All This Time By Mikki Daughtery and Rachael Lippincott Book Review

“This was a sad story waiting to happen,” she mumbles, her voice barely audible.”

(pg. 133)

About

Authors: Mikki Daughtery and Rachael Lippincott

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Other books by Mikki Daughtery and Rachael Lippincott: Five Feet Apart

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Synopsis

Kyle and Kimberly have been the perfect couple all through high school, but when Kimberly breaks up with him on the night of their graduation party, Kyle’s entire world upends—literally. Their car crashes and when he awakes, he has a brain injury. Kimberly is dead. And no one in his life could possibly understand.

Until Marley. Marley is suffering from her own loss, a loss she thinks was her fault. And when their paths cross, Kyle sees in her all the unspoken things he’s feeling.

As Kyle and Marley work to heal each other’s wounds, their feelings for each other grow stronger. But Kyle can’t shake the sense that he’s headed for another crashing moment that will blow up his life as soon as he’s started to put it back together.

And he’s right.

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To the dreamers and believers,

This book was trippy in the best way. It was so captivatingly written and each page I kept turning it wondering what the heck was going on because if I’m being honest something seemed a bit ethereal about the whole plot, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s back up, shall we.

Kyle. You can’t say Kyle didn’t have a big, caring, hopeless romantic heart. I admired that about him. You don’t easily find guys these days who wear their hearts on their sleeves like Kyle. I liked how much he loved Kimberly. Kimberly was his whole world and he got her this charm bracelet and was going to give it to her the night of the graduation party. In some ways, I felt like Kyle was giving Kimberly this symbol of their love to kind of put her in her place. That sounded wrong, but you know, so he felt reassured that when life changed and they went to separate colleges, that they were still together—-the bracelet was their unity. But Kyle, Kyle, Kyle, KYLE, a bracelet does not mean forever.

Kimberly actually wanted a break from him to figure things out in college. She wanted to start fresh. I couldn’t blame her. When you have the whole world at your fingertips, why wouldn’t you want to at least be free to explore that? But Kyle was not having it, and it was kind of overwhelming how deeply he clung to the relationship they had.

It’s kind of like the saying that it’s okay to hold onto things, but when you hold onto something too tightly, you suffocate it. I felt like Kyle was suffocating this relationship. It also felt like if he was holding on too tightly to it, he felt insecure in himself to go out in the world as an individual—-he needed her to feel strong and to feel like him. And that’s not a healthy thing to feel because we should all feel secure in knowing we are strong, capable individuals by ourselves. Kim also explained to him how for years she was just known as Kyle’s girlfriend, and that sucks. Like, she has a name and it’s Kimberly. And she wants to be known as Kimberly and to find out who Kimberly can be. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s why I thought the break was a good idea because they both needed space to be who they are because they have been in a relationship for years. Kimberly also talked about how ever since the injury, Kyle lost a lot of his motivation and how she didn’t want to be the only thing that kept him going. Again, I feel like Kimberly felt suffocated. It’s hard to explain because when you feel like you are a person’s only source of happiness and joy, it feels burdensome that the minute you do something “wrong” or try to be independent, you hurt the other person, and you did not mean to hurt them. But it feels suffocating to feel like you always have to make another person happy when you want to be you. So they definitely needed a break.

They had this break up conversation in the car, which already wasn’t a smart idea. I mean, do not have a heated conversation like that at night when you both are not mentally well. The whole time Kimberly’s trying to get through to Kyle of breaking up, Kyle’s going through this whole denial in his mind of how he could salvage the relationship and fix it. But it wasn’t broken, it was held onto tightly and it was breaking right at that moment. There was nothing to salvage. And gosh when they pulled over and the disco ball lights up and then the truck spins, I was like this is NOT good. I told you don’t have a deep conversation in the freaking car in the middle of the night on a sketchy road 😨.

Everything changes after that moment.

Kyle had to learn without Kimberly because she did not make it after the accident. And that had to be beyond painful—-to live with the knowledge that you were one of the reasons why Kimberly wasn’t there today. The boy already was broken up with and now he had to deal with the loss of who he loved for a long time.

“Nothing has really changed since I got home. The front path is still lined with the sweet-smelling flowers my mom planted, the driveway still filled with cracks, the white picket fence still desperate for a paint job.

Everything is the same. It’s me that’s different.”

(pg. 32)

And it’s crazy how when everything in your life changes, how some things stay the same. It seems almost weird because you feel changed, but the outside does not reflect the change. I felt for Kyle. He went through a depressive point where would stay home and hole up in his room, questioning his life. There was that moment he went to the ice cream parlor he used to go all the time with Kimberley, and how he thought the lady behind the counter was her. And that hurt my heart because obviously he was still hurting if he was seeing Kimberly everywhere. It also didn’t help that Kimberly’s parents came and took everything of Kimberly’s from his room. I mean, couldn’t they have left him something to remember Kimberly by?

One of the things that gave me the creeps, but also made me think this was real was when Kim started to show up more. Kyle saw Kimberly at his house from his living room to the phone that was hers and was now in his closet. Then she showed up sitting next to her at the football game that Kyle supposedly walked to with crutches at night 😂. How does one carry a bag full of groceries while walking on crutches? Not that that can’t be done, but wow, that’s impressive! I can’t even carry more than two groceries in my hands when I’m walking from my car to the door 😂. And I would just like to know where said groceries were when Kyle sat down at the football game because that’s obviously WEIRD if a random guy who JUST graduated high school showed up to his old high school football game with a bunch of groceries 😂. I’m too invested in this.

But I was thinking to myself, it wasn’t Kimberly there, so he had to be either 1) talking to thin air or 2) yelling at some poor innocent person. It was the latter and Kyle got the stares from people. I felt bad for Kyle. Because it kind of felt like he was seeing her everywhere because of PTSD with the accident or trauma. But that’s natural and I don’t blame him. Oh, can we talk about Dr. Benefield who made him feel like he was crazy? I’m not sure how feasible that kind of doctoring is, but Dr. Benefield was kind of insensitive to Kyle’s emotions and just told him it wasn’t real and that they’ll fade. All good. Yea, not all good.

I liked the moment he met Sam because as much as Kyle was hurting over the loss of his ex-girlfriend, Sam also lost a friend. He lost two friends because Kyle checked out on him. But that’s why friends like Sam are valuable and true—-they never give up on trying to reach out to you no matter how much you avoid them. Sam was a pride and true friend. And seeing him reminded Kyle that he wasn’t alone in his grief or sadness.

Seeing Sam gave him the courage to go to the graveyard to visit Kim. It was eerie when Kyle walked past the headstone with just the word goodbye on it and how overgrown and bare it was.

That’s when we met Marley. Something about Marley was mysterious. She was an enigma alright. She just gave me twinkly, kind, quiet, fairy, ethereal vibes. Like something about her didn’t seem real, and I’m not just saying that because of what I’ll talk about later. Like I genuinely felt like she didn’t feel real, but magical. I don’t know. Marley also gave me Emilia Clarke vibes with her positive, happy, bubbly air. She just excused so much light in a contained, modest capacity; Marley didn’t seem like the type of person to want to be the center of attention or the star of the show, but when she’s with someone she cares and trusts, she is the light and energy of that relationship. A hidden gem if you will.

She was also very kind and sensitive to others feelings. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I never met a chapter who just exuded that much tenderness for the life around her. I literally have never heard of someone picking snails off the sidewalk just so they do not get run over. I mean, I love animals, but would I pick up snails so they won’t get run over/stepped on? No. Am I a person because of that? I hope not.

But I also know Marley probably picked up snails because of what happened to her sister and she felt responsible for what happened to Laura and the accident, so she picked up snails before someone crushed them as her way of forgiving herself for not watching over her sister in that moment—-she watches over others.

Marley has also been through a lot and that’s why she could relate to Kyle and his loss. She and her twin sister, Laura, were close. They both had their colors where Marley wore yellow and Laura wore pink. One day they switched colors of clothes and looks—-like a twin swap. They switched necklaces they wore and Marley’s yellow pendant got tangled in Laura’s hair and the pendant rolled onto the street and a car came fast and hard. If they hadn’t switched places that day, they wouldn’t have switched necklaces, and Laura would still be there. So there was a heaviness hanging over Marley where she felt guilty for what happened to Laura. It honestly, made me wonder where their parents were because they should have reassured Marley that it wasn’t her fault. There were a lot of things that happened that day and it was not her fault. But Marley lived with that guilt. Kyle also lived with a guilt similar to Marley’s. So I felt like Marley’s happiness was a facade for the pain she hid so well from others. You know what they say about people who are the happiest. . .

“Yellow made me feel happy, light.”

(pg. 152)

Yellow makes me feel happy and light too. When I was going through a very depressive part of my life, I always wore gray. And it wasn’t until I felt like I was healing that I felt bold enough to wear yellow. And just putting on such a bright color lights you up from the inside out. Try wearing yellow, it does make you feel some sort of way 💛.

Also, I have heard that people who are the kindest are the ones who know the most pain. And Marley was definitely hiding something—we just didn’t know. But I felt there was a reason she wore her daisy necklace and wore yellow. Because from great pain comes great light.

But what made me iffy about Marley was how literally no one ever saw her except Kyle and random people in the park. So I was staritng to think was Marley a figment of Kyle’s imagination he created to heal? I mean, it made sense.

When he went to Kim’s grave to say a proper goodbye, who was there? Marley. And when he tried to bring Marley home to eat and the mom showed up, she ran away. Or was it because she was never really there and she was Kyle’s made up friend? Or why didn’t Sam meet her? Was she not real?

So there was a good while where I questioned the reality of Marley. The only thing that didn’t make sense was how the people at the food truck or the kids at the park could see Marley. But I mean, that could mean anything. Right? 🤪

Gosh, I wanted to be right about her.

Marley also loved ducks. I thought it was cute how she taught Kyle to love ducks. Marley must not be a Herondale 😂.

Kyle and Marley’s was . . . interesting. Kyle didn’t want to like Marley as much as he did because it would feel like he was betraying Kim and that he was moving on. And there’s nothing wrong with carrying Kim in his heart and moving on and being happy. Marley was also someone he could be new and real with because when we talk to people we already know, they know us. But when we meet someone new we can be whoever we want with them without all this expectation or judgment. And that was who Marley was to Kyle. She also helped bring him back to life. It was cute when Kyle cooked this special sauce and then pizza rolls 😂. It was also cute how they would tell stories to each other. My favorite story was the Moon man and the pearl. Golly, was Marley an amazing story teller. I love me a good folktale! She had me and Kyle grasped every word. I also liked how Marley encouraged Kyle to do something with his life. So Kyle tried out for that sports journalist job. I mean, people who love each other support each other. They were very supportive of where they were both at in life and how they felt.

I thought it was also sweet how patient and kind Kyle was with Marley and how he never forced her to open up about things she wasn’t ready to talk about. Marley was still holding back on him in some way with what she went through in the past, but I mean, she doesn’t owe Kyle anything, yet alone her whole life story.

I thought it was also cute when Kyle took her to the Christmas fair. They truly were a thing now and Kyle moved on. And once Kyle let go of his guilt for being happy, he was able to live and move on because he knew that’s what Kim would have wanted— for him to figure out who he is by himself and to live.

So it’s special how certain people in our life come around and breed new life into us and teach us that there is more to live for.

I also admire Sam for letting Kyle move on. Because Sam always had a thing for Kim, but he stood back because he knew Kyle and Kim were in love. I mean, what a good friend. So when Kyle started to date Marley, Sam was livid because it felt like Kyle moved on so quickly to the next girl and that Kyle didn’t deserve Kim. And when Kyle realized Sam loved Kim, it made me see how selfish he was to not care what others felt.

“All I did was see the world, my friends, my girlfriend through my lens. I didn’t once bother seeing it through any of theirs.”

(pg. 125)

We need to step out of ourselves sometimes to realize the world is not about us. To pay attention.

But with time and space, Sam was okay. He saw Marley and Kyle kiss at the fair, and I was like, this is going to be aka-awkward. But it wasn’t. Because Sam was going to go off to college and move on and do what’s best for him. Because he stood back and watched two people he cared about fall out of love and now he lost the girl he loved, so he needed time to move on and figure out who he was like Kyle did with Marley.

I also liked the day that Kyle got Marley a dog and they named it Georgia. We loved the dog 💜. I mean, get you a man who gets you a dog, am I right ladies and gents. They just seemed so happy together. . .

“Something this good can’t last.”

(pg. 197)

Then there was that night a year later where Kyle looked back to see how far he has come and a big part of that was Marley helping him move forward. To me, it didn’t seem that that much time had passed, but I guess, heck a year had gone by where they knew each other 😅. They had an argument where Marly ran into a storm, which seemed a heck of a lot similar to what happened with Kim and I knew something bad was about to go down.

I was like Marley was foreshadowing something and you know what. . . she was.

When Kyle woke up from his coma, I was equally shocked, befuddled, and not surprised.

I mean, didn’t I tell you Marley didn’t sound real? Again it wasn’t because, obviously, I read the book and knew it was a coma dream, but before that something felt off.

But GOLLY was I TRIPPED up!!! 😆

Now, you’re telling me it was KYLE who was in a coma this whole time, Kimberely was alive and well, Sam was there, and Marley didn’t exist 🤯?!!! HOW THE HECK.

Honestly, if I was Kyle, I wouldn’t know what was real or what wasn’t because if I felt like I had spent a whole year with someone who felt so real, I would believe it too.

But no-one believed him and they all thought he was crazy, which I understand. To them, Kyle had been sleeping the whole time, so it’s not like he could have gone anywhere, but you know what they say . . . the mind is powerful. I just thought it was interesting how he crafted this whole other life based on things he heard or saw around him—-so his subconscious connecting his dream state and the real world. It was very interesting.

It made sense though with how Dr. Benefield and his friends and Mom explained it. The reason he would see Kim in his dream world was because sometimes his eyes would open in his sleep and that would be the moment where Kim was there reading to him or spending time with him. So when he opened his eyes in the real world, it actually brought Kim to his dream world. So that made a lot of sense to me. It also meant a lot that Kim was there everyday even though she broke up with him, but you know when you break up with someone you still care.

I think Dr. Benefield should have been more sensitive to how Kyle felt because I don’t think it was right that she basically called him crazy and wrong for the world he created.

“That’s all it was… a dream. And of all things Sam had ever said to me, that one hurts the most.”

(pg. 220)

Sam said this when he had his sit down heart to heart with Kyle, and again, I think people devalued what he experienced in that dream world. Because it was real to him and it wasn’t fair to make him feel like he was wrong for thinking or seeing what he did. But what I liked about this new Kyle was how he confronted Sam about liking Kim. Kyle was really trying not to be the selfish prick he was before, and we love that for him! Self-Improvement to stop being so selfish and pay attention to the lives around him and the people he loved. I forget if Sam said this, but I believe when Kyle was in his coma that Sam told him he liked Kim, thinking Kyle wouldn’t hear or remember it. But Kyle did hear it and that’s why Kyle created this scene around it. It’s interesting because people always say to talk to people at hospitals because they can still hear you, but we don’t really know that unless we hear it or see it from them. So I thought it was cool how Kyle heard the people around him and how that translated into the world he created with Marley.

II also liked the maturity that came with Kyle when he talked to Kim about how she was right to break up with him. It was such a 180 from him literally saying how he could salvage their relationship. But I liked how he admitted his mistake and how he learned how to be his own person without Kim—-what they both needed to do and I liked how he was letting her go so she could find who she could be and who she could be with. And you best bet I’m rooting for Sam

“You gotta let people be their own person, you know? Just like you gotta be yours. Whether you’re with Kim or Marley or nobody. You can’t make someone choose you.”

(pg. 245)

The real contention was every fiber in Kyle’s body knew Marley wasn’t just a dream—-that Marley was real.

Did I think she was real??????

UMMMMMMMM . . . no 🙈.

She just didn’t seem real.

I mean, even Kyle described her as something like magic. Not like she’s magic and I love her (even though that had to be part of it too), but I don’t know—-ethereal. My one word to describe Marley: ethereal.

And Kyle would be in and out of a sedated state when he tried to go find Marley and do all these other things and in that state, he would see Marley, but barely. And it was kind of a despondent fading away of Marley where she felt like things had changed and they wouldn’t be the same. So Marley would come and go from his mind, and to Kyle it felt like he was losing the one girl he loved.

“What if you woke up tomorrow and I was gone and everyone told you I never even existed? I asked quietly. “Would you stop loving me mom?”

(pg. 236)

I thought this was such a good point to bring up because if someone doesn’t exist, does that mean you stop loving them? Does that make that person any less real? Does that make your love for that person any less real?

So everyone around him might have not believed what he felt or experienced with Marley, but the love Kyle felt was real and it was unfair of others to tell him the love he felt was wrong or made up.

So, yes, I did not think Marley was real . . . but did I believe Kyle loved her. Yes. Without a doubt.

And love is powerful in that way where sometimes you just feel such a natural, strong connection to people, places, or things you’ve never seen or been before, but you know in your heart that that’s what you feel. And your feelings are valid—-and no one but you can tell you that your feelings are wrong because they are not you.

But when Kyle started to research Marley and then smell her honey suckle smell, I started to second guess myself in wondering if Marley was real. But honestly, the dude was next to a courtyard with honeysuckle so it’s not difficult to put two and two together 😂.

But then it was the Uber ride to the guy’s house and Kyle seeing the little girl Marley where I felt Kyle lost a lot of hope that she was real. He was starting to believe what everyone told him.

But you know what?

I got to give Kyle a round of applause for being tenacious and persistent for believing in his love and for going after it. Most men wait hours, days months to text back, but Kyle, he strikes me as the type of guy who replies within the 0.1 second you text or call 😆. He really is the prime example of if a guy really wants to be with you, he will never put himself in a potion to not.

“It’s the small, inconsequential moments I took for granted.”

(pg. 269)

Kyle missed those moments with Marley and what he had with her. But then came the snails on the window and the cardiology woman with her daughter Marley . . . and I was like no way!

I was confused at first because when Kyle said daughter, naturally I’m thinking of a little girl, but Marley was older.

To be honest, Kyle following Marley around was kind of borderline creepy and weird. If I was Marley I would be creeped out and weird. Marley in real life was different from the Marley who he shared a dream life with because this Marley was scared off by Kyle and not as willing to talk. But I’m still curious why she chose Kyle out of all patients to read to. Was it because she thought he couldn’t hear? It kind of makes me think about how sometimes as someone who is quiet, it’s easier for us to talk or read in silence when we think no one is listening or watching to feel pressured. So I think that’s what Marley felt. Also the yellow notebook Marley had, made me think it was where all her stories were.

I really appreciatI really appreciated Kim being a good friend and believing gin Kyle and Marley. I loved how she took it as far as to be Kyle’s right hand spy to figure everything out about Marley and how Kyle could talk to her..

“You have to figure out how to talk to this Marley.”

(pg. 279)

The real Marley.

“Who refuses to talk when they can? . . .

Someone who’s hiding from life.”

(pg. 283)

Marley and I are quite alike when it comes to speaking. We don’t talk much and I will be honest, there are things I hide from others and maybe even from myself. It comes from a place of being talked down to my whole life and feeling like what I say will only be shut down or refuted, so I don’t say anything at all. Other times, I don’t speak because I feel scared to talk about vulnerabilities that others might not understand or may judge me for. But do I think it’s hiding from life? Not quite, but I do think it’s hiding from myself or others because of the fear I have felt before in using my voice. But I also see why refusing to talk is hiding from life because if we do not say anything, we do not give a voice to who we are and our beliefs, our stories, and ourselves.

I think real life Marley and I would be good friends.

When Kyle did his whole speech about how he loved her and how she wanted to make her happy and yada yada yada he’ll walk away, I just wanted to say . . . man, Kyle sure does know how to wear his heart out on his sleeve. It’s the persistence I tell you 😅.

“So I can’t love you, Kyle, I won’t.”

(pg. 292)

So obviously she already loved him, but she’s not allowing herself to. Which comes the part I was kind of ehh about because if she read to him in this dream coma world, how did she know he was in love with him when she barely knew him?

 I mean, how did she even know his name? Was it written in his hospital room? How did she know about Kim and Sam to write them into the stories? How did she know about Mom’s special sauce? How did Marley know all these things about Kyle’s life and yet we know the bare minimum about her except the guilt she felt with her sister? So I didn’t really understand the romance here, but I could feel the love. Did I understand it? Not really.

But golly did I like when Kyle popped off with the moon reference story. That was a full circle moment for me!

“I traveled many roads to find this lost treasure, this piece of me,” I say softly.

She looked up startled, as I reached into my pocket.

“But it was you who found it and returned it to me,” I say as I hold up my hand, palm up between us, fingers closed around something. “Now I wish to give it to you.”

Marley looks from my hand up to my face, questioning. She looks down again as I slowly unfurl my fingers.

Nestled there in the center is one perfect snow-white pearl.”

(pg. 293)

After that speech, who could be like, let me not fall in love with this dude. Marley came around and it was cute. It was also cute how Kim and Kyle worked together to get Marley a dog. I mean, my gosh, Kyle barely knew this Marley and he got her a puppy that looked like the dog they owned in his dream? Coincidences are real 🤪.

“She doesn’t hide behind her words, writing about the person she so desperately wants to be. Sometimes the darkness completely overtakes her, but I can see the Marley I know hiding just inside the shadows, fighting her way out.

I grew in the dream world. But I think she did too.”

(pg. 296)

Honestly, when the mom saw real life Marley, she was probably like, “thank goodness my son’s not crazy.” 😂

It was a cute moment of Kyle and Marley reuniting and the friends and family finally meeting her, but then things kind of turned from 50 to 3,000 quickly, and that threw me off. Because I could tell the book was about to finish, and all of a sudden there’s this accident. And if I’m being honest, the ending felt rushed to me without any real solid conclusion. I don’t know how the story could have ended because I see why the authors did what they did—–they brought the story full circle with things shown in the beginning—-but it just felt hurried and more could be said for Kyle and Marley or even who Marley was because I still feel like we’re missing this huge gap of who she is, where she came from, and her mom and why Marley was at the hospital.

I don’t know. I just wasn’t a big fan of the ending.

I didn’t even know how we got into this whole accident so quickly. One minute, she’s talking to Kyle on the phone and the next she’s saving a kid from being run over, which is noble, but I MEAN WHAT THE BONKERS!!!!? We were just getting to the happy ending. We all know why Marley ran to save that kid.

Gosh, what didn’t make sense to me too was how when Kyle saw that and heard that on his phone, I don’t know why he ran back inside the hospital, like Kyle, run to her!!! IDIOT.

I thought after that, that there would be some other twist of everything before that was too a dream and his dream of having a dream was a dream, and I was fully prepared for a MIND BONKING moment, but no Marley did save that kid and she wasn’t fighting for her life to be there and it was constantly because she lived with that guilt of being at fault. She had such a negative self-talk. I also remembered how Marley said she only told happy stories and it made me think because she was always sad, so her stories were imaginary and could be a place where she was happy. But deep down I felt like Marley didn’t think she deserved to be happy because of what happened to her sister. That was also why I felt she didn’t want to wake up. It’s such a contrast to Kyle’s story because Kyle had this supportive group of people who visited him day in and day out —-Kim, Sam, his Mom, and Marley—–all people who cared for him and wanted him to be there. To keep fighting.

Who did Marley have? Who were her parents? Who were her friends?

That made me sad for Marley 😢. I genuinely want to know more about her life.

But Marley started to have people who cared for her. She had Kyle who wanted her to fight.

Honestly do not understand the whole Kyle-could-touch-her-head-and-go into-her-coma-dream-state thing. I’m sorry, when did they form a psychic connection? 😅

I’m still betting part of her isn’t real 😂.

UGGGGGH WHAT IS REAL? 🤪

But Kyle goes into her mind and it’s all gray and dark and he walks by the gravestone we say in the beginning—-the desolate and barren one with one word goodbye. It was Marley’s grave. I feel like Marley wrote herself as a sad story. But Kyle tried to convince her that there was a future for both of them where they could get married, have kids, have successful careers, to basically build a life with each other. And it was sweet, but I didn’t feel the love from Kyle and Marley because it felt like Kyle didn’t really know Marley enough yet to promise that future with him. But you know, Kyle is a loyal person so I don’t doubt he and Marley wouldn’t end up together. Mostly, I thought it was endearing that he fought for her to hold on because we all need people who will do that for us when we feel like we can’t. And Marley was lucky she had someone as loyal and passionate as Kyle fighting for her.

“I love you, Kyle Lafferty,” she whispers reverently. “I will love you forever. Our story will live on forever.”

She pressed her lips to mine, then says, “But I need to do this.”

(pg. 316)

I may not be a big fan of Kyle and Marley’s relationship, but doesn’t mean I don’t like it because I WAS CRYING 😭.

Marley, hold on sis! I don’t want you to leave!

GOSH WHEN THE HOT MONITOR FLATLINED . . . 😭

I kept saying, how are Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott going to turn this book around with this kind of ending, because I was holding my book, but there wasn’t much left to hold onto. What were they going to do? End it with Marley passing away and the end? 😰 I COULD NOT.

I swear they tricked me when she started to breathe again.

I STARTED to breathe again. My gosh.

But this was where it felt rushed to me in the end because Marley comes back to life to start a life with Kyle where they can write their happily ever after or their fairy tale, which was cute, but you know, Marley still has things to work through to heal. Sure, she said goodbye to her sister, but does she forgive herself deep down for what happened? Letting go and moving on isn’t the same thing as healing, letting it go, and moving on.

I don’t know I needed something more.

Did you feel like the ending was rushed or you needed more?

But despite that, I really enjoyed reading All This Time because it had me guessing about what was real. But despite that, I really enjoyed reading All This Time because it had me guessing about what was real. But I think that’s one of the main points of the book with how love is real no matter if the person, place, or thing isn’t or isn’t anymore. Because the way a person feels is real—-the way we love is real. This story was also a good reminder to forgive ourselves. Sometimes we make tragic, sorrowful mistakes in life and we can think back on all the ways we could have done it differently, but regret and guilt are heavy burdens to carry through one’s whole life. It’s okay to grieve, but it’s also okay to heal and do better in the world and live.

Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? What was your favorite fairytale or folktale? Anything I mentioned that you want to discuss more about?  Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Rating

3.64 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: I didn’t like Kyle in the beginning, but he grew on me the more he understood how his actions effected others. I also liked how he grew from who he was. Marley to me was a innocent, ethereal enigma.

Writing: Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott know how to tug at the heartstrings and then yank

Plot: Definitely has it’s surprises and it’s heartaches

Romance: Wasn’t really feeling the romance, but I liked how passionate Kyle was about love.