All The Things We Lost (River Valley Lost & Found #1) - Kayla Tirrell

Title: All The Things We Lost (River Valley Lost & Found #1)
Author: Kayla Tirrell
Rating: 2/5

Thanks to Weapenry Cooperative and NetGalley for letting me receive a digital copy of this book.

After her mother’s death, eighteen-year-old Katie finds herself in a town she never thought she'd see again. Lost in turmoil and sadness, a ray of hope shines brightly when she comes face to face with Julian for the first time in years.

However, he isn’t the same boy she left behind. Reserved and covered in bruises, everyone in River Valley avoids him. Rumors of his activities run rampant.
Despite his cold attitude toward her and her own sadness, Katie can’t keep her thoughts from straying to her childhood friend.

Julian is barely keeping it together. He’s the sole provider for his family after his dad leaves. His dreams to go to college are ruined. Even his relationship with his older brother leaves its mark.
But, Katie’s back in town and is stirring feelings in him he thought were lost forever.

Can they find hope and love in each other, or will the struggle to survive their desperate situations prove too much?

I wanted to like this book and the brief summary seemed promising enough to give it a try. But I was only a few pages in until I realized, this book wasn't going to do it for me. Unfortunately, I must say. Honestly, it had a lot of potential, but wasn't really different from a lot of New Adult novels there are. Most of the time, I couldn't deal with the writing either. It seemed to me as though the author wanted to find an ending right from page number one. It's good to know where your story is heading, but things sometimes seemed a little forced, a little to fast-paced.

What I liked, though, was Katie. At least what the author managed to make out of her - a strong, independent woman. And Julian was one of the good old stubborn type. So, while I often struggled on continue reading All The Things We Lost, I liked that the chemistry between the two main characters never felt forced to the reader. Even when I couldn't find myself liking the writing or the story itself, that was a good thing.

I wish we had gotten a litle more insight of what Katie's life used to be, but the story kicks off at her most difficult time in life and unfortunately, we never really got to see the history of Katie and Julian. Surprising enough, how the reader still enjoys the scenes between them and ships the two of them.

This is going to be a short review, since there's not a lot I can say about this book. It was an ok-read, but nothing I would recommend straight away. Also, I'm sad to say that I won't be reading the other books in the series. It just wasn't for me.