How come I’m discovering Jolene Perry’s books just now? I need to check out the rest of her books because if they are as good as this one, then I’m in trouble!

Gabe is the quirkiest character ever. I like her a lot. She has some My Girl vibes going on (love that movie), she lives in a funeral home just like Vada. She has beautiful blonde hair and pale skin and a Wednesday Adams dress.
Gabe and her best friend, Bree, share a love for vintage fashion. They also share a mutual hate for Bryce, the guy who keeps calling Gabe “Graveyard Gabe”, among other things.
Life’s pretty good. Until it is not. Bryce asked Bree on a date and suddenly she’s ready to forget everything he’s done to her best friend Gabe and ride off into the sunset with him. Gabe can hardly recognize her best friend anymore. And she needs Bree more than ever, she needs to share everything that’s been going on with the new guy, Hartman.
Is it possible that she’s lost her best friend forever?

First of all, I love the meaning behind the title All The Forever Things. That was the main reason I wanted to read this book, I wanted to discover the meaning behind that title. And I’m so glad that I got the chance of reading it because it didn’t disappoint. I won’t tell you what the meaning is, you’ll have to read this book if you want to find out!

As you can tell, I love Gabe’s character. But she is not the only character that I love. Hartman is one of the loveliest male characters I’ve ever read. He’s awkward and grieving and such a beautiful person. Jolene wrote some beautiful, swoony scenes between him and Gabe and those scenes complement the story perfectly and made me love the book even more.

The only thing I don’t like but wouldn’t change for the world, because then the book wouldn’t have the same touch to it, is Bree. I loathe her character. I find her very superficial and I can’t freaking believe she would choose some guy over her best friend. She’s gone through a lot so I understand why acts the way she does but I hate the way she changed when she started dating Bryce.
Also, I don’t like Bryce. Blame Thirteen Reasons Why, every single time I hear that name I think the worst. That didn’t help my case, I really tried to like Bree and Bryce.

All in all, this book is beautiful. It has precious messages inside it, I wish there were more books like this out there in the world. And Gabe’s and Hartman’s love is so incredibly beautiful, every time I think about it I feel like hugging a teddy bear. Sounds weird, but I promise that’s exactly how you’ll feel.
If you’re a YA lover, then read this book. You’ll enjoy it, for sure!

I thought this book was good. The setting really provided a lot of the most interesting parts to it, I'm very glad it didn't come across as a gimmick and was in fact a story element. And the ending! Really well done. 
I didn't feel as invested in the characters as I might have liked, but for a short light read it worked it fine. I enjoyed my time with this story.

The premise for this novel was definitely interesting. I mean, you don't hear too often about teenagers living and working in a funeral home. And Gabriella - or Gabe, as she likes to be called - is definitely on the morbid side. She wears vintage clothes in black, and loves Wednesday Addams. Not that I have a problem with either of these things! I think that the author enticed readers by showing them this breakdown in friendship between Gabe and Bree, and the emergence of something romantic between Gabe and Hartman. But I wish the author had really gotten into the material instead of just skimming the surface. There were quite a few instances where the author could have really pushed and delivered more on the emotional front, but instead, it just felt very ... superficial. Instead of making this more of a heartbreak, this novel (for the most part) just seemed like a girl whining about growing up. Even during times when my alarm bells went off, things didn't really take a serious or deep turn. This novel had a lot of potential but I think its flaw comes from the fact that everything that happened with the characters just skimmed the surface. When I read a realistic fiction story, I expect it to be very character-driven; I want it to be teeming with complex emotions from the side of the protagonist as well as the other characters. However, this novel didn't dig deep enough into the character's personality, so it was very hard for me to feel any sympathy for anyone in the story. Also Hartman's character just came off weird. I understand that the author wanted to show him as grieving but his actions just didn't match up so he just confused me. In the end, this was a novel with a lot of potential that didn't really deliver what I was expecting.

I can't say I loved the characters in this, but they weren't awful.

This wasn't a bad read, but it wasn't one that gripped me unfortunately. It struggled to keep my interest, and I felt quite bored for most of it. It didn't drag too badly though thankfully.

Overall, Not awful, but nowhere near as good as the other books I've read from this author.

Growing up in a funeral home and being saddled with the nickname Graveyard Gabe has made it difficult for Gabe to make friends. Bree is her one true companion until Bree starts dating the very boy that gave Gabe her hated nickname. How can Gabe be a good friend when Bree is making decisions that Gabe is certain will have dangerous consequences? And why has Bree gone MIA just when Gabe needs her advice to navigate her first boy/girl relationship?

Jolene Perry's novel about what true friendship means and how to confront death and keep on living is a story with plenty of quirk and lots of heart. All the Forever Things is perfect for a younger YA audience, and for that group, I think it is a great read. I actually like that Gabe is not mature beyond her years. Troubles with friendships and the first romantic relationships do feel like a huge deal when you are a young teenager experiencing them for the first time.

Jolene Parry, thank you so much for making me have so much book love. I've been waiting for this book without realising that this was a book that I need in my life. 

From page one, Parry had me completely hooked at I could not help but want to find out more. As a character, Gabe was someone that you couldn't help but feel for. With her rather unusual upbringing, you could tell that growing up with her parents being funeral directors changed the way that she thought about this and I loved the way that it came across. 

This book managed to find a good balance of comedy when it was needed as well as taking a step back to hit some of the more serious issues faced by the characters. There were parts where I was able to laugh out loud and other parts where Jolene Parry managed to tug at my heart strings. It brought out such a range of feelings for me and that was one of the things that I loved most about it. 

The growth of all the characters in this book was brilliant. Each of the main characters began to change and grow in their own way in parts of their lives that they needed to let go of and build upon. It was so nice to see the changes Gabe, Bree and Heartman made and how it affected them. How some of them would embrace that changes and others struggled with it. It was realistic in the way that teenagers will deal with massive changes in their lives. 

It felt as though this entire book just flowed so well. From chapter to chapter, everything word was just effortless to read but still kept me hooked right up until the very end. Character development was at the right pace and you couldn't help but fall in love with the majority of the characters. 

I could read this book over and over again.

I have been a fan of Jolene Perry's writing since I read The Summer I Found You, I recommend her books whenever I can. When I noticed that she had a new book coming out, I was very excited. I love reading her books because they're often deeper than you might expect. This book is no exception! I wouldn't say that this is my favourite book by Jolene, but it's still a decent read which is well worth checking out!

All The Forever Things centres around Gabriella (Gabe) who lives in a funeral home as it's the business her family are in. Gabe is a little strange, choosing to dress like Wednesday Addams after being teased about her life. Gabe thought she was happy enough alongside her good friend Bree. However, when Bree starts changing who she is when dating Gabe's worst enemy, Gabe feels like she's losing her best friend. Hartman, a new guy at school, comes into her life and isn't weirded out by the funeral home business. Gabe holds back, not wanting to become one of those girls who changes herself. Gabe's battle to keep her friend Bree takes a turn for the worse, when she drives Bree, her boyfriend and their group to prom...in a hearse...

I really liked the story line which I felt was quite unique. Gabe was certainly an interesting character. I have the feeling that you're either going to love or hate her. She's not the most likeable and can come across quite selfish and unaware of other's problems. Bree is an interesting character too, I liked that she didn't have it easy. Hartman was a good character, although I wish we had heard more from him. Hartman had a tragic past, and I feel that wasn't as in depth as it could have been. I got past not liking some of the characters straight away, because I think that they all grew during the course of the story.

All The Forever Things is a decent YA contemporary read. It may not be my favourite book by Jolene Perry, but I think it's worth picking up, especially if you're a fan of the genre!

Nothing lasts forever, like my patience - which didn't last long enough to enjoy this book.
Gabe is "woe is me,"  selfish, and and immature. The only interesting thing about her was that she lived in a funeral home.
Speaking of living in a funeral home, it was used to make Gabe a special snowflake. 
The one enjoyable part was the aspect of friendship and the difficulties that come about when one friend starts a relationship. 
Girl on girl hate makes me so mad. It's time authors get beyond that as a plot point.
The book had false uniqueness. It was trying to be something other than the contemporary romance that it was by constantly reminding us that its heroine was quirky and not normal. 
Romances are usually predictable, but this suffered from so much predictability that it stole all the fun away.
Long story short, I can't figure out a single reason to promote or recommend this book.

I made the huge mistake of reading some of the reviews of the novel before starting it. They told me Gabe was selfish, obnoxious and borderline annoying. I thought for sure I wasn't going to like this book. Boy, how wrong was I...

Gabe has always been the odd one out but she's been perfectly okay with that as long as she has had her best friend Bree by her side, that is until Bree starts dating the one guy Gabe despises and cracks in their friendship begin to show. Struggling on her own, Gabe strikes up an unlikely friendship with new boy Hartman and before she knows it, Gabe is telling him all of her darkest secrets and fears. It's not long before Gabe is falling for Hartman but a fateful accident on prom night could change everything. 

'Gave makes me the best version of me, and she always knows when I need a doughnut.'

Don't get me wrong, the reviews were right about Gabe. At the beginning of the novel Gabe does come across as selfish. She refuses to be happy for her best friend, but I do think she has some reason to be. Bree completely ditches Gabe when she first gets with Bryce. She stops turning up at the lunch meeting place, doesn't wait to give Gabe a lift after school and doesn't even drop her a text to tell her she won't be there. I think I would be pretty mad too. Despite this, Gabe does try her best. She sends Bree endless texts apologising and Gabe goes through the biggest transformation of the novel. By the end, Gabe was relatable, honest and open and I absolutely loved her. I also liked that Gabe wasn't afraid to be herself. She was differently and a a little bit crazy but she embraced it, just like we all should. 

We know little about Hartman's character before going into the book. His the new boy in town and doesn't know anybody except Bryce so him and Gabe end up hanging out together by chance. Hartman's father died a few months previous and he finds Gabe's life in a funeral home intriguing. Hartman was one of the most emotional male characters I've come across in YA, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It was refreshing to see a male character who had a heart. He was much more open than Gabe and let his full feelings be known throughout the novel. I also felt a wave of sympathy for him. On top of his father's death, he also had to look after his mum who was struggling with her husbands death and he was consistently apologetic to Gabe for it. He even showed up in the final minutes of prom because he promised Gabe he wouldn't leave her on her own. If that isn't love I don't know what is. 

'How does one person have the ability to make me feel so much?'

I ship Gabe and Hartman so blooming much! At the beginning I was skeptical, that didn't seem like the typical YA perfect match but by the end I was rooting for them. At first, they have only a friendship, being there for each other in their times of crisis but before long this develops into something more. The pair of them were so romantic and although they were a bit too touchy-feely at times, I thought they were absolutely adorable together. So is Habe or Gartman?

The novel as a whole dealt with grief among teenagers. I think Perry did such a great job of portraying this story with Hartman's character. I myself have never experienced grief so I can't say how accurate Hartman's feelings are, but she never pushed or rushed the subject. Hartman's grief is present throughout the novel and at times he handles it well and others he is struggling to keep it together at all. Losing somebody so close to him was extremely difficult for Hartman but he never let it get him down. Instead, he taught Gabe to embrace the world and live while she still had the chance. 

'Weird is what makes our world worth living in.'

Overall, I liked this book a whole lot more than I thought I would. Perry's characters were perfect together and individually I really felt something towards each of them. This novel pulled at my heartstrings and I highly recommend it. Its the perfect novel for the upcoming summer months. 

My Rating: 4/5

Gabe, and her best friend, Bree help each other through everything; family problems, relentless teasing, issues with clothes. So, when Bree decides to start dating Gabe’s nemesis, Gabe is at a loss. As the two girls start drifting apart Gabe finds herself increasingly alone. She keeps trying to warn to warn Bree about how bad Bryce is for Bree, but it always backfires. Soon Gabe feels like her only friend is the new boy in town, Hartman, who is dealing with his own problems, like the recent death of his father. But for a girl like Gabe, who lives in a funeral home and sometimes worries that she spends too much time thinking about how people die, losing Bree is not an option; the only problem is how can she hold on to someone who doesn’t want to be in her life?

Jolene Perry has perfectly captured the angst of a girl on the cusp of taking that next step, but not quite ready. Although at times it felt like Gabe was 13 or 14 instead of 16, which made some of the story seem not quite plausible because I couldn’t quite buy into her actual age. This also cut me off from the emotional impact of the ending of the book because I had a hard time believing that they were all old enough to be at prom. Also, Bryce? Come on, a little convenient, isn’t he the bad guy? I can’t say anything else here without major plot spoilers. 

A coming of age story with the interesting twist of the funeral home setting, this story had profound moments mixed with moments of incredulity.    

Note: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This will go live on my blog on April 5. Kellyvision.wordpress.com


Gabe (Gabby to her parents, much to her annoyance) lives in a funeral parlor. It's the family business. Most of her classmates think she's really weird but she doesn't care. She has her best friend, Bree, and they're happy. Except then Bree starts dating Bryce (who used to be really mean to Gabe, and who's never been exactly pleasant to her). Now their friendship is really strained and Gabe has no idea how to get her friend back...or how to deal with the guy she's kind of dating. 

This book has a lot going on, probably a little too much. I think first love AND weird family AND friendship drama is a little too much for a book that's not even 300 pages. 

And yet, it's interesting and even kind of beautiful. I wish we had spent more time on the ways the family business has harmed Gabe (she's very Vada Sultenfuss--not hypochondria, so much, but she knows all the ways you can die and she's nervous about a lot of them). 

That's the plot I was most interested in, and it's what we spent the least amount of time with.

I read only about fifty pages of the book, before I realized that I wasn't connecting with the main character. I found her to be too immature for my liking and I promptly did not finish the book. I wanted to give it a shot but the plot or the characters didn't interest me as I liked.

I think I had my expectations for this a little high. Because the main character, Gabe (Gabriella), lives in a funeral home, it immediately drew connections for me to My Girl and Six Feet Under (although SFU is way too adult for this, clearly). Gabe was also a little Wednesday Addams. She was odd and quirky in a likable but at times immature way. (She's a teen, I can forgive immaturity.)

Gabe's best friend is Bree. But Bree starts dating a guy (who is a jerk to Gabe), and Gabe is sidelined. This is actually an interesting part of the book to me because a lot of girls (and maybe guys too?) know what it feels like when your best friend starts dating someone, gets completely absorbed, and basically disappears from your life. It feels like a forever change, but generally it is not. All you feel is that it is broken and different. And if your best friend was the only one that understood you, in Gabe's case, it is hurtful. It even goes so far as to have Bree started to hang out with other people, which makes sense because she is dating Bryce... this is a natural thing, but can be hard to swallow as a teen. I didn't actually find Bree to be very likable, but I could accept that they are best friends and that's all that mattered and now they were growing apart for many reasons.

Enter Hartman. Gabe gets her turn at a little romance, though she is wary about becoming the kind of girl Bree is becoming, and holds back from Hartman. Ultimately though, this is not a story about Gabe and Hartman. It all circles back to Bree when a horrible accident happens after Prom.

Even typing about it... I'm not completely sure how I felt about this book. It was unique but also predictable. It highlighted the occasional mercurial temperament of best friend relationships, and showed imperfect home life situations. So, my point, is that it had an interesting foundation. I was still left wanting for a stronger heroine and message. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I will however keep it in mind for any friends looking for a quirky, original and darker contemporary.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley and Albert Whitman & Company for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to Albert Whitman & Company and NetGalley.)

    "Wanna guess?" He grins.
    I glance at the man's face, a little grayish now, but it will pink pretty quickly once the embalming fluid fills his veins.
    The man is older, but not super old. About ten years older than my dad and pretty overweight. "Heart attack?" 



This was a YA contemporary story about a girl who lived at a funeral home.

Gabriella came across as a quite normal sort of girl, even if she did like to play up the whole funeral-home thing by dressing like Wednesday Adams. She did seem to really love her best friend Bree though, and continued to try and look out for her, even when Bree didn't want her to. Bree on the other hand didn't seem to take Gabriella's feelings into account much at all, and only really seemed interested in her new boyfriend.

The storyline in this was about Gabriella living at the funeral home where her parents worked, and about her best friend Bree who was dating a boy who Gabriella didn't like. We also got a bit of romance between Gabriella and a boy called Hartman, but mostly the story was about Gabriella's dislike of Bree's boyfriend, and the rift that caused in their relationship. What was weird though was the way that Gabriella and her friends had so much access to the dead bodies! Surely that isn't right?!

The ending to this was quite surprising, and certainly shook things up a bit! I can't say that I really cared all that much about the characters affected by the accident though.



6 out of 10

Rating - 3 / 5

I can't say I loved the characters in this, but they weren't awful.

This wasn't a bad read, but it wasn't one that gripped me unfortunately. It struggled to keep my interest, and I felt quite bored for most of it. It didn't drag too badly though thankfully.

Overall, Not awful, but nowhere near as good as the other books I've read from this author.

In general this was an overall ok book.  For books available in the YA genre this is something extremely different.  Although I am a little put off by the how it ends.   Not so much by what happens but more of the idea that behaving in certain ways or partaking in certain activities is alright no matter what is going on in your life.  I understand that people go through things differently but I feel like it is saying that sometimes it's ok to behave this way when in reality it's not.  I not know.  I am in the process of reading again to verify these thoughts but overall it's good and looks at life in a new way and reminds us why best friends are important.  

Above was my opinion while reading the book the first time... my opinions have changed after the second reading.  I could see a great discussion being held around this book and I judged this book a little to harshly.

So far I have read a couple of books by Jolene Perry and they have always either been a hit or miss for me. I am glad to say that All the Forever Things was a hit. I truly enjoyed reading this book from the first until the very last page.

One of the things that I enjoyed the most about this book that it explored the meaning of death. It is something that people do not talk about often mainly because it is a hard topic. But sadly enough it is also a part of life so I believe that it should be addressed more. And I think she did a pretty good job of addressing it. Gabe grew up in a funeral home, so she is around dead all the time. For her it is part of everyday life so she does not get why people get so upset over it since everyone knows that it will happen eventually. The least you could say is that she had a complex relationship with death. In some ways she got really detached from her emotions because she needed to do that to survive or at least she thought she had to do that.

I really enjoyed Gabe as a character, she might come across to some people as selfish but I did not see her like that at all. What I saw was a girl that did not have a lot of friends and tried to keep the one friend she really had close to her. And yes when that friend was slipping away from her she made some wrong decisions but overall I think she did her best to please everyone. Bree on the other hand I found to be selfish, they had been best friends for years but then a boy enters the picture and she basically tosses her friend to the side. I really hate it when people do that because in the end they always come crawling back. Another character that I did enjoy was Hartman, he really complemented Gabe well. He made her see again that it is okay to feel things and that she should really live her life. And for that alone I already liked him.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It might have been a book mainly focused on romance but it also dealt with so many other topics and that is what made this book so good. I am glad that I decided to pick up this book by Jolene Perry because she has proved again to me that she can address a heavy topic in a way that does not make it too depressing and sad.

Guys... It finally happened? After years and years of reading books and not crying... THIS BOOK BROKE ME! Yup, broke me, nasty sniffling and tears and everything. 

I wanted to start this review by saying that Jolene Perry is one of my favorite authors. I found her book, The Summer I Found You, on NetGalley and requested it. I got approved but ended up NOT reading the book because I fell behind with deadlines. So a few months later a friend read that very same book and told me what it was about and I decided I HAD to read it. So, I read it. And ever since then I haven't stopped reading her books. They are all hard hitting, quick reads that leave me emotional but they also have such a deeper meaning about how we as humans should be. So, yes, this review might be extremely biased. BUT the author won my heart fair and square.

All the Forever Things is unlike any book this author has written before. It still has the love story and the emotional turmoil but the characters felt a lot more real to me. I think I connected with this book more because it is centered around life and death and those are two things everyone has to deal with in this life whether we want to or not. 

Gabe is the daughter of funeral directors. That sounds ring right? Well, they actually LIVE in the funeral home her parents direct in. It is a family business. So Gabe hasn't exactly had the best life because obviously people need to tease someone for being different. So Gabe has her best friend, Bree and that is about it. She does help her parents with the funeral stuff, as does Bree. I think the only thing I didn't really like about Gabe was the fact that she was way too timid. She pretty much hid behind her black clothes all because some dickhead called her Wednesday Addams. 

And.... that dickhead ends up asking Bree out and Bree is all overjoyed and crap while Gabe just stands in the background wondering what she could have possibly done to warrant her best friend making google eyes at Bryce AKA, hottest guy at school AKA, douche-bag that called her Wednesday Addams and ruined a precious moment for her when she was younger. 

Gabe cannot seem to let go of this grudge she holds against Bryce. Then again, Bryce wasn't earning any brownie points for growing up. He still teased Gabe and Bree just let it happen. That is exactly when I started HATING Bree and started calling Bryce a fuck-boy. Yep. It happened. I have officially used the term "fuck-boy" in a review. I get a medal for that, right?

Well since Bree got her man, what does Gabe get? Oh, don't you worry. Her present comes in the form of an extremely tall new guy that wears plaid and bowties and drives his dads car. Trust me, he is better than I make him sound. I promise! But you will have to read the book to see what I mean.

I truly loved this book beyond words. I really loved Gabe and Hartman. They were perfect. He definitely sounded like my kind of guy. You know... If I was still in high school. I would be all over that! Just kidding...or am i? Gabe was a little bit of a chicken though. Seeing all the dead people that come into her home and hearing about the ways people die, she has kind of become weird about everything. She doesn't want to drive and only trusts certain people to drive her. But that same fear is what has been holding her back from really living her life. A lot of us can relate to that, I bet. 

If there was one thing to take away from this book it would be... the grass isn't always greener (or the coffin isn't always better) on the other side. You might think your family is icky or horrible or too protective but I bet there is someone you know who envies your life with your family. And then that person sees you as ungrateful even though in your eyes your parents really are horrible. Everyone views situations differently. No one ever sees the same thing or reacts the same way. This... this right here, is WHY the world is so imperfect. People believe the way they view life is the right way. It isn't the right way and it isn't the wrong way. We are all very different and need to learn to accept that and start listening more to other people. No, you don't have to change your view on life, but you do need to learn to see things from other perspectives in order to understand how to be a better person.

By the end of the book I was left with a beehive of emotions and I just kept saying "Oh no she didn't!!" about the major plot point at the end. I knew something bad was going to happen. I mean come on, something bad HAS GOT TO HAPPEN, right? Yup, I was right. Just not exactly what I was expecting or, more like, WHO I was expecting. 

Overall, I have the book 5/5 stars.

Beautiful little story about a teenager who lives in a funeral home. She must learn to figure out how to deal with death daily.  Her parents worry they've ruined her, but no.   She learns that "forevers are everywhere." 

I highly recommend this wonderful book.