Most girls I know went through a Nancy Drew/Harriet the Spy/insert your favorite preteen girl sleuth here phase, and All the Little Hopes catapults us straight into the middle of Lucy Brown’s. With her new adoptive sister, Allie Bert Tucker, she sets out to solve the mysteries of her small North Carolina town during World War II. The town is also about to play host to a camp for German POWs, and tension is running high.

I found Bert to be the more interesting narrator, but the perspective of each girl is necessary for moving the story forward. A solid choice for historical fiction on the American homefront of World War II.

Times are tough, and the boys have all gone to war. Two young girls are left in rural North Carolina to find their way and discover things about themselves as well.

What a heartbreaking story. Lucy and Allie Bert are charming and beautiful characters in this story of mystery, family, friendship, and growing up during a time when the world was at war with enemies everywhere. I laughed at the girls’ antics and cried during their heartbreak. What a wonderful story!

This was my first book by Leah Weiss and I can guarantee it won't be my last. I can't wait to pick up her previous title after getting this delightful taste of her writing. Wow, what a stunning read!

Here's what I loved about this book:

1) The rich and honest writing and storytelling. I found myself so immersed and invested and truly unable to put this one down.
2) The unique storyline. A story of friendship, bees, and books! I thought the author presented and wove this story in such a wonderful way. The historical fiction genre is heavily saturated and often I come across a story that feels like something I've already read before. That simply was not the case here.
3) The short chapters. I really enjoyed the reading experience and how her choice to keep the chapters choice enhanced the power the story held.
4) The vivid picture of life in the South that was painted through the characters and setting. It was a world I appreciated being immersed in.
5) Lastly, the characters! They were so unique, even quirky, and jumped right off the pages. I loved coming alongside them here.

As you can tell. this was a winner for me and a read I'll be highly recommending for my fellow historical fiction fans!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the gifted e-copy!

I don’t know who told me about this book but I’m so happy to have read it. It pulls together my love of southern fiction, history and coming of age.
Two young girls, unlikely to have met come together in this book, take on a mystery in this tale, Lucy and Allie Bert are curious and when a man goes missing and in this slow summer full of bees and the curious influx of German Prisoners they strike out to uncover the truth.
I really enjoyed this one.

There was just a tremendous amount of heart in this book. I liked how authentic the characters felt and how they were portrayed so effectively. I felt that this book was more of an experience in many ways. I could feel and sense all things southern while reading it. I would definitely like to read more about these characters from after the war and hope that the author considers this. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley. This was a great read.

I am a lover of historical fiction and was pulled in by this title ever since reading the synopsis. This book did not disappoint me - it was very good! Lucy and Bert were absolute delights to follow as they used their sleuthing skills in an attempt to discover exactly what is going on with the missing men in the town. I will say that the story dragged at times, resulting in a docked star, but overall I did thoroughly enjoy it and would recommend it. The plot was unique and the writing was stellar, I just wish the pace had been a little quicker for my liking!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Great read, loved reading the characters grow and the story was really great and touching.

This was a good not great book. Nice coming of age story. The writing was good and pacing was too. I enjoyed it.

I really loved this coming of age story set in during WWII and the uncertainty of the times. Not knowing the fate of your loved ones sent off to war must have been (and still is) a horrible way to live. I had no idea there were POW camps in the US during WWII. I knew of internment camps and also the POW camps during the Civil War. So it was fascinating to read about that aspect of the book and to look up more on it after finishing. Great job by the author on her historical research!

Rare is it to find a book that makes you fall in love with ALL the characters, but this one does. Lucy and Bert become great friends, and that relationship is built nicely. But you also get the whole Brown family, the eccentric aunt, and many more. I also enjoyed the "mystery" of the missing men and felt the author tied that up nicely. I did not have a clue who was behind it, so that was a real surprise!

I would recommend we purchase this at my library, but we already have! I will be sure to recommend it to patrons.

Based around the friendship between two young girls, Leah Weiss has encaptured the effects of WWII on a small backwater in the Carolinas. Allie Bert Tucker " Bert" is sent away by her father after the death of her mother in childbirth and is deeply affected by this, she feels unloved, unwanted and their is drawn to the love in Lucy's family environment.

I feel it draws similarities to "To kill a Mockingbird " amongst the great and dust of the Tobacco fields. They become fascinated with the Prisoner of War camp placed in their vicinity and two prisoners working on their farm, a missing man and a murder. A different take on the period in question and well worth a read.

Thanks to Netgalley the author and publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Lucy Brown, 13, like children and adults alike across the United States in 1943, is experiencing the effects of the war. Both her brother and her brother-in-law are serving overseas and so is the neighbor boy down the road. Her parents have just gotten a huge contract from the war department for their honey and beeswax, meaning they will be flush with sugar which will be used to make sugar water for the bees. (Think honey-making on steroids). Plus the family will be a bit safer from the rural poverty that much of the South was feeling. On the unfathomable edge between childhood and adulthood, Lucy loves large words and Nancy Drew mysteries, but still clings to the old country tales her Oma used to tell. Reading, books, and stories are favorite activities for her whole large family, something Lucy takes for granted. But then Bert Tucker, a barely literate mountain girl sent to care for an ailing aunt, becomes part of the Brown family; and the two teens become bosom buddies, bent on trying to make sense of what is happening around them. And much is happening -- the disappearance of three "bad" men, a strange virulent flu that attacks the family, the creation of a German POW camp, followed by the POW's becoming workers on the farm.
Nancy Drew would be proud of the ingenuity, doggedness, and in the end, the compassion the two girls possess. Told from alternating viewpoints, this novel excels at capturing the differences in the girls' personalities and thinking. Leah Weiss also does a superb job of incorporating small details of the time, capturing both time and place. For example, playing marbles is practically a lost art today, but it was a pastime probably every kid of the 40's loved. Weiss uses marbles to show how the POW's and the townspeople began accepting and respecting each other. As I read the descriptions of the marbles and their history, my mind wandered back to the huge collection of cats' eyes and other marble beauties that my brother treasured in the 50's. I received a copy of this title from Netgalley. All opinions are mine.

all the things I love - Southern Historical fiction + coming of age + good writing.

All the Little Hopes is the story of Bert as she is welcomed into Lucy's family in 1940's North Carolina. I enjoyed reading about good people but I also liked that it wasn't overly wholesome. There is definitely some grit which made it a worthwhile read.

Set in North Carolina during WWII, All the Little Hopes by author Leah Weiss is a beautiful coming-of-age story of two young girls, Bert (Allie Bert) and Lucy. Bert has grown up in the mountains and was sent by hr father to live with her aunt but her aunt’s mental health is deteriorating and she is becoming increasingly volatile. When Bert meets Lucy, the daughter of a fairly prosperous farmer, they quickly become best friends despite the differences between them and soon she is living with them, not just as a friend but, under the warmth and wisdom of her ‘adopted’ mother, a part of the family.

The story alternates between the different voices and points of view of the two girls and it follows them from their meeting in 1941 to the end of the war. It is a rare writer who can make children seem real - Stephen KIng is one and Leah Weiss is clearly another - the girls have distinct and complex personalities. They argue frequently and, especially in the case of Lucy, display petty jealousy occasionally but their friendship never falters. They also show an adventurous side and I quite enjoyed their attempts to solve a mystery just like Nancy Drew.. Along with the girls, there are many other well-drawn characters who help to move the story along.

All the Little Hopes gives a finely drawn portrait of a particular time and place and I couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters and the details of life in war time, in sickness, and in grief, drawing the reader into the story completely.. There is also a mystery that runs through it, the solution of which is somewhat bittersweet but fitting. This is a wonderfully written story of the joy and strength of friendship and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley & Source Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review<i/i>

I really enjoyed All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss. I will be looking for more by this author. Five stars.

Somewhere between 2.5 - 3 stars

I adored this authors previous novel so much that I didn’t even read this synopsis before requesting this book on NetGalley because I felt so connected to the authors writing. Unfortunately this didn’t work out the way I had hoped and expected.

This book started off strong! I felt an immediate investment. I liked the young characters and the southern roots to the story. There were several heartwarming scenes. I enjoyed the theme of family loyalty and how families don’t have to mean blood relatives.

My connection slowly started to dwindle after the first quarter where I felt the story lost direction. The author tried to take on too many topics leaving none of them fully explored. Childhood loss, family bonds, WWII, young soldiers hopeful families, bee keepers, witch doctors, domestic violence, mental illness, coming-of-age, sexual assault, and the list goes on…it was too much and I lost interest. I also found the plot lacked flow and jumped around without a smooth transition.

Overall, there were some endearing characters with heartfelt scenes, but the novel failed to keep me engrossed. I highly recommend picking up this authors previous novel, If The Creek Don’t Rise, rather than this one.

Thank you Sourcebooks for the digital review copy!

Okay, so this book is one of those books that are character driven, which means it doesn't have the traditional plot, it follows the life of one (or more) character and let the reader have a kind of an intimate link with the characters.
My problem? I wasn't invested in the characters one bit, they were so bland and exceptionally uninteresting, the author tried to add flavor to the characters by adding some additional details to each characters, which i have some reservations about; for example: Bert and her problem with her body image and trying to act tomboy at the beginning, that detail is overly used nowadays at books as if the only existential problem women deal with are with their body and sexuality, I don't mean to underestimate this problem, it's just i would love some new ideas for God's sake!!
Also Lucy's character was written so poorly, she had her own chapters, but it felt like she was a side character.
The book is supposedly at the time of WWII, but i felt like the characters world felt like a bubble, there were changes happening to their lives, but they were written as merely problems, if it's not for the two family members who went into war, you'd think the whole family was living in la la land!
Overall, i couldn't enjoy it.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review via netgalley and the publisher*

I thought this book was very unique, written from the point of view of two young girls growing up in a small town in North Carolina in the 1940’s. The setting was so detailed, you felt you were living in that time and place. Lucy Brown is from a loving family, educated and hard working. Along comes Bert, sent to live with her aunt, who threw her out without anywhere to go. Bert moves in with the Browns, and Lucy and Bert see the occurrence of mysterious disappearances as if they were Nancy Drew, following clues. Emphasizing the wartime theme, the opening of a German POW camp to help the local tobacco farmers brings more drama to the story. I highly recommend this novel, well written, with a well defined setting and great characters. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I wanted to All the Little Hopes because I loved the author's previous book, If the Creek Don't Rise. Even though I don't like to go in, expecting an author's book to be as good as their last one, I did have some expectations with this one. I was intrigued by a "Southern story of friendship forged by books and bees, when the timeless troubles of growing up meet the murky shadows of World War II." Well, this was a friendship forged by books and bees that didn't go anywhere for me, and I kept waiting for the murky shadows of World War II to grab my attention

Big Sigh!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

I enjoyed the author's last book and was excited to get this one. I don't know why, but this book was a fail for me. I could not get interested in the characters or their story. I see that I am in a minority for sure, as many others have loved this book, but it just wans't for me no matter how many times I picked it up. I did finish it and liked it a litle more by the ending.