3.6

I first would like to say how in love I am with the cover. It is such a gorgeous cover. I’m tempted to buy the physical copy just because it would look so pretty on a book shelf. Also, I’m thrilled that a person of color is on the cover. It adds to its beauty. Okay, enough about the cover, let’s move on to the content inside.

This book really shined in the beginning. The mystery was intriguing, and I was excited for what the book would explore. I was so ready to add it to my list of favorites. But then the second half was a letdown for me. The path that was being taken was not as interesting as I once hoped it would be. Things felt a little repetitive, and I found myself looking for that new and emotional aspect that the book had at the beginning.

Without entering spoiler territory, I would say that there were two huge mysteries/plot lines in this book. To make it easier to describe, one mystery was about her family and the other was about the boy that no one but her can see. They both were intriguing in the beginning, however, as the book went on and we found the hows and whys of them, it felt repetitive.

We find out details surrounding the family thing first, and I was shocked and surprised about it. I liked the reasoning behind it. It was emotional and interesting.

A couple hundred page later, the other mystery is solved and it is the exact thing that happened before. This time it was not interesting or exciting because it had already happened. Again, I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the boy. However, the reveal and outcome of it was sort of disappointing.

I think this was the first book by Sarah Everett. And I can’t wait to read more. I really enjoyed her writing style. This book was told in past and present tense. And I thought she did that nicely. It flowed very well, and for this type of story it worked. Most of the time flashbacks can be boring, however, in this case it was very interesting.

Characters

I enjoyed the main character, Addison. Her POV was refreshing; and she was just a great character overall. She was extremely realistic. I liked that, like the readers, Addie had no idea what was going on. It was nice to see her work through the conflicts and come out on top. I enjoyed her character growth at the end, and I was happy about the choices she made in the book.

One thing that I found interesting about Addie was that music was her cover and she hid behind it. She didn’t want to go to Juilliard because if she majored in music or went to Juilliard, it would define her and she’ll be hiding behind it again. That is not something that she wanted to do, instead she wanted her life to be bigger than that. I don’t know, but I thought that was an interesting route to go with a character. I liked it.

Final Analysis

Everyone We’ve Been has a gorgeous cover that would look great on a book shelf. It does have a great POC main character. The first half outshined the second, and it felt a little repetitive. All and all, I would recommend this book.