All Our Yesterdays

I would read Cristin Terrill's grocery lists if she published them and still give them 5 stars. After reading (and loving) “Here Lies Daniel Tate,” I couldn't wait to read another Cristin Terrill book. I am pleased to say “All Our Yesterdays” was another absolutely phenomenal novel by this super underrated and incredibly talented author. However, I am NOT pleased to say that she has no more books for me to read! CRISTIN: IF YOU ARE READING THIS, PLEASE NEVER STOP WRITING!

“All Our Yes

Oh boy, this is quite an unusual book.

I listened to the audiobook version and, while I did like it, I cannot help but wish I had the print copy to read. I really think it would have made that time paradox description easier to understand - but then again, I've always had some trouble understanding the laws of time travel.

Anyway, I went into this book with little knowledge about it - and with this book, that's exactly the way to go. While I think I figured some of the stuff out fairly quickly, it was still a lot of fun not really knowing where the story was headed.

In theory, if I were to go back in time to kill my grandfather that event would become fixed by my action. Because he's dead, I would never be born. But a remnant of me from my original time - a kind of shadow - would always be there to kill my grandfather and insure he stayed dead.

I find the plot really amazing. All that time travel stuff and confusion and trying to figure out what in the world is going on for the first bit of the story and...Well, I actually like being confused when I first start a story. I like that first introduction to the world to throw me right in the middle of the story - and this book did just that.

Imagine that you live in a dystopian future (police state and all) and that you are a prisoner. Now imagine that your captor has a time machine. Finally, imagine that you find a note from yourself telling you to go back in time and that you must kill someone.

The plot likes to keep you guessing (though I do admit I guessed right I do believe every single time a major reveal was on the way - but that's part of the fun for me) and I got a lot more emotionally invested than I ever expected.

The characters though... Okay, first you meet Em and Finn. I didn't get immediately attached to Em, but she is a tough girl and has some very human weaknesses. I think the main reason I didn't bond with her at first is because of all the screaming she does early on and hearing all that in audio book format is very jarring. Finn is, honestly, the kind of guy I tend to like right away. He's surprisingly sweet, but has this sense of humor that is wonderful and when mixed with Em's is kind of epic.

Next, in the rotating first person pov, you get to read about Marina and James. Marina is...mostly likable, but a bit of a bitch sometimes. Nothing major, but she's suitably self-absorbed and can have a really abrasive personality. When I first met James I was very unimpressed. Typical handsome, nerdy golden boy, I thought, but he showed a lot more depth than I thought he would and I became really interested in him.

The characters and the plotline combined to make this a near perfect book for me, honestly. I love how the plotline feels a little superhero-y and the way the genre kept shifting. This moment it would be just a typical coming of age romance drama - but then the next moment it would be a sci-fi thriller or a - well, what ever genre this story was.

The only major complaint I have is the ending. I've never really liked the way this story was resolved and I actually feel a little cheated with the ending. Also, and this is really personal preference, I spent a good portion of the book wishing that it wasn't told in first person present tense. I kind of hate preset tense and would have loved this book much more if a few more people would have been point-of-view characters. (I would have given anything to know what was going on in James and Finn's heads.)

I think this book would really appeal to a lot of people, not only because of how unique it is, but also because it has a little bit of many different things in it. It has romance and drama and tragedy and science fiction and time-travel and even a bit of dystopian and I really think this is a book that could appeal to many people.

I know that I am glad I got ahold of it - even considering that I almost passed on it because of the rotating first person pov. I'm pretty sure that one day I'll be buying a physical copy of the book so I can actually read it, instead of just audio book format (which I totally lucked out on and got for free).

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)

Pros: compelling writing, brilliant chracterization, minor romance elements, stand-alone story

Cons: close calls start to feel contrived, ending feels abrupt

For Parents: some violence (murder, torture), no swearing, off screen sex

When Em finds the note in the drain of her prison cell, she knows she and Finn have travelled back in time 14 times, and that they've failed in their objective to save the future. There's only one course of action left to them, to kill the man who made time travel possible, their former best friend and the man Em used to love.

This book was VERY hard to put down. The characters feel real, their emotions felt true to life but without the overarching angst that sometimes makes YA hard for adults to enjoy. Marina has complex relationships with everyone in her life. She's afraid her best female friends only like her because they want to get closer to James. Her parents are having trouble in their marriage, using her as a go-between. She loves James but isn't sure he feels the same way. And she's jealous of how close Finn and James have become, and so treats Finn badly, even if he doesn't always deserve it.

It's the first YA novel I've read that captured how conflicted I felt as a teen, so I really connected with Marina's character.

Em and Finn - the future versions - are equally complicated characters, having to make a tough decision knowing the pain it will bring their younger selves.

The two guys, one girl, formula sounds familiar but Terrill does great things with it. Marina loves James and dislikes Finn. Finn likes Marina, but recognizes that she doesn't like him back, which makes him snarky and bitter towards her at times. And James... well, it's unclear what he feels. Even their older selves have a unique dynamic.

Though I felt that Em's compunctions about killing her former crush were realistic, I started to feel the scenes involving close calls with him became contrived towards the middle of the book. The last quarter of the book shook things up again, which I really liked.

There's little told about the dystopian future the teens are from or the science involved with time travel, so if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere.

The ending felt abrupt, but on further reflection - and rereading some scenes - I realized that it fit what the author said about time travel. This is a great book to reread, as you pick up all sorts of details you miss - especially in the first few chapters - the first time through.

Finally, it's great to read a YA dystopian novel and have it stand on its own. I highly recommend this one.

Well, I'm floored. If it was up to my current range of emotions, I'd just be babbling to you incoherently about how amazing All Our Yesterdays really is and how much you absolutely need to read this stunning debut. Luckily I still have a minor amount of brain power left to attempt a review. It's become a rarity for a book to really blow me away, but this one made it look easy. Yes friends, it's that good.

I don't care whether you classify this book as dystopian or science fiction, because in all honesty it's a bit of both. What you can classify it as is an expertly written story. Terrill takes a concept that is difficult to wrap our minds around, and manages to make it entirely plausible. Imagine a world where time travel is real. Where anything that was done was able to be undone. Where one decision ripples across the entire rest of time. What would we do with such a power? That's the question that haunts the reader as they traverse this story, and it creates a lightning fast plot.

Add to this vivid, three dimensional characters, and I was in love. Told from the alternating view points of Em and Marina, All Our Yesterdays becomes almost hypnotic in nature after a time. Events unfold from the viewpoint of each of these characters, before merging them into something that I wasn't expecting at all. The amount of raw emotion here, the perfectly flawed characters, the bold romance, it all pulls you in. I was under a spell as I watched the characters barrel towards the inevitable climax. You might manage to figure out what's coming, but you'll be powerless to stop flipping the pages.

I had no idea this was a series, and truthfully I have no idea where it's going. I say this because the ending is so perfect, so bittersweet, that I can't see where the next logical starting point is. Still, you can bet I'll be there to read whatever comes next. Cristin Terrill has written a gem of a book in All Our Yesterdays. One that will tear your heart out, make you question your choices, and create a hole that can only be filled with more story. Trust me, this book is absolutely worth your time! I wish I could travel back and experience it for the first time all over again.