when you were everything ashley woodfolk

I enjoy listening to how Layla started drifting, by hanging out with the ‘Chorus Girls’, who exclude Cleo. Just imagine the heartbreak at losing a best friend and the secrets and trust you have with them in a single hit. What a trooper, I’d have broken down a lot if that happened to me! The words were clear at demonstrating the feelings, and it’s all just everything I needed to have a validated experience. Not to mention that she’s also having to deal with the separation of her parents at the same time. The descriptiveness of the heartbreak Cleo felt upon realising her friendship was over was touched on really well, and I felt every gram of pain that she felt, and I really felt like it was a true depiction of what happens with friendship breakups. I felt that this two timeline thing really worked well so show the during and after friendship breakup, riddled with emotion and uncertainty, just like all friendship breakups are like. The ‘then’ part explores how Cleo and Layla’s friendship was ending, and the ‘now’ part explored Cleo at present, moving on from the friendship. I really loved how in this one, there were two timelines, the ‘then’ and the ‘now’.

This made me relate more to the story, and made it a super emotional, but authentic and validating read for me. I felt this one in my bones whilst listening to it, as my own best friend drifted away from me in my final year of high school and it stung.

If you want a contemporary YA that doesn’t throw romance in your face, but explores friendship, this one is for you! It really hits hard on the friendship side of things. When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk hits hard.

When you were everything ashley woodfolk