Not only is the story powerful, the narrator of this audiobook captures the experience of a teen girl who is coming of age in both a privileged and dangerous situation. Well done!

This is a title that the Evergreen Committee is considering for its 2023 nominees.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. The narrator did a fantastic job reading this book. The pacing of this book is good. The friendships and family relationships are good. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone and everyone. I can't wait to read/listen to more books by this author and narrator. It is in stores now for $10.99 (USD).

This was a great listen. It covers real problems every girl gets while mixing in bigger topics. Julia is so focused on wanting to get her period she doesn’t see what’s going on around her. The book reads as her journal/diary. You follow her as she learns what happens in a dangerous city and comes to understand the hardships that come with.

4/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this audiobook-arc!

A fascinating important read. A must for all readers, Mexican or not.

This was a sad sort of middle grade story. Julia is caught between two worlds and two countries. Julia often sounds younger than she is purported to be, 12-14 throughout the book, I think, but at times sounds and acts like a 9-year-old. Julia navigates the world through the eyes of a child and she is not as grown up as she wants to be. Rush rush rush to grow up until she starts seeing and starts understanding what exactly the grown-ups are up to. It's at times jarring but very real and very modern.

This one was GOOOOOD! It was super deep for a ya read which I really appreciated as an adult. I wish I had books like this when I was a teen!

Seldom does one on the outside know what a person growing up in these parts of Mexico truly means. Julia's tale was so heartbreaking. It truly touched my heart to imagine the obstacles these children are made to overcome when they themselves have no say in what's happening. They are lied to, left out of conversation and made to just accept things as they are.

This is a coming of age story that is definitely a tough pill to swallow. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a glimpse into the life of a Mexican - American teenager whose norm is drugs, killing and the such.

Thank you #netgalley for my advanced readers copy.

#theeverythingihavelost
#sylviaaguilar-zéleny

Thanks to the publisher for providing an early copy of the audiobook for The Everything I Have Lost in exchange for an honest review.

First off, the narrator here does a really good job. It's especially difficult to narrate less traditional styles like diaries but Lori Felipe-Barkin really brings Julia to life. While Julia herself reads as a younger-than-her-age protagonist, it matches the sheltered way she was raised enough that it never really becomes distracting enough to take away from the story. That being said, while I get how the decision to make her oblivious to a lot of what was going on was intentional, it did make an already fairly short book sound rather repetitive since we got to see something happen, see other characters react to it, see someone tell Julia chapter later, then see Julia react to it herself. Other than that, I think this was a really good story.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions are my own and this did not affect my review in any way.

The only thing I knew about this book was that it was about a little girl growing up in Mexico and that is all it took to get me intrigued by it. Moreover, the author is Mexican and I love supporting Mexican authors.

In The Everything I Have Lost we follow 12-year-old Julia, who keeps a diary about her life growing up in Juarez, Mexico. Life in Juarez is strange. People say it’s the murder capital of the world. Dad’s gone a lot. They can’t play outside because it isn’t safe. Drug cartels rule the streets. The Every I Have Lost is an impactful coming of age story.

This book is phenomenal on so many levels. The way the author tells us Julia´s story through her diary entries makes the story much more personal and impactful. This book is an honest and raw glimpse on what some Latinx people live through and I thank the author for telling Julia´s story.

The character are outstanding, they are definitely flawed but that makes the book so much more realistic and it is easier to connect with them. Julia is such a sweet girl who is just trying to find where she fits in in this world. We see how she grows up throughout the book and it is very pleasant to find out who she ends up becoming.

For me the best part about the book was both the descriptions about both cultures and the ending. I am Mexican so reading about my country was a very heartwarming and heartbreaking experience. I loved how the author didn’t shy away from talking about both the good and the bad stuff from both Mexico and the USA. I loved how the author managed to make me feel like I was there with Julia experiencing everything my culture has to offer.

The ending brought me to tears, I believe it is one of the most impactful endings in a book I have ever read. There is no big plot twist or something like that, but the reflection and conclusion that Julia comes to in the end just hit me hard.

This book in my opinion is a masterpiece, I cannot wait to read everything that the author comes out with and I truly recommend this outstanding coming of age story. This is not only an excellent book but it is also a very important book to read now a days.

Thanks so much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me read and review this book.

I had been looking forward to listening to this book, not only because of the setting and the premise, but also because how it was written: diary entries. Reading the synopsis immediately brought to mind The Poet X, so I may have gone into this with higher expectations than was fair for this book.

Overall, the book was fine. I found the first half of the book to be repetitive with Julia's complaining and whining. Again and again I would have to remind myself that this was a pre-teen writing in her diary and was written for middle grade-age kids (or maybe even young adults). Either way, I think even kids who this book was intended for would get tired of the whining without much else happening.

Where it really gets good, however, is the last third or so of the book when the storyline picks up. Julia starts struggling with the reality of her life and her parents' decisions. The dichotomy of her life in Juarez and her new life in El Paso was especially interesting.

I listened to the audiobook and Lori Felipe-Barkin was a fine narrator. She hit the right pitch for a pre-teen and had a smooth delivery, though I can't say there was anything really notable about her narration, either.

Thank you to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

I actually read the audio ARC but Goodreads doesn't have this version yet. I had the audio from NetGalley so I didn't have the ASIN to add the book to Goodreads. Disclaimer: I received the audio arc from NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio and I read it and I'm reviewing it voluntarily.

I did not enjoy this. I knew it was going to be a sad read based on the book synopsis and so maybe it's to be expected that I didn't enjoy it. I had to take a lot of breaks from reading it both because of the content and because I didn't like the voice of the audio ARC narrator Lori Felipe-Barkin. I know it's supposed to be a young child's voice but some narrators can do a child's voice without it sounding shrill and grating. Unfortunately, it was not the case here, the narration was difficult to listen to.

I do think that this would be a good book for jr. high and high schoolers to read and see a perspective that's different from theirs so they can grow in their empathy towards others and in their gratitude for their privilege. I definitely felt sad for Julia and girls like her and felt grateful for my life and safety.

Becoming a woman is never easy, but for Julia, there's just so much getting in her way. Her parents are restrictive, her friends unhelpful, even her hometown forces her to stay locked up in her house. It only gets worse when Papa gets a new job and is never home and Mama is always worried about the shootings in downtown Juárez. Julia's diary is her only true friend sometimes, and even that can be torn away.
Now, you might be thinking, Sirah, are you really reviewing another young adult coming of age story? I thought you didn't like those. You'd be right; I typically don't. It's fair to say that I dislike them because they're often so poorly done. The Everything I Have Lost has some grating moments, but unlike many similar books, it uses these to make the story stronger. Julia is rather like many young teenagers and doesn't always know what she wants, but she's not afraid to speak up about what she doesn't want. She doesn't want to be a child. She doesn't want to be abandoned. She doesn't want to be taken advantage of. She doesn't want to be ignorant. Even though Juárez and El Paso are so far from my own daily life and childhood experiences, I can't help but feel a bit of the hate, the longing, the hope, and the satisfaction that Julia feels as her life changes around her. This book rings true in so many ways, and despite the differences between us, I think that Julia and I are not so different.
TW swearing, guns, physical violence
Special thanks to the audiobook narrator, Lori Felipe-Barkin, who did an excellent job reminding me that Spanish accents are a thing of beauty.

In Sylvia Zeleny's book The Everything I Have Lost, Julia, a twelve-year-old in Mexico, describes the changes she is witnessing. They fall into categories of fractures in her family and in her country, and she finds herself wrestling with what is real and true as she is moved to El Paso to stay with her aunt while her mother and father stay in Mexico and the details for doing so aren't immediately shared.

Themes of happy-sad and bridges are present, and I appreciated the value communicated in journaling.

The narrator does a solid job convincing listeners that the protagonist is a younger child.

If it's a concern for anyone, be aware of some swearing throughout the book.

(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

unable to give feedback due to title downloading right after approval. unable to download and listen. upon publishing of the book, i will listen to an audiobook if i can find it on one of my audiobook platforms. 5 star for boost

I think the book was a really good coming of age story. I think it would be really good for readers younger than me, maybe in their early teens. The story was very well written and I enjoyed the plot. I do like that it was an audiobook because I could listen while doing other things

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an audiobook, in exchange for an honest review.

This is not the type of books I usually read/listen to, and it’s definitely better suited for younger readers, but I ended up enjoying it, especially the way it didn’t shy away from anything.

I’m a very character driven reader, especially when it comes to contemporary, so the downside for me was that I had trouble connecting to the main character. This also made it hard for me to listen to the audiobook and didn’t really get invested in the story. There are things that I really like with the book, but also stuff that bugged me, which made it hard for me to love it. But I do believe younger readers would enjoy this a lot more than I did, and overall it’s a nice book.

I really enjoyed this audiobook! The book is written in diary entries so it lends itself well to the audiobook format and the narrator did a great job making the english and Spanish flow easily.
This story is really important and does a fantastic job of highlighting the victims of very real world issues that don't get talked about or recognized as much. The author did a really great job of presenting many big problems that many people face in a way that puts often overlooked innocents at the forefront while also keeping the story very real and genuine. By focusing on one girl, the author's message becomes very poignant.
I do struggle a bit with pin pointing what age range this is best suited for. There is some strong language and the book does handle some mature topics however, the entirety of the book is told through the eyes of a 13 year old girl.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Everything I Have Lost dives into some pretty tough topics throughout the book. Even though they are tough to talk about, it was very interesting to see it all from Julia's point of view. In the beginning, she is about 12 and pretty close to turning 13. All she wants to do is grow up like everyone else around her. She seems to be pretty focused on getting her period whenever she can.. but that's the sort of thing you can't rush. It'll come when it does but she kind of freaks out when it takes forever and ever (in her mind).

While watching Julia grow up and seeing the emotional and physical tolls her family goes through was very eye opening to me. This book didn't really shy away from anything and I really enjoyed that. I probably would've liked to see something from one of her parent's POV's just to get the full picture or how everyone in her family felt.. but I'll be okay with just getting Julia's diary format.

Other than that, this book also had some cute and funny moments. It totally flew by and I'm really glad that I got the chance to dive into this book.

I liked this audiobook. I think the narrator put a lot of feeling into a book I didn't otherwise think to pick up. The story itself was interesting, also. I've been reading a lot of deportation and detention stories lately, so this is almost the flip side to that where the readers see what life is like to get here legally but still be stuck in a tough situation at home in Mexico. I'm assuming this book is set in 2005 because I believe it mentions Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 being a few years ago from the time the narrator is writing. I connected with the main character because around her age, I wrote a lot in journals to get my feelings out as well.

This what such a powerful story that I struggle to find the right words to describe my feelings. I had an idea of what to expect, but I was not prepared for just how much this would stay with me. The MC told the story through a series of journal entries. She is a younger character so there were times. her voice came across as immature and underdeveloped, but that ultimately adds to the depth of the story. I quickly found myself engrossed in her story and her journey. I was swept away and could not listening to her words.

This is a necessary story and I'm thrilled it is out in the world. More stories like this need to be told. I know readers are going to devour this and walk away with tears in their eyes.