3.5 Stars-Cute, but not my speed

This is the first book I have read by Violet Duke as she tells a sweet and tangled tale with All There Is. It's the first in her Juniper Hill series and a great start.

From the blurb you can tell this book is going to be all kinds of complicated. Jake is the cause of the fire that changed Emma's life forever. Fourteen years have gone by and she's still thought of him every day. The good and the bad.

Jake lives with survivor's guilt with a twist. A twist I couldn't wait to see unfold. He's done his time for the crime, however will always punish himself for what he did to Emma. He's loved that girl since he was a teen and the past fourteen years apart hasn't changed those feelings a bit.

Naturally, Jake and Emma (so weird because these are my kids names) find themselves once again directly in each other's lives. He's there to help and she doesn't need him, but she does really. They both carry mountains and mountains of guilt and the back and forth was almost exhausting at one point.

I liked Jake and I liked Emma, however I needed more from thier story. More heat, angst or something to keep me interested page after page. The secret was constantly looming for Jake and I hate to admit this, I started skimming to get to it.

The book is well written with a short epilogue. Along with Jake and Emma we meet Emma's sister Megan and Jake's brother Carter. It is a small town setting, so the quirky neighbors also help bring the story along. Violet Duke set the second book up nicely and while not totally in my wheelhouse, I will read another book by her because again, we're going into it with some heavy extenuating circumstances. Plus I know what to expect from her writing now.

Reviewed for Renee Entress's Blog.
1 like

Once again author Violet Duke has written a heartwarming yet gut wrenching story that I could not put down; All There Is starts her Juniper Hills series off with a serious punch. Fourteen years ago two young friends, hoping for more than friendship, are torn apart and their lives are forever changed yet they are given a second chance when a secondary character decides to make amends for his role in that fateful night. All There Is is about acceptance, forgiveness, and love, but also about letting go of the past and embracing the future. I loved this book, and I can’t wait for the next installment in this series.

Emma Stevens loves her adopted home town of Juniper Hills, the bakery that she owns and run, and her younger sister and while she has a good life, she hasn’t found a man to spend her life with or a way to forgive herself for choices she made that tore her family apart.

Once again life has thrown Jake Rowan a curveball; his mentor passed away and his reputation has been tarnished making it difficult for him to get work doing the kind of woodworking and finish work he loves, so when his older brother asks for his help on a project one that will put his skills to good use he accepts only to find out that the girl he left behind years ago along with her younger sister play a huge role in the reason he is in town.

There was so much I loved about this book including the fact that this couple had a painful past and despite that, this book was not overly angst or drama filled. Yes, both of these individuals carry guilt and emotional scars from their past, but they are both determined to not let it interfere in who they are today. That however, is a catch-22 because Emma refuses to discuss the past and Jake firmly believes that in order for them to move forward they must once and for all bury the past. The fact remains that they easily fall back into those friend roles they had before, and they are happier when they are spending time together and the underlying sexual tension and banter between them just ramps up the sensuality of this story even more. This book is on the sweeter side of romance, but that didn’t stop it from being sexy, fun, and emotional.

There were a few secondary characters that really caught my eye and I have a feeling the next book in this series is going to be explosive on many levels.

From start to finish All There Is was an emotional roller coaster that held my attention with its beautifully crafted story and engaging characters; I thoroughly loved this story.

I have been a fan of Violet Duke’s writing for a couple years now. I get lost in her writing! I couldn’t stop reading until the last page.

I voluntarily reviewed this book.

You see the name Violet Duke on any book and you LEAP at the chance to read it. That's it. Every VD book has been AMAZING! She can create worlds and relationships like no other! I always wait with baited breath to see when/if there will be a new book so I can devour it within hours!

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

wow! Violet Duke has a way with words.....All There Is, is well written and gives you all the feels. A tragic event takes on a new meaning for Emma when she believes Jake , whom she has a crush on, causes the tragedy....Until later she realizes things may not have happened as she thought . Can Emma and Jake get to a good place with forgiveness, understanding and maybe love?? A great read!!

I always enjoy Violet Duke's books, this is the third one I've read of hers but the first that I've reviewed. The plot of this book has been done multiple times, but the author gives it a twist that makes it seem like something brand new. The book isn't all happiness and does deal with some rough issues including the death of a child but it doesn't bog down the story. The HEA definitely makes up for the parts of the book that could make you ugly cry. I definitely recommend her books for a bit of escapism.

All There Is by Violet Duke was a great read. Emma and Jake have known each other since childhood. Jake and Emma were unable to save Emma's brother from a fire. I loved reading Jake and Emma's story.

Solid romantic story of a tragic event that tore families and friends apart fourteen years ago. When a crazy water incident tears into Emma's bakery, a carpenter is called in who happens to be Jake from her past. He took the blame for the fire that cost the life of one of her siblings and caused burns that became scars on her other sibling. Both Emma and Jake feel much guilt from the past because they both believed their actions that may have caused or led to the tragic consequences.

Emma suggests starting over as if they had never met. This gives them a chance to bypass the guilt that would have kept them apart and allows Jake to take the job of repairing her bakery as well as making changes to the library where her sister works. However this also means that neither can heal from the past.

Surprisingly Megan, her sister, is the one who seems to be all right with the past and with both of their actions. She was also my favorite character, and I am hoping that book 2 is her romance. Her perspective and comments were refreshing. I wanted to know more about her.

Then there was Carter, the hidden brother. He is one that I would like to read more about. He kept the Carmichael last name and the success that Jake would never have. His part in the tragic past is shrouded in mystery. What really happened? I need to read his story.

Emma was pretty cool, though she liked to use the word "swoon" which reminded me of 1800s historical romance type of word. She owned a bakery and adored her sister and her courage. Emma was very attracted to Jake as he was to her. They were a cute couple. The romance between the two never quite made it for me, there were some very sexy scenes between them.

And then the big reveal came as the tragedy was finally spoken of, memories were shared, and some beliefs about what happened were shattered. This was my favorite part of the story, and I found myself in tears. It was heartbreaking and relieving to know what really happened ... at least what happened as far as Emma's and Jake's actions. This was worth everything. This part touched me and felt real for me.

Facing the what your memories of the worst time of your life can be hard, but worth the tears and facing your fears. This seemed to be the theme, in my opinion. Neither Emma nor Jake could go forward without finally knowing the truth and finding a way to forgive themselves. Grief and tragedy can be handled by dealing with them, not running or hiding.

Note: I received a review copy from NetGalley, and I enjoyed it enough to 1-click my own copy.

I enjoy the theme of second chance love, so I was excited to read this by new-to-me author Violet Duke. I also thought that the circumstances for this romance were interesting since the blurb infers that there was a death but more than that, it tells us that Jake takes the fall for his brother. I was very intrigued by this. How could this possibly play out to the hero’s advantage?

Jake and Emma were neighbors and best friends in their teens until a fire destroyed Emma’s home, killing her younger brother and injuring her sister Megan. Jake takes the blame for the fire and spends time in juvie. In the present, Jake is an extremely talented woodworker and gets by working construction jobs. His past is a heavy anchor of guilt though the fire was not his fault.

When Jake’s brother contacts him to let him know he bought a library in a nearby small town and wants Jake to do some specialty woodwork in order to keep the original beauty of the library while making significant updates, Jake is excited. It sounds exactly like the kind of work he enjoys and is really good at. He heads to Juniper Hills, a town a few hours away from his home. Jake is excited when he sees the cottage-like building and knows this is a job he can really put his heart into.

Emma and her sister Megan spent a lot of time looking for just the right place before they settled in Juniper Hills. Emma owns the bakery in town and wows her patrons with her delectable treats. Everything is going well until disaster strikes in the form of a broken water pipe and she has some major repairs that need to be made before she can get everything up and be running again.

How fortuitous that Jake happens to be in the same town, checking on another job, when all this happens. After checking out the library job, the foreman tells him about Emma’s bakery and Jake agrees to take a look and bid on it. The work he’d be doing on the library won’t start for about three weeks, so he has time to help out if the owner wants to hire him.

This is the set-up for Jake and Emma’s reunion after so many years and it does not go well, initially. Emma doesn’t want anything to do with Jake, but she needs her building repaired, and Jake is available immediately and can get the job done in a relatively short time. She really has no choice and if she were just a little bit honest with herself, she’d admit to being more than curious about the adult version of Jake.

This book was just okay for me. I liked it; that is to say, it held my attention and I was captured enough to keep reading to see how things would go, but I did have an issue which I will get to. I really liked Jake’s character. I liked the man he was in spite of what was done to him. And it’s clear, he had little choice in what happened in the past when he was forced by his father to take the blame for the fire, though it was his older brother’s fault. To go through what he did after his own father found him expendable enough to convince him to take the blame for his brother who had “so much going for him”; and to come out the other end a decent human being was extraordinary. His life after juvie has not been easy and he lives with a lot of guilt anyway, in spite of the fact that he wasn’t at fault. Knowing inside that you didn’t do what everyone thinks you did and having to live with how people see you when you know they are wrong is a challenge in and of itself. But Jake has learned to live with that stigma and has come to a place of acceptance.

I didn’t warm up to Emma for a long time. Though I understood where she was coming from, she had clearly suffered a great tragedy and loss, I had a hard time with her wishy-washy feelings for Jake. While she was angry and wanted to hate him, she was attracted to him. This particular type of I hate him but he’s so hot just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Emma is desperate for her shop to be fixed because it is her livelihood and when Jake bids on the job her initial reaction is “no way”, but he’s available immediately and the price is right!

Of course, this puts Jake and Emma in close quarters and they are left to deal with their past, their feelings and the truth of what really happened in the fire. I did like how the author handled this. It’s spelled out factually and with emotion but it doesn’t drag or take over the story of Jake and Emma’s reunion. However, this brings me to what I struggled with. As Jake and Emma are rebuilding their relationship the author would introduce a topic or event and then take it office page only to come back after the fact leaving the reader to just accept what happened or that “something” happened but not having actually been a part of it. It was the weirdest thing as the reader to be involved only to a point and then turning the page expecting more only to find we’d jumped right past it. I found this difficult it took me out of the story and left me having to make assumptions. There is a fine line between being overly detailed and just skipping stuff altogether. In this case, less was definitely NOT more.

While we get the gist of what actually transpired the night of the fire I felt that I was still in the dark as to the details of why Jake’s dad forced him to cover for his older brother. We know it’s because of Jake’s brother, Carter who was 18 at the time, had a lot going for him and he was at a pivotal point in his life and all would have been lost for him if he’d come forward. He’d have been tried as an adult, where Jake being younger didn’t actually do hard time. But I needed the nitty gritty details, and we don’t get that yet. We know, too, that Carter is now very successful and has over the years made financial amends in secret, both for his brother as well as Emma and her sister Megan. I expect we’ll see more in future books, but the lack of explanation was frustrating.

Which brings me to secondary characters. Duke certainly does a good job of setting up the next book which I can only assume will be Carter and Megan’s book. Megan is another character I truly admired. Duke gives her a beautiful personality as she is not at all jaded by what happened to her. In spite of her injuries, she has come through with a zest for life and a beautiful spirit and outlook. Though a little shy and hesitant to trust, Megan is slowly coming out of her shell as she makes a life for herself in Juniper Hills.

We do not get to know Carter well, and only get glimpses of him through his conversations with Jake and Jake’s thoughts. But what we do see I did like. Though he allowed his brother to take the fall, I believed he truly regretted the circumstances and was just as much a victim in some ways as Jake was where their father was concerned. He is successful now, so his father’s plan worked out. He’s done what he could to help Jake along over the years, though there was no expectation on Jake’s side. I would have loved it if the author delved deeper into what really happened with the fire, but I imagine that will come out in Carter’s book. Though it isn’t spelled out in anyway, I got the feeling that Carter has been watching Megan from afar over the years and has made it his mission to make her life comfortable in any way he can. But I think that there is more to it even though I believe there is a bit of an age difference for them. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the author has plans for them.

So, interesting theme and good character setup, a little shy on details to win over the reader and truly draw them in. If Carter and Megan are next, I’ll definitely add to the TBR list.

WOW this is a great start to a new series Emma & Jake had me at page 1 . Out of tragedy can come something beautiful and Violet did an amazing job getting that across ., Join in as Emma & Jake come to terms with their past ...Can not wait till the next book . This one laid the foundation very well for Emma's sisters story and dare we say Jakes brother .

Very sweet and full of heart, ALL THERE IS brought me so many emotions. This second chance story of redemption was as heartbreaking as it was warming. Emma and Jake have spent 14yrs torturing themselves over something that neither had control over. Violet Duke kicked off her new Juniper Falls series in the best way, and I know I look forward to reading more about this quirky little town and its characters.

Absolutely loved this story! Violet Duke pulls you in through her characters and their interactions! I loved Emma from her first date app mishap, and through Emma and Jake working through their past situations and long-held feelings to a future together. I laughed! I cried! And I could not wait for them to figure out they belong together! Now I'm hoping the next book is Megan and Carter's story! Read this book! You'll be so glad you picked this up!!

Story about Jake and Emma who were still struggling with guilt. They were friends and neighbors growing up, and tragedy hit them. There is a lot of heartache, but eventually there is forgiveness and a chance at love.

I enjoyed this book, seeing two characters who were divide by tragedy from when they were younger be reunited and find happiness again. The book was a quick read and I would recommend it to others. I would love to read a book about Megan.

I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Violet Duke takes the downtrodden and not only turns their lives around, but she makes what could be a potentially horrible life and turns it into a beautiful story. When I pick up one of her novels I know not only do I get to read a great romance story, but I also get to read a great story period.

When Jake Rowan first enters Juniper Hills he is lovestruck by quaint, yet quirky town that is located in the heart of the Midwest. He plans to never leave, but that plan soon changes when he runs into the girl from his dreams and sadly his nightmares.

Fourteen years ago Emma was the girl next door. The girl who filled his every dream of young love. Unfortunately, when a fire burned her house down and took the life of her younger stepbrother both of their lives took a dramatic turn that changed their lives forever.

Emma Stevens never thought she'd see Jake again. Or hoped was more like it. Fourteen years ago she had quite a crush on the teenage boy next door, but then in a blink of an eye her life changed. A fire devastated and ripped apart everything she knew. Her girlish dreams went up in smoke and Jake along with them.

For the first time she was perfectly happy living in Juniper Hills where no one looked upon her or her sister with pity. She was not about to let Jake ruin her solitude of happiness. No matter how hot he looked all lumbersexual. And when did that happen?

The two have to work together to bury their past so they can decide if they have a future. With two families torn apart by grief and betrayal is their any hope to rebuild from something that sparked so long ago?

All There Is made me both laugh and cry. (P.S. there was a lot more laughing than crying) Jake and Emma is a couple that you can't help falling for, yet feel deeply that they both carry so much baggage from their past that they truly may never find a future together. I loved this book and all the emotions it brought out. I've also decided that the next town I move to better be exactly like Juniper Hills.

Second Chance at Love! Life can pull you in different directions but love can be found again with renewed friendships, forgiveness and hope. This is such a sweet, heart-warming story. I felt so much for the struggles of these characters. I couldn't put it down until I knew what happened. Highly recommended!!! I was gifted a copy of this book from NetGalley by the publisher and author. I am posting my honest review under no obligation.

OH MY GOSH, I had forgotten why I have loved Violet Duke’s writing. Then I read All There IS.
I absolutely love a good second chance at love romance….. But, this book, in my opinion, it was not totally such a book. It was more of a remember why you loved this person. My heart was in my throat so many times in this book. I understand having read this phenomenal book why Emma and Jake split apart, I truly do, but, I also knew from the very beginning, that they were meant for each other.
As a parent, I REALLY want to take Jake’s parents, especially, his so-called mother, and SLAM THEM UPSIDE THE HEAD. How could they do that to their very own son, and then not even to…. Sorry folks, I will not give ANYthing away. Let us just say, I almost threw my Kindle, I was so pissed at them, especially his “mom”.
Then there is Megan, and her strength. O. M. G. I so loved her as well. Is there a romance brewing…hmmm. Sorry, not giving anything away here either.
Now, I need to thank Montlake Publishing, for gifting me with a copy of this phenomenal book for my honest opinion.
Ladies, and Gentlemen, if you like to read romance, then this book is definitely for you. It is an emotional read, with a lot of hope and promise, with a dash of heartbreak. With a humungous HEA. Right, Peyton???
Thank you for reading my review. Now, what are you waiting for, go hit that One-Click button. You will not be disappointed.

Well Mrs.Violet has dont it again with writing a great but heart wreching book. There is so much emotion written in these pages you will feel it! This book blew me away and I can not wait for the next one. This author just wows me with her writing. I wish I could give it more stars!!

This book was amazing. I fell in love with these characters and the writing. This story was emotional but also had a bit of humor and a very sweet romance. The chemistry between these characters was fantastic. I love this book and highly recommend it!