This story was amazing. This was my first time reading a book by this author and I am definitely a fan. The first sentence in this story is very profound and the ending was just as intense. This story was beautiful and heartbreaking. Thank you for the opportunity to read this story.

Thanks to Netgalley for my ecopy of this book which seems to almost, but not quite, fall into a lot of categories ( chick-lit, family drama, romance, mystery) and it has some quite unique themes running through it which pique the reader's interest.

Whilst it did border on the contrived at times, I rather enjoyed the pace and the writing style. The characters were mostly believable. There were a number of unexpected turns that caught me on the back foot and it was at times quite compelling. I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

On Aimee's wedding day to James, instead of marrying the man she loved, she went to his funeral. As she was leaving the funeral, a stranger came up to her and told her James was alive and gave Aimee her card. Aimee spends the next couple of years alternating between wanting to find James and trying to move on with her life.
I found the way she hesitated about seeking out more information a little unrealistic. I couldn't imagine not immediately finding out as much information as possible. Other than that, the book was really enjoyable. The characters (for the most part) are likeable and the storyline is interesting.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I got caught up in the whole story. I felt so sorry for Aimee and I wanted to know if James was alive and if he was why he had not come home. I really liked the ending. I liked Aimee as a character and I am glad that at the end of the book there was a possibility of a loving relationship for her.

Wonderful debut book. This author is going to do well. Very original story,

This book draws you in from the beginning chapter. As you read, you think you have things figured out. But, then the next chapter tells you you never had a clue. Aimee and Ian become good friends. Ian helps Aimee get over her past and finally live again.

Well this book is like nothing I've read before! Really interesting storyline that kept me gripped from beginning to end. So glad I've got the second book so I can jump straight in

WOW!! First time to read Lonsdale, and won't be the last! Great book and excited to pick up the sequel!

Thank you for the advanced copy of the book in return for an open and honest review.


I've really struggled with reading this book. I've picked it up and put it down several times. Tried too persevere but it's just not capturing my mind. I'm not sure why, it just doesn't do it for me.

Everyone is different and they may love this book. So whilst it's not for me. It may suit you.....

I was a little cautious going into Everything We Keep because I wasn't too keen on the first novel I read from Kerry Lonsdale, All the Breaking Waves. Thankfully, her debut novel has all the fire and suspense I felt was lacking in her second novel.

It's the kind of heartbreaking read fans of Emily Colin's The Dream Keeper's Daughter and Kristin Higgins' On Second Thought will love. The story immediately thrusts readers into Aimee Tierney's grief filled day when instead of saying, "I Do," to her childhood sweetheart, she watches as he's lowered into the ground. James and Aimee seemed to have been made for each other, but the trials of life ended their forever before it truly began. Or did it? A mysterious woman claims that James is still alive. While her friends and family pressure her to move on and figure out who she is without James, she can't leave those words, or James behind. Everything We Keep follows Aimee as she learns to be her own woman while searching for closure.

Kerry Lonsdale allows readers to emotionally connect with her characters as their secrets are laid out for all to see. Everyone has something that drives them and adds to the story's layers. What's even better about this story is the continuation of these characters' lives unfolding in the sequel. After the bittersweet conclusion of Everything We Keep, Everything We Lost is loudly calling my name!
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review*

3* review from me for Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale. On the day that Aimee Tierney should be marrying her Fiance James Donato, she attends his funeral instead. He vanished in a boating accident while on a mystery business trip to Mexico and his body was eventually washed ashore. Her whole future and dreams of owning her own restaurant while James shows off his artwork in his own gallery are washed away at the same time. Aimee though isn’t so sure he is dead because she didn’t actually see the body his brother Thomas brought home. Is it possible he was mistaken? Then at the funeral someone approaches her and tells her James is not really dead. She sets off to Mexico to find the truth and uncover exactly what really happened.

The story is well written, although the constant swapping between characters and the past and present was confusing at times. The story itself flowed well and the descriptions of Mexico were colourful and i loved all the images the Author painted of James' artwork and i could picture them in my mind and they added to the story for me. However, the talk of the Mexican underworld confused me and i skimmed over some of those bits and just stuck to the mystery and intrigue of who the guy Carlos running the studio really is.

I already knew about and had downloaded the second book in the series so was not surprised that the ending although good, left things open for a follow-up which i read straightaway and will review separately.

Review by Sandi for Love Romance Books Blog

I was asked by the author to give an honest review of this book.
I give this one 5 tiaras:

I love this book!!!!
This book is a tearjerker! But it is sooooo good!
I absolutely loved it and cried most of the way through it!
What do you do when the best day of your life, the day of your wedding turns into the worst day of your life, the funeral of your fiancé?
This is what Aimee is going through, her whole world changes in an instant .. and then in the parking lot out of nowhere a stranger faces her, with the scariest news … your fiancé is ALIVE!
Aimee thinks she’s going crazy to even try to believe it and she ignores it when she meets Ian, wonderfully, sexy, talented Ian.
Time goes by and she sees things and needs to know if James is alive or if she should move on—she goes to the place where paintings from her fiancé keep showing up.
And runs into Carlos, he’s the spitting image of James with some differences, but the resemblance is remarkable! Except he has no memory of Aimee or a life in California.. or does he?
Grab the tissues—this book is sooooooo good but you will cry and laugh with it!

Review by Rose for Love Romance Book Blogs
I give this book 4 Stars
I was given this book for an honest review...
This book will pull at your heart strings. There is nothing worse in the world then thinking the love of your life is gone or so Aimee thought. She was not aware that she was going to have her heart ripped out and find the glue to fix it all while the break is still happening. Sounds complicated right? For a moment, it is very complicated and Aimee is so unsure of everything.Aimee was approached after her fiancee's funeral by a woman claiming that Aimee's fiancee was alive and that she knew where to find him. Aimee just thought that the woman was a nut case.
Once Aimee started thinking about hat Lacy said to her outside of the funeral home, she really started to think that maybe James was alive. Aimee talked to James's brother Thomas, since he was the one to ID the body and bring it back, and he said that it was James. She had no reason not to believe him but, she felt that he was still out there. Thomas told her to move on with her life and gave her a nice chunk of money and told her to move forward with her dreams and open a Coffee Shop. So she did!. She did not realize at the time that it was all a ploy to keep her busy so she did not ask questions about James. It almost worked ;)
Aimee met a man that she really like but she knew she could not move forward with him since she thought James was still alive. Then one day she received a post card from Lacy show casing one of James painting that had been missing. Aimee looked at the card and knew in that moment she was going on a ghost hunt. She just was not prepared to deal with the consequences if she found the real ghost.
Ian loved Aimee already even after only knowing her a short time. He knew she was everything to him. He decided to go on this hunt with Aimee so she was not alone and to also be there if she did find him. He k ew there was going to be a lot of pieces to pick up. Once they made it to the island they went straight to the art studio, only to find that it was closed. Aimee and Ian decided to go back the next day and when they did her life was forever changed. IT WAS JAMES!! Once she saw it was him all she wanted was for him to come home and she was going to take him there. She was not prepared for the blank stare that she got. She begged for answers that never came for James since James was not James anymore. He was now Carlos. Carlos had no idea who she was.
All Aimee wanted was answers and to fix her broken heart. She only had a few ways to do that and there was only a few people that could help. She would have never thought the things that had happened were in the realm of happening. However, she was living it and had to believe it. You will have to read to see what happened with Aimee and James or should we say Carlos.

I really loved the storyline till about two thirds of the way through. Then it started to get "over the top" and unbelievable so I thought I wasn't so keen. But then the ending raised it back again

Loved the book. Great to take on holiday! I loved the way the story unfolded.

Thanks NetGalley for allowing me access to this book and introducing me to a new author. This was a fabulous book, a gentle thriller, with Aimee's story starting with her extreme sadness and then progressing on, building up the pace. Couldn't turn the pages quickly enough to follow the plot, so much so that this book will benefit from being reread to enable me to get all the detail missed in my enthusiasm for the story first time through.

I’ve been captivated by the cover of Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale since I first saw it last year. There’s just something about looking at the back of a person staring off into the distance that intrigues me. I don’t know why. But since I first saw this cover, this book has been on my radar. Now that I’ve read the book, this cover totally makes sense.

This story isn’t totally women’s fiction and it isn’t totally romantic suspense; I’d say it’s somewhere solidly in the middle. The first half of the story is a slow-build as it deals with Aimee’s grief and the rebuilding of her life after the death of her fiance. There is a focus on her relationships – which is great because she has great friends – and the shifting of Aimee’s dreams since her dreams were tied to her fiance’s. This includes the growth of a relationship with a guy, Ian. It’s clear pretty early on that Ian is interested in Aimee, but she makes it clear that she isn’t ready at this point to commit to anyone because she is still grieving.

The pace picks up significantly once Aimee begins to focus more on the time James spent in Mexico immediately before he died. She travels there and suddenly she finds clues all over the place. This is where the book became suspenseful and the mystery part of the story became much more fun for me. There was one point at about 3/4 through the book when I remember thinking: I have no idea how all of this is going to work out! I could not foresee all of the twists the story would eventually take (like with Phil – didn’t see that one coming!).

One thing that occurred to me while I was reading was that Aimee’s decisions were a little crazy sometimes and her thought processes were a little all over the place. But when I took a breath and remembered that she was grieving and that grief makes us do things we wouldn’t normally do, it was easier to cut Aimee some slack.

The last part of Everything We Keep makes me excited to move ahead with the sequel. I love that this was a little on the suspenseful side with a little bit of mystery thrown in, and it didn’t make me hold my breath or make my heart pound because my nerves were all over the place. I love those types of crime-thriller books when I read them, but I really love this type of lighter fare too.

Thanks Amazon Publishing, Netgalley, and Kerry Lonsdale for this ARC. I did love this book. It was interesting in that I didn't want to put it down. The characters were interesting and the situations held a mystery. I think there was a lot said in a short amount of time and done nicely. Loved it ! Reading the next book in this series and putting this new author, for me. on my TBR list.

Childhood sweethearts Aimee and James have a perfect plan for their perfect life together.
But when James disappears in a boating accident in Mexico, Aimee finds herself at his funeral on the very same day that she was to walk down the aisle.
Leaving her unsettled she delves deeper into James disappearance uncovering secrets and lies that make her question everything about their life together.

A wonderful debut novel that I didn't want to put down until I turned the very last page. And then I wanted more!

Ms. Lonsdale gives us a unique storyline, a mystery full of twists and turns and an "OMG" epilogue that I didn't see coming at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

4* Twisty Stars

Everything We Keep was everything it promised. It had suspense and mystery and the story flowed well. It was well written and had lots of feels, (love forgiveness and healing). This is an amazing debut read from Kerry. I can’t wait to read Everything we Left Behind.

ARC provided by Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I savored this book until the very end. That was when I started to savor the next book in this series. Thankfully, I already a copy of it and was to imbibe that book and conquer my excitement.

This was a very touching story. A woman who's fiance goes missing two months before the wedding while on an unexpected rushed trip to Mexico. The book opens with Aimee, a sous chef at her parent's restaurant, attending her fiance's funeral on her wedding day. The funeral is at the same church, with the same flowers and mostly the same people. A total heartbreak scene that will gain your sympathy for sure. After the funeral, she is accosted by a stranger who tells her that James, her fiance, is till alive.

The book goes back and forth as to whether James is still alive. The blurb leaves you hanging, so I will also. I can say that I was mesmerized by the story and haunted. There were a few times when I thought Aimee might have went a little too far, but it didn't stop me from reading this book.

A very mesmerizing read that kept me very interested and entertained.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.