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.

This is a great book that had me constantly gasping for breath. River works at a diner after a house fire killed her dad and left her mom wandering the desert somewhere in Scottsdale, She has a crush on the new guy, Logan but he doesn't seem to notice her, River becomes curious when--out of the blue--someone donates two million dollars to the GoFundMe page set up for her and she begins asking questions. Old boyfriend, Noah appears again, even though he's engaged to another woman.and she's not sure if it's him she wants or the sexy, mysterious Logan. Things get dicey but River is convinced things need to be cleared up so she forces herself to confront the truths she knows and make peace with past mistakes1
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

I DNF’d at 31%. I just kept waiting for something anything to happen and nothing did. River doesn’t want to use the 2 million anonymously, but she’s going to look for the donor. She works with the hot but terrible personality Logan. I’m h surprise she develops a crush on him and is debated when he doesn’t outwardly reciprocate. The premise was great and I was excited to read it but once I got into it, it reads like any other forgettable booktok college romance.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING by Sloan Harlow in exchange for my honest review.***

ALL WE LOSF WAS EVERYTHING grabbed me from the getgo. I became immediately invested in River’s story.

Sloan Harlow did a magnificent job making River well-rounded. I’m so glad Harlow didn’t fall into the trope of making River the grieving girl who pushes everyone away, until a manic pixie boy made her realize she could accept help. Harlow accepted the GoFund me, albeit reluctantly, she accepted support from her best friend Tawny and her aunt Tita Anna. River was strong, yet vulnerable.

The plot of ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING was filled with twists and turns that made sense as well as red herrings.

Hopeful YA writers should read ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING for a masterclass on storytelling.

Rezension: "All We Lost Was Everything" von Sloan Harlow
Sloan Harlow kehrt nach dem Erfolg von Everything We Never Said mit einem weiteren fesselnden Roman zurück, der Liebe, Geheimnisse und den Schmerz des Verlusts miteinander verwebt. "All We Lost Was Everything" ist ein emotionaler und spannender Thriller, der sowohl mit einer düsteren Romantik als auch mit überraschenden Wendungen punktet.

Ein Protagonistin zwischen Verlust und Neubeginn
Die Hauptfigur, River Santos, ist sofort sympathisch und vielschichtig. Nach dem Verlust ihres Zuhauses und ihres Vaters in einem verheerenden Brand versucht sie, ihr Leben neu zu ordnen – keine leichte Aufgabe für eine 18-Jährige, die sich alleine durchs Leben kämpft. Harlow gelingt es, Rivers Trauer und die damit verbundenen inneren Kämpfe authentisch darzustellen. Besonders berührend ist ihre Bindung zu den Dingen, die sie im Feuer verloren hat, wie ihre Gitarre und ihr Songbook – Symbole für das, was sie einst war und nun vermisst.

Die mysteriöse Spende von zwei Millionen Dollar auf ihre GoFundMe-Seite bringt nicht nur finanzielle Stabilität, sondern auch eine Flut neuer Fragen. Diese Unsicherheit, gepaart mit Rivers wachsender Paranoia, zieht die Leser sofort in die Geschichte hinein. Die Frage "Wer ist der Spender, und was will er wirklich?" verleiht dem Buch eine durchgehende Spannung.

Die Chemie zwischen River und Logan
Die romantische Dynamik zwischen River und ihrem geheimnisvollen Kollegen Logan Evans ist ein weiteres Highlight des Romans. Logan, der anfangs wie ein Feind wirkt, entpuppt sich nach und nach als vielschichtige Figur mit einer tragischen Vergangenheit. Harlow beschreibt ihre wachsende Anziehungskraft mit einer Mischung aus Zärtlichkeit und Spannung, die glaubhaft und fesselnd ist. Die romantische Komponente wird jedoch nie übertrieben – sie steht immer im Dienst der größeren Geschichte, die von Rivers Suche nach der Wahrheit geprägt ist.

Familiengeheimnisse und dunkle Enthüllungen
Ein zentrales Thema des Buches ist die Erkenntnis, dass Menschen – selbst die, die wir am meisten lieben – nicht immer das sind, was sie scheinen. Rivers idealisiertes Bild ihres Vaters wird durch die Entdeckung seiner dunklen Geheimnisse erschüttert, und die Abwesenheit ihrer Mutter wird zu einem weiteren Rätsel, das gelöst werden muss. Diese Enthüllungen lassen River nicht nur an ihrer Familie zweifeln, sondern auch an sich selbst und ihrer Fähigkeit, Menschen zu vertrauen.

Harlow gelingt es, die Geschichte mit unerwarteten Wendungen aufzuladen, ohne dass sie jemals konstruiert wirkt. Die Enthüllungen über Logan und den mysteriösen Spender fügen sich nahtlos in das größere Rätsel ein und treiben die Handlung voran. Jede neue Information bringt River näher an die Wahrheit – und an den Abgrund.

Ein düsteres, intensives Finale
Der Roman gipfelt in einem explosiven Finale, das sowohl emotional als auch narrativ befriedigend ist. Harlow bringt alle Handlungsstränge geschickt zusammen und überrascht mit einer Wendung, die viele Leser unvorbereitet treffen wird. Trotz der Dunkelheit und des Verlusts, die die Geschichte durchziehen, lässt das Ende Raum für Hoffnung und einen Neuanfang – eine Botschaft, die sich wie ein Lichtstrahl durch die Dunkelheit zieht.

Fazit
"All We Lost Was Everything" ist ein beeindruckender Roman, der gekonnt Elemente von Spannung, Romantik und Familiendrama verbindet. Sloan Harlow erzählt eine tiefgründige Geschichte über Verlust, Selbstfindung und die oft schmerzhaften Wahrheiten, die hinter den Fassaden unserer engsten Beziehungen lauern.

Mit einer vielschichtigen Protagonistin, einer fesselnden Liebesgeschichte und einer Handlung voller Wendungen ist dieser Roman ein Muss für Fans von düsterer, emotionaler Literatur.

⭐ 5 von 5 Sternen – Eine intensive Reise durch Verlust, Geheimnisse und die Suche nach dem eigenen Platz in der Welt.

This is an ARC from NetGalley. This is the second book I have read from Sloan Harlow, and another solid moderate rating. This is a very standard YA novel. Girl with a tragic backstory finds long buried secrets, meets a boy who knows the secrets, but doesn't come clean. This was a fast paced read, and I was hopeful for more of a memorable ending. I was going to rate this a bit higher, but the final twist was one too many, and I bit too hard to buy into. Ok to a quick read, but fairly standard. #netgalley #allwelostwaseverything # ya #mystery #romance