Publication Date: October 30, 2018

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers

Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction

Pages: Hardcover, 272 pages

AMAZON – BARNES AND NOBLE – KOBO – INDIEBOUND

Can you want something—or someone—so badly that you change your destiny? Elyse Schmidt never would have believed it, until it happened to her. When Elyse and her not-so-secret crush, Josh Harris, are the sole survivors of a plane crash, tragedy binds them together. It’s as if their love story is meant to be. Everything is perfect, or as perfect as it can be when you’ve literally fallen out of the sky and landed hard on the side of a mountain—until suddenly it isn’t. And when the pieces of Elyse’s life stop fitting together, what is left?

Delightfully Weird, Amazingly Unique, and Emotionally Engrossing 

Wow! I don’t even know how to explain what I’m feeling. YOU ARE THE EVERTYHING was such an interestingly well-written and beautifully affecting story about love, loss, life, death, and everything else in between.

Having gone through losing someone recently and dealing with my own grief, this book was not an easy read. I was actually kind of afraid once I realized it wasn’t the lighthearted romance I was expecting. But, the author’s writing style and second person POV sucked me into the story. As if I was the character — going through everything, experiencing all these emotions and just feeling EVERYTHING. It was excruciating and quite overwhelmingly sometimes that I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but I had to keep going. I had to know what would happen next. I had to know that there’ll be a happy ending somewhere. I just had to know. And I did. I can’t say a lot about the plot without giving anything away, but it was very strange and surreal. The ending was just so INSANE. I mean I had my theories while I was reading, but I honestly never saw it coming. So so shockingly good it hurt.

Character wise, I really liked Elyse. She was quirky, funny, adorable and a beautiful mess. I had such an incredibly weird, but fascinating experience being in her head. I can’t say much about the other characters though. I feel like I’d spoil it for you and I just can’t do that. BUT, I will say this. I really enjoyed getting to know the supporting characters in every way.

YOU ARE THE EVERYTHING by Karen Rivers is a wonderfully written story about EVERYTHING. It was exciting and also terrifying. It was sweet, entertaining, and sometimes even funny, but also heartbreaking. Some parts were a bit slow and somewhat annoying, but that didn’t really bother me that much cause I was intrigued and really into the story. I found myself dizzily floating through a whirlwind of emotions and I LOVED IT. So, yeah, this book wasn’t without flaws, but it really got to me and had me feeling and thinking… about EVERYTHING.

If you’re looking for a quick addictive read that’s delightfully weird, amazingly unique, and emotionally engrossing, then I highly recommend you get this book right now. Definitely think it’s not going to be easily forgotten.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review. All feelings, thoughts and opinions are my own.

Spoiler Alert: Some may give away clues to how the story ends, so read at your own risk.

“You know it isn’t real, but it’s real enough.”

“We hold on to two types of memories the hardest – The good ones and the bad ones. It’s the ones that aren’t extreme that we lose most easily.”

“Two truths. Something is a lie. But which one is the lie?”

“The thing is that there isn’t a choice, there isn’t always a choice, sometimes the choice is made for you…”

“What could have been, what isn’t, what wasn’t, and what will never be.”

Taken from the author’s website. 

I was born, grew up, and currently live in British Columbia, where I take a lot of photos, walk a lot of paths, and write books for children, teens and adults.

The stories I tell are emotionally honest, but they aren’t about real people.   Fiction has a way of telling the truth though, don’t you think?

I believe that readers are always asking the question, “Am I OK?”  I write characters who suspect that they are not OK, but who eventually find inside themselves the strength to change that belief.

Growing up is harder than ever.  The world is often egregiously unfair.  Things can seem impossible.

How do we go on?

I believe in the power of stories.  I think that stories will save us.  They can show us the way.

Novels are magical.  Books can be mirrors or windows.  We sometimes need to see ourselves.  We always need to understand others.

Stories are all secret passages to alternate worlds where we can be safe to explore the unsafe, the unsettling or the unfair hands some people have been dealt.

In the pages of a book, we can be braver than we are, we can go further than we’d normally dare, we can understand more than we know.

Books make us better, period.

I believe in magic.  Do you?

Be brave.   Be kind.   And believe this:  You are OK.

I believe in you.

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I hope you enjoyed reading my review.

Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments below.