Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Teen uncovers startling family secrets in steamy mystery.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
ALL WE LOST WAS EVERYTHING begins with a funeral. River Santos' father has died in a fire that destroyed their home and almost cost River her life. Her best friend, Tawny McGill, has set up a GoFundMe page for River, and when someone anonymously donates two million dollars, it seems as if the future will look brighter for River. But six months later, she's still living in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her father's cousin Tita Anna, still working at a local diner with Tawny, and still mourning the loss not just of her father, but also her mother, who left home to go hiking and never came back. Work at the diner is complicated by her sometimes suspicious, sometimes friendly, possibly romantic relationship with her handsome-as-a-Disney-prince co-worker Logan Evans. When Tita Anna suggests splurging on a trip to Italy, River sends off for a copy of her birth certificate, only to be told no matching record exists. If there's no record, who is she? She thinks there might be a copy in her father's safe-deposit box, but what she finds instead is an anonymous note calling her father a killer. When River begins googling her father's name and "murder," it starts her on a journey filled to overflowing with secrets. Who was her father, and how did her parents really meet? Did Logan know her father? Who started the fire, what's happened to her mother, and why did someone give her two million dollars?
Is It Any Good?
It takes a while for the appealing intensity to build in the story, but once it does, readers need to pay close attention: Secrets are revealed in an often confusing tangle. All We Lost Was Everything has a bit of everything for readers. There's a mystery with touches of a thriller, a steamy on-again, off-again romance and the reappearance of a handsome ex, best friends standing up for one another, and an ending that will leave readers thinking, "What would I have done if I was in River's place?" This twisty, sexy thriller has wide appeal for teen readers.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the themes of betrayal and forgiveness that run throughout All We Lost Was Everything. What does River gain from forgiving? Does River show compassion or courage by forgiving? If so, in what ways? Have you ever struggled with forgiveness before? What happened?
If you were suddenly given $2 million, would you keep it in the bank or spend it?
Why do you think dark family secrets are so popular in mysteries and thrillers?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Mystery
- Topics : Friendship
- Character Strengths : Compassion , Perseverance
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : May 6, 2025
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 352
- Available on : Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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