“My walls were stripped, and all that was left in the room was a pile of boxes and my mattress propped against the wall.”

So begins Irene’s journey from an Upper West Side penthouse to—well, she’s not entirely sure where. Irene’s investment banker father is “downsized” when his company merges with another. When he can’t find work, her family’s lifestyle—and her socialite mother’s spending—quickly catches up with them. Eventually, they’re forced to move in with Irene’s grandfather in the big family farmhouse upstate. But what begins as the most disastrous summer of her life takes a surprising turn when she meets a most remarkable family.

Everything I Was is the story of a young woman deciding what she wants for herself after she thought she’d lost everything.” from Learner Publishing Group

Irene has lost everything she knows after her father loses his job and the family moves away from her school and friends for the summer. She’s left with very little sense of what will happen next. This is not your typical story about a rich girl forced to face realities of life without money. Irene is 13 years old with a very real idea of what is an is not important in life. Where her mother tends to gravitate toward ways to get the family back to the life they’ve left behind, Irene is much more interested in making life work the way it is now.

Finding herself loving the country life she never really knew before and seeing her father happy for the first time in a long time, Irene begins to embrace her new surroundings and new experiences. She makes friends with the kids who live down the road, starts riding a new bike, learns to love swimming and canoeing in the pond and just enjoying being a kid.

The story is an interesting cross between a 13 year old girl learning to understand some very grown up issues and make decisions that she feels are right for herself and those around her while at the same time learning to just enjoy being a kid and the simple things that can come with that. Irene knows that her parents made some mistakes and that there are consequences and the possibility of making more if things don’t change. She makes the decision to stand up for what she thinks is right and make those changes in her own life. But she’s also learning to just have fun enjoying summer days in the barn and the pond or playing a pick up game of soccer with new friends. She recognizes the importance of those things too. She’s so endearing and so intelligent a character, making this story what it is. When the people around her aren’t providing the answers and protection she’s always felt, she’s able to rise to the occasion and help to bring her own life to a place where she can feel comfortable. It’s refreshing in this book to see a normal 13 year old girl, facing challenges but dealing with them in a very rational way.

Reviewed from NetGalley