Member Reviews
River Santos has lost everything in a house fire- her home, her belongings, her father and her mother took off for a hike and never came back. Later she receives an anonymous $2 million donation on GoFundMe. And she's determined to find who donated it.
Working at a diner, she meets Logan and they start to fall for each other. But he's keeping a secret that could destroy her and their relationship.
This is a YA novel with romance (not spicy) and a mystery about the money and her mom.
I've never been accused of being a great investigator so the plot twists had me surprised. It wasn't too complex but it was easy to read.
This debut novel by Sloan Harlow is hot! I couldn’t stop reading and was so wrapped up in River, Tawny, Logan and Noah and I was blown away by the conclusion. The twists and turns in this plot were so unexpected and deliciously perfect! I would give a caution for the graphic romantic scenes, especially for younger readers, but I thoroughly enjoyed every word.
Thank you to #netgalley, the publisher and author for this ebook ARC to read. All opinions are my own.
I went into this book with no preconceived expectations or any sort of thoughts on the book and for myself it turned out to be a wonderful read.
It is definitely a YA book and doesn’t seem to have the character development that most people look for in adult books so just take that as a thought if YA isn’t your normal reads.
This was a very quick fast paced read that I read in under 24 hours. And it took me a long time to figure out the twist.
This is definitely a book I would recommend
I was intrigued by the premise of this romantic thriller, and while it had its moments, it didn’t quite hold my attention the whole way through. The romance between the main characters was sweet, and there were a few thrilling twists that kept me turning the pages. However, the pacing felt uneven, and some sections dragged more than I’d hoped. That said, the author’s writing style was engaging, and there were some beautifully written passages that I really enjoyed. It’s not a book that kept me on the edge of my seat, but it still had its charms. A decent read for fans of the genre looking for something light and atmospheric.
Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Random House for the arc of "All We Lost Was Everything" by Sloan Harlow. I really enjoyed the flow of the writing and subjects. I enjoyed the point of view of the characters in each chapter, giving their thoughts and concerns. My only confusing part was when the mother would write her thoughts. I wasn't sure if this was in a letter or where her view fit. By the end of the book I appreciated the mothers point of view even though I was not sure how they intertwined with the story line. There were some twists and turns that I I could not figure out how it would work out. I could not wait to see how this ended and then when it did I was sad because I would not hear from the characters again. I started following this author on Amazon and will read her other book, "Everything We Never Said". This YA story about an 18 year old girl who finds her life is upended by a series of events. River Santos has always lived a rough but happy life. Recently she was just living with her father when he dies and they lose the house. The true story of her family's life is unfolded to River as she takes the time to heal and come to terms with her father's death and loss of everything she owned.
Unexpectedly, River finds herself grieving the tragic death of her father. Soon after, she suddenly also becomes a millionaire overnight as an anonymous donor has given 2 million dollars to her GoFundMe page. To make matters even more complicated, her broody and mysterious coworker, Logan, has caught her eye, but has lots of secrets of his own. Now, River is left to try to uncover what really happened to her dad and sort through the aftermath of her life.
This book was completely outside of my normal go-to genres, and I enjoyed every second of it. It was a total genre mash-up, being half intensely emotional romance and half mystery/thriller, making it one of the most unique books I've read all year. Typically, the type of romance that was in this book doesn't work for me, but I think the fast pace and completely unpredictable twists kept me totally engrossed. There were a few unnecessary plot points that I feel like could have been omitted, but overall, this book really surprised me in the best way. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys stories full of intense romance (specifically Archer's Voice fans) or anyone looking to read something a little bit different from the mainstream.
Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
River Santos is stuck—in her job at the diner, in her dead-end town, in her grief. Her father died in a house fire just a few months ago, her mother has been MIA for nearly a year, and the only people she can count on are the aunt she lives with and her best friend Tawny.
Things feel like they’re turning around when Logan—the hot guy at the diner who’s always ignored her—seems interested. It’s complicated by her ex-boyfriend Noah, who she really needs closure with, and the fact that Tawny doesn’t think either of them is good enough for River… but the tension between River and Logan can’t be denied.
But love takes a backseat when new information surfaces about the fire. After all these months trying to move forward, River is forced to rethink everything… including the idea that maybe it wasn’t an accident after all. But who would commit this deadly act? And why?
River isn’t sure who to trust or who to turn to, but she needs to figure it out, fast. Because someone has more than love on their mind. They want revenge.
I was hooked from the beginning. Cannot wait to read more from the author. Will recommend to others.
Ugh. There were some parts of this I liked—I really liked River, the main character, and the pacing wasn't bad. I did want to keep reading and I finished it quickly. Spoilers below!!!
I just didn't like the twist. So River's parents are Jennifer and Jacob. Jennifer was engaged to Danny in high school, and was pregnant with his baby. Except Danny died in a car accident (Jennifer was there, too) when Jacob drove drunk and caused the accident. Jennifer received a letter from Jacob when he was in AA to quit drinking and they ended up getting married and having River?! Really? This was the best twist the author could come up with to bring them together? I wasn't a fan. Just not big on the whole ~forgiveness~ for drunk driving thing. Danny sounded like a jerk sometimes, but he didn't deserve to DIE, in accident that wasn't even his fault, no less. Ugh.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy for review.
All We Lost Was Everything was a highly anticipated book for me. I wanted to solve the mystery of how the fire started that killed River’s father, and how did she survive when the entire event cost her so dearly? I couldn’t really care much about the current whereabouts of River’s missing mother, after the author did such a good job at making her seem like a dead-beat mother. The implied mental illness of bi-polar/depression? It was forced too much and made no sense until the very end of the book. Which was nearly as bad as the MC being poor when everyone around her, other than her best friend, was rich with mansions in the desert. I think I was more frustrated than excited because while the idea was good, I guessed the murder plot twist about halfway through the book. Logan’s secrets were well done - I did not see that coming.
The novel is described as a dark romance thriller, a YA book meant to keep you on the edge of your set. I don’t see the ‘dark’ part. It’s set in a “huge” desert city in Arizona where everyone knows everyone and the locals have been there for generations. It focuses on the points of view of River, a POC teen who honestly has the worst luck in the world when it comes to people in her life; and Logan, an angsty near-adult who is kind of estranged from his father after a past scandal revolving around his mother’s death. Throw in a not-really-there love triangle between River, Logan and her ex, and add a dash of spice with first time teen sex… It all builds up to this anti-climatic finish for me. There were too many places where the writing was repetitive and unconvincing. It was a fast read for me, but did not live up to expectations.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the digital ARC.
Content Warnings:
Major - Fire / Fire Injury
Moderate - Sexual Content
Minor - Death of Parent, Toxic Friendship, Murder, Mental illness
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this amazing book.
It was one of the best I have read this year. I loved every page!
Amazing characters, world, and story. I was totally engrossed from page one until the last word!
Highly, highly recommend! A must read!
I really enjoyed this story that explored some deeper themes of grief, loss, and healing for a YA reader. There was some interesting twists and read quickly. For me, I felt some of the story was predictable, I still found this an enjoyable, gripping story. River and Logan’s relationship kept you guessing while rooting for happiness and growth for both of them. Overall, I would recommend this read! Thank you Net Galley for the ARC, these reviews are my honest opinions!
This was such a great YA read! It had the right amount of romance, suspense, and twists. It is not smutty, which I liked. And talk about twists!! I didn't see them coming! I loved the fact that almost each character had a secret, and they just kept getting better and better!
I recommend it! 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I thought I was in for a sweet romance, but this story was like an onion, peeling back layer after layer until reaching the ultimate conclusion.
River feels like she's in the dark. Her mom took a hike & never returned. Her bf broke up with her without giving her a reason. She's certain someone pulled her out of the fire that claimed her home & killed her dad. Now she's received an anonymous $2 million GoFundMe donation. And this is just the beginning.
She starts falling for the mysterious guy at the diner where she works. Logan has secrets, but can't stop himself from developing feelings of his own. She wants to go on a trip abroad, but a simple birth certificate request leads her to question what else she doesn't know about her parents. Is everyone in her life hiding something? At least she can count on Tita Anna & her best friend Tawny, right? Right???
I was not expecting some of the places this book went. I was thrown by the seemingly inconsistent letters from River's missing mom. All the threads come together & end up weaving a tapestry filled with secrets, lies, love & forgiveness.
Thank you to Sloan Harlow and NetGalley for the ARC of All We Lost Was Everything.
I enjoyed this twisty YA much more than the author's debut. I didn't guess ANY of the twists coming (I should've!). I'll keep reading the books that Sloan Harlow puts out when I need something twisty, quick, and distracting. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Attempting to be to many things at once prevented this one from doing any one thing particularly well. It's...spread too thin, I guess is what I'm saying. Also at least one of those "twists" was deeply unnecessary.
I was excited to read this based on the description and the first couple of chapters sucked me in. Then I struggled to keep going. It was just too slow. It felt like there was a lot of pointless filler, without a lot of character development. The characters just felt ‘meh’’.
🔥POC female MC
🔥Love triangle (kinda)
🔥Someone seems like a stalker
🔥Lots of secrets and mysteries
🔥Plot twist after plot twist
🔥Some spice / no fade-to-black
All We Lost Was Everything is marketed as a #darkromantic thriller but I couldn't figure out what exactly was dark. The thriller and mystery aspect is stronger in this as opposed to any romance which was more like spice and longing.
I liked that we get a POC view with River Santos even though it was mostly centered around food (ube anyone?) and less into any extra cultural insight about her family.
The various mysteries we get to guess are in no order
-who gave her 2 million dollars?
-what started the fire that killed her father?
-where is her mother?
and these questions lead us down a further winding road which uncover more mysteries and secrets surrounding her parents, Logan her sexy co-worker crush turned bf, and Noah her pining ex-bf. Through it all her best friend Tawny tries to support her but also seems to get frustrated and doesn't want her chasing down mysteries amidst the grief of losing her parents.
So... who did it? I'll admit I didn't see the plot twist right up until the very last two pages before the reveal.
Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House for the ARC.
I had enjoyed Everything We Never Said, so I was excited to read more from Sloan Harlow. It had that dark tense atmosphere that I was looking for and thought the overall feel worked in the story. The characters had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the romantic thriller concept. It had a great twist and was wanting more. I enjoyed the way Sloan Harlow wrote this and can’t wait for more.
thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
this book was... an interesting experience. i tried to give it the benefit of the doubt the entire way through, especially since it was a thriller and i wanted to believe that maybe the author was trying to mislead the reader with the sub-par writing... unfortunately i was wrong.
everything about this book read like an unedited wattpad story. every character existed solely as an archetype (the bad boy love interest, the ex boyfriend, the best friend) and none of them actually felt like real characters with personalities. there was no complexities or layers to a single supporting character in the story.
additionally, the mystery element was very predictable. not a single red-herring, and everything was just revealed so easily and conveniently. there was one part in particular, where the protagonist picked a lock within seconds with absolutely no explanation of how she learned to do something like this. like i mentioned, it all felt too easy.
it also felt as though both the author and publisher don't know who the target audience for this book are supposed to be. the book is published under penguin's ya imprint, reads as very ya and has a teenage protagonist, but then for some reason is marketed as "sexy and romantic". and then reading the book, everything is very ya aside from the multiple dragged out sex scenes/makeout scenes. sex scenes sometimes do have a place in ya books, considering that sex can be part an important part of the teenage experience, however, these very much read as adult romance-type sex scenes. it just didn’t make sense within this story.
the romance also was not well written in the slightest. since logan barely had a personality, the romance felt like it lacked so much substance. everything just moved so fast and it felt as though the two characters were more in lust than love. logan as a character very much read as a perfect stereotypical brooding love interest. every single action of his felt like it came out of the fantasy of what a straight girl would want in a dream boyfriend. nothing about him actually felt like a unique and believable character.
my final opinion of this book is that it needed some serious editing. like, several more rounds of drafts before it went to the printer. it is so underdeveloped in every aspect despite its interesting synopsis.
My first book by Harlow! It was amazing. It had everything. The book is spicy, part romance, part mystery/thriller. I was hooked from the first chapter. I would love to read more by Harlow.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.