A review by kgareis
All the Things We Never Knew by Liara Tamani

3.0

I didn't expect this to address super heavy topics like divorce, death of parents, broken families - but I suppose those issues are both prevalent and pertinent especially in YA lit. What I expected was a cute high school love story about two passionate teens whose lives revolve around basketball, that goes to show what a less than accurate back cover blurb and cartoon front cover can make you believe. Despite the instalove, there was depth to our two MCs, real feelings, confusion, anger, sadness and an all too real storyline of parental expectations even when the parents are less than perfect. When kids are pushed to do things they don't love - or do things they love yet those whom they love pay not one bit of attention .... it took until the middle for me to finally see the beauty in this story. The back and forth perspectives were helpful in understanding what was really going on and how frustrating it can be when people don't speak the truth or wait for the real truth to be heard or even ask what the problem is. Empathy is a gift.