Thanks to Candlewick Press for providing an ARC of Everything I Thought I Knew in exchange for an honest reviews.

Books about multi universe? The best.

Everything I Thought I Knew is contemporary with a twist. It's the possibility of being realistic fic mixed with the possibility of being fantasy and I loved it for it.

I don't think I can say much about what I loved about this book without spoiling it because its honestly so unique that everything feels like a spoiler but this book is universally good. I was hesitant to get into it in the beginning but please, please, please, finsih reading it the ending is absolutely beautiful.

I'd definitely recommend this. (it comes out in october so let the countdown begin)

Okay so when I first started this book I honestly didn’t remember the premise of it and I was a bit confused. The writing style at first seemed a bit choppy but once I got into the Main Character’s head it all sort of flowed naturally. It happened pretty quickly so it wasn’t too big of a deal. When I started the book I thought it would just be a solid 3 but something happened in the book that just blew my mind. I honestly had no idea what to expect from the book and was pleasantly surprised!

I’m a sucker for blending sci fi and medicine together so I definitely was intrigued by this idea. I really enjoyed seeing Chloe’s inner mind as she went through this sudden change in her life and then had to deal with repercussions of all the changes. It was a unique way to make it a coming-of-age story but also not have that be the complete focus of the story.

I loved the relationship she forges with her new friends in summer school as well as the relationship with Kai. I’m a sucker for fun character relationships so this was definitely a win!

I can’t really talk about everything that happens in this book without spoiling anything, but I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants something that isn’t completely contemporary but isn’t completely sci-fi either. If you like surfing, motorcycles and tattoos with hidden meanings, making new friends and learning to adapt to change this is the book for you! If you enjoy a little bit of romance with a side of mystery and contemporary, you should definitely pick this up!

A heart-wrenchingly beautiful story. This book will make you question your beliefs, make you believe in the impossible and will make you fall in love with the characters, all at the same time. Chloe, a seventeen year old girl, had to get a heart transplant after she found out that she had ARVD. This is her story of how she came to terms with having someone else's heart beating in her chest, how she fell in love, how she started believing in the impossible. This is a story that deals with friendship, love, loss, and a whole lot of what-ifs. I generally don't like science fiction but this book made me fall in love with science.
If you love to read YA books (with a bit of sci-fi) that will make you ugly-cry then this is the book for you. This book will give you the feels, make your heart beat faster and make you question everything about the universe that you thought you knew.
Personally, I fell in love with Chloe and Kai, fell in love with the waves and fell in love with the book.

I could see the big twist coming a mile away, but it still hit me straight in the feels.
Takaoka really delves into all the complicated feelings that (I'm sure) come along with such a momentous life event as a heart transplant and is not afraid to really get out there with the unexplainable. It leads to some truly emotional moments that made Chloe a relatable and engaging character.
This is truly a poignant read that left me thinking about what makes a person who they are and what lives beyond us.

I enjoyed it. It wasn't your typical teenage Rance and I appreciated that. The characters are as realistic as they can be.

Absolutely wrenching. Jesus I can't believe how fast I sped through this. It reminds me most of Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center in terms of catharsis and healing. Really original and engaging.

Thank you publisher and netgalley for the early copy. I was not able to read this title because it did not have way to send the title to my kindle. I was looking forward to checking it out.

Everything I Thought I Knew was a fast, fun, and compulsively readable book. Chloe, who recently got a heart transplant, keeps experiencing strange memories that don’t belong to her, specifically driving and crashing a motorcycle, seeing a dying woman in a bed, and seeing a gray pit bull. Despite being a cautious, studious girl prior to the heart transplant, she’s started taking more risks, like taking surfing lessons with Kai, a guy she’s slowly falling for.

Chloe as a character was relatable: she was very intelligent and calculating, and her anger and sadness at not being able to experience her senior year of high school and freshman year of college like all of her friends was heartbreaking and realistic.

The theory of cellular memory is very interesting to me, but I’ve only read one other book about it (This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis). I’d recommend this book to anyone who liked This Darkness Mine, although this book is a bit less high-stakes and significantly less frightening/disturbing.

All in all, this was a really fun read (albeit sad at some points), and explored both cellular memory and parallel universes.

The tears are still drying on my cheeks while I write this review. I don't even want to say too much because I feel like going in without knowing too much is the best way to go into the book--it was an emotional journey of me lunging at my screen yelling NOOOO and then sitting back with a sniffle and appreciating how beautiful the unfolding plot events were. I wish I could invent time travel and give this to high school me while she was applying to colleges and thinking about the universe.

High school senior Chloe has been through a lot the past few months. In fact, she's in summer school and unable to graduate with her friends because she missed the final semester of her senior year because she was recovering from a heart transplant.

Things should be better now. She has her new heart, she's made a new friend in summer school and she's been getting surfing lessons from a cute guy named Kai. But there's other things going on too. Weird things. She's having weird, reoccurring nightmares, and hallucinations. Or, are they hallucinations? Maybe these things are really happening. Maybe, they're related to her new heart. In an attempt to figure out what's going on, Chloe and her new friend from summer school Jane, set out to find out who her donor is.

I thought I knew where this book was going. As I was reading the book, I was mentally taking notes in my head about what I was going to say in this review. I was completely prepared to write that while I really enjoyed the book, I guessed what the twisted ending was. But, I was wrong! I spent most of the book thinking I knew what the ending would be, but I guessed wrong. I was super surprised. Overall, this book was a little creepier than I thought it would be, but I enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review. This review will be posted on Goodreads and my blog two weeks before the publication date.

This book - wow. This is everything I wanted from a YA contemporary. I bloody loved it.

This book follows Chloe, who has a heart defect and after a life-changing surgery, she starts to see traits in herself she never had before. For example, she starts to love surfing when she never did before. She recognises people she knows she hasn't met.

I haven't read anything in a while that made me feel so many different emotions at once. For a start, Shannon's writing is an easy and enjoyable read. I found myself really immersed from the get-go and I thought Chloe was a really likeable character. The concept of the plot was what drew me to this book initially and I was kept guessing throughout. I liked how the reader went on this journey alongside Chloe and she didn't have all the answers just like that.
I thought the romance was sweet and I could believe in it which I have found hard in a lot of the romances I have read recently, however, this book is so much more than the romance. I think the message behind this book is very powerful and I believe this will be impactful for a lot of young YA readers.

Overall, a fab book with a clear message and a sweet romance. I would definitely recommend!
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is just so heartbreaking.
I don't even know what to say. The story was perfect. I just want to cry okay. The character of chole was just way to good for the world. She recovering and falling in love and the end just got to me.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka.

Chloe is an active seventeen year old with her eyes firmly set on her future. But her body has other plans, and while running in cross country, collapses and ends up in the hospital. She needs a new heart, and the entire course of her life changes.

Now that she's got a new heart, she begins having visions and memories that don't belong to her. She also has new interests, a reckless side, a desire to be a daredevil against her doctor's advice. She also meets someone, someone who will end up meaning more to her than she ever could have imagined.

If I was a teen girl, this book would have had me sobbing, is all I have to say. It was unexpected in so many ways, and just the perfect romantic YA indulgence. Very sweet and real without being too overly gooey. I can't say much more than that without spoiling it.

This beautifully written novel feels like staying up all night with your new best friend while she tells you her life story. The storytelling is dreamy, and magic weaves through the plot, yet this book realistically captures what it's like to question everything and have to find yourself again after a major upheaval.

An intriguing, meditative mix of scientific and metaphysical musing and vivid sensory details. I enjoyed living inside Chloe's head, whether she was speculating on the existence of multiple realities or considering the changes to her high-achieving lifestyle after a near-death experience. The sense of place was so vivid at times I could smell the salt in the air and feel the waves during her clandestine surfing lessons.
This is a story that sneaks up on you, and will keep readers talking well after they turn the last page. Especially recommended for fans of brain-bending movies that play with the nature of reality, or anyone grappling with the sudden disruption of the life they imagined.

I was really excited by the premise of this book and enjoyed this as a quick YA contemporary read. The romance was okay but predictable. The characters weren't incredibly well developed but weren't 1 dimensional either. There was some internal conflict which I enjoyed and I do feel like Chloe grew up a bit as the book went on. However, the whole "twist" at the end felt a little left field and made the overall book less believable. I was on board with the idea of cellular memories, but that is not what we got. I also felt like some of the actions that Chloe did (reckless driving of a motorcycle, getting a tattoo underage [although if she's in summer school after senior year, I was confused about how she was only 17]. undersaged drinking) all seemed to have no real consequences for Chloe, which felt like she was getting a pass because of her medical condition or something. Overall, I didn't love this book, but thought that it was okay.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was definitely an interesting idea and I loved the exploration of the concept of cellular memory, but honestly, I felt like the plot (and other things) was just not there. It kind of felt like the story just started and ended, and everything in the middle was just the in-between part. 

     I also have huge issues with a lot of the things that were presented as normal in Everything I Thought I Knew. A 17-year-old girl drinking, doing drugs, illegally driving a motorcycle, getting a tattoo, as well as cursing a butt-ton should not be presented as normal or okay or somehow better than keeping your stuff together, although I think all those things occurring made it that much more powerful when Chloe decided she wasn't gonna do dumb things and waste her second chance at life. And I really just don't know how to feel about the whole thing with Kai. We're gonna give this a two and a half out of five stars.

I had the pleasure of reading and ARC of this book, and it truly blew me away.

The story is woven together beautifully, the characters are richly crafted, and the conflict kept me up late so I could finish this in one sitting. I was invested from the beginning because of the voice and lyrical prose. The main character's journey to understand who she is after a transplant may not be something everyone has experienced, but the questioning of who you are - especially in senior year - is a story many will relate too.

This also does an excellent job of bringing to light the enormous pressure the educational system puts on students as they prepare for a top ranked school. As an educator, I think this is a particularly valuable story for reminding students that no one has it all together, and it is okay to ask questions and second guess the plan you've made.

It's hard to give more details without treading into spoiler territory, but this is one book you will not want to miss.


*I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.