Ashley Woodfolk

In New York City, follows the breakup of teenaged best friends Cleo and Layla, told in alternating timelines.

When You Were Everything

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

Anneliese Villanueva 

4.5 stars - The title is what reeled me in and when I read the first page I knew this book would move me, and it did exactly that. 

The characters were so well written, the story was great, and the pace was good (a little slow at the end). I also liked that both Cleo and Layla did things and that it wasn’t just one sided. Another major plus was the diversity, loved that so much. And also, although the book follows Cleo & Layla, everything that happened around them was explained in such a great way. The antagonists also had a story and weren’t just written to make Cleo & Layla’s plot happen. The only thing I didn’t really care for is the Shakespeare things. 

A great book for anyone that is, has been going, or has gone through a (or multiple) friendship breakup. I cannot express the importance of this book enough

Joy KBA

4.5 stars - The title is what reeled me in and when I read the first page I knew this book would move me, and it did exactly that. 

The characters were so well written, the story was great, and the pace was good (a little slow at the end). I also liked that both Cleo and Layla did things and that it wasn’t just one sided. Another major plus was the diversity, loved that so much. And also, although the book follows Cleo & Layla, everything that happened around them was explained in such a great way. The antagonists also had a story and weren’t just written to make Cleo & Layla’s plot happen. The only thing I didn’t really care for is the Shakespeare things. 

A great book for anyone that is, has been going, or has gone through a (or multiple) friendship breakup. I cannot express the importance of this book enough

anderson elizabeth

This book quite literally crushed me in the best way possible. As someone who has a habit of spinning stories and seeing the idealized versions of people much like Cleo, this incredible novel was a way for me to do a lot of self reflecting. I go to books to try to find myself in them and find words to explain the feelings that I can't. This novel did that in a phenomenal way. It's heartbreaking to go through a friend breakup and sometimes those deep friendships can cut deeper than a dating breakup. I found myself bookmarking so many passages that were speaking to me as I read and would highly recommend this book.

Candyce Kirk

Where do I even start? When You Were Everything really had everything I was expecting from this book, but didn't even know I was expecting. Friendships are a big part of everyone's life, but books don't often show that when friendships end that they can hurt just as much as when you're in love and a relationship ends. When you end up being really close to someone when you're younger I don't think anyone really expects or thinks they won't be this way years later. When You Were Everything was really unique for me in that sense.

I loved that this book was switched between 'then' and 'now'. A lot happened between our two main characters, Cleo & Layla, and I think we needed both timelines to get the complete story. When You Were Everything is told through Cleo's POV. Cleo and Layla became friends when they were twelve and have been inseparable since then. It's basically them against the world. Until Layla starts to pursue some of her other interests and starts hanging out with the chorus girls. This is hard for two reasons: Cleo isn't interested in chorus and the new girls don't exactly make her feel welcome.

As the book continues we see them slowly growing apart and it's painful. I think most of us have experienced a friendship that just didn't last and slowly grows apart. On top of slowly losing this friendship, Cleo is also dealing with her parents separating. I can't imagine losing your friends and your sense of home all at once. But that's where things get tricky. Cleo and Layla don't communicate as much and Cleo is hurt. There are many misunderstandings that end up leading to bullying and just purposely hurting each other. Let me be clear bullying is never okay and purposely hurting someone when you're hurt isn't either! So many times I wish they would just sit down and talk it out, but there was a lot of pain. 

Then there's the other side of a friendship like this ending. How do you trust enough to let knew friends in? Cleo ends up hanging out with a few new people, but clearly tries pushing them away, because she doesn't want to be hurt again. This was hard to see, because these side characters were really trying to welcome her in their lives. Healing from a friendship break up and making new memories isn't easy, but Cleo is slowly learning how to do this during the book. When You Were Everything is very much a character driven book and can be considered slow at times, but it really dives into the emotions and dealing with so many changes. There's a cute romance as well, but I love the fact that it didn't end up being the main part of this story.

All in all, When You Were Everything is an amazing book. I'm normally someone that loves when things get settled and everything is happily ever after, but life isn't always like that and this book balances that aspect very well. I'll definitely be reading more by this author in the future!

Tabassum Irin Zaman

“Somehow I am a girl who makes all the wrong choices, but I am also a girl who aches in every way to be wanted despite my mistakes. ”

When You Were Everything features a topic that books don’t generally talk about – Friendship Breakups. I think the author did an amazing job by choosing this particular plot, since people tend to forget that losing a best friend hurts just like losing a person you’re in a relationship with; sometimes it hurts even more. This book was refreshing in a lot of ways - mainly because YA books tend to be more romance-centered , and When You Were Everything talks about friendship as the focal point. 

Ashley Woodfolk’s writing style is simple, yet so beautiful. The book was perfectly paced, and I literally flew through it. Cleo’s struggles as she adjusted to a life without her best friend, Layla was so heart-breakingly described. I felt really sad for her at times, and wanted to hug her endless times throughout the story. Friendships are over-romanticized most of the time, so I really appreciated how the theme of friendship and losing a best friend wasn’t sugar-coated in any way by the author.

When You Were Everything swiftly changed between two timelines – before and after the breakup, but for me, it felt more like the first half of the book featured Cleo’s trauma and the second half showcased her healing process. I loved seeing Cleo finding happiness outside her “Layla Bubble” and form new friendships. She gradually learnt to accept the fact that some things are never meant to be, while figuring out a way to appreciate the past without clinging into it forever. 

I loved how wonderfully written the romance between Cleo and Dom was, even though it was the secondary focus of the book. It was cheesy and sweet, just like Cleo deserved. Sydney and Willa, Cleo’s new friends, were the best additions to her life, and it was so heart-warming to see their friendship bloom throughout the story. 

I got annoyed with Cleo a few times throughout the story, and I wanted more contribution of her mother in the storyline. These were the only things that I didn’t like about the story – which explains the rating. I loved everything about When You Were Everything otherwise. It is a very important book, one that everyone- specially teenagers should read. <3 

These are some of my favorite quotes from When You Were Everything – 
1)	If you love someone, it’s always worth it….to try. You only get a few truly priceless people in your lifetime. You should fight like hell to hold on to them. 
2)	You kinda have to go through the dark to be sure you’re okay. Why not just make brand-new memories instead of overwriting old ones? You don’t have to erase the bad things to be happy. Besides, the dark shit is important to remember too.
3)	Time had taught me that kids weren’t kind to girls like me : Girls who were dreamy and moony-eyed and a little too nice. Girls who wore rose-tinted glasses. Girls who thought the world was beautiful, and who read too many books, and who never saw cruelty coming. But something about this girl felt safe. 
4)	Love and life are fluid. Even heroes can make choices that fall into shades of gray.
5)	The thing about snow-globes, is that they’re pretty to look at, but they’d be awful to inhabit. People are like that. Lives too
6)	There’s still so much good in the world, you know? There’s still a chance for things to be amazing even if your life didn’t start out so great. But it’s kind of up to you to build the life you want. 
7)	I want to love the people I love with my eyes wide open.

Many thanks to Penguin Random House International and Delacorte Press for the review copy. <3

When You Were Everything

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