Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for letting me read this book in exchange for a review!

This book was off to a slow start for me, but once I got last the halfway mark it really picked up and I got through the rest in a few hours! The story was okay, I liked the characters individually, and the language was beautiful. There were some really good depictions and descriptions of grief, depression and anxiety that I really liked, as well as the links to art, the repetition of song lyrics and what these things mean to the characters. I didn’t feel quite right about Leah and Axel’s relationship in terms of the 10 year age gap and her being only 19 though. Axel has known her all her life and seen her as a little sister, but suddenly he finds himself attracted to her and struggling to control himself! I guess it’s a somewhat redeeming quality that he feels conflicted about this too. Oliver’s reaction was totally understandable in my opinion, although slightly misinformed as Axel had already told Leah he didn’t want to tie her down and that she needed to go to college and get experiences.

I mostly enjoyed this book, so it gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me. I probably won’t reread the story, but I would probably give the sequels a go!

Thank you Alice Kellen, NetGalley, & Dreamscape Media for this ARC! I absolutely loved this story. I am a sucker for the brother’s - best friend trope and this one was perfect! I loved the slow burn leading up to show Leah’s growth and Axel’s protectiveness for her throughout the book. It did seem long, but that was all for character building. I was shocked by the ending! I cannot wait to read more of her books in the future.

2.5/5 - All that We Never Were is being published in English on August 29. This follows 19 year old Leah, who's parents died in a car crash when she was 18. She was in the car and is experiencing PTSD as a result. Her brother, who is 10 years older, has changed his life to care for Leah as she works through her grief. Oliver's new job is taking him across the country for a year, but Leah is still finishing her last year of high school. Axel is Oliver's best friend (and has known Leah her whole life), and agrees to let Leah stay with him. Leah holds a secret though, she has always loved Axel, and Axel pushes her to get out into the world and live again.

There is a focus in this book on Leah getting out into the world and beginning to live again. She has been deeply traumatized and is struggling with finding "colour" in her world. It seemed like the author wanted to show PTSD as curable, but I don't think that is the case. It is something you continue to live with your whole life, you may have days of more or less impact, but it doesn't just get "cured".

I struggled with finding a lot of the things Axel did as something you would do caring for someone much younger than Leah was. He would ask Leah if she wanted to eat something, as if she would forget. Leah has been through a lot of trauma, but she read much younger than 19 years. I felt like she was around 16 years rather than 19. That upped the ick factor of Axel and Leah getting in a relationship.

This book was just okay for me, and though the book ended on a cliffhanger I don't know if I will pick up the next in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

Unfortunately this novel is pretty toxic when it comes to multiple issues, and the way sickness is handled /described/discussed are propagating stereotypes that we want to avoid in this day and age. With some of these issues with ableism surrounding the narrative, so I am unable to recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the Advanced Copy of All That We Never Were by Alice Kellen

"...I realized we were a puzzle that had been put together with the passage of years. The difference was that Leah had always had all the pieces, and I had taken years to find them."

All That We Never Were by Alice Kellen is a brother's best friend and secret romance packed with emotion.

When Axel's best friend asks him to look after his younger sister following the death of their parents, he's determined to help Leah heal. What he didn't expect was to fall in love...

All that We Never Were will be enjoyed by lovers of forbidden romance, age gap, brother's best friend, close proximity, angst, and don't forget cliffhangers!

Many thanks to SourceBooks Casablanca, NetGalley & Alice Kellen for this advanced copy of the book!

My Review: I enjoyed this author’s writing style and storytelling. Leah and Axel are profoundly flawed and complicated characters with a more complex history. With Leah being so young and having such an intense connection with an older man, and dealing with the grief of losing her parents, I felt a world of feelings about her. There were times when I was annoyed with her immaturity, and there were times when I empathized with her, given everything she was dealing with. There were times when I was frustrated by his actions as a grown man dealing with the young lady, and there were times when I could empathize with his inner turmoil. The relationship between Axel and Leah was cringy to me. Still, I also understood the long-standing history they have together from childhood and how it felt like they had this co-dependency situation during such a massive loss of two important people in both their lives.

All That We Never Were is a book about love and loss. Axel and Oliver have always been best friends. The two families are closely entwined. So when Oliver's parents are killed in a car accident their loss is felt deeply by both families. Oliver asks Axel to look after his younger sister while he is out of town working. Leah was in the car with her parents and has an extra layer of trauma added to her grief. Axel wants to help her with that. His methods are firm and at points very heavy handed. But as time goes on Leah slowly begins to open up and heal. Their relationship is full of tension - not helped by the fact that Leah has been in love with Axel since she was a young girl.

The story switches between Axel and Leah's points of view. It is a bit choppy at times and sometimes the throwbacks to the past caught me unawares. A highly emotional story that was a heavy read at times.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

That said, 'All that we never were' is part of a two part story by Alice Kellen and I must confess that actually this is not my first time reading the story. It was 2021 / 2022 and I was going through such a rough and sad time in life, and reading Alice wasmy safe haven. Got me to love books and romance books once again after years of not reading much so it holds a special part of my heart (then again in its original format aka the spanish version).

Reading it now in english was so refreshig and reminded me also that despite a few aspects I'm not to in love with in the plot, Alice writes magic and I'm overall so happy to see more people will get to experience it too.

Summer read
Easy-going love story
Brother's best friend

I would say, though, to check for trigger warnings.

To name a few: depression, anxiety, PTSD, death of a parent and others.

I recieved a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC. All opinions stated here are my own.

I honestly wasn't a fan of this book, however, I'll preface by saying that it had potential.

There are minor spoilers in this review.

What really bothered me was the way that grief and PTSD were essentially dismissed as something "curable" by random activities and "getting your mind off things" when what should have happened was Axel taking Leah to a psychologist and encouraging her to talk about her grief. Then springing it on the reader at the very end that Axel has trauma of his own, as if to justify his neglect of her best interests. That just rubbed me wrong.

I do think that the story had potential, but it just wasn't executed well. He goes from seeing her as a sister to a lover overnight/randomly, and then pursues her with far too much pressure. This, coupled with what I mentioned above, paint a harmful narrative that a girl can't heal from her trauma without a man who "takes care of her".

I wanted to enjoy this book more, but I couldn't overlook these details.

“Everything can change in an instant."
“I don't remember when I fell in love with Axel.”
This book was great!!! An impossible romance. A story about healing and recovering from an indescribable trauma. Falling in love for the person you are meant to protect and help in her recovery. We have almost all the best tropes in a romance book I need but also some heart wrenching chapters about anxiety and ptsd and trauma that it is hard to recover from. Axel and Leah’s story was really good to read and to experience but I would be lying if I said that that ending didn’t break me a little bit. Because everyone we have that big brother’s best friend (with a 10 years age gap no less) and a furious brother when he finds out.
Apart from this trope and the forced proximity that will lead Axel to realise that he has had feelings for his best friend’s little sister for a long time now, the best part of it in my opinion was how much he showed he cared. It was the fact that he never gave up on her. Even in the darkest of nights, even when she was closing in on herself so much it seemed impossible to reach through. He never gave up. And despite the fact that she has just starting healing and living again like a normal 19 years old young woman … I understand her heartbreak in knowing that he is not strong enough to fight for what they have, claiming to know better than her what is best for her. And right now that college is about to start, they have been away for two months, thanks to her brother … what is going to happen ??? I would very much like to find out in book two !!!
"You can be wrong. You can make a million mistakes. People are like that, we screw up, but that's why regret exists, knowing how to say you're sorry when you need to. But listen, you know what's the saddest thing about not doing something because you're afraid? As time passes, when you think about it, you have to ask yourself for forgiveness for not being brave enough. And reconciling with yourself is sometimes harder than doing it with others."
“Sometimes we don't know ourselves as well as we think.
Sometimes...sometimes life is so unpredictable …”

All That We Never Were was captivating at the beginning of the novel-- the premise of Leah and Axel living together when she's been in love with him forever had so much potential. However, this story fell flat on reaching that potential. First, Axel's determination for "fixing" Leah after her experience of major trauma in the car accident with her parents is concerning and an unhealthy way to approach mental health issues. Second, it was so clear in this novel that Leah was still a child and Axel an adult-- had this story take place a few years in the future, it might have been less unsettling. Third, their "love" for each other once they were in a relationship felt weak and not very believable. While I was interested enough to finish this book, I would not recommend it to anyone.

Axel and Leah have known each other their whole lives. Axel is ten year older than her and he is also her brother's best friend. Leah and her brother, Oliver, suffer the tragedy of losing their parents in a car crash and their lives are never the same. "The difference between having everything and nothing is sometimes just a second". I could not put this book down until I found out what happens with their love story. The story just pulls you in. I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel to this book because it ends with "to be continued". I can't wait to read chapter two of their romance. Thanks to Net Galley for this ARC. I really enjoyed it.

Leah Jones and Axel... Let me tell you this book breaks you in some ways! I loved it so much! You do not want to miss adding this to your TBR!! Can there friendship/love still stand? I know the answer and soon you will too!

💜❤️ All That We Never Were ARC Review ❤️💜

Thank you so much to Alice Kellen, Sourcebooks Casablanca and netGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

All That We Never Were is a contemporary romance set in small town Australia and book 1 of the Let It Be duology. After tragically losing their parents, siblings Oliver and Leah are left to pick up the pieces. Oliver has accepted a job across the country that will help him support 19 year old Leah while she’s finishing high school. But she hasn’t been the same since the accident, and Oliver doesn’t want to leave her alone. Without any other options, he reaches out to his best friend Axel, who agrees to let her live with him. When Axel sees just how lost Leah is, he’s determined to help her recover as long as he can keep his attraction to her a secret…

This was definitely a heavier read than I expected but I did enjoy it. This book had dual PoVs which I did like - Seeing Leah find herself again after tragedy was really enjoyable, and seeing Axel grow from a big brother role into a relationship mindset was interesting as well. I did feel like Leah was doing a lot more of the pursuing than Axel did, and I usually prefer it to be a little more balanced, but that’s a “me” issue and not a book issue.

Overall this was a three star read for me. I really like the friends to lovers trope and this one was a good read with the dual PoVs. This book was definitely a slow burn but it did pay off later in the book, so two flames for spice

If you’re a fan of tropes like brother’s best friend, childhood friends to lovers, age gap (ten years), and finding yourself through art and music, then definitely pick this one up!

Review will be posted to Amazon upon publication

This was really not my cup of tea. Forbidden romance between a 30 yr old mega-bachelor and his best friend’s younger sister (19yo old) who he has known from her birth. Their families were best friends up ‘til the friends parents passed away in a car crash with the sister in the car - the only survivor. Axel, make lead, considers his best friend like a brother, and in essence the younger sister like a younger sister, though she’s always had an unrequited love or crush on Axel. They have to live together as a favor to the older brother while he takes a job in Brisbane. The sad girl in mourning believes she’ll never paint in color again… until Axel intervenes. It’s incredibly cheese and kinda uncomfy. Could’ve easily been a short story (would be more effective). It was like 1-2 chapters were stretched for an entire book and… surprise… it’s TBC with no real resolution. Yuck.

Wanted to love this. Started off slow. I stayed with it. Midway, the book was very Colleen Hooverish. I had hopes. I felt like Axel was so mysterious that we never really understood the darkness. Because of the larger age gap, it wa slightly awkward. Knew early on that this was meant to have a sequel. Wanted to love it. It was ok.

This book has me really conflicted as I can see it been a good book of written better. The chapters were short and not always enjoyable I would have liked the chapters to be a bit longer and more in depth. The characters are so well written but I didn’t connect with them at all. I wasn’t 100% sold on the age gap in this book as the male character was just so frustrating. Thank you to net galley for letting me review this book

This book left me uneasy. That's the best way to describe how I feel. Slightly icky, kinda pissed...something I'm not used to feeling from books.

**SPOILERS**
It started off really interesting and I was sucked right in. That's why I even rated this 2 stars instead of 1. A teenager is grieving the loss of her parents and is forced to move into her brother's best friend's house. He's presented initially as a father-type figure because of their age gap, and sort of a know-it-all about life. Yes, because at the wise old age of 29, he surely knows how to bring someone through grief. It was annoying, but I pushed through.

Anyway, he moves from father/much older brother figure to the person she's apparently been obsessed with since she was a child (and a child she still is, based on her behavior and naivety). There was a little bit of a disconnect between the initial information the author gave and about a third of the way through the book. I don't know if that was purposely done or not, but it was jarring.

It felt like the whole book was a build-up and they rushed through to all-of-a-sudden-banging-and-being-in-love. It just all felt so wrong, seeing as how the first part of the book built him up to basically be her family. And the ending? What the f&*# was that?! I didn't even feel like I wanted more.

Leah has fallen into a deep depression after losing both her parents in a car accident. Leah was the only survivor. Her older brother Oliver has to work outside the city to make enough money to put Leah through college. Oliver leaves Leah in the care of his best friend Axel anytime he's gone. Axel remembers how vibrant Leah used to be and wants to get her back to her old self. It's the brother's best friend trope which I love but this book is no different than any book you read in 2014. There's nothing new. This has been done before. The characters aren't great. The chapters are short so the writing comes across choppy. The ten year age difference between Leah and Axel didn't bug me but the story ends exactly how you think it will.