<b>”I keep thinking about everything I never told you, everything we never said, wondering if it all could have turned out differently if only I'd confided in you.</b>

time to channel your inner sleuth! so. many. questions! past paced! what happened to hayley?! i HAD to know. i loved this! read it in 24 hours. devoured it! Dark, romantic thriller!

note: this is a young adult novel with mature themes. dm me with any content questions!

✨ THINGS AND STUFF ✨
-dual pov
-diary entries
-family dynamics & broken homes
-what happened that night she died?
-forbidden love
-memory loss & flashbacks
-grief & pain
-secrets
-goosebump worthy revelations
-plot twist!
-#IsThisAKissingBook: open door “kiss the smile off her lips….sawyer presses a kiss to the top of my head”

thank you penguin teen for an advanced copy!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with an eARC of Everything We Never Said in exchange for my honest review!

I had quite an absorbing time with this book, which is being promoted as a YA romantic thriller, but I'd actually say that it would be more appropriate to market this to the NA audience. Initially, this gave off It Ends with Us vibes (to be clear, I like IEWU, but I also don't necessarily consider it to be a good thing when a book reminds me of Colleen Hoover's work). Ultimately, I do think it steers down a different road, one that's satisfying to experience as it explores the pain and trauma of domestic abuse and the ways in which abusers use charisma and genuine-seeming love to conceal the darkness within them. Sure, we have to endure some cringey dialogue and YA tropes, but it's not that glaring in the grand scheme of things. It all builds up to a climactic third act that I can see being too over-the-top for some readers, but it clicks well with me.

Overall, I'm officially rating Everything We Never Said 3.75 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to a flat 4 stars. After this debut novel from Sloan Harlow, I'm intrigued to see what she'll write down the line.

An excellent debut by the author, although I think the story pushes the edge of teen/ya and almost makes it to new adult. Despite that, I think a number of teens could handle the story, but it does involve some explicit scenes that might be triggering for some, especially violence. There is also sex on the screen, but it's not explicit.

I don't read a lot of thrillers, so I didn't predict the ending until about two-thirds of the way there. Looking back, there were plenty of clues, but it was still a surprise as I slowly figured out what was going on. Those who read a lot of thrillers might find this a bit more predictable, but regardless, I found it to be a good read, and the ending was satisfying and not open to interpretation, which is something I find frustrating with some thrillers.

The story changes point of view between Ella, Sawyer, and Hayley's diary, which doesn't always work, but I thought the author did a good job with it. Part of it was that Ella and Sawyer's parts took place in the same timeline and Hayley's part was in italics, so there was never any confusion about timelines or how things connected.

Overall, I thought this author did a good job and I've already recommended this to my younger daughter, who tends to like books like this. I would be interested in reading future books by this author.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A dark romance twisty YA thriller? Sounds awesome! This sounded like maybe it would be a little like the movie Fear, which is probably way too old of a movie for anyone reading YA to have heard of, but it’s one of my faves and I thought this would have similar vibes. In some ways, it did.
I felt the twists were a tad easy to guess, but I won’t lie.. I had a few wrong guesses, so it wasn’t terrible. I loved watching the story unfold and trying to piece together what may have happened with Hayley.
I loved Ella and felt for her and the emotions she was struggling with. I was rooting for her romance with Sawyer and the rebuilding of her friendship with Seema, but then the diary entries began and I wasn’t sure who to trust.
I definitely recommend this if you’re a fan of relationship thrillers. While it is YA, it’s a bit spicy, so I wouldn’t recommend to younger audiences and would almost categorize this more as NA.

Already prepped to hit my HS library shelf come August. This book was so good!

I cannot even begin to feel or understand a fraction of what Ella feels in this book. The guilt. The grief. And then having to go back to that school? Senior year?

The twist and turns in this book will keep you guessing and wondering.

The ending. While I had a little figured out, the whole actual ending? No. No I didn’t. The last 25% was so much and gosh. Ella. Heart crushed for her.

Read this!!!!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

There were plenty twists and turns in this book that made the book more interesting to me and had me almost rushing to finish. Good read

This story follows Ella who has been in an accident and blames herself for her best friend’s death. This was such an amazing story with such a great storyline that was hooking. Readers can easily read this book in one sitting as it has such a fast pacing with so much going on to the story. As much as I enjoyed the storyline, I do have to say that the mystery was very predictable. There were also some questions left unanswered and things weren’t clarified. It’s a very dark, thrilling book that deals with domestic violence and sexual content that made me wonder if this book is suitable for YA. This book is mainly in Ella’s pov but alternates between others.

Ella is the FMC of the story and I liked her perspective. I have to say that she is not the brightest when someone approaches her and she spills the tea but she also begins to learn a lot of the truth. We also get Sawyer’s pov who is more of an unreliable character and his story made me wonder if he is even a good person. There are many side characters in this story and they were well written. The romance is forbidden love and friends to lovers with descriptive scenes that shouldn’t be in YA.

The ending was well done but again I kind of expected it to be the way it was. I still enjoyed the book as it was so fast-paced with a lot of unreliable characters. I love seeing the connection of friendship grow and finally getting the answers the MCs deserve. I recommend checking out this book!

*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

You see Ella cope through her grief and try to mend relationships. At times I was all in for Sawyer and Ella, and then other times I was so confused with Sawyer. Everything made sense at the end which had me baffled.

When I saw the blurb for this book, I was intrigued but a little wary. Colleen Hoover is not one of my liked authors, and I didn't have high hopes for this one out of concern about abuse romanticization. Yet Harlow's novel drew me in, and everything about the abuse and emotions was handled skillfully without romanticizing it or ignoring it. The complicated emotions felt real and well-developed. Highly recommend!

YA...Romance...Thriller....Yes please!! Ella is 17 and mourning the death of her bestie, Haylie, who died in a car accident where Ella was driving. Complicating her grief, Ella is developing feelings for Sawyer, Hayley's former boyfriend. There is a mystery surrounding the events of Hayley's death, and as the mystery deepens, the story then becomes a look at abuse, violence, and grooming. Narrated from the perspective of both Ella and Sawyer, readers get to know more about Hayley from her Diary Entries. The book deals with serious topics in an interesting fashion. The twist at the end I didn't see coming. Suspending belief is necessary to take the book on its surface. Still, it was an easy read and interesting premise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Following a tragic accident, Ella is learning to live without her best friend Hayley. She finds herself wracked with guilt over the accident and remembers nothing about the night Hayley died. She turns to Hayley's journal and as well as Sawyer, Hayley's boyfriend. But as she begins to learn more about her friend through her journal, there are few answers and more questions.

I wouldn't call this a dark romance. It's not really a thriller either. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy reading it. It was a page turner.

It was good BUT it was so predictable and the writing felt like it just didn't fit. The concept was great.

First, this was a YA novel in every sense of the word. The writing felt a bit juvenile and simple (although I don't mean that as a hard criticism) so it was an easy flowing read, and the characters were fairly one-dimensional. It was predictable in many ways, but it also had some good twists. I also struggled with the dialogue of the main characters - teens speaking more "adult" than most adults do. It made the overall book seem implausible and disjointed. And while this review makes it seem like I didn't enjoy the book, that's not really the case. It was good in many ways, but struggled in equally many ways. So it ended up being just okay for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ohmygosh this book was sooooo good.
So it starts out kinda dark and gloomy and you are not real sure about a lot of things, but then as the story goes on it starts to fill you in on a few things.
There are a lot of things still in the air til the end and there are some twists and turns that take you for a loop
Such a wild ride and I loved it
This was a quick read for me, it was a thriller, mystery and some romance all rolled up into an amazing book.

So one of the mysteries I had a feeling it was and I was right but the last one nope didn't see that coming at all. There was a ton of suspenseful moments.
And as I want to give you more in this Review I honestly don't think I can because I don't want to give anything away. Everything works so closely to each other and it's important to read it not get spoilers.

This is a must-read in my opinion.
This is a debut book from the author also bc I went to see what else they have written and so far it's the only book listed.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.5⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: YA mystery/ thriller 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
While I did predict the plot this was a captivating and wild read

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Dark romance mysteries
Quick and easy reads
Heavy themes
Authentic characters
Multiple POVs
Lots of twists
Romantic suspense
Memory loss/ flashbacks

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Diary entries

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
I did guess the plot but I was intrigued in the story

I really enjoyed this book. There were many levels to all the characters and their backstories. You definitely start to feel for them all- the angst, joy, and everything in between. It was interesting going between the past and present timelines as we learn more. My suspicions weren’t wrong about who the bad guy was, but it was still fun to see it all go down. There is a good plot twist near the end too. Worth a read!

This was an awesome book. It's a YA thriller/romance book that was a little predictable but still enjoyable and had me on the edge of my seat. It was slow paced in some parts but once we got over half way through it picked up and you just had to know how everything was going to come together.

Thank you for this arc!

Thank you to Sloan Harlow, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This one was a little too predictable for me. In my opinion, this really isn't YA. There are descriptive sex scenes. Yes, they are teenagers, but I don't think it should have been classified as YA. That's just my opinion.

It started off slow but then picked up, which I appreciated.

I didn't like Sawyer. It was like he had multiple personalities. And it bothered me so much that Ella did not read the diary right away. That would have been the first thing that I did.

Let me start this by saying I am a grown adult. With that being said, I felt this was both predictable and readable. While it is being marketed as “dark romance” I’m not feeling that. Thinking it has a lot to do with also being a YA romance because this was very PG when it comes to dark romance imo.

Ella is a high school senior who is mourning the death of her best friend, Hayley. Ella is unable to recall anything from the night Hayley died and is working through the guilt of feeling responsible. To complicate matters, Ella finds herself developing feelings for Hayley’s boyfriend Sawyer. When Hayley’s mom requests Ella’s help with cleaning out Hayley’s room, Ella finds a diary. In the midst of her guilt Ella decides to read some of the diary to feel closer to her friend and in the process is exposed to some of Hayley’s darkest secrets never shared.

The story is narrated through Ella and Sawyer’s perspectives and includes some of Hayley’s diary entries. There is extensive depiction of DV, which can be triggering. The pacing was fast and the characters were likable. Overall it was a decent read.

This was the first book I've read from this author and won't be the last. I really enjoyed it. I thought the suspense was well done and kept me engaged throughout. I liked the twist as well.