ARC Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (Chantelle)

Title: All Our Yesterdays
Author: Cristin Terrill
Genre: Young Adult Thriller, Science Fiction
Source: Bloomsbury Australia

Goodreads rating: 4.22 out of 5.00 (440+ ratings)
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Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn't happened yet.

Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture - being kept apart, overhearing each other's anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There's no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It's from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that's about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future


Review by Chantelle


All you lucky Australians and UK people, GO BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!!!!! It's such a fast-paced addictive thriller, that somehow manages to be hilarious, engaging, action packed, swoony, and just AWESOME in about 2 chapters. Seriously, it had me hooked that quickly. To everyone else, I'm really sorry, but you'll have to wait impatiently until September for it's release, but nevertheless, All Our Yesterdays demands to be read! It's basically got everything you'd expect from an amazing young adult contemporary read - the bad-ass heroine (who you insist is quite like your similarly bad-ass self), the super sweet book boyfriend, the humour, the nail-biting action...

TIME-TRAVEL!

I had you at time travel, right? Well Cristin Terrill handled this aspect incredibly smoothly, and managed to use it not only as a premise, but as a tool to drive the pace and mystery of this thriller. All Our Yesterdays is told from two points of view: Em (present day) and Marina (four years earlier) - they're two extremely different voices that are the products of the world they live in. Em's narrative is where we get the kick-ass action scenes; one of the very first images we get of Em is of her in prison, and she's purposely dragging her feet so that the guards have to pull her along the hallway down to her cell, which made me laugh. I labelled her as awesome right then, and that was page 1. Through Em is also where we get the science fiction element of this novel, Em discovers a mission that forces her to travel back in time in order to stop certain events from transpiring. Normally I'm not a huge fan of science fiction, but the excitement generated from Em's POV was addictive and the action was breathtaking. It doesn't hurt that next door to Em's cell lives Finn. FINN. Certified book boyfriend. My goodness. He's adorable. Despite the guns, and the risk of time travel, Finn's character provided the swoon, the wit, and the jokes that compelled me to keep reading. #TeamFinn #Finn4Pres #MarryMe

On the other hand, Marina's perspective provided the well-loved young adult contemporary elements. She's a 15 year old girl who's in love with her best friend and neighbour and she's finally going to tell him. I mean, who doesn't love a best friend turned lovers romance?! The juxtaposition of the two narratives complemented each other so well because both Em and Marina were such strong characters despite their differing personalities and situations. I genuinely wanted both of them to succeed; I wanted Em to save the future, I wanted Marina to get her happily ever after. Cristin Terrill weaves the plot such that early on, you can tell these girls are going to meet, and that the consequences of Em going back to the past is going to drastically change the course of both of these girls.

Throughout, you can feel the tension building and building as the paths of the two girls start to merge, the collision inevitable, and sure to have fatalities. Em needs to kill the boy Marina loves, and hell if Marina is going to let that happen! Addictive. This book was so addictive. I couldn't put the book down until 4am, and that's because I'd finished.

The twist at the end.... holy S*%@, it left me gasping and confused and devastated and ecstatic and desperate and hopeful as the relentless pace did not let up until the very end. But it also left me completely wowed. My only criticism was that it ended too quickly for me, and since that isn't actually valid criticsm, I can only say that this was an amazing debut that is well worth the read.

Ratings
Overall: 9/10
Plot: 4.5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 4.5/5