I liked this, it was a quick read but still engaging and conveyed emotions well. Writing in verse was very interesting for the subject matter, very unique, but I thought it worked well. I really enjoyed maybeths friendships, her complicated parental relationships, and how it was a coming of age story. Not a huge fan of the chapter titles, I felt like they were redundant but perhaps that’s just a personal preference. I was impressed how well the author conveyed so many different characters with different emotions and motivations with such few words.

Thank you to NetGalley and West 44 Books for my DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Everything You Left Me is fast paced, told in verse and will make your heart ache. Each poem is interconnected to the ones before and after it. Over all this book had me turning pages quickly to see where the story went. I enjoyed that the verses allowed you to fill in some of the emotion and setting on your own. For so little words this book told a big story.

I really wish this had been longer because it felt a little rushed. I did enjoy it but it would’ve been even better as a young adult mystery novel.

I want to preface this with the fact that I don't do prose or poetry. I don't get it, I don't know how to read it and focus too much on that, and I probably wouldn't have requested this if I realized it was prose (I don't know how I missed that).

All that said, I'm glad I missed it because I really enjoyed this! I get really hung up on how to read prose, should it rhyme or have some kind of rhythm? I don't know, but I liked this a lot anyway once I got past that. I do wish it was written in a non-prose way so it could have been more fleshed out but I loved this anyway and the premise is very interesting: a girl finding out her father was a serial killer and having to deal with that. It's intriguing and I'm so glad I read this one. It's a nice quick read and even if prose isn't your thing, it's worth giving it a shot.

I was at first disappointed in the poetry of this book. The poems didn’t stand as well on their own as I wanted them to. They seemed to flow right into each other and didn’t stand as individual vingettes like I imagined they might. Then I started reading the poems like poetry, looking at individual lines, and found a lot of value in the craft. The story is beautiful, sometimes shocking, and is much more a coming-of-age than I was expecting. Very sweet and I would recommend it.

This story is beautiful. It tells the story of a teenage girl dealing with the aftermath of finding out her father is most likely a serial killer. This is not a mystery story. While it has a mysterious vibe, it is largely about the emotional journey Maybeth goes on. We see her go through a range of emotions: rage, love, sadness, etc. we all are taken through the aftermath of what an investigation like this does to both Maybeth and her mother. It is told in a beautiful way with an interesting voice that kept me engaged.

The formatting of the book as well as the plot make it a fast read. It is short as well and I was able to finish it in one day.

The ending does not provide significant satisfaction so if a nice and tidy ending is what you need in a book, this may not be your story.

Overall, highly recommend for anyone who likes stories that centre characters going through great emotional challenges. The backdrop of the police investigation provides and excellent setting for the emotional journey of a struggling teen.

5/5 stars! I am so appreciative that West 44 Books is giving authors with unique stories and perspectives a platform to share their works. This book is a journey of trauma, loss, and resilience; a recognition that we are a sum of our actions not just our parts. Maypole (Maybeth) is a typical teenage girl; except that she's not. She lives in a small town and has gotten by since her father left at age 8 by being the smartest, most driven student at school in hopes of getting a scholarship to college and getting out. She carries resentment towards her mother and misses her father, holding a collection of postcards he has sent over the hears close.

Then the police show up with questions about her father and everything begins to fall apart ...

This story is beautifully orchestrated with short chapters and some loose prose that pulls you in and makes you feel like you're entrenched deep in Maybeth's thoughts. There were a few lines that I felt physically pull me closer to the story. At the end of the day, Maybeth had the opportunity to show that she is her own person with her own dreams and motivations and that she is so much more than who her father is. Highly recommend.

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think the content of the book is interesting considering this is a middle school aged book. As a now adult, who during middle school, saw and dealt with parents, other family members, and close family friends deal with addiction problems, it was nice to see an author include this family/young life dynamic in a book for others to relate to. Nonetheless, I do think it may be a an uphill battle with parents who monitor what content their kids are reading since on a surface level “drug scene involved mother” and “serial killer father” aren’t topics I think I’d let my kids read.

My only complaint with the book is I wish it was tied up better in the end. Maybe a second book could be squeezed out of this and it could be a 2 book series; just a thought because I felt like I didn’t get enough of the “after”!

Lastly, It read really well for a HI/LO book! I’m not a HI/LO reader so this read to east for me but nonetheless great job!

An interesting story of a girl living with her recovering drug addict mom when the cops show up with questions about her dad. When the girl does some digging she finds he may be linked to some murders across he country. She must find a way to accept the memories of her father and the possibility that he is a serial killer. There was a lot of build up in the story with little resolution at the end. I wish there had been more of an after section at the end to let us know what happened after she turns in her dad.

Everything You Left Me is beautifully written. It left me wanting more (in a good way)! I am looking forward to reading more by Paige Classey in the future.

I really enjoyed this book & read it in under an hour. The formatting was different & threw me off at first, but I grew to quite like it. It worked well with Maybeth’s character. The story was good. Simply, good. Nothing about it necessarily stood out in a positive way, nor a negative way. It was just right, & I am quite happy about that.

I received this as an ARC to rate and review. This is my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this story and loved how fast paced it was! I was engaged in the plot and had fun reading this one. While the ending was a bit predictable for me, I won't be docking stars for it since it is more of a Middle Grade read and I am an adult so a middle school child will have a different perspective.
I think this was a fun, great read and will be recommending it to friends and anyone looking for something like this!

Thank you, NetGalley and West 44 Books, for the chance to read and review Everything You Left Me by Paige Classey.

It's essential to remember that West 44 Books exclusively publishes books for younger readers, so middle-grade and young adult. Everything You Left Me follows this theme as a HI/LO book but in verse. Hi/Lo (also hi-lo) means that the book covers a fascinating subject but is also at a low reading level.

I mention this because when you open amazon and look at Everything You Left Me, it's billed as being ideal for 7-9-year-olds to read. And yet it's also in the Teen and Young Adult fiction category. This is something that the publishers may want to correct; the point of HI/LO is to get people into reading and to not shame them. Even if we hand this book to a 13-year-old, do we really want them to feel like they're reading something for little kids? Given that Young Adult ranges from 18-26 (I just realized I'm no longer in that category and I feel old), we should be careful about how it's sold on amazon.

Keeping all that to the side, Everything You Left Me is excellent! It's effortless to read, the book is presented nicely, and the story is compelling.

The story is set in a small, mostly-white town that Maybeth and most of her friends aspire to leave. As she works towards this goal and is set to graduate as valedictorian, she finds out that her estranged father is a serial killer.

The book shows us what Maybeth is going through as this happens. There is a happy ending or an ending with as much happiness as can be expected. The little details Classey includes, like the postcards, were awesome! This 200 page book is Paige Classey's debut novel and comes out on the 16th of February.

for the first 75% of this book, i found it extremely readable and engaging, but the ending was extremely predictable and anti climactic, so i am very disappointed. the writing style and the use of verse was used very well, i just wish it was a little longer and the ending wasn’t as rushed.

This book was better than I honestly expected. I did not know that the book was written like a verse, making it a very quick read and it also helped me get closer to finishing my reading goal for 2022, LOL.
The book is basically about a girl living in Joleen; she is on her way to become the valedictorian and can't wait to get out of the small town. But her life shatters when she finds out her dad, who left her family years ago, might not be who she thought he was.
The plot of the book does sound very generic but believe me, the book is actually pretty good. The verse writing kept me hooked throughout and although I did expect some things, the ending was pretty unexpected. I think my personal favorite part about the book was how real it was. I could see the love Maybeth had for her family and the internal conflict she was going through with the very few words Classey used to describe it. There isn't much I can say about it other than how impressed I was with the writing, even if the story wasn't that fancy or extraordinary.
I would give it a solid 3.5 out of 5 and would totally recommend it to anyone looking for a contemporary fiction and a quick read.

I didn’t know what to expect when I first started reading this but I ended up really enjoying it. I loved the writing style and how fast paced it was. The fact that it was fast paced throughout the whole book kept me really engaged and I ended up finishing it in about 30 minutes. The ending really had me wondering about how I would react if that was my life and just how devastating it would be for something like that to happen. If you’re looking for a quick and easy read this is definitely the book!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an E-ARC to read and review.

What a great quick read. I love to read YA novels even as an adult. This had me guessing what would I do if ai was in that situation? Do you choose the love of a parent or the right thing to do? I guess everyone’s perspective is different…

One of the most emotional reads of the year. And this will be when it comes out for many too.

The book is short and even seems shorter as it is written in verse.

It tells a story about a girl who is going to find out some harsh truths about her family, more so when it comes to her father.

The parts which are the happiest memories spent with her parents are the highlights for me and it made me more emotional the further I read the book.

So good I say.

I love the cover. I love the presentation. I love the pages and how subtle details making the reading experience a better one.

Definitely recommending this book!

Thank you, West 44 Books, for the advance reading copy.

Really cool concept! The book is written in verse and each verse is titled & flow into each other. They read as one continuous plot. Definitely would use parts of this book to teach my high school English class on poems/verse(I.e not all poems have to be about nature or by Shakespeare). The book as a whole has an amazing storyline about making your own history in life and not letting others affect who you are.