When You Were Everything, Ashley Woodfolk
When You Were Everything, Ashley Woodfolk
3 Rating(s)
List: $25.00 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.50

When You Were Everything

Author: Ashley Woodfolk

Narrator: Imani Parks

Unabridged: 10 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/10/2020


Synopsis

For fans of Nina LaCour's We Are Okay and Adam Silvera's History Is All You Left Me, this heartfelt and ultimately uplifting novel follows one sixteen-year-old girl's friend breakup through two concurrent timelines--ultimately proving that even endings can lead to new beginnings.

"Stunning." --Nic Stone, bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out

You can't rewrite the past, but you can always choose to start again.

It's been twenty-seven days since Cleo and Layla's friendship imploded.

Nearly a month since Cleo realized they'll never be besties again.

Now Cleo wants to erase every memory, good or bad, that tethers her to her ex-best friend. But pretending Layla doesn't exist isn't as easy as Cleo hoped, especially after she's assigned to be Layla's tutor. Despite budding friendships with other classmates--and a raging crush on a gorgeous boy named Dom--Cleo's turbulent past with Layla comes back to haunt them both.

Alternating between time lines of Then and Now, When You Were Everything blends past and present into an emotional story about the beauty of self-forgiveness, the promise of new beginnings, and the courage it takes to remain open to love.

"Breathtakingly beautiful....Woodfolk has a way of making words sing and burst with light." --Tiffany D. Jackson, award-winning author of Monday's Not Coming and Let Me Hear A Rhyme

About The Author

Ashley Woodfolk has loved reading and writing for as long as she can remember. She graduated from Rutgers University with a BA English and currently works in children's book publishing. She wrote her first book, The Beauty That Remains, from a sunny Brooklyn apartment where she lives with her cute husband and her cuter dog. When You Were Everything is her second novel. Find her online at ashleywoodfolk.com and on Twitter and Instagram at @AshWrites


Reviews

Goodreads review by Maditales on April 07, 2023

Reread: annotating for friend This is one of my new favourite books. This isn't a romance story but a story about falling apart and losing your best friend. I was scared to read this because I have lost multiple of my friends because of different reasons and was terrified of getting emotional. Spoil......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on March 17, 2020

My favorite fiction book of 2020 so far, thank goodness for the year of novels that focus on friendship! We Used to be Friends validated my heartbreak over the close friendships I lost in 2019, and When You Were Everything both validated that heartbreak and pushed me to believe in the power of o......more

Goodreads review by Eric on April 22, 2019

This book destroyed me and I thanked it for doing so.......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on February 23, 2020

It’s refreshing to read a contemporary YA novel where romance takes a backseat. In When You Were Everything, the focus is on friendship — or more specifically, on the end of friendship. Few things are more traumatic for teen girls that losing a best friend. In When You Were Everything, we witness the......more

Goodreads review by Claude's on June 30, 2021

UPDATE: 01/07/2021 - Reread and review added CW: (view spoiler)[marriage break-up of parents, mention of inappropriate staff student relationship, emotional cheating, bullying (hide spoiler)] 3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 Well I may have teared up a little at the end! What a fabulously painful story looking at the slow demise of a friend......more


Quotes

A stunning story that speaks to the deeply human need to love and be loved in myriad ways.” —Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Jackpot

This is a heady, heart-squelching book. I loved it.”  —Mary H.K. Choi, New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact and Permanent Record

"This book has everything I want.... Wise and melancholic, gorgeously nostalgic, Woodfolk’s stories pummel your heart and make you stronger for it." —Justin A. Reynolds, author of Opposite of Always

“A breathtakingly beautiful and intimate story.” —Tiffany D. Jackson, award-winning author of Monday's Not Coming and Let Me Hear A Rhyme

“A hugely evocative and deeply relatable elegy to friendship, heartbreak, and love, this book is gorgeous in every way.” —Jennifer E. Smith, author of Windfall and Field Notes on Love

"Digs in to what makes a friend break-up feel life-shattering. Exquisite, intimate, and vulnerable, this story will surely stick with readers long after they finish it.” —Mark Oshiro, award-winning author of Anger is A Gift

“Ashley Woodfolk's When You Were Everything is a nuanced view of the complicated layers of teenage friendship. In gorgeous, evocative prose, Woodfolk explores the different types of love that feed, wound, and heal us.” —Brandy Colbert, award-winning author of Little & Lion and The Revolution of Birdie Randolph

“A satisfying coming-of-age friendship story.” —Publisher's Weekly, starred review

"Skillfully voices the pain of unexpectedly losing a close friend and explores the choice to remain open despite the risk of future heartache…. A well-crafted story of resilience.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review