All That Was

by Karen Rivers

Piper and Sloane were best friends. They grew up together, from childhood to first love, and in spite of how different they were, their friendship was supposed to last forever. That is, until Piper caught Sloane kissing her boyfriend—and just days later, Piper was found dead, washed ashore on a beach. Sloane was torn with grief and guilt. How do you make amends for hurting someone you love, if that person is no longer around? And how can you ever move on and love again?

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Friendship, Realistic Fiction, Death, Romance

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 16, 2018

About the author

Karen Rivers is too thrown by the "Date of Death" drop down that has appeared below her name in the editing section of this page to actually write anything about her life. When she recovers, this box will be filled with imperative biographical information and may include SECRETS and probably also a few LIES. Now she is going to sit back and anxiously track that "Date of Death" box in case a date suddenly appears, foretelling her imminent doom.

Reviews

[Erin Bembridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

🍪🍪
1.5 cookies
I had very high expectations for this book. Turns out. I got let down. I really wanted to like this, but I stopped at 70% and never picked it back up. The characters were cliche it was hard to focous on because it jumped from one thing to the other. It didn't help that that I stuggled constantly to patch together things as she talked to bugs. Anyways I wanted to thank the publishers for giving met he chance to read this but overall the book just did not do it for me.

[madie (madieanne) · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf at 40%. i’m actually really disappointed. before we go extinct is my favorite book of all time, and i went into this with high expectations.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers a lot of territory, some of it familiar and some of it material that hasn't been plumbed thoroughly in the past. At its heart it's the story of two best friends, girls who have had each other's backs since the very first years of school. Sloane and Piper have many similarities, often even dressing and wearing their hair in the same style, but sometimes, it seems as though the two of them are caught in a dangerous dance of competition and individuality. When the book opens, Piper is dead, murdered after having run off in anger after finding her boyfriend, Soup, and Sloane embracing on a dance floor. Sloane and Soup feel guilty about their part in what happened to Piper, but as it turns out, there is much more to her death than readers could ever have imagined. While readers never learn very much about Piper's killer, it is clear that he is not the person Piper thought he was, and as it turns out, Sloane also knows him and doesn't know what to do with what she knows. In addition to exploring the complexity of female friendships--and it often is not clear that these girls actually ARE friends--the author also looks at rape culture, consent, and the line between sexual desire and lust and being labeled a slut. My heart broke for Sloane when Piper tells her that she and Soup have had sex since Sloane so clearly loves Soup. She doubts herself so frequently, and even after she has confessed to having feelings for Soup, Piper goes ahead and goes after him, breaking the girl code. What kind of friend even does that? And then, she's determined to make sure Sloane also loses her virginity with whatever guy happens to be convenient. Maybe this idea works in theory, but not for Sloane. It might be the biggest mistake of her life. Of course, all of this takes place in an affluent community in the Pacific Northwest, and readers will be entertained by the reactions of some of the school officials and classmates. Like most of us when we lose someone we love, both Soup and Sloane must decide how much blame they bear for Piper's death. I finished this but am still thinking about many of the points the book explores and even the idea that a girl who goes off alone or dresses in a certain way is asking for it and has consented to sex simply by virtue of either of those two things.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Holy Cow.
Actual Rating....4.5 stars.

I'm still trying to formulate feelings into words.

The writing...I loved the writing. This author...I need more!

What I loved...No is no even if no started out as yes....the minute yes becomes no it's NO. I think that point can't be driven home enough. I really liked the way the author didn't preach this theme...but it was there, just below the surface. And sometimes the hardest person to say NO to is the person who is supposed to be your best friend.

What I didn't love....certain parts of the book were a bit confusing. Possibly because I was reading this on my device and I think in places the formatting was off a bit. NBD...did not in any way ruin the story.

What I needed....I would have loved a little more ending. A little more clarity in the end. BUT, I understand why that isn't there. So, I'm just imagining the ending just the way I want it...PERFECTO! :-)

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Piper and Sloan’s symbiotic friendship centers on Piper gaslighting Sloan in manners so subtle, Sloan questions her own perceptions. Then Piper is murdered and the two teens twisted relationship as well as Soup, the boy they both lives takes on additional complexities.

Karen Rivers pulled me in with Sloan’s stream of consciousness, poetic words. Unfortunately, the further I read into ALL THAT WAS, the more dissatisfied I grew.

Sloan’s relationship with Piper never made sense. Sloan had loving, supportive parents and good relationships with other adults in her life. She shouldn’t have been drawn to a girl like Piper, who took Sloan’s desires made them her own. She subtly insulted Sloan at every turn, under the guise of being “helpful”. Sloan should have had a better emotional foundation to have been pulled in.

Piper was truly a vapid character. Rivers didn’t give her any redeeming qualities. Worst of all, she discounted and blamed Sloan for being sexually assaulted, not to mention pimping her out for Piper’s own enjoyment.

The first half of the book switches from before Piper’s murder and present time. The second half switches to Soup’s and Sloan’s points of view in alternating chapters. I didn’t understand why Rivers chose to add Soup’s POV, because that it added nothing to the story.

The end of ALL THAT WAS fizzled out, a disappointment to a book that started out so promising. Rivers’s writing is the best part of the book. The relationship between Sloan and he parents was also a plus.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an intriguing read, but I’m just not sure what the point of it was? Piper and Sloane’s friendship is toxic to the highest degree, but that wasn’t really enough to sustain the plot for me.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible. Here's why:

1. The central relationship between the MC, Sloane, and her best-and-only friend, Piper, is completely toxic, self-indulgent, and destructive. Sloane is absolutely obsessed with Piper; Piper knows this, loves it, and takes advantage of it; and the cycle continues. Not only is this incredibly annoying to read, but it's also completely unrealistic!

2. The internal-dialogue (and there is A LOT OF IT) is exhausting. Nearly every chapter is told from Sloane's point of view, and the bulk of the novel takes place in her head, which is crazy. SHE IS LEGIT CRAZY. Sloane definitely suffers from an anxiety disorder, migraines, and some form of anoriexia (anorexia athletica, probably), but beyond that, she is also totally self-involved, has zero self-esteem, and does not possess a single authentic or original thought. Also, she regularly talks to herself and inanimate objects! And she has ACTUAL FAINTING SPELLS!

3. There is no narrative structure in this book at all. It jumps all over the place, to the point that it's way too easy to get confused about where you are, who is talking, or what day it is.

4. THE METAPHORS. THE SIMILIES. The author has obviously conflated an over-use of metaphor with actual GOOD writing.

5. The false-feminism in this book fills me with a red-hot, blinding rage. Sloane yammers AT LENGTH about how she and Piper were going to find Manic Pixie Dream Boys when the reality of the situation is that they are EXACTLY Manic Pixie Dream Girls: difficult, fragile, "complicated," white, pretty, etc. The whole premise of the book is built on this idea that Sloane holds on to like a life-line: liking a boy is TOO NORMAL for her. She's *special,* she's going to be a *film-maker,* she listens to *podcasts* and *smokes cigarettes* and has ONE BEST FRIEND AND THAT'S ENOUGH. Meanwhile, she allows her best friend to FORCE HER into having sex with a complete stranger on a remote island because Piper insists that they have to be the same, so that's a good enough reason, right? How about JUST DON'T HAVE SEX WITH THAT MAN YOU'VE NEVER MET???

6. I hate the thought of ANY teen reading this book and thinking that the characters, their actions, their thoughts, their feelings, or their interactions have any basis in reality WHATSOEVER. This is the work of a crazy person who has absolutely no idea how human people interact.

Do not read this book. It is 375 pages of NO.

[Jenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Piper and Sloane were best friends. They grew up together, from childhood to first love, and in spite of how different they were, their friendship was supposed to last forever. That is, until Piper caught Sloane kissing her boyfriend—and just days later, Piper was found dead, washed ashore on a beach.

Sloane was torn with grief and guilt. How do you make amends for hurting someone you love, if that person is no longer around? And how can you ever move on and love again?

This book, my emotions… I’m not even sure if I will be able to fully explain them. They were all over the place while reading the book, and afterwards. I believe that ALL THAT WAS was one of most dramatic, intense novels that I read this year. I never read book by author before, and yet it pulled me right in. ALL THAT WAS is one of those novels, even though it intense at times, you can’t help but fall in love with it, and next thing you know, you spent hours reading it. That’s how I felt. Most days, few more pages turned into hours of reading and that’s why I read it so fast. The start is what pulls you in, since it starts from Piper’s point of view and as reader, you can’t and wonder, who did it, and was there a reason behind it? I know that Piper wasn’t always an easy person to get along with, but nobody deserves what happened to her. I can’t even begin to imagine what must gone through her mind, once she knew that she was going to die. Plus the way she died. I don’t even want to imagine. From start, I wondered, what lead to Piper’s murder.

Piper and Sloane’s friendship was intense. Sometimes I felt as two of them were more of frenemies then best friends. I felt as Piper pushed Sloane a bit too much at times. I wondered how Sloane put up with Piper sometimes. But then she was also there for Sloane when she needed her. Fact that she went after Soup, even though she knew how she felt about him, I didn’t like that. I know that Soup liked Piper, but I do believe that he went out with wrong person, he didn’t seem to have same connection with Piper then Sloane. I know that it was the reason that the two of them kissed. I know that Sloane blamed it on drinking. I do believe that they wouldn’t kissed if there was no attraction between the two of them. To me, it seemed as the two of them got along better than Soup and Piper did, up until she died. I know that the reason that Soup wanted to connect with Sloane, not long after Piper’s death. It had been her all along, not Piper. I know the reason she tried to avoid it, because she felt as she was betraying Piper all over again, even though she was gone. I would loved to have a friend like Sloane. I can’t even begin to imagine losing a best friend, the way that she lost Piper. It’s heartbreaking.

I loved the writing style, I loved Before and Now, so you got to know Piper and Sloane more, and get to see how their friendship was. Way that it was written, the way that she described Sloane’s feelings after her death. It felt almost Poetic. I knew that it wasn’t happening, while reading ALL THAT WAS I started to believe as it was. I felt the sadness, the grief and the guilt that Sloane felt after Piper’s death. I wanted to take Sloane into my arms and hold her. I am glad that she added Soup’s point of view there eventually, that was something that I wonder from beginning of the book, how was he feeling about all this? Considering all of it happened a day after Piper caught Sloane and Soup kissing. What he thought about the guy who killed her. I had a feeling that something wasn’t right with James, just the way he acted with Sloane. He seemed a bit violent, but I didn’t think he was that violent. I wonder if part of him, did it as revenge since he knew Piper was her best friend. Despite the subject, I couldn’t get enough of this book. You won’t stop turning the pages until the end.

Now that I read ALL THAT WAS , I can’t wait to check out other books by KAREN RIVERS . I already can tell that she is going be one of those writers that I will fall in love with. Her story felt so real. A story that I was still thinking about after I turned the last page. I want to see what other adventures she has in story. Be ready for a thrilling, emotional ride.

[Christine Lynd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sloane and Piper are friends that have grown up together since they were in preschool. They dress alike, look alike, and spend all of their time together. In fact, it has become harder and harder for each girl to understand where one girl begins and the other girl ends. As they enter the Summer before their senior year of high school their relationship takes a dark turn as each girl tries to impress her will on the other. Despite a pact to "never let a boy come between them" a boy inevitably comes between them. Before this love triangle has time to get resolved, a tragedy puts two of the players into an existential tailspin.
Lyrically written, emotionally complex. Recommended for those who enjoyed We Were Liars.

[Dorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There is maybe a fungus that has woven me to Piper. Piper is the fungus, invading my roots. It's more parasitic than that."

“I’m either holding my breath or not, I can’t tell, and I’m with her and I’m underwater and we’re drowning, we keep seeing sky and knowing we can’t reach it, is that you Piper, I say or think or dream. It’s us, it’s us. We are. We aren’t.”

This book is written in first person narrative from the main character Sloane’s point of view. Sloane enjoys memorizing random facts (usually about animals) and her inner dialogue is often peppered with random animal trivia, not always related to what she was thinking about beforehand. Her train of thought also tends to wander. In the middle of remembering an event that happened before the book’s timeline started, she’ll suddenly start thinking about some other event that happened or describing her relationship with one of her friends. Worst of all (at least as far as my own personal pet peeves go), the author’s writing style uses a lot of overly descriptive metaphors and run on sentences. Because of the combination of all of these things, I found this book relatively hard to follow and even outright confusing at times.

“But even while Piper was yelling, we were swaying without meaning to, without wanting to; our bodies were touching in a way that felt like we weren’t in control of them, our hands entangled, our bodies reaching for each other, her face collapsing.

Why does it matter so much?

It was only a kiss.

Whales are washing up dead on beaches everywhere, their corpses rotten and bloated. Sometimes they explode. It doesn’t seem like anyone cares.

If the elephants start dropping dead, maybe then the world will notice. Everyone likes elephants, right? Elephant zombies would really be something, their decomposing flesh dropping off in leathery sheets. They wouldn’t be ignored.”

However, despite not liking the author's writing style, I actually really enjoyed the story itself. I also appreciated the underlying message - No means no, even if it starts as a yes. That’s very relevant in today’s political/social climate and an important lesson to learn as teenagers and young adults (the target demographic for this book). For that reason, I'm giving this book a 3.5/5 score.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

BLOG: Dorie's Reading Corner

[Larosenoire299 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
IT seems like this book doesn't gain much popularity, but its cover catch my eye.

There is maybe a fungus that has woven me to Piper.
Piper is the fungus, invading my roots.
It’s symbiotic, of course.
But what am I getting?
It’s more parasitic than that

Oh, well, if you know it's a toxic friendship, why do you stick to it? Because she is your only friend? This kind of friendship wraps my head around. Piper possesses all qualities of a bad friend that does more harm than good. She insults Sloane at every turn, she blames Sloane for being sexually assaulted (she forces her to do that because of her insane belief) after filming it, she makes a move on Sloane's crush while Sloane is willing to back off. "Never let a guy come between us", ridiculously, a biggest lie of all time, right? Best friends often fall for the same guy and it's how friendship ends.

The thing with Piper is that she goes too far; she doesn’t know when to stop. She never knows when to stop. My heart was skipping beats all over the place. I was dizzy. I took in a slow breath and then another. And another.
She was happy.
I wanted to hit her back. I wanted to run.
"You have a boyfriend. I’m so happy for you.” My voice crackled on “happy” like a car that was driven into a tunnel, interfering with the radio.

It's difficult to describe my feelings for this book. I have mixed feelings for it. This book is told from alternating persepectives, mainly through Sloane's stream of consciousness. I am pretty keen on the descriptive, metaphoric writing style, which reminds me of We were liars; but on the other side, the execution sometimes gets on my nerves. I don't know why people sustain a toxic friendship. A true friend should be the one who brings great joy, comfort into your life rather than making you walk on eggshells.

“She competes with you,” Mom said once. “She’s always trying to be a better Sloane than you are. She wants to out-Sloane you.

[Ellie M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this around December 2018, but I was too lazy to write a review until now.


So basically this book revolves around Sloane, the eDgY protagonist, and what happens after her best friend Piper is raped and murdered at a party and Piper's ex starts to fall for her. I hate complaining...but there are several things to complain about.

SO MANY overdone tropes. The "haircut I regret (and of course it's a pixie cut because i'M nOt lIkE oThEr gIrLs uwu)" and the "i smoke but I swear I don't want to" are just two, and these are both results of pressure by Piper onto Sloane. I'll get more into how toxic she was later, but it's basically the same thing in all the "before" chapters: Piper either forcing Sloane to do something or Sloane following everything she does because she's so perfect, etc.

The statutory rape. So, here's where I'm going to talk about how Piper was a toxic friend: after she slept with her boyfriend for the first time, she kept trying to get Sloane to lose her virginity. Sloane is not sure about this, obviously uncomfortable, so what does Piper do? Finds a RANDOM STRANGER at the movies she thinks is cute, not knowing his age or anything about him, and convinces Sloane to sleep with him. Sloane doesn't even really want to, but she just goes along with it. Let's be clear: "Unsure" is not consent. And the guy was 26. Sloane is 17. Uhhh....no. I was actually glad when the guy ended up being the murderer and arrested because it meant that the relationship wouldn't be romanticized.

The writing style is really confusing, about half is unnecessary detail or metaphor of some kind, and another fourth is just scenes of Sloane and Piper drinking vodka-infused Slurpees. Sloane was basically everything I don't like in a MC.

[Lauren Combs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfortunately, my experience with this novel was one of mixed emotion. First of all, I love Rivers' imagery and her writing style. A huge emphasis was placed on the sea, the sky, marine animals, not to mention the appearance of crows and their eerie nature. That was great, valid, whatever; she knew what she was doing with the setting of her story and did an amazing job! The other half, however, was disappointing. As wonderful as it is, that Karen had me sucked into the background, Sloane's town, the nettle tea, etc, it wasn't enough for me. Piper didn't have enough depth to her. Sloane- ?????? why the heck was Sloane so hung up on this boy, Soup, or Philip Sanchez? I totally understood WHY Karen chose to create this quirky, graffiti artist, but then when Sloane explained that she had a crush on her manic pixie dream boy( I couldn't). The concept of the plot was a nice thought: murder, two friends, one takes other's boyfriend, blah blah blah but the way it was executed sucked. Karen has to work on developing her characters more.

[Shygal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is simple, Piper and Sloane are friends. Sloane has a crush on Soup. Soup starts dating Piper. Piper dies. The book is pretty well written and has many engaging moments specifically when navigating anxiety and emotional stress. Where the book suffers is in it's clarity of what exactly happens. We never see Piper die, it's just described to us. We never see Sloane and Soup kiss until the end and every time it feels random and stressed bc they don't have a relationship prior to Piper that would even suggest they're on that level yet. The book jumps around a lot and at the end I was def skimming for answers I never found. I left the book feeling more accomplished that I finished it than that it was a good story. Would rate a 2 out of five on plot alone but boosted to a 3 bc it's actually well written. Maybe this book is geared towards teens and I'm just too old for it, but Ngl probably won't read more from this author.

[Caitie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this wanting to like it....but I just couldn't do it. It was okay, not bad by any means, but I think I didn't get the plot. Was it told from the point of view of Piper's ghost? I think it was was, but then near the end it wasn't told like that, so I don't know. I feel like I didn't get know the characters very well either. Piper was supposed to be the better person, because she was smart, beautiful and let's not forget mysterious. I think I'm tired of books where the dead and/or missing best friend is some sort of perfect person. Or at least something that our main character isn't. Sloane (also, an aside, why are so many YA characters named Sloane now?) felt very flat. She didn't really have a personality.

[Azumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not bad, but not good enough there was just something missing and I don't know what it is nevertheless it was fun reading it because it doesn't have any cringy lines the plot and the story line were kinda annoying?
Out of the blue, her friend suddenly got murdered and they didn't even give a simple explanation why the guy killed her.
Anyways I feel like the name of one guy seemed so out of place because why would you name him Soup when his name is Philip? They didn't even give an explanation why he was called by that name, or I just missed it.

[Janessa Paun · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. Everyone in this book lowkey sucked. I liked Soup more than everyone else though, he was much better than Sloane cause when they kissed Sloane wasn’t aware that Soup and Piper had broken up, so I spent like half the novel upset at Soup over a misunderstanding . I was expecting something different from this book and I feel like I was let down because I couldn’t connect with the characters at all. Even the dead girl sucked and I didn’t like the way that it ended, the sentimentality of it all.

[Shannon Ozirny · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Globe and Mail review

[Mr. K · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Piper and Sloane relationship was one of those that is hard to wrap your mind around. Best friends doesn't always fit if both aren't equal partners. There's part of me that feels for each of the girls. When tragedy strikes, do things get more confusing or more clear? 93

[Didi · Rating 4 out of 5]

the plot was okay. i think the one thing that made the rating this high was how good the author was at creating this idea of a main character and a person in the shadows, which was so relatable as long as the feeling of panic and dread and severe crippling anxiety. that itself made the book so much better than the plot.

[Elizabeth (BookishConnoisseur) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!
More review to come soon!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

DARK YA-Much older young adults will probably enjoy this.

[Danella Virtue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice story. Reminded me of my youth in a small town.

[Rhiannon Rabby | 31 · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there was nothing particularly exceptional about this book, it was absolutely worth the read & I did enjoy it.

[saaya parikh · Rating 5 out of 5]

i honestly loved this book so much. got me into reading again.

[Stillk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half part was confusing and repetitive. All in all was good

[Katrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea

[meryval · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[Diane Alhafez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got from library: 8/3/23

Good but slow. The book description basically told the whole plot

[Danielle Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.)

All That Was is a retrospective on a friendship after one of the parties is dead. This isn't a spoiler; you find out within a few pages. But it's the how? and the why? and the whose fault was it? questions that are so powerful. Overall, this novel is a deep dive into those complex questions and the feelings that come with trauma and grief.

This book was challenging for me, primarily because Piper was such a bad friend to Sloane. Again and again, Piper makes destructive choices for their friendship, and Sloane goes along with it because she doesn't know how to behave in any other way. This is 100% the intention of the author and it's well-written, but it's still hard to read.

I really enjoyed Sloane's disconnectivity, particularly as she grieves. She describes feeling like she's underwater and feeling haunted by Piper's ghost, and these moments read vibrant and real. I also enjoyed Soup's character in general, as well as the neighbor. Overall, the tight cast of characters really allows the reader to get to know everyone.

I think this is a fine choice for a high school library, with trigger warnings for rape.