A story of grief, healing and forbidden romance.

A quick read, although some things could’ve been drawn out more.

It was a very realistic portrayal of the imperfections of people.

A deeper type of romance which is very slow burn yet worth the wait to see this romantic journey play out. Although it is a slow burn it's a quick read and I thought it was really beautifully written. I did feel like something was missing though, I couldn't fully connect to the characters and story but saying that I still enjoyed the story and would read more by this author.

Loved this! It totally was unpredictable in the sense that it doesn't read like a "cookie cutter" star-crossed lovers book. It leaves you on the edge of your seat, much like what a thriller would do, but for an entirely different reason. I am on the edge of my seat waiting on the next one...why must it be a year?!

This book was a lot deeper than I expected going into it. It explored grief and familial relationships amongst other things.
Spoilers:
While I felt the story was solid and the plot moved along well, the age gap and knowing her since birth bothered me. That translation from seeing her as a child and a sister to being intimate with her was hard for me to wrap my head around. I know that this was explored in depth in the book from all angles, but I still struggled with it. Overall a solid read and I will read the next book! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This story is a super cute brothers-best-friend romance that I absolutely devoured in a single setting. It is a quick and easy read but that in no way means you don’t feel all the emotions that make you laugh, cry, scream, and debate throwing it across the room. The relationships are so raw and real that they come straight off the page and gnaw at you while you read. I love it and anyone who loves she-fell-first-but-he-fell-harder will too. By the time it was over I was dying for more because I loved the story and the characters.
I loved the characters, Axel and Leah especially, and found them all to be deep and perfectly raw as they struggle through grief, love, friendship, and life. There wasn’t a time when reading this book where I got bored or tired of the characters and their narratives. For fans of short chapters, this is for you! This honestly really helped with the pacing and the perspective changes also kept the story moving even during times of happiness and peace. Grief and mental illness is dealt with in a very respectful and realistic manner and I personally loved it!

This one was hard for me. I love love LOVE this cover. So eye catching. I literally gravitate towards it. But something fell flat for me. I liked the premise but there were parts I just couldn’t connect to.

This was such a beautiful story. I was drawn in by the beautiful cover and Im so glad I took a chance on this story. It was a beautiful depiction of grief and love and how to move on. I don't want to give away too much but its such a beautiful story and I highly recommend.

An intense story of friendship to love. The author did an amazing job of relaying how grief can stall a person and stop them from living. How love truly can heal and how heartbreaking the journey can be.

The cover is beautiful and really drew me in. I hate to say it but I really struggled to follow along with this book. I'm not sure if things were lost in translation from Spanish to English, but it just fell short for me.

Really hoped that this would be an amazing book. The story just didn't connect with me. I do thank NetGalley for the ARC. Two stars.

All That We Never Were by Alice Kellen tells the story of love and loss. While Leah’s reasons for being a 19 year old high school student were explained, there seemed to be a hole in the story as far as why Blair was still in high school. Had Leah and Blair been college students, the adult relationships would have seemed a little less inappropriate. I couldn’t get past the fatherly relationship and power held over Leah by Axel. I appreciate NetGalley providing the opportunity to read this ebook. It was an interesting book, but not really something I’d read again.

I wanted to like this and the plot felt so promising, but I just couldn't connect with any of the characters or storylines. I honestly think a lot was "lost in translation" as this book was initially published in Spanish. There were emotions and nuances that just didn't translate for me. I can appreciate that it my appeal to some, but for me, it was not a book I would re-read or recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I hate to say it but the best I can rate this is 1.5 stars.
I struggled to get into this one. The summary intrigued me, but as I started reading, it just didn’t live up to my expectations from the description. It felt very slow and repetitive, Leah’s trauma was the center of the plot and, for me, the rest of the story just got lost behind that instead of the rest of the story bringing her through the trauma. Axel’s character frustrated me with the way he seemed to think Leah should just ‘get over it’ and go back to the way she used to be and the way Leah’s character handled her trauma made her seem much younger than she was supposed to be which then made the romance between her and Axel also seem weird.
I had a hard time getting through this one as it just didn’t hold my interest. I’m also not someone who likes to DNF a book so eventually I was just wishing the end would come. Overall, this just wasn’t a book for me.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I couldn’t get into the writing nor the characters themselves. I don’t enjoy reading about OW drama, and I definitely don’t like reading smut scenes between the male main character and someone that ISNT the female main character. Axel didn’t have any redeeming qualities either, especially with the way he handled Leah’s mental illness.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5
🌶️🌶️ 2/5

Potential Spoilers.....

If you like; brothers best friend, age gap, slow burn romance books.
You NEED to read this book!!!

I received this book as a "advanced reader copy" and I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. By the time I was 30 pages in I was hooked!!!! I read this book in less than 24 hours and I couldn't put it down. I was obsessed with how much the MMC cared about the FMC and wanted to see her happy, even if she didn't think she deserved it at times. The way he helped her in a way that no-one else in her life would was so sweet. I loved Leahs outlook on colors and art as she started getting back to her normal self. The only reason that it didn't get 5 stars was because the ending frustrated me because I now have to wait almost a year to find out what happens left lol.

This book was set in a small little beach town in Australia. Axel (30 year old MMC) moved in next door to his best friend Oliver (29 year old) when he was 7 years old. But when Axel was ten, Olivers' parents had a little girl Leah (19 year old FMC).

18 years later, Leah was driving with her parents and they were in an accident in which both of her parents were killed. Oliver stepped up to take care of his little sister.
The following year he had to travel for work and was going to be out of town 3 weeks out of the month. So he asked Axel if he would be willing to take care of Leah while he was out of town. Axel of course said yes. Not know that Leah had a crush on him from 15 until her parents died. When she comes to stay for the first three weeks Axel realized that she had completely shut herself off to feeling anything at all (happiness, anger, sadness, etc.) and he was determined to get her back to her normal self. As she starts to open herself back up, all those old feelings for Axel start showing back up.
As Axel starts to realize she is not the little girl she once was, he starts to want her more than anything he has ever wanted. But there is the little problem of Oliver and the fact that he would never approve. Will they end up together or will Oliver end up ruining everything????

I enjoyed the romance and angst that occurred in this book. The character development was top tier awesome.

This book just didn’t flow the way I was hoping it would. Sadly I ended up not finishing it despite my hopes to push through.

When writing books that include grief, it can be hard to accurately show how it’s affected all the characters, but in my opinion, Alice Kellen has succeeded; she shows how the death of the couple has affected not only the MC/s but also the side characters. And how they cope with the loss. While the characters have faults within themselves, they deal with them in realistic ways; they are likeable and always have a reason for their actions. There were many times my jaw hung open during this, and I can say with confidence that this book has exceeded my expectations.

However, I would’ve liked to see a better description of what each character looked like, as many readers build pictures in their heads.


Would I recommend this to friends or family?


Yes, I would; it is a gorgeously written book, amazingly poetic, and handles grief and love incredibly well.

Who I would recommend this to:


romance lovers
people who like a bit of a cry
people who enjoy double POVs
hopeless romantics

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I was intrigued by the plot in the summary. However, I found Axel's approach to "helping" Leah with her illness to be frustrating. It's not something that can simply be fixed by someone else, and it's important to treat it as a medical condition. Despite the fact that the author has done research for other books, I don't think it was as reflected in this one.

Sadly, the characters were the worst part of the book for me. Axel's behavior was creepy and inappropriate, and Leah's trauma was used as a plot device. I found it difficult to finish the book.

However, I do understand why some people might enjoy this novel. The 10-year age difference between the main characters might be a concern for some, but I could relate to it. The characters felt authentic, and I appreciated how the author handled mental illness. While the story was predictable, it was still an easy read that focused on character development and a mature relationship in a YA framework.

Overall, I don't think I can recommend this book, but I acknowledge that it could have its appeal for certain readers.

Not for me! DNF. Didn’t realize this was a primarily Spanish audience novel. Which is fine, but I know there’s a lot I won’t get, and because it reads funny for me also.