Member Reviews

2.5 ⭐️
I just couldn’t get into this book no matter how hard I tried. It wasn’t for me. Maybe it will be for you. It feels very new agey.

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I wanted to read this book because it wasn't something I would normally pick up and because I have been a fan of Julianne Hough's. I'm really glad I got to listen to this audiobook. This will definitely be a heavy book for some people so make sure you check trigger warnings. I enjoyed the spiritual side to this book. It was interesting to learn more about it. I did enjoy Julianne Hough narrating this book. I do wish there would have been more of a story line to this book. I did like the relationship between Lexi and her mentor Bea. If you are someone that likes the spiritual world then this would probably be more interesting to you. I would recommend it for a spiritual person or someone wanting to learn more about it.

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for allowing me to listen to this ALC for my honest opinion.

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*Listened to the audiobook.
**TW - Off-page miscarriage & SA

Lexi is going through a lot of heavy things in her life when she discovers she can see/feel people's aura & emotions. As she begins leaning towards spirituality/astrology(?), she learns what she has to do to heal herself while not caring what other people think.

Julianne Hough has such a beautiful voice for narration. Calming in a storytelling way, making you want to listen to what she has to say. Her voice fits the main character very well, I just wished she had changed her voice a bit more when reading the other characters' lines.

I genuinely enjoyed this book. The psychic aspect wasn't to hard to understand, therefore easy to follow. Loved the friend dynamic & Lexi's mentor; even her MIL.
I'd recommend this to people who enjoyed astrology/spiritual energy.

Thank you RBmedia & NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Format: Audiobook
Speed: 1.25 - 1.5

Our story begins with the protagonist, Alexis, receiving an award for her real estate sales at a work party. During her speech, she notices a stranger surrounded by a mist-like cloud and hears a woman’s voice call out. Hours later, the stranger is dead. Similar and increasingly unusual experiences start happening to Lexi. She seeks help from a local healer and begins exploring spiritual medicine. Readers are taken on an emotional rollercoaster as Lexi confronts the past she has been avoiding her whole life to secure her future.

Highlights:
⭐️ Character growth. Lexi undergoes significant emotional development throughout the plot. It was refreshing to see her focus on repairing her relationship with her mother and on her own healing instead of everyone else’s.

Pitfalls:
❌ The plot felt bland. The writing was uninspired, with the majority of the story focusing on Lexi’s self-healing while she deals with conflicts with her husband.
❌ The narration was monotone and lacked emotional depth. The narrator’s voice was flat, lacking compassion or empathy, making it feel like a script reading. Emotions matter in audiobooks, even if no one can see you.
❌ Not a flaw of the book per se, but why is Julianne Hough’s name larger than Ellen Goodlett’s? I only noticed this later, but it seems suspicious. It feels like Julianne’s name was used to boost the book’s profile while Ellen did the actual writing. This is just a hunch, not a statement of fact.
❌ The ending felt abrupt and unsatisfying. There was no real closure.
Overall, I don’t have much to say because the book didn’t capture my interest. The summary is misleading; it suggests a more magical story than what’s delivered. The phrase “her husband is in danger” adds to the confusion. If I had paid more than $5 for this book, I would be quite disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for an early free release of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

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Thank you NetGalley, Source Books, and RB Media for the advanced reader and listener copies, but I could not get into this one for the life of me. I just found it so odd, and right from the start. There just wasn't a flow to it that made sense. Perhaps it was the mash of elements (mystery, magical realism, spirituality and astrology) that just didn't work. I even tried slowly the audio down to a speed that wasn't my normal speed to see if that helped but it didn't. I like Julianne Hough as an actress, but as an co/author, I now have my hesitations. Only made it 21%, so chapter 8, before I set it aside. Maybe I'll come back around to give it a chance again but that seems unlikely.

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This one just didn't do it for me. It was a bit all over the place. This girl has visions/sensations of a man drowning and realizes that she experienced something that happened in his life. This leads to her examining her beliefs and starting to become a healer because she can feel people's auras. During this journey, we also learn about a miscarriage and a past sexual assault which resulted in her clinging to her husband's family, and then this husband's mom also has some magical properties. I think I was supposed to be feeling the bond of sisterhood by the end, but I was just kind of confused as to how we ended up where we did.

On the positive side, it did hold my attention and I wanted to know what happened next, but I think that's because I was really hoping for some sort of overall explanation (which didn't happen).

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I do not know much about Julianne Hough, other than being a dancer, knowing that she dated Ryan Seacrest, hearing about her divorce to a hockey player, and being raised as a Mormon.

I went into Everything We Never Knew with my eyes wide-open, not sure what to expect, but intrigued to both listen to this story and to hear Julianne Hough narrate the book. Julianne does a great job narrating. Because she both co-wrote and narrated the book, I felt like the story was, at times, about Ms. Hough, and I wondered if I was actually reading some sort of autobiography. Again, I really do not know anything about Ms. Hough. Julianne earns 4 stars for her narration. She has an easy voice to listen to.

The story. Hmmmm. The cover art and narrator (and author) drew me to this book. It was interesting. That is for sure. But I feel like it was missing something.

I am not into sci-fi, but I did not mind the book because of the "other" topics going on in the book. However, I kind of felt like the book was missing something. Maybe I just wanted more of the main character's personal story and more of a story between Lexi and Shane. Maybe I am just more drawn to romance and babies and needed something else. I do not know, but I do not think this book met its full potential. Either delve more into the sci-fi or the romance, but don't half both of them. Also, while Lexi found some peace by the end, I wanted more peace between the two main characters.

It was interesting enough and Julianne Hough did a great job with her narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I received an advanced audiobook copy of Everything We Never Knew. It combines women's fiction and supernatural/speculative fiction. Having been a fan of Julianne Hough for many years, and having background of her own personal story, it has a lot of similar plot and themes.

It wasn’t your typical read and had a unique and unusual storyline, but it was fairly easy to follow as an audiobook, and an added bonus was that it is read by Julianne herself!

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First off I feel lucky to have received this as an Audio book on Netgalley, I really liked that it was narrated by Julianne as I am a big fan of hers. This book was about energies and learning how to be okay with not understanding what someone else believes no matter your background. I’m not really knowledgeable on energies aside from basic feels you get from others so this was a bit much for me to take in though I feel like there was a ton of information within the story that helped me to understand about healers.

I do feel like there could have been more to the story line with our characters, yes we learned a Lexi but we were still missing so much like I really felt like there was going to me way more to the issues Lexi had with her family. I also feel like the husband could have been more in the story at the beginning especially with how important he was to the ending.

The parts where Lexi talked about her miscarriage and really opened up were beautiful and I feel very well written that as someone who has thankfully never dealt with that I could feel the pain she was expressing. Also I thought it was really cool how it was described about the healer and how they see vines or strings with each of the people that matter in that persons life attached to them, that really connected with me.

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I love a good FINDING YOURSELF book and this book is all about that! Lexi is very successful and has a wonderful husband, but, is she truly happy? She starts experiences weird visions. Lexi looks to the town “witch” for guidance. She learns a lot about reading people and herself. She realizes she has to face her demons. Even though her loved ones are skeptical she continues on her journey.

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This one was totally outside of my typical comfort zone topically, yet I found it surprisingly interesting and engaging to listen to. There's something about an author doing their own narration that sells the story for me... While I'm not really the typical demographic for this type of story, as I don't buy into a lot of what the authors present on a world-view level, I found the presentation of ideas to be thought-provoking and the narration to be entertaining. Lexi's journey was a mix of possible and impossible, and her struggles with the state of her own life and marriage were well-presented and thoughtful. I enjoyed the listen and absolutely love the cover art!

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I could not get into this. My mind kept drifting from the audio. I am excited to see other’s reviews tho!

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This book cover is stunning and after reading the story makes sense for the story. Everything We Never Knew is a heartbreaking and inspiring book about recovering from trauma, healing, and secrets. Alexis and Shane appear to everyone as the ‘it couple’ they have it all, money, fame, looks, etc. however behind the scenes their life is crumbling. Lack of communication, secrets and a tragedy seem to plague this couple. It’s a story of healing, awakening and finding yourself again. Lexie has her first spiritual feeling at an awards banquet and starts realizing this might be a way to help save people. The audiobook is narrated by Julianne Hough. She did a great job and was very easy to listen to.

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DNF @ 25% - This debut grabbed my attention the moment I saw the gorgeous cover and read the synopsis. One of the most unique plot ideas, this story features an MC who experiences visions and even physical manifestations of what others are going through.

While this is a really interesting premise, something fell flat for me in the execution. Starting off with a bang, the pacing then became very slow and slightly wonky.

The author narrates, and I think that too may be throwing me off. I would recommend the physical or ebook version over audio if you want to try this one.

Thank you Recorded Books for the advanced copy.

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I'm a HUGE Julianne Hough fan ever since her time on Dancing with the stars so when I saw she had co-written a book I was beyond excited! Sadly while this one started off strong and had great mental health (panic attacks) rep, I lost interest halfway through when the FMC becomes somewhat obsessed with all things astrology as a way to help improve her life/marriage. Just didn't turn out to be the book I was expecting wanting and I ended up DNFing mid way. I may pick it up again at a later time. Perhaps it was just wrong book at the wrong time or not to my tastes. I did like that Julianne narrated the audiobook herself though - she did a fantastic job! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest feedback!

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This was a fabulous debut by Julianne Hough who I have been a big fan of since she started out on Dancing with the Stars at least 10 years ago. It would be interesting to know how much of the story she wrote and what Ellen Goodlett wrote for the book. Did they alternate chapters or did they co-write all of the story? This book is beautiful and mesmerising, and really makes you think. I was drawn in from the very beginning. I am rating this book four stars because I thought the ending of the story was a little bit abrupt and I thought more could've happened to wrap up the story. But overall I really enjoyed this book. I also had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook which was narrated by Julianne Hough and I loved the way she narrated the book and brought the characters to life. I hope Julianne considers writing more books because this book was very beautiful.

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Everything We Never Knew was a heartwarming fiction listen. I have been lucky enough to listen to some great novels. This one was at the top of my list.

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Thank you to NetGalley, RBMedia, Julianne Hough, and Ellen Goodlett for an advance audio copy of this novel.
#everythingweneverknew #netgalley
I loved that Jules Hough was the audio narrator for her story. Her voice was so calming and really engaging.

Trigger warnings:
Drug related death
Miscarriages
Sexual assault
Parental abuse
Difficulty conceiving
Death of child

Publishes August 13th

I think this could be considered supernatural fiction? I’m not a believer in supernatural / new age things. As a Christian, the values and beliefs that this book discusses and explores is not something I align with. So maybe I was not the right target for this story however it was not mentioned in the description of the book. I also did not like the witch element part … probably because that’s something I do not believe in, but I just thought it was weird.

There was a lot going on… felt like whip lash Everytime something new was explored and brought into the story.… from the miscarriage, to sexual assault & trauma… it just felt all over the place. I mean truly what is discussed in this book is so sad and heartbreaking. It was hard to listen to…

With that being said, I absolutely respect Julianne Hough for writing the story that she felt so promoted to write. I do believe that we can have different worldviews and still find a way to all get along and I think that is expressed in Lexi and Shayne’s marriage in the book.

I am still glad I gave it a go because you never know what you like unless you try it! It was a story that is all about a woman coming to know herself and understanding her role in life which I think there is something we all can relate too in one way or another.

But, can we talk about the cover?! It’s absolutely stunning.

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I largely had no idea what to expect based on the description of this book. There's an element of spiritual enlightenment mixed with some faith based themes. There's some triggers that may arise for some people so if this is something you are sensitive to I would check that out.

This was hard to rate because on one level, I loved the aspects of being able to "see and feel" the aura of other people. Some of it maybe a little in left field for some but I am opened minded about the spiritual presence within all of us. I also could relate to Lexi's trauma and the way her mother dealt with it. There was so much truth in the fact that Lexie needed to heal herself first before she could move forward in her life.

There is a religious element discussed in multiple places and because this is a topic I personally try to distance myself from (super religious upbringing used to justify bad behavior) I found that aspect something of a turn off.

The descriptions of the aura's and incidences that occur to Lexi are just magnificent in their imagery. For that reason, I felt the book gave me a feeling of connection to the magical and out of body moments that were described.

I see a lot of mixed reviews for this book but I think if you go into the story with an open mind, you might find that the essence of the story about resolving painful pasts resonates.

I loved Julianne's audio narration. She has a beautiful voice and so this was closer to a 4 star read to me. 3.75 stars

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I wanted to like this book so much, however it was not my cup of tea. The synopsis was almost different than the book itself. I was hoping for more mystery/action. Instead this felt like therapy and “healing” everyone and over analyzing the room at any given moment.

I was also confused as to why she had to quit her full time job to focus on this?

I will say the first 40% of the book was good, however the rest fell flat.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

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