4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Love stories and breakups in fiction usually revolve around romantic love, but what about that deep platonic love? Friendships are deep and last years, but what happens when they're over? Society and media don't really explore what happens when friendships end. This book flips the script and tells the story of best friends breaking up.

Chloe is our protagonist. At first, her love for Shakespeare is so cringy because what high schooler likes Shakespeare? Usually, one forced to read Romeo Juliet, Hamlet, or Macbeth but Chloe knows her stuff. Her dad is a librarian in New York City, which explains her deep love and knowledge of literature. He walks on water to Chloe, but she learns reality doesn't always meet expectations.

Our conflict with the falling out between Chloe and Layla, who started out the year as best friends. We have two parallel timelines: one where Layla is still friends with Chloe and another where they're not speaking. The mystery is the inciting incident that caused the two to split. When the timelines converge the focus becomes: how does one move on?

This is a heartwarming and heartbreaking read. It's a book that I recommend for younger humans, especially. Adults can enjoy this too, but it may pull on our older heartstrings a bit more.

This book is about a friendship that split up, new friendships and relationship.

This book was good but I couldn't see myself being the main character so while reading the book I was angry with certain choices Cleo made. I had to take breaks while reading this because I couldn't read this book without being angry.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think all teenage girls need to read this. It is such a good story about starting over. It has great pacing and the writing style was lovely. I look forward to more from this author.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I didn't expect this book to be good. It is well-written, the characters are so vivid, like, I was reading a real story. It's heartbreaking that a friendship can be broken so easily.

A beautiful tribute to the changes in friendship and letting go. Loved this one. Cleo describes losing a friend as a break up and boy isn’t that true. It feels like you’re missing a piece of yourself.

A YA contemporary novel that teens and adults can both enjoy. When You Were Everything explores teenage friendship and the dissolution of such friendships. Cleo's story felt real, honest, and raw. I feel many teens will relate to her story.

It's weird that there aren't more stories about friend breakups because they can be just as (if not more) traumatic than a romantic breakup. This is the story about a misunderstanding that crops up between two best friends. One thing leads to another and the simple misunderstanding balloons into a rift that neither girl can get over.

This is a story about growing up, friendships, broken hearts, and teenage drama. It's about letting go and moving on. So many things change as we grow up—friends, friendships, and ourselves. This book takes a look at the growing pains experienced by teens as they go through these changes and have to deal with the fallout.

If you're looking for a good book about female friendship, friend breakups, and growing up, check this book out. It's well written and will keep you emotionally invested in the story the whole way through.

This is a poignant tale of loss, friendship, and self-awareness. I felt every bit of Cleo's pain and grief as she deals with the loss of her grandmother, her best friend, and her family. Cleo may not have made the best decisions, but her reactions to what was happening in her life felt authentic and I love that she decided to make new memories in the places that bought her painful memories. This book broke my heart and I enjoyed every minute of it!

This book brought back a lot of feelings for me. I think almost everyone has a friend that they either drifted away from (as is in my case) or something major happened to tear them apart (like with Cleo and Layla in this novel.) This novel really shows how important and heartbreaking friendship break-ups can be. How they can be just as devastating as a romantic relationship break-up can be. I believe it can even be more devastating sometimes.

Cleo was so beautifully human. She makes mistakes and learns a lot about herself during this book. She realizes she made mistakes in her and Layla’s friendship and that she has to take some responsibility for why their friendship ends.

I wanted to like Layla so bad, but I didn’t. Maybe if this book had been in her POV we could have seen why she changed so much, but it wasn’t. I feel like she is a gossip and is really bad at keeping people’s business to herself.

I absolutely LOVED Dom. I feel like so often, especially in contemporary YA books, male love interests are so boring. A lot of the time we don’t really get to know them, so their characters fall a little flat. That is certainly not the case with Dom. He was really awesome and I really liked getting to know him. I think it helps that Cleo and his relationship isn’t a focal point of the story (they don’t actually become romantic until the very end of the novel.) This story is really about Cleo and Layla.

I loved watching Cleo, Sydney, and Willa become friends. It was a really nice juxtaposition to Cleo and Layla’s friendship. Friendships are never going to look the same and that was one of the really great lessons in this book.

Another amazing lesson in the book is that Cleo has to learn that her parents are just human, like everyone else. She idolizes her dad and she has to learn the hard way that he doesn’t always do the right thing, just like her. This is a lesson that a lot of people have to learn while growing up.

I did get a little annoyed with all the high school drama, but I think that’s just my age speaking. That and because I spent a lot of my own high school days either sick at home or in a hospital so I never really had to deal with teenage girl angst. It’s all a little bit much for me.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I think it’s an excellent read.

What happens when a friendship you thought you'd have forever breaks up? That is what When You Were Everything explores in brutal honesty and fabulous realism. And it's something that I imagine everyone can relate to. The loss of someone important to you, the grief of moving on without them. Cleo never thought she'd have to move on from Layla. Layla had been like a sister to Cleo ever since Cleo lost her beloved grandmother.

The author tells the story through dual timelines. We're with Cleo in the present, as she tries to rebuild her life without Layla, and we get glimpses of what lead to the demise of their friendship. The whole story felt so honest. Layla started hanging out with a new group of girls who, frankly, aren't very nice. Cleo is hurt, and acts out a bit. And it all devolves from there, in ways I won't tell you because I don't want to spoil it.

But the gist is, Cleo has to find out who Cleo is. Without a person she thought would always be there for her, but on her own. She needs to figure out what sort of friend she wants to be, what sort of daughter she wants to be, and perhaps what kind of partner she wants to be. At first, Cleo tries to rewrite her memories- literally make new ones of the places and things she enjoys without Layla in them. But we know this is unsustainable, but Cleo must figure that out.

As she continues her journey, she has the love and support of her parents, and there are a lot of family elements in the book as well. She also will meet a lot of new people who could be potential friends (or maybe more!) but Cleo needs to relearn how to let people in. That is so hard, and it's a lesson we all need to hear once in a while.

Bottom Line: Cleo's story is a powerful tale of love and loss and finding oneself again. When You Were Everything is perfect for anyone who has ever experienced a loss- that is to say, every one of us.

I received an advanced copy of When You Were Everything from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Layla and Cleo have were absolutely inseparable- the perfect friendship- right up until they broke apart. After Layla finds new friends and becomes more distant, their friendship crumbles into anger and regrets, leaving Cleo to pick up the pieces. This proves to be more difficult that she would have initially thought, though, when she begins to realize just how intertwined their lives had become. Desperate to forget Layla, she begins to work to create new memories to replace the old ones that seem unsalvageable. When Cleo is assigned to tutor Layla in English, however, she realizes that distance might be more difficult to find that she had initially expected.

You can get your copy of When You Were Everything today from Delacorte Press!

Ashley Woodfolk has written an amazing contemporary novel in When You Were Everything! The way she writes her characters makes them seem more like complete humans rather than ideas on a page. I really loved how she wrote in alternating time lines, giving readers a chance to understand how the friendship was so that they comprehend the place that Cleo and Layla are in now. Also, this cover is absolutely gorgeous, so I really couldn’t resist requesting this book!

My Recommendation-
If you prefer stories that focus on friendship with romance as a side-plot, the When You Were Everything would be a great pick! This book deals with the struggles people feel when faced with major changes, and capture those emotions very succinctly. If you loved books by Ibi Zoboi or Jason Reynolds, you’ll love Ashley Woodfolk! Additionally, if you have been looking to support more authors of color, Ashley Woodfolk’s books are wonderful choices!

Wow. This was so good. I loved all the characters and the writing style was amazing. I went through so many emotions while reading this. I cant wait to see more from this author. I will definitely be buying a physical copy when I can!

Cleo has been best friends with Layla forever, but as sophomores when Layla becomes active in the high school chorus their friendship breaks apart. Cleo’s parents have divorced as well. This is a culturally diverse high school story in which Cleo slowly learns that people aren’t either good or bad. She learns that people are fallible but can be good people. She learns not to live in the past, but to accept what is there. Told in first person, this is a richly detailed story told by Cleo herself.

If you are a fan of emotional, diverse YA Contemporaries, this one is right up your alley! 

It's one of those books that hits you as their friendship is explored, all the ins and outs, the good and bad. The author did a great job in writing such a beautiful, relatable book that takes you back to your school days. 

I gave this one 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it!

A really complex book dealing with a friend break up that makes you feel for the character. I really appreciated how the story was told in multiple timelines, so that we could understand the friendship more.

This book broke me!
For once a book that addresses the complexities of friendships. Across cultures. During high school.
Where romance isn’t the main focus, although can we get a sequel cause i want to know more about Dom and Cleo lol!
Anyway, the writing of this book is amazing. It’s also a book that i would pair with reading of Shakespeare. It really highlights the main themes of the plays.

I related so much to Cleo. I too hid away in books. Wore thick glasses. Didn’t really have friends. Was left out to dry. Saw my family torn apart by divorce.

I think Woodfolk does an incredible job of telling an important story that should be told and needed to be told.
There is strong character development. Just enough suspense. The plot lines and switching between past and present is seamless. Beautiful.

I WEPT!

As a fan of The Beauty That Remains, Woodfolk's debut, I feel so grateful to be given the chance to review this book early as Ashley Woodfolk is an author I adore. In her sophomore novel, she tackles the topics of divorce and platonic relationships. Friendship heartbreak and break-ups are such a common topic that happens to anyone of any age. Personally, I've had my fair share of friendships ending in the worst ways especially throughout my time in high school. So, I'm thankful for the story of Cleo and Layla.

Told through Then & Now, we follow Cleo's perspective as she is trying to make new memories in place of her old ones to seal the wound her ex-best friend, Layla has given her. Cleo learns a lot about herself while she grieves the loss of her childhood friend who she parts ways with from an unexpected turn of events. I was cheering for her, tbh.

I just love Ashley's writing and her characters. You will swoon over Dominick Grey and his smoothness. You'll want to eat a Dolly's diner just to see Lolly and Pop. Woodfolk writes their stories with such depth. I devoured this book! I wanted to punch Sloane as much as Cleo. Sloane made Cleo's life a living hell, which is the case for those who are bullied during their high school career. Layla's comments and her language toward Cleo, her once best-friend made me RAGE. But, Cleo stood tall and was so brave throughout the hardships she faced. Cleo was such a complex character to read about. I loved how passionate she was about London, her collection of snow globes and her love for Shakespeare. I loved reading about her daily subway routine and the places she visited in her hometown of New York. As well as the jazz artists she would listen to through her headphones.

I didn't give this the full 5-star rating mainly because I felt like some things could've been developed more. But, that's just me being picky.

As I already mentioned, I devoured this book and I recommend it to everyone. At times it felt like a Brandy Colbert novel, so I would recommend it to fans of Brandy Colbert. But, as someone who loves grief in their stories, Ashley Woodfolk nailed it again.

When You Were Everything left me feeling raw and vulnerable in the best way. Some parts of it were painful to face because they rang so true. People grow apart and grow in opposite directions of each other, and sometimes you can adapt, but sometimes the relationship is changed forever. I loved that while this book had an adorable romance that forced Cleo to confront her assumptions about people and her own tendencies to romanticize everyone and everything, the main focus was on Cleo's relationship with Layla and her journey to self-growth. It's important to find your people and hold onto them, but it's also important to give people space to grow, even if it's away from you, because otherwise we get stuck. In Cleo's case, that means getting stuck in the worst version of herself for a while. It's a hard truth to realize that relationships are a two-way street and you can't put all of the blame on one person, and while reading about how Cleo and Layla's friendship slowly falls apart piece by piece hurt in a way I didn't expect, it was one of those cathartic experiences similar to a good long cry.

This book was simultaneously captivating and hard to read. Romantic break ups get a lot of attention, but people rarely think about platonic break ups between best friends. Ashley Woodfolk really captured the essence of high school--and the high/low drama that can come with it.

One of the things that kept me from giving this book 5 stars is that I'm not sure the main character, Cleo, really learned her lesson at the end of the day. I won't go into spoilers, but she did a pretty shitty thing and I never fully felt a sense of remorse from her, which just made me feel kind of icky. As much as I wanted to be on her side (because, yes, Layla was also a bad friend to her), there were a couple things I couldn't look past.

There was one plot point/plot twist that happens partway through the book that also kind of made me roll my eyes (it seemed...very far fetched). It didn't necessarily detract from the book, but it also didn't really feel necessary to me.

However, I really loved a lot of what this book brought to the table. It had loads of diversity, I loved Cleo's obsession with oldie music and Shakespeare, I loved the discussion of finding and making new friends. The relationship was very cute and I was all about it. Overall, there was definitely a lot more that I enjoyed than not. I think Ashley Woodfolk captures high school feelings so well and I'll definitely pick up more of her backlist titles soon!

<em>When You Were Everything</em> was stunning in the way that I wish I had this in high school. It tells the story of a relationship falling apart; first there's the drifting, then the simmering resentment, and then the explosion. Cleo Baker watches all of this firsthand, and sets off on mission impossible: erase Layla Hassan from her memory by rewriting history. But that's easier said than done because for Cleo and Layla, it's always been <em>Y.O.E.</em> - <em>you over everything.</em> Not to mention all the other things happening, both good and bad, that Cleo desperately wants to tell Layla, but just can't. In this story, Cleo shows us just how difficult that process is, and how we might be able to make it just a tiny bit better.

I'm gonna tell you now, the social psychologist in me jumped out a lot while I was reading this book, so you can just skip this section if you don't really care for relationship analyses. Watching the start of the fallout between Cleo and Layla was interesting and almost a little nostalgic for semi-adult me, and absolutely heartbreaking for teenage me. It all starts with Layla slowly getting pulled into the Chorus Girls group, which leaves Cleo to settle for bits and pieces of Layla to avoid having <em>nothing</em>. The drifting stage comes with all of these inner complexities that we rarely recognize for ourselves, not that we'd ever really want to. So much of navigating our relationships is <em>hoping</em> that other people will just magically be able to read our minds - I want Layla to choose me over them, but I want <em>her</em> to want that, too. So instead of telling her (out of fear that people will see her as the "controlling" type), Cleo lets these feelings build up, all the while, Layla's perceptions could be totally different. The truth is, we never know what someone is thinking unless they tell us, and it works the other way around, too.

Another thing that I added to the list of things I would've told little me was that growing apart sucks, and more often than not, trying to prevent it is worse than letting it happen. As they're slowly growing apart, Cleo and Layla find themselves hurting each other in these tiny, microaggression type ways, but it's worse because they know each other better than anybody, and it only adds fuel to the fire. It was such a beautifully written scenario not only because both of them have so many opportunities and so much history/ammo to hurt each other in these little ways, but also because logically, they're both right (or wrong, if you wanna look at it that way). Layla wants Cleo to be happy for her, and Cleo wants Layla to care just a little bit more. In short, it's better to just not have friends (this is 110% a <strong>joke</strong>, find your people, I promise they are out there for you). In all seriousness, I loved reading about this process because not only was it comforting to know that shit happens, but it was also exactly what I'd need if I were in that situation.

In addition to dealing with best friend break-ups, <em>When You Were Everything</em> is about how to let new people in, which is especially hard after getting hurt by one of the people who loved you most. In trying to overwrite her memories with Layla, Cleo meets Dom and Sydney - a gorgeous boy and a cool, outgoing gal, AKA everything she needs right now. But as soon as the smallest bit of doubt creeps in, Cleo's instinct is to run. You know, leave before they can hurt me kinda thing. While it is a defense mechanism (usually pretty effective), it can sometimes do more harm than good. Cleo learns that relationships are a choice. People <em>choose</em> you, and it's okay to think that you don't deserve them, but you don't get to just ignore the fact that people want to make an effort.

Another thing I loved was that while there was a bit of high school romance with Dom, I don't think it took center stage. This really was such an amazing story about friendship and navigating the social world and that's hard enough. I think people forget that relationships are more than just romantic ones, and that platonic and familial relationships also take work and communication, and they can hurt just as bad.

Although this was about friendships falling apart, I think it was also about growing apart in general. Sometimes we want different things and who we used to be doesn't work for who we become, and I think the ending was particularly genius because it showcases how (sometimes) even after all the nasty words and what seems like miles between them, you can still wish the best for people who no longer choose you.