All This Time – Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott

The book All This Time was written and released in 2020 by authors Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott (who were also the authors of 5 Feet Apart). The pressure and anticipation I felt during this book just can’t be described in a simple manner, so I hope you can make time for this major speed written review for this book!

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The main protagonist, Kyle, and his girlfriend Kimberly are the most perfect High School couple. They’re in the quarterback and head cheerleader position (respectively), which honestly, if that doesn’t SCREAM CLICHE HIGH SCHOOL ROMANCE, then I don’t know what does. Or maybe you, reader, just haven’t watched those stereotypical high school movies and have absolutely no clue about this fairly common occurrence. But on the day of High School Graduation, Kim decides that she doesn’t want to be ‘tied up’ to Kyle anymore, and she soon breaks up with him.

To make matters worse, the former couple got into a car accident right after the breakup was finished, so it was quite a bit of a lose-lose situation for the both of them. Then Kyle wakes up in a hospital, only to find out that while he survived with a minor brain injury, Kim died in the crash. Kyle starts to regret living, because he always wanted to be with Kim, well, up until he met Marley.

The Characters:

Kyle – Kyle was a character that, in this book, I felt sympathy for, because of his entire late-teen life situation. But, as this story went, Kyle was pretty basic, and throughout the story I struggled to find things that he liked or disliked, at least ones that didn’t involve Kimberly in each memory. It was kind of a constant feeling I had in my head throughout the story, except for maybe around the ending, where Kyle’s life’s worth doesn’t revolve around Kim anymore; it involved Marley instead. 

Something else I’d like to say about Kyle; I really expected his character arc to be like [Will’s] from 5 Feet Apart. One of the reasons I wanted to read ‘All This Time’, was because the authors were the same, and I assumed that the characters in ATT would be as good as the ones in 5FA. But I have to say, I was horribly mistaken – at least for Kyle anyway. Whereas Will from 5FA was one of the best characters that I’ve ever read about in a book, Kyle just lacked that spark I was waiting for throughout the book; the spark that finally connects his feelings to the reader.

I mean, I said that I did feel sympathy for him in the first line of the previous paragraph I wrote, but that was only because I couldn’t understand ANY of his feelings and thoughts in the book. But I guess this stuff happens sometimes, when you thought you had authors you couLD TRUST TO ACTUALLY MAKE A GOOD CHARACTER WITH A LOVELY ARc (excuse me, Ms. Lippincott and Ms. Daughtry, I was absolutely joking about the last sentence, but I kind of do wish that Kyle had a better personality and traits that made him stand out more, like Will from 5FA). But I also think that Kyle is basically a hopeless romantic who depended on first Kim, then Marley to feel better.

Onto Marley. Marley was a character that I could only describe as melancholy. Through the story of when she was first introduced, to when she was in the hospital, her aura was mostly a calm, quiet one, but as she got to know Kyle, I feel like she got more comfortable with him and started to share her feelings with him, going to the point where she at least trusted one other person who wasn’t her late twin sister. 

Something I really liked about Marley is that (and I think this is due to the death of her twin sister), she’s willing to save someone who’s in danger, even if it means risking her life to the point where it could be fatal for herself. But Marley could also relate to Kyle through her own trauma, and overall was a good ‘friend’ to Kyle. However, Marley was kind of introverted, and she slid into her shell every time someone tried to pry into who she was. But nevertheless, she was a very good character, so it wasn’t all that bad.

And Sam. Sam had a major crush on Kimberly when she and Kyle were dating, but then Kimberly dies in the car accident. Sam was kind of a boring character, if I’m being honest. He lacked character, and was about as exciting to read about as a piece of dirty tissue paper.

The Plot:

Now, while the characters were mundane, the plot was equally as twisted. For the first 1/9 of the book, Kyle keeps moping around about how he lost Kim, until fINALLY he gets his butt outside and meets Marley feeding the ducks (which, to be honest, gave me ‘A Silent Voice’ vibes… watch it if you haven’t already, and you’ll know what I mean). But the plot twist to this book was absolutely HUMONGOUS, and I would have never seen it coming from a foot away. And, not gonna lie, it came behind my back and gave me a flat out sucker punch to the back of my head.

But, for OBVIOUS REASONs, I’m not gonna say a word about it…

Okay maybe just a few.

It was absolutely terrifying after 7/9 of the book, because by then, I literally clawed page by page to find the ending. But maybe if you don’t like YA Tropes, then don’t read this book, because you might find it a bit cliche…

The story didn’t quite hit me the way I thought it should’ve, and by around the 70% mark of the book, I had that momentary lapse of reason and judged that the book was just flitting between memories of Kyle, Sam, and Kimberly vs. Kyle and Marley, and to be frank, it was kind of predictable around the climax of the book. I have absolutely no idea how I made it to the end, or stumbled to the end, because it was getting kind of over the top and melodramatic. 

But…

If you did like this book, congratulations. Maybe you could tell me why you liked it, and I’ll try to expand my knowledge of the book to accept that fact. This was my review of All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott. Thanks for reading, and do read the book if you want to. Don’t let my opinion on this book stop you; it’s completely your choice <3