Book Review: All That We Carried by Erin Bartels

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: January 5, 2021

Genre: Women's Contemporary Fiction

Ten years ago, sisters Olivia and Melanie Greene were on a backcountry hiking trip when their parents were in a fatal car accident. Over the years, they grew apart, each coping with the loss in her own way. Olivia plunged herself into law school, work, and a materialist view of the world--what you see is what you get, and that's all you get. Melanie dropped out of college and developed an online life-coaching business around her cafeteria-style spirituality--a little of this, a little of that, whatever makes you happy.

Now, at Melanie's insistence (and against Olivia's better judgment), they are embarking on a hike in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In this remote wilderness they'll face their deepest fears, question their most dearly held beliefs, and begin to see that perhaps the best way to move forward is the one way they had never considered.

Michigan Notable Book Award winner Erin Bartels draws from personal experience hiking backcountry trails with her sister to bring you a story about the complexities of grief, faith, and sisterhood.

My Review 🖤

Erin Bartels has an incredible gift of taking something as simple as a broken relationship between two sisters, and an otherwise uneventful camping trip, and turned it into something that captured my heart, my imagination, and truly enveloped my mind into this world.

It's been ten years since sisters Olivia and Melanie have spent any time together, parting after losing their parents in a tragic car accident. Each sister had their own unique way of coping, both polar opposites in almost every way, but Melanie is ready to mend the relationship, and forces Olivia to go on a hiking trip with her in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. What the reader gets to witness is the task of two sisters, who are practically strangers, fighting to bond and break this invisible barrier that has been between them for ten long years.

I only have one sister, so this narrative really spoke to me. Though we are best friends now there was a time that we did drift apart, and could completely relate to the fight to bond, and understand the other persons point of view. The pain you feel from both sister as the truth slowly pours from them is heartbreaking. To not only lose your parents, but also you sister, is unthinkable, and I felt such sympathy for each of them.

The writing was masterfully done, really capturing this moment in time with the sisters. I have never hiked personally, but after reading the imagery of the Upper Peninsula, I really felt like I experienced the landscape and beauty with the characters. I also loved that you got to see two people with two opposite beliefs come together and have intelligent conversations about their differences, and see ways they could come together despite these differences.

My only complaint was the ending was subpar for me. I was expecting something more dramatic, but sadly what I had envisioned didn't come to pass. The lead up was amazing though, and I really truly enjoyed reading All That We Carried. This is the first novel I've read by Erin Bartels, and it will not be my last!

My Rating: ★★★★★

More Books by the Author

About the Author

ERIN BARTELS is the award-winning author of WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS (a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, winner of the 2020 Star Award from the Women's Fiction Writers Association in both the debut and general fiction categories, and a 2019 Christy Award finalist), THE WORDS BETWEEN US (a 2020 Christy Award finalist and a 2015 Rising Star finalist from WFWA), and ALL THAT WE CARRIED (coming January 2021). Her short story “This Elegant Ruin” was a finalist in The Saturday Evening Post 2014 Great American Fiction Contest. Her poems have been published by The Lyric and The East Lansing Poetry Attack. A member of the Capital City Writers Association and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, she is former features editor of WFWA’s Write On! magazine and current director of the annual WFWA Writers Retreat in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Erin lives in the beautiful, water-defined state of Michigan where she is never more than a ninety minute drive from one of the Great Lakes or six miles from an inland lake, river, or stream. She grew up in the Bay City area waiting for freighters and sailboats at drawbridges and watching the best 4th of July fireworks displays in the nation. She spent her college and young married years in Grand Rapids feeling decidedly not-Dutch. She currently lives with her husband and son in Lansing, nestled somewhere between angry protesters on the Capitol lawn and couch-burning frat boys at Michigan State University. And yet, she claims it is really quite peaceful.

Erin is represented by Nephele Tempest of The Knight Agency. Find her on Facebook @ErinBartelsAuthor, on Twitter @ErinLBartels, or on Instagram @erinbartelswrites.

Connect with Erin: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

*I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Revell through NetGalley. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.