All the Lost Pieces by Lara Martin Book Review
All the Lost Pieces by Lara Martin is a story about Nina, who has just been fired from her restaurant manager job. This isn’t the first job she’s been fired from, and this isn’t the place she thought she’d be by this point in her life. She also has never been able to get her brother’s best friend, Lucas, to see her as more than a friend even though she’s been in love with him since she was in high school.
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All the Lost Pieces
Author: Lara Martin
Genre: Adult Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 355
Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: sexual assault, drinking, drug use, Alzheimer’s disease, alcoholism, domestic violence, & toxic friendship.
Synopsis:
Twenty-nine-year-old Nina Abrahams is not in a good place. She’s been fired from her restaurant manager job after she stands up to her bully of a boss, her motivational speaker mother is helping other people get their lives on track and ignoring the derailing of her daughter’s, and her best friend, Lucas Wilson, the guy she’s loved since she was eighteen, can’t seem to look beyond the girl in braces to the woman she is now.
When a new opportunity comes up, Nina decides it’s the perfect time to start over. The restaurant needs a reinvention and so does she. Unfortunately for Nina, the restaurant comes with hostile servers, a belligerent chef, and an owner averse to change.
But if Nina’s brave enough to take on the restaurant and tackle the people out to sabotage her, perhaps she can find the courage to tell Lucas how she really feels, even if it means risking the most important relationship in her life.
Spoiler-Free Book Review
Thank you to the author, Lara Martin, for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
All the Lost Pieces was marketed to me as a fun romance. Although there is a romantic relationship in this story, I would say that this book falls more into the contemporary fiction category. There are a few darker moments in the story (see content warnings above).
While there is romance in this story, I think the main focus is on Nina learning who she is as a person and what she actually wants in life.
While the pacing was pretty slow, I thought this was actually a pretty quick read. Typically it takes me a long time to read through a slow paced story, but that wasn’t the case for this book.
I liked both Nina and Lucas as characters; although, I didn’t feel like I ever got to know that much about Lucas since the story primarily focused on Nina’s growth.
Nina’s brother Ryan and his wife Olivia were fun side characters. I liked the sibling relationship and the friendship between Ryan and Lucas. I however hated Tammy as a character. Why Nina was ever friends with Tammy I will never understand. She was an awful person and a terrible friend. She and Nina had nothing in common, and Tammy made terrible life choices.
What I Liked
- How protective Lucas was of Nina
- The whole Brian dinner fiasco
- Nina being a good manager to terrible employees
- The cute ending
What I Didn’t Like
- Everything about Tammy
- The conflict near the end of the story
- Only getting to know Nina and not the other characters
- How Tammy’s storyline ended without any real resolution for her
Overall, I enjoyed this story and would recommend it if you’re looking for a contemporary book with some romance in it.
Where to Purchase
You can purchase a copy of this book at the following retailers:
Bookshop.org (supports independent book stores) [affiliate]
Books a Million (BAM) [affiliate]
Have you read All the Lost Pieces?
I would love to hear your thoughts! Comment down below.