Review: All The Difference by Leah Ferguson

Will she or won’t she? Every time someone proposes, you can practically hear the tension in the air wondering if this is going to be the moment that makes or breaks his (or her) life. The bigger question to me is what would happen either way. If she says yes, will her life turn out perfect? Or if she says no – is she better off?

These are the questions that are examined in All the Difference by Leah Ferguson. Molly knows that she has some major decisions in front of her. The little pink line on the pregnancy test has proven to her that a lot of her future is out of her control. She knows she’s going to keep the baby, but that’s all she knows. And when her boyfriend, who is completely unaware of the pregnancy, proposes to her, it gives her a very clear crossroads. Now which direction is she going to choose?

Instead of just talking around the possibilities, Ferguson shows us clearly what would happen if she said yes and then, in every other chapter, what would happen if she said yes. So as the reader, you get to watch each aspect of the story unfold. Together. You don’t just read one side, finish it, and then go back to see what the other is like. The chapters are set up so that at the end of each one, it bounces back to the opposite side and you’d get to see where the story goes from there. In other words, you follow both storylines together.

As a completely character driven story, I’ll admit that there were moments I wasn’t a fan of Molly. That sort of makes it tough on the plot and the storyline, but it wasn’t enough to make me stop reading. I love questions, answers, and possibilities. That’s one of the reasons I requested this book when the offer came across my desk. Sliding Doors? That’s a favorite movie. Doctor Who? All about bending time and seeing possibilities. It’s too good. This book did something different with that though. It didn’t end up being flamboyantly crazy. (Like step on a butterfly – destroy the world.) It simply showed how one decision can take you along different paths. And even though some decisions might result in big changes, there are others that don’t have any effect on the things around you.

A lot of things struck me about this book. It is easily relatable and not hard to find yourself in Molly’s place. Her job, her family, her friends – they’re all things we can understand so this allows us, for a little while, to think about what different things might happen in our lives if we’d chosen something else. It was a fun read with an interesting premise. It’s definitely a book that makes you stop and think about all of those things around you! If you’re into alternate realities or just wondering what might have been, this book should definitely be on your to be read (TBR) list.

Review copy provided by the publisher.