All That We Never Were
by Alice Kellen
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Pub Date Aug 29 2023 | Archive Date Sep 12 2023
SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca | Sourcebooks Casablanca
Description
Devastating grief has a way of overshadowing love...
Nineteen-year-old Leah Jones is struggling to cope after she and her twenty-nine-year-old brother Oliver lose their parents in a horrific car accident. Leah was in the car and is plagued by nightmares, intense grief and numbness—her life as she knew it is over. Oliver hates leaving Leah at a time like this, but the only way he can support them both is if he transfers to Sydney for work. He implores his best friend Axel Nguyen to let her move in with him in their hometown of Byron Bay and watch over her while he's away. Oliver, Axel and Leah have known each other since childhood. For Axel, seeing Leah so broken and devastated is a punch to the gut. He promises himself he'll do anything to bring the light back into her eyes, no matter what it takes.
He would be shocked to learn that Leah is in love with him. Little by little, as he does everything in his power to bring Leah back to the sparkling, energetic beauty he's known, he falls in love with her, too, even though he feels that he's betraying Oliver's trust. Before he can tell him, Oliver finds out about Leah and Axel's relationship and is outraged. He insists Axel prove his love by letting her go so she can fully experience life at college. Axel agrees to break both of their hearts, and stoically breaks up with Leah so she can start a new life, not realizing the repercussions that will affect them both for years to come.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781728283760 |
| PRICE | $16.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 448 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Madison W, Reviewer
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5
🌶️🌶️ 2/5
Potential Spoilers.....
If you like; brothers best friend, age gap, slow burn romance books.
You NEED to read this book!!!
I received this book as a "advanced reader copy" and I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. By the time I was 30 pages in I was hooked!!!! I read this book in less than 24 hours and I couldn't put it down. I was obsessed with how much the MMC cared about the FMC and wanted to see her happy, even if she didn't think she deserved it at times. The way he helped her in a way that no-one else in her life would was so sweet. I loved Leahs outlook on colors and art as she started getting back to her normal self. The only reason that it didn't get 5 stars was because the ending frustrated me because I now have to wait almost a year to find out what happens left lol.
This book was set in a small little beach town in Australia. Axel (30 year old MMC) moved in next door to his best friend Oliver (29 year old) when he was 7 years old. But when Axel was ten, Olivers' parents had a little girl Leah (19 year old FMC).
18 years later, Leah was driving with her parents and they were in an accident in which both of her parents were killed. Oliver stepped up to take care of his little sister.
The following year he had to travel for work and was going to be out of town 3 weeks out of the month. So he asked Axel if he would be willing to take care of Leah while he was out of town. Axel of course said yes. Not know that Leah had a crush on him from 15 until her parents died. When she comes to stay for the first three weeks Axel realized that she had completely shut herself off to feeling anything at all (happiness, anger, sadness, etc.) and he was determined to get her back to her normal self. As she starts to open herself back up, all those old feelings for Axel start showing back up.
As Axel starts to realize she is not the little girl she once was, he starts to want her more than anything he has ever wanted. But there is the little problem of Oliver and the fact that he would never approve. Will they end up together or will Oliver end up ruining everything????
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