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A review by hibatheescapeartist
All This Time by Mikki Daughtry, Rachael Lippincott
4.0
CONTAINS SPOILERS! READ AT OWN RISK
I have never been more confused about how I feel about a book than I am right now. I don’t know what to say. I started off the book assuming it would be a solid 5 stars. However, after Marley and Kyle get together, I started noticing things that really made me question the strength of this contemporary love story, such as:
1. The fact that we knew absolutely zilch about Marley
2. How months passed and there would literally be no information about anything
3. How Kyle managed to get over Kim so quickly
4. How perfect everything seemed
But then all of the above made beautiful sense after I read that amazing plot twist that I could have never, ever seen coming. Instantly, my rating shot up to freaking bajillion stars because it was such a heartfelt story that had a plot twist stronger than most (yes, most) YA Mystery novels I have read. But then...
Sigh. It’s just that the ending didn’t really make sense to me. How did Marley end up falling in love with Kyle if she didn’t even know him, didn’t know what he was like? Kyle falling in love with her made sense, I mean, she was basically telling him everything about her. But Marley didn’t know anything about Kyle. Like Sarah said to Topper in OBX, “You don’t love me. You love the idea of me.”
I just wished the authors spent more time working on the last chapter. Everything made sense except the part where Kyle goes into Marley’s mind? I don’t even understand what happened in that chapter. And the fact that Kim and Sam and the Doctor all expected Sam to bring good news about Marley after doing that baffles me? Daughtry & Lippincott should have spent more time expanding on the little details like that. If they did, this book would have been on my all-time-favorite shelf. I also suspect that this should have been shelved as Magical Realism? If it was, I would have been more forthcoming to that last chapter, but I think Daughtry & Lippincott did that intentionally so you wouldn’t suspect the plot twist. Anyway, I have decided to give this book (sadly) 4 stars, even though its potential was a 5. I’m actually quite sad because this was such a beautiful book. My heart is wallowing in its feels right now and I swallowed the entire thing in less than 7 hours. It was so, so good.
I just wanted to expand on some other amazing things in this novel that made my heart ache and earned it a solid 4 stars:
1. I know I already said this but: That. Plot. Twist. I have never questioned my own sanity like I have while reading this book. Wow. I guess you shouldn’t be fooled by the tag “Contemporary” huh?
2. The depiction of grief is heart-wrenching. I felt all of Kyle’s pain (at least when we thought Kim was dead). These ladies know how to pull at your heartstrings, how to make you feel.
3. Saddest part of the book was Kyle literally having to grieve over the girl of his dreams (did you see what I did there, though? *laughs manically*)
4. Kyle and his mother’s relationship? So wholesome and funny.
5. Kim, Sam and Kyle’s friendship was everything. God. I have no idea how these women managed to create such an intricate and deep friendship in such few pages.
6. The book really misleads you. I mean, I was halfway through and everything was so perfect and I was just waiting for something bad to happen, and it never did. That is, until that DAMN PLOT TWIST THAT I REFUSE TO FORGET.
7. Everything was meticulously planned out. I have to give credit to these ladies. They really knew how to spread the story, dropping hints and clues that you might think of as poor writing by the authors (as I mentioned earlier on) but actually ends up being pure genius.
8. It felt like reading a dream. I don’t know how else to describe it. Everything was so emotional, so real yet so fuzzy. I finished this book and I kind of felt like I do when I wake up from a dream, you know? When the remnants are still lingering in your mind and you are dazed? That feeling.
Honestly, I really advise people reading this book to be patient with the first 100+ pages, and to remember that it was made like that intentionally. I loved it, truly I did. I will definitely recommend this gem to my sister to read next. My heart still aches. Ugh.
I have never been more confused about how I feel about a book than I am right now. I don’t know what to say. I started off the book assuming it would be a solid 5 stars. However, after Marley and Kyle get together, I started noticing things that really made me question the strength of this contemporary love story, such as:
1. The fact that we knew absolutely zilch about Marley
2. How months passed and there would literally be no information about anything
3. How Kyle managed to get over Kim so quickly
4. How perfect everything seemed
But then all of the above made beautiful sense after I read that amazing plot twist that I could have never, ever seen coming. Instantly, my rating shot up to freaking bajillion stars because it was such a heartfelt story that had a plot twist stronger than most (yes, most) YA Mystery novels I have read. But then...
Sigh. It’s just that the ending didn’t really make sense to me. How did Marley end up falling in love with Kyle if she didn’t even know him, didn’t know what he was like? Kyle falling in love with her made sense, I mean, she was basically telling him everything about her. But Marley didn’t know anything about Kyle. Like Sarah said to Topper in OBX, “You don’t love me. You love the idea of me.”
I just wished the authors spent more time working on the last chapter. Everything made sense except the part where Kyle goes into Marley’s mind? I don’t even understand what happened in that chapter. And the fact that Kim and Sam and the Doctor all expected Sam to bring good news about Marley after doing that baffles me? Daughtry & Lippincott should have spent more time expanding on the little details like that. If they did, this book would have been on my all-time-favorite shelf. I also suspect that this should have been shelved as Magical Realism? If it was, I would have been more forthcoming to that last chapter, but I think Daughtry & Lippincott did that intentionally so you wouldn’t suspect the plot twist. Anyway, I have decided to give this book (sadly) 4 stars, even though its potential was a 5. I’m actually quite sad because this was such a beautiful book. My heart is wallowing in its feels right now and I swallowed the entire thing in less than 7 hours. It was so, so good.
I just wanted to expand on some other amazing things in this novel that made my heart ache and earned it a solid 4 stars:
1. I know I already said this but: That. Plot. Twist. I have never questioned my own sanity like I have while reading this book. Wow. I guess you shouldn’t be fooled by the tag “Contemporary” huh?
2. The depiction of grief is heart-wrenching. I felt all of Kyle’s pain (at least when we thought Kim was dead). These ladies know how to pull at your heartstrings, how to make you feel.
3. Saddest part of the book was Kyle literally having to grieve over the girl of his dreams (did you see what I did there, though? *laughs manically*)
4. Kyle and his mother’s relationship? So wholesome and funny.
5. Kim, Sam and Kyle’s friendship was everything. God. I have no idea how these women managed to create such an intricate and deep friendship in such few pages.
6. The book really misleads you. I mean, I was halfway through and everything was so perfect and I was just waiting for something bad to happen, and it never did. That is, until that DAMN PLOT TWIST THAT I REFUSE TO FORGET.
7. Everything was meticulously planned out. I have to give credit to these ladies. They really knew how to spread the story, dropping hints and clues that you might think of as poor writing by the authors (as I mentioned earlier on) but actually ends up being pure genius.
8. It felt like reading a dream. I don’t know how else to describe it. Everything was so emotional, so real yet so fuzzy. I finished this book and I kind of felt like I do when I wake up from a dream, you know? When the remnants are still lingering in your mind and you are dazed? That feeling.
Honestly, I really advise people reading this book to be patient with the first 100+ pages, and to remember that it was made like that intentionally. I loved it, truly I did. I will definitely recommend this gem to my sister to read next. My heart still aches. Ugh.