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A review by haleymaxinee
All The Things We Lost by Kayla Tirrell
4.0
I managed to get a free copy of this book and now I’m going to share all of my feels.
It’s four AM, I just finished All the Things We Lost, and here I am typing this review if that gives you any indication on how much I adored this debut novel. It was such a fast read, but I hated when I had to put it down and be an adult.
This sounds cheesy, but from the very beginning I knew that I was going to enjoy Tirrell’s writing. When I first heard that this was going to be a contemporary trilogy, that can also be read as standalone novels, the Anna and the French Kiss trilogy immediately came to mind. Now those are some huge hype/expectation shoes to be filled, but let me tell you, I was not disappointed with this read.
I loved Tirrell’s humor with the sarcastic remarks that she put into her character’s mouths. The use of the dual POV was brilliant. It isn’t something I have personally seen a lot of in contemporary romance. Some people might say that it only causes repetition, but I appreciated the extra insight and understanding of each character that it gave the reader. I was pleasantly surprised by a strong female friendship, which I always am a sucker for. Okay, now let’s talk about the actual story.
I loved Katie and Julian, plain and simple. What I cared about most though is that they have history. This isn’t a boy meets girl and they fall in love in 2 seconds kind of story. Katie and Julian were best friends growing up. Then Katie’s parents divorced and she and her mom packed up and moved to the sunshine state. Leaving Julian, her first crush, and best friend, in Idaho with the potatoes.
Years later, Katie’s Mom dies and she begrudgingly, per her grandparent’s wishes, packs up and moves back to Idaho to try and salvage a relationship with her Dad. Which is when she’s faced with the fact that the boy next door has grown up, and man is he cute behind that diner grill.
Katie and Julian have experienced loss in different ways and must learn how to start healing. Will they be able to overcome their fears and insecurities with the support of their family and friends? Maybe they can find each other, while searching for themselves.
My closing thoughts: I loved this story. It consumed me in the day that I read it. I need more.. thankfully there’s a short story available ❤️
❌SPOILERS FOR ENDING AHEAD - DO NOT PASS❌
There are two reasons that I’m not giving this a 5/5 stars:
1) Gwen and her backstory. I wish that the mysterious reason that she left her entire family in California was revealed. I feel like Katie would have been able to help her through opening up about that at some point. I understand that a strong part of their friendship is that they don’t push each other for information. However, I wanted to know why she was so afraid of sharing what her story was.
2) Lack of Katie+Julian scenes. The anticipation of them getting together is a reason why this story was so addictive. Then once they’re finally together, the other shoe drops and she flees across the country, and they’re apart again..which is a major conflict so I can’t be upset about that. I just feel like it would have been nice to actually see them together in more situations than are present.
It’s four AM, I just finished All the Things We Lost, and here I am typing this review if that gives you any indication on how much I adored this debut novel. It was such a fast read, but I hated when I had to put it down and be an adult.
This sounds cheesy, but from the very beginning I knew that I was going to enjoy Tirrell’s writing. When I first heard that this was going to be a contemporary trilogy, that can also be read as standalone novels, the Anna and the French Kiss trilogy immediately came to mind. Now those are some huge hype/expectation shoes to be filled, but let me tell you, I was not disappointed with this read.
I loved Tirrell’s humor with the sarcastic remarks that she put into her character’s mouths. The use of the dual POV was brilliant. It isn’t something I have personally seen a lot of in contemporary romance. Some people might say that it only causes repetition, but I appreciated the extra insight and understanding of each character that it gave the reader. I was pleasantly surprised by a strong female friendship, which I always am a sucker for. Okay, now let’s talk about the actual story.
I loved Katie and Julian, plain and simple. What I cared about most though is that they have history. This isn’t a boy meets girl and they fall in love in 2 seconds kind of story. Katie and Julian were best friends growing up. Then Katie’s parents divorced and she and her mom packed up and moved to the sunshine state. Leaving Julian, her first crush, and best friend, in Idaho with the potatoes.
Years later, Katie’s Mom dies and she begrudgingly, per her grandparent’s wishes, packs up and moves back to Idaho to try and salvage a relationship with her Dad. Which is when she’s faced with the fact that the boy next door has grown up, and man is he cute behind that diner grill.
Katie and Julian have experienced loss in different ways and must learn how to start healing. Will they be able to overcome their fears and insecurities with the support of their family and friends? Maybe they can find each other, while searching for themselves.
My closing thoughts: I loved this story. It consumed me in the day that I read it. I need more.. thankfully there’s a short story available ❤️
❌SPOILERS FOR ENDING AHEAD - DO NOT PASS❌
There are two reasons that I’m not giving this a 5/5 stars:
1) Gwen and her backstory. I wish that the mysterious reason that she left her entire family in California was revealed. I feel like Katie would have been able to help her through opening up about that at some point. I understand that a strong part of their friendship is that they don’t push each other for information. However, I wanted to know why she was so afraid of sharing what her story was.
2) Lack of Katie+Julian scenes. The anticipation of them getting together is a reason why this story was so addictive. Then once they’re finally together, the other shoe drops and she flees across the country, and they’re apart again..which is a major conflict so I can’t be upset about that. I just feel like it would have been nice to actually see them together in more situations than are present.