Audiobook Review: Everything We Never Said by Sloan Harlow
Everything We Never Said
Author: Sloan Harlow
Narrators:
Steven Molony
Ferdelle Capistrano
Brittany Pressley
Published: May 28, 2024
Audiobook: 9 hours 14 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened: January 17-24 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
What you don’t know can hurt you….
It’s been months since the accident that killed Ella’s best friend, Hayley, and Ella can’t stop blaming herself. Now, Ella is back at school, and everywhere she looks are reminders of her best friend—including Sawyer, Hayley’s boyfriend. Little by little, they grow closer, until Ella realizes something horrifying…
She’s in love with her dead best friend’s boyfriend.
Racked with guilt, Ella turns to Hayley’s journal, hoping she’ll find something in the pages that will make her feel better about what’s happening. Instead, she discovers that Sawyer has secrets of his own, and that his relationship with Hayley wasn’t as picture-perfect as it seemed.
Ella knows she should stay away but finds herself inextricably drawn to him—and scared of everything she never knew about him. Perhaps it’s his grief. Or maybe his desires, cut short by tragedy. Or could it be something twisted only Hayley knew about?
Jessica’s Review:
This one is my first five star read of 2025! It is a mix of my two top genres: YA and Suspense/Thriller. It’s more of a mix of those genres with some romance added in. It does get a slight bit steamy, just the YA version of 16/17-year-olds doing what 16/17-year-olds do.
We have two narrators: Ella and Sawyer. Ella and Hayley were best friends and Ella blames herself for Hayley’s death while Sawyer was Hayley’s boyfriend. We also get to know Hayley through diary entries. Over time Ella and Sawyer become close and then fall for each other. But over time Ella begins to read Hayley’s diary and begins to realize things may not have been what they seemed.
Grief and domestic abuse are themes in this novel and could be triggering to readers. The book takes place in Georgia and Harlow is also from the state so I enjoyed the many references being from Georgia myself! Authors from Georgia that mention locations in Georgia get a plus in my reading! It helps me identify with the characters more.
Everything is a fast-moving novel and yes, I figured out the ‘whodunnit’ 66% of the way in, but not the why this person did what they did. I still had a surprise when I got to that. But then…. To quote Samuel L Jackson, “hold on to your butts” the reader is in for another big twist later on!
I really enjoyed Everything We Never Said. There are three narrators to it. The guy narrator had to ‘grow’ on me. I didn’t really like him, but the two female narrators did great. Brittany Pressley narrated Hayley’s diary entries and did a fabulous job!
I will be looking into Harlow’s future novels!
Short Story Sunday: Severance: The Lexington Letter
Severance: The Lexington Letter
Author: Anonymous
Published: March 1, 2022
E-book: 43 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: January 20, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Short Story Description:
When does the cost of staying silent become greater than the price of speaking up?
A desperate woman risks everything to expose the sinister company at the heart of Severance, the thrilling Apple Original series from director and executive producer Ben Stiller and creator Dan Erickson, now streaming on Apple TV+, about a daring experiment in “work-life balance.”
From the minds behind the series, this is the story of Lumon Industries employee Margaret “Peg” Kincaid.
When Peg gets hired at Lumon, she undergoes Severance, a surgical procedure pitched by the company as an effortless way to separate her personal and work lives. Everyone has their reasons for wanting the easy solution Severance promises, but when Peg realizes that not all is as it seems at the company, she uncovers a reality that’s far worse than the problems she wanted to escape.
At the heart of this story, Peg’s shocking confession reveals the darkest side of corporate America. It raises a chilling question: How far will Lumon Industries go to protect its secrets?
Jessica’s Review:
Before you read this short story Severance: The Lexington Letter you need to have watched season one of Severance, which came out in 2022. If you have never heard of the show the trailer is here:
I don’t remember when I watched season one, I think 2023 and it is so good! It leaves you thinking about so much, especially with that ending! And it also leaves you with so many questions! It took way too long for the second season to come out due to some filming issues and then the Hollywood strikes, but season two is finally here! It started back on January 17th and will becoming out weekly through March 21st. I had planned to rewatch the season one finale, but after reading The Lexington Letter I will have to rewatch that first season again!
The Lexington Letter is short at just 43 pages consisting of an email originally from a former Lumon employee contacting a reporter and telling her what seems hard to believe story. (If you have watched the show then you know the truth!) It then consists of emails from the reporter to her editor, whom has a familiar last name to those who have watched the show. This short story is cannon to the television show, so it adds to the mystery of the show.
Reading this short story has me all excited for the show again! If you are intrigued by the trailer, watch season one, read The Lexington Letter, then watch season two! Then if there is to be a season three let’s hope it doesn’t take three years to come to fruition.
Purchase Links:
The Lexington Letter is available on Apple Books for free.
Apple Books
Audiobook Review: The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald
The Night Olivia Fell
Author: Christina McDonald
Narrators:
Kelly Burke
Laurel Lefkow
Published: February 5, 2019
Audiobook: 10 hours 45 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 6-16, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.
In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: Her teenage daughter, Olivia, has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain-dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.
When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?
Christina McDonald weaves a suspenseful and heart-wrenching tale of hidden relationships, devastating lies, and the power of a mother’s love. With flashbacks of Olivia’s own resolve to uncover family secrets, this taut and emotional novel asks: How well do you know your children? And how well do they know you?
Jessica’s Review:
This book showcases how strong the mother/child bond is: So much so that it won’t be for all readers who are triggered by severe injury to a teenage daughter. I’m not a parent but I could feel the emotion that Abi felt as she was determined to find out what happened to Olivia. This is because I have very close friends with children (younger and older) that I love and would be devastated if this happened to them.
Abi Knight get the call that no parent ever wants to receive: “Your daughter is in the hospital.” Then she later finds out her daughter is brain-dead… and pregnant. The doctors are required by state law to keep Olivia on life support until the baby arrives. And for Abi, this will be several months of anguish. Olivia did not tell Abi that she was pregnant.
This was a good novel! We have povs from both Oilvia and Abi and over the course of the novel find out who the baby’s father is, what happened to Olivia, and more. This is a mystery/ suspense with a bit of political intrigue added in to the mix.
The novel goes into the secrets that both Abi and Olivia are keeping. I did not figure it out but finding out who was responsible was a bit anticlimactic for me. I was expecting more than what happened. But Abi’s emotions and determination were the main focus for me. Towards the ending the book does get emotional, as the reader already knows the direction the story will go in. I can see some mothers ugly crying at the ending. And yes, it was emotional!
Both narrators did a great job. I am not sure which narrator voiced Abi and which voiced Olivia, but they were exceptional in their portrayals.
This was my first novel by McDonald and I will be reading/ listening to more by her!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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