ALL THE THINGS WE NEVER KNEW

Author(s): Liara Tamani

Stand-alone or Series: stand-alone

Rating: 3/5 stars

The thing that people don’t understand is that when you spend a lot of time by yourself, you get used to keeping how you feel and what you think on the inside.

The cover is adorable, and defiantly caught my eye at first! I read this as an e-book so I couldn’t really enjoy the illustrations in the book, but I’m sure the physical copy is very beautiful as well.

Insta-love is not one of my favourite tropes, but when done well it can give a very nice story! And this one started out so well. I loved the first interaction between Carli and Rex, when they practically fell in love at first sight. It was a great set up and there was so much potential for a wonderful romance. But unfortunately it went downhill as soon as they started talking.

They just didn’t click for me. There was a lot of awkwardness (which is expected) and misunderstanding and miscommunication. They had a lot of secrets, and they clearly didn’t trust each other. They didn’t fit well together, even though they could have. Some of their interactions were great, and from there I could see the potential they had. But they would fight and make up constantly and all that made their relationship pretty awful to read about. It isn’t something I found cute or romantic.

What I did love was how emotional the guys were. Cole being a big softie with a lot of love and who gives great hugs? LOVED IT. Rex crying and talking about his emotions? AMAZING. I really appreciate it when guy characters are open to crying and being emotions. Not every guy has to be cold and detached.

The ending was very well done. I loved that Carli and Rex took time off to really learn about themselves and deal with their own issues. They might work now, if they take things slowly, but they defiantly wouldn’t have worked before. Rex needed to deal with his mother’s death, his anger, and reconnecting with his father. Carli needed to deal with who she is, her father’s betrayal, and understanding who she is and what she wants in life.

All in all, this wasn’t a bad book! Plenty of people loved it and I didn’t hate it. It just lacked the “oomf” that makes a book a four or five star read.

Thank you for reading and see you next time ❤