I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really really enjoyed this book!! I am a sucker for a good “grumpy meets sunshine”, and it’s not very often that the girl is the grumpy one, so I welcomed the change from the norm! The story was adorable and heartfelt, the characters were lovable and relatable, and it was such an easy read and I was so invested that I read it in one sitting, in just a few hours! I definitely recommend if you need a light-hearted, sweet YA story.

Eloise Deane is the worst and doesn’t care who knows it. She’s grumpy, prefers to be alone, and is just slogging through senior year with one goal: get accepted to USC and move to California. So when her guidance counselor drops the bombshell that to score a scholarship she’ll desperately need, her applications require volunteer hours, Eloise is up for the challenge. Until she’s paired with LifeCare, a volunteer agency that offers social support to lonely seniors through phone calls and visits. Basically, it’s a total nightmare for Eloise’s anxiety.

All Alone with You is the perfect example of the grumpyXsunshine trope.

Eloise was the best prickly protagonist. I think we need more of them in young adult literature. I think that they showcases a side of young women that we need more of and I think Coombes did a really good job here highlighting that.

Austin was also the perfect little sunshine boy used emojis and he was just so full of light and happiness, and he really balanced Eloise out well, and I think that readers will really really fall in love with him.

But, the absolute best character I think in this novel is Marianne. I think she delivers so much more depth to this piece. She’s funny and whip-smart and provides depth and insight not only to the protagonist, Eloise, but also to the reader. She also adds this fun 70s - Fleetwood Mac vibe to the whole book which is a whole other level of fun.

My only downside was the cursing. It just felt too much, personally, for a young adult novel. I would have liked to see the characters not limit their language in that way.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!!

4.5 stars. This BOOK!!! *swoons*

I always have a hard time reviewing books that I really, really love, so I’ll do my best here. The best parts of All Alone With You are Eloise’s relationship with Austen and her relationship with Marianne.

Austen is such a sweet sunshine puppy. I adored him from the first page we met him. The nicknames, the banter, and the emojis really did me in. The friends to lovers of it all made me so happy. I forgot how much I love that trope.

As for Marianne, she’s an absolute icon and I loved her dearly. I’ll take no criticism of Marianne, please and thank you.

Also, I really appreciated the author’s depiction of Eloise’s anxiety as someone who has an anxiety disorder. I can (unfortunately) confirm that the overthinking and spiraling are true to form, at least in my experience.

You’re probably thinking “Michaela, if you really loved this book, why aren’t you giving it 5 stars?” Well, it’s true: I LOVED THIS BOOK! However, there was just too much cursing. It felt like every other page dropped the f-bomb to the point where it became distracting. So, hence the -0.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Senior Eloise (Lou ) suffers from depression and anxiety. Friendless, she spends her free time perfecting her GPA and playing video games, a perpetual scowl on her face. It isn't until she is told she needs volunteer hours to make her college applications stand out that she steps out of her comfort zone and through the doors of LifeCare, a facility that pairs volunteers with lonely elderly clients.  Enter sunshine-filled Austin (another volunteer) and former rock star Marianne (client) and soon days are flying by and Eloise finds herself not entirely hating the experience (smiling even), not to mention falling for Austin.

This is a sweet romance about a girl finding social acceptance and the patient boy who stands by her without criticism, both brought together through their roles as volunteers. Aging rocker, Marianne, adds humor and some frank conversations into the mix and the banter between Eloise and Austin is delightful—the perfect balance of snark, wit, humor, and sweetness. Ideally, I would have loved a slightly deeper dive into Austin's back story and past, especially what happened with his father, but I did enjoy seeing the musician side of him thrive.
A highly enjoyable read would definitely recommend. 
 
* Grumpy meets Sunshine
* Volunteering
 * Mental Health rep (anxiety/depression)
 * Friendship
 * Aging rock star


Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review!
As contemporary YA romance's go, this one is pretty run of the mill. I did like that the book had enough time pass between out two character's meeting and getting together that we can actually believe that a real friendship was formed, but Eloise could be so mean to Austin that sometimes I had a hard time understanding why he wanted to be her friend in the first place. Points to this book for having an MC that struggles with anxiety and depression, but sometimes it felt like the message was that all you need is the right people in your life and these illnesses won't be as big of an issue. Again, I liked that book and I would probably recommend it to someone looking for a new YA romance, but I don't see myself reading it again.

Amelia Diane Coombs 4th YA was a fun one. Prickly protagonist Eloise is all set to go to college...until her high school guidance counselor tells her she needs a community service project to boost her applications. Reluctantly she volunteers at a senior center, meeting the "sunshine" to her "grump", Austin, and former musician/old lady, Marianne. I really enjoyed Eloise's story, especially that she wanted to go to college for coding and actually did things with it in the book ( a big gamer! ). I thought Eloise was just prickly enough that her growth worked, and her relationship with Austin shined. I also loved that Marianne taught her things, too. Um, also...THIS COVER ROCKS!!

there was some weird italicization in my epub - not sure if that's just a conversion issue. an entire paragraph was randomly italicized and now it's not, so who knows.
“Nope. Nice try. LifeCare is an anomaly. I’m not a . . . <i>helper,” I e</i>xplain,

actual review:

i don't know. i cried like three times. but that's not really a great way to measure a book, ya know. i did like it though.

this is the second book i've read by coombs (the other being "you, me, and the honeybees"). in both books, coombs does this thing where the guy and the girl meet and, it's not instalove, but they immediately are like, i need to spend all of my time with you. and i'm obsessed with that. i think a lot of books are relying on tropes like "enemies to lovers" and "friends to lovers" and, arguably i guess this book could be either, depending on what you want to sell, but i think it's neither. and that's super refreshing.

(for clarity: the "enemies to lovers" - eloise has a grumpy personality so she doesn't IMMEDIATELY vibe with austin, but, thank god, she recognizes that being grumpy all the time is not always a trait that goes over well, so she gets over herself fairly quickly. the "friends to lovers" - they meet on page so it's not a "childhood friends" situation, but most of the book is watching them become friends)

eloise's previous friendships are not wrapped up at all - which, honestly i kind of respect. sometimes friendships just end badly, unforch, and there isn't much you can do about it. i wouldn't have liked a half-assed scene where everyone apologizes and their friendship is now fine again. i appreciate the authenticity.

i wish we got more book in general, but it's a YA novel so i get why it's not 500 pages long. but i think i would've liked it to be. the pacing felt rushed at the end, i would've liked more time with marianne and more cutesy relationship moments between eloise and austin.

thank you amelia diane coombs and simon & schuster for the arc <3

Posted on Goodreads, can’t figure out how to link it to this review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

Okay okay, where do I start? How about a brief synopsis?

Eloise is a senior in high school who has a dream of going to USC. When a meeting with her counselor ends with her having to do community service in order for her college app to be more appealing, she ends up at LifeCare where she meets Austin and Marianne. Austin is the complete opposite of Eloise, the sunshine to her grumpy. Throughout her time at LifeCare, she gets to know Austin and a friendship grows between them. There is also an adorable friendship that grows between Eloise and Marianne because of how similar they are.

Now let me start off with what I loved about the book, which is pretty much everything. I love how the author described both depression and anxiety. As someone who deals with it myself, this was the most accurate representation of both anxiety and depression that I have come across. I also very much enjoyed the gaming aspect of it, which was more in depth than any book I’ve read that’s talked about gaming. There was such an authenticity to this book and it really pulled me into the story. Lastly, I ADORED the pacing of the book. The romance took a while to develop which I loved because it wasn’t an instant infatuation. They slowly became friends before becoming anything more.

There was only one thing I disliked, which is minuscule and became a less of an issue the further I got into the book. In the beginning, the wording was a bit repetitive when describing Austin as “golden retriever energy”. It happened often in the beginning and slowly died off. I noticed “chain smoked” was used often as well, but wasn’t as bad.

With all that being said, a solid 4.5/5 which I have rounded up to five. It’s a quick and easy read, plus absolutely delightful. I absolutely recommend this to readers looking for a cute romance.