Genre 📚: YA Thriller, Dark Romance, Mystery
Tropes 💁♀️: Family secrets, Forbidden love
Rep ✔️: Half Filipino main character
CW ⚠️: Off-page death of a parent, house fire, alcohol abuse, grief
Rating ⭐️: 3/5
Sloan Harlow reaaaally likes to torture her characters. And I, apparently, enjoy reading said torture. Her debut Everything We Never Said lured me in with its angsty premise and kept me reading well into the early morning to figure out what the hell was going on. The same happened here with All We Lost Was Everything, which was just as twisty turny.
FMC River loses everything in an accidental fire, including her beloved father. As she tries to get her life together, she falls into a passionate romance with MMC Logan, her mysterious co-worker. Naturally, he has his own baggage, as well as a huge secret that he’s sure will tear them apart. These two got way too intense way too fast (I would’ve liked a little more forbidden pining), but I was wrapped up in their story — like a passerby unable to look away from a car wreck.
It took a while for the thriller aspect to come in, for River to start unraveling all the secrets behind her family and the perhaps not-so-accidental fire, but once it did… damn. I had my theories of what the twists might be, and I was wrong every single time. There are certain parts where you have to suspend disbelief, but it’s pretty easy to go with the flow and hang on for this crazy joyride.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All We Lost Was Everything will be released on May 6, 2025.
Sara Bechtol 