This book has potential, and I'm sure there are readers out there who will love it. However, it wasn't for me, and that's okay.

I received an arc of this book from NetGalley for an honest review. I did not finish this book as I found the characters so unlikeable and not just one or two of them, but all of them.

I don't read a lot of YA but I have found myself on a reading streak of YA books. No matter what age you are it's a well told story that shows us what being a teen is really like now and grateful that I am past that stage. Entertaining and engaging. If you like well told YA books pick this up. Happy reading!

All the Invisible Things follows a girl named Vetty who is moving back to her hometown which she hasn’t been to since her mom passed away. She hasn’t seen her old best friend Pez since she moved away. Now the two of them reunite in the summer but Vetty can’t help jungle her feelings for his friend Rob, and his Girlfriend March.

This book was such an important book for me. It addressed so many topics in such a good way such as grief, figuring out your sexuality, mental health, and a porn addiction. It’s such a great coming of age story and was all done very well. I really appreciate how this book talks about topics no one else does. There were some subjects in here (the porn addiction for example) which I have never seen in any type of media anywhere, whether that’s books or TV, I’ve never seen it. It was so wonderful to see some of those subjects be explored and discussed. They were written so well.

I really connected with Pez’s story arc. I thought it was so well written and his story was told so well. All of his thoughts and feelings were so real. I really enjoyed reading about him.

Now if you’re going into this looking for a sweet romance, this is not that. There is more of a focus between the friendship that Pez and Vetty have which is honestly the best part of the book. I loved how they cared for one another and were there for each other in a totally platonic way. I really enjoyed the strong supportive relationship they had with one another. This book didn’t need a romance to be great.

Sometimes this book was a bit too sexual for my liking. There was no sex scenes but the characters talk quite extensively in a lot of detail about sex and masturbation. I’d more recommend this book to the older teen audience but just be aware of that going in.

What really lacked for me was my overall enjoyment of this book. I didn’t find myself really enjoying what I was reading even though I liked the topics it discussed. Once I hit the halfway point I flew through the rest of the story.

I also found some scenes didn’t make a lot of sense. The whole first scene when Pez and Vetty reunited was a lot of confusion and not realistic. I feel like when they first saw each other would be “hey! It’s been so long! What are you doing back here?” Which was not the right away response. I get that it’s a book and not everything needs to be realistic but when the book takes place in modern day and is about teenagers, I feel it should be more realistic.

Overall, I cannot stress how important this book is even if I didn’t enjoy it that much. I feel like this book does such a good job at talking about things no one talks about which is why it’s so important for people to read this book.

While this novel hits a lot of tropes - deceased parent, sexual confusion, love triangle - I never felt like I was reading something derivative or retreaded. For one, the novelty of the London setting drew me in, especially as an American reader. Additionally, Orlagh Collins creates so many different subplots and layers of story within Vetty's own life that there's something for everyone. Like sibling/sibling relationships? Covered. Like parent/sibling? Got that, too. Deep friendships? Maybe something more? Heck, even aunt/niece? All here. My lone gripe is that Vetty seems a bit naive, but this might be understandable given what she's trying to figure out. All told, I look forward to adding this to my bookshelf soon.

What a great read! This is definitely a book that needed to be written and something that will be so important to so many young and confused teens out there that need to be seen or heard. All the Invisible Things touches upon so many important topics and it made me feel so, so much in just a few hundred pages.

I will say that I think I went into this book with expectations that weren't exactly met. I thought this book would be this deep but yet romantic love story about a girl named Vetty who was figuring out her sexuality and falling in love with her best friend's girlfriend and there would be this super angsty (and yet sweet) romance between them. And that's really not the case here.

Yes: this book is about a girl named Vetty and she is figuring out her sexuality and she does have a crush on her best friend's kinda girlfriend. but

No: this is not a romance. And really, there's no romance at all nor is there a f/f sweet and yet angsty romance.

This book is more about Vetty's journey to coming back home four years after her mother passed away. It's about her trying to come to terms with who she is, with how things have changed since her mom died and how people (Pez) have changed since she last saw him. It's about depression, and addiction and sex and love and family and feeling like there's never quite enough of you to give and yet so much of you that you want to share so that you can be there for the people you care about.

It's a beautiful book and one that I think many will love. I would definitely recommend this book to any and all readers but this is especially a book I think is important for high schoolers to read.

4.5 Stars

From the start, All the Invisible Things, Orlagh Collin's young adult novel, sucked me in and wouldn't let me go.

There's a while lot going on for all the characters. Vetty is struggling; with grief, with being home again, with trying to figure out who she is, and coming to terms with her new found feelings for both a girl and a boy.

Her friends Pez is also struggling, not able to be himself with anyone since Vetty moved away. Meanwhile, Vetty's younger sister is dealing with growing up without her mother.

The theme, of dealing with our invisible truths, is set amidst the background of sexuality, grief, and mental health issues. The author illustrates the struggles of discovering our truths, the pain of secretly dealing with these truths, and the fear caused by these truths. It's amazingly relatable, as all people have trouble dealing with their self discoveries at times. I appreciate the manner in which all of this is explored.

The author impresses in this coming to age novel. The characters are well developed, and the internal monologue of Vetty is written in an excellent manner. Full of twists and turns, I struggled to guess how it would end. I do struggle with some of the dialogue though, as I find it awkward with too many "he says," "she says." Other than that, it's fantastic.

One thing that is missing for me is the conflict with Pez liking March, as I never felt strong feelings between Pez and March. Yet, in the end, I am ok with that too.

All The Invisible Things is a remarkable young adult novel. I definitely recommend this story for anyone looking for an honest exploration of the struggles of being a teenager. Orlagh Collins excels in this interpretations of struggling within a world so firmly set on establishing labels.