes and anxious to get to the end.

This book was a YA thriller that hooked me from the beginning and I finished it quickly. I was invested and kept reading to find out what happened, but the story became predictable and some things that happened didn't make sense. It is considered a YA book, but there was too much steam for me to consider it as such. Overall, I liked it but probably wouldn't read it a second time.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers for the ARC!

3.5 stars. Any time I get to the end of a YA story and haven't given myself an aneurysm from excessive amounts of eyerolling, I consider it a success. And this one was a success. I can even say I enjoyed it. Yeah, it's kind of far fetched the way things wrap up, but it was still pretty darn good. It had romance and it had mystery and it was an enjoyable way to spend a few hours with these characters. What more can you want?

I wanted to read this book because of the name of one of the characters and because it was categorized as a dark romantic thriller. I definitely think it hit the marks on this description. I felt engaged the whole time reading and wanted to learn more with each page that I read. I'll be recommending this book to friends and family!

4 – 4.25 STARS

This YA suspense novel is a pretty fast read, one I easily completed in just one sitting. At its crux, this is a story of a forbidden romance, dark secrets, and domestic abuse. But it’s also an emotional journey centering around friendship, teenage angst, loss, and grief. It’s the story of Ella, Hayley, and Sawyer, and how this trio of high school friends were forever changed by one tragic and fateful night.

“Everything We Never Said” is a very compelling story, though fairly predictable. However, I did get one crucial element wrong, so kudos to the author for her clever manipulation of the facts. Still, it taps into a myriad of emotions that we can all easily relate to and relays a story that is more real than not.

"Everything We Never Said" delves into the life of Ella as she embarks on her senior year of high school under the shadow of a tragic event. The usual senior year enthusiasm is eclipsed by the aftermath of a devastating accident at the end of her junior year, where Ella, behind the wheel, loses control, resulting in an accident that claims her best friend's life. Once a shining star in academics and a record-setting swimmer, Ella now navigates the world as a fraction of who she used to be, grappling with guilt and loss. This book takes you on an emotional journey that is profoundly touching and remarkably crafted.

This book was chock full of twist, turns, surprises and unexpected plot twists! I don’t usually love YA that much but this one had me waiting on baited breath to see what was gonna happen next.

Harlow was a real rollercoaster for me, honestly.. It was a dark YA romance that constantly had me at the edge of my seat. Ella's grief and simultaneous trauma bonding was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I was very enthralled with their relationship and then BOOM he's not who we think he is. This story was a whirlwind. I've been wanting to get into thrillers so this felt like a great way to step into this genre while sticking with what I know. Thank you for letting me review this, it was a delight to read.

This was a quick read for me as I couldn’t put it down it’s a mystery and romance.
The first part of the book was a little slow for me, but the last part was wow, things really ramped up.
Months have passed since an accident took Ella’s best friend Haley. Ella is trying to deal with her grief and move on things begin to get strange when Ella becomes involved with Haley‘s boyfriend, Sawyer, but things are not what they seem as we soon discover. Parts of the story were predictable, but then there were several surprises.
I am an adult reading this book, which is classified as YA however, I think it is more of an adult book because there were numerous sex scenes and domestic violence.
This book also deals with grief, and I think it did a good job of dealing with it.
It was a four stars for me. Thanks to NetGalley for lending me a copy and I highly recommend it!

Good book with a solid story inside. I liked how it was all laid out for the reader. Such a well done book.

A book about secrets and how to find truth. A young girl finds herself falling in love with her dead best friends boyfriend. She starts noticing inconsistencies but doesn't want to question too much. Waiting, she learns they all have secrets. Good book for getting you to think.

While I did enjoy this book, I am a grown adult. I think that this book misses the mark being targeted towards a YA audience, at least it should be NA. For me there are several reasons for this, with the first being the sex scenes, and then the amount of domestic violence present. I don’t think that YA books should have explicit sexual scenes. The second issue was domestic violence. This is a slight spoiler, and while I strive for spoiler free reviews, this can be a triggering topic. Domestic violence was fairly prevalent in this book, and it wasn’t off page either. I do think the writing was very YA however, just for me these topics didn’t need to go into the detail that they did.

I do think that this book dealt with the complicated topic of grief in a wonderful way. Grief is not linear, and this book highlighted that. It’s also a very complicated emotion and it’s going to present itself differently daily, which was done well. The pacing was also enjoyable and kept me engaged throughout though it does start off a little slow, then it speeds up.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for this e-arc.

What a great debut novel! This book had me hooked quickly. I don't read a ton of YA books, so I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but I did! It moved at a fast pace, had drama, suspense, and was a little twisty. I thought the characters were well written and could feel their emotions right along with them. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for a digital arc of this title!

EVERYTHING WE NEVER SAID by Sloan Harlow definitely reached down deep into my soul. I can’t believe that this is a debut!

Ella Graham returns to north Davis high school in Cedarbrook, Atlanta for her senior year. Her return is not a joyous one as she was driving after drinking, was in an accident, where her best friend, Hayley Miller, was thrown from the vehicle and ended up in the river. Her body was never found, and the search was eventually called off. Ella feels deep regret, sadness, and blames herself for the accident, as the whispers at school follow her in the halls. After his initial anger towards her, Haley‘s boyfriend,Sawyer Hawkins eventually begins to develop a grudging relationship with Haley, which eventually turns romantic. When Haley‘s mother decides that she needs to move out of town after the death of her only child, she asks Ella to clean out Haley‘s bedroom and says she is welcome to take anything she wishes. Ella takes a necklace, some photos, and Haley’s diary, which she would never want Haley’s mother to find, as a diary is a girl’s safe place. When she is overwhelmed with missing Haley, Ella slowly begins to read the diary and learns some very interesting things about others in Haley‘s life. As her relationship with Sawyer progresses, and Ella reads further into the diary, she begins to suspect that people are not quite what they seem. And what they say and what is real may just possibly be two different things.

When Ella seeks council from a trusted school employee, she learns some shocking truths and is eventually able to put the story of Haley‘s last year into different perspective leading to a shocking conclusion where all secrets are revealed.

Miss Harlow’s writing style was smooth and easy, and would interest YA fans of writer such as Colleen Hoover. I could feel my anxiety growing as the story progressed, which led to a propulsive read to get to a final reveal. This is my first Sloan Harlow thriller, but it will not be my last. The characters were very well drawn, and the entire novel was a smooth and easy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and G. P. Putnam’s Sons worth this arc opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

📖 Book Review 📖
Everything We Never Said by Sloan Harlow
ARC to be released 5/28/24
G.P.’s Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
4 🌻 🌻🌻🌻 out of 5

First off, let me say thank you to @NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before it’s published in exchange for an honest review.

This was another binge read for me, y’all. I read from the 13% mark in my kindle & could not put it down until I finished it. Soooo soooo good!
This is about a girl named Ella who had a best friend, Hayley, who just passed away due to a seemingly drunk driving accident while Ella was driving the car they were both in one rainy night coming back from a high school party. Also, Sawyer. Who is/was/maybe/maybe not Ella’s best friend and Hayley’s boyfriend.
⚠️ Check your trigger warnings my friend before you read this. ⚠️
Although, I thought this book did a really good job touching on mental health awareness so bravo on that. 👏 I cried.
The whole book you’re trying to find out what’s up with Sawyer and why’s he so angry and closed off the whole time.
And then the ending?? Like a sharp curve straight off a cliff that I had no idea was even there. I just died y’all. I did NOT see that coming.
So when this comes out on 5/28, get it. Reserve it on Libby. Schedule on Kindle. Or however you read your books. You don’t want to miss this one.
#bookstagram #readersofinstagram #arc #kindle #netgalley #everythingweneversaid @sloanharlowauthor #bookstagrammers #lovebooks #lovetoread #ya #mystery #thriller

Let’s begin by saying this is a bit darker and deeper than a YA. Which I didn’t have much issue with for the tone of the story. Be prepared for death , sexual encounters , internal despair really. Teenagers but again book world version. I loved the concept and really was intrigued for the first 35% . I did start to feel myself losing some of what should be love for the Main character , because truthfully she felt a bit woah is me which under the circumstances she can be. She was making some choices that I felt myself rolling my eyes . I don’t like spoilers so you’re not going to get them. Things at time were contradictory, it slowed me a bit others the flow was so good I didn’t realize I made it an entire chapter . It was a good read , The mystery , the darkness , the

This was a roller coaster of a ride!

Every time I thought I knew what was going on, I was wrong.
I did figure it out about 75% in the book but man that was crazy.

I loved trying to figure out who “S” was and had so many theories.
I loved the ominous scenes throughout the book that made me jump with Ella.

I liked having 2 POVs and enjoyed them both.

Overall, this was a quick and fun read for me with some serious content. I had a hard time putting this book down because I had to know what was going on.

I highly recommend if you’re looking for a YA thriller with some LOL moments, FMC and MMC you’re rooting for, and a small mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

For the most part, the story was intriguing and the characterization was well done, but...

There are a few loose spoilers ahead, but mentioned in a way that will not give the ending away. I would also like to say that the author may have changed some things for the better as what I read was an ARC.

However, there were quite a number of things that I found annoying or not true to character.

Let's start with annoying: the numerous make out/sexual scenes between Ella and Sawyer. Too much! It didn't add a thing to the plot, and honestly I couldn't even begin to imagine Ella, a girl who was a good girl would suddenly and with no lapse of time do these things with her best friends boyfriend. The best friend who was killed in a crash in the car Ella was driving.

More unrealistic things: The way one friend used the other--and I do mean totally, abusively used. Would anyone really watch their friend fall apart like that and then to make matters worse set her up in an even more betraying manner so that she ends up beaten, nearly killed and then framed so the other friend can skip off into the sunset? Totally, ridiculous ending!

The characterization doesn't fit in with some of the behaviors mentioned throughout the book.

Ella is starting a new school year after the death of her best friend in a car accident where she was the driver. Ella has been thru a traumatic event and is grieving but this aside she does come off as a bit self absorbed. She seemed to have a truly tight friendship with Hayley but I didn’t really care for how she treats her other female friends. Sawyer and Hayley are much more appealing characters to me. This book had some twists and turns that kept me guessing with a bit of suspense. I did like that part if the story was told through diary entries. Overall a pretty good and suspenseful older YA book.