All the Tomorrows After by Joanne Yi

---

✦ BLURB ✦

Each night, Winter Moon counts her earnings dreaming of escape. Once she’s saved enough, she and her grandmother can finally take flight and disappear. But when her spiteful mother steals her money and blows through it all in one day, Winter is forced to turn to her estranged father, who recently reappeared in her life after being absent for more than a decade. They agree upon a simple contract: she spends time with him in exchange for payment.

It’s not easy reconciling the past and the present, though, and when she’s struck with a sudden loss, Winter flounders in grief and rage. The only person offering a hand is Joon, the new boy at school who sees Winter when no one else does.

When Winter discovers a secret her father has been keeping from her, things get even more complicated. As she navigates grief, first love, and forgiveness, Winter begins to forge connections, new and old, that make her question everything: her future, her conviction to disappear, and what it really means to be family. Winter knows that broken things can never be fixed, but can they come back together in a different way?

---

What do you do when the thing you want most can’t undo what you’ve lost?

PRE-READING THOUGHTS
I expected something reflective and emotional - maybe a quiet kind of heartbreak. What I didn’t expect was how layered this would be: a story about fractured family, aching hope, and the slow-burning courage it takes to heal.

POST-READING
As I thought...
This is a deeply moving story about grief, identity, and imperfect people trying to love each other the best way they can. Winter’s pain is so sharp it practically bleeds off the page, but there’s also joy - tentative, hard-won joy - in the friendships and connections she builds along the way.

It surprised me by...
Just how honest it is about anger - especially the kind of anger that comes with being let down again and again by the people who were supposed to care for you. And yet, it also gives space for grace, for change, and for complicated, beautiful first love.

---

💬 QUOTE

I am not a wordsmith. And I am not a doctor, and I am not a wizard. I am not very smart, and I am not very kind. I am only me, and I am riddled with lack.

And this, right now, I can do; Be here with my dad, for as long as he'll let me.

---

✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

📚 FOR FANS OF:

• The Half of It (film)

• We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

• Past Lives (film)

✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦

Because sometimes, the heart of a story plays out like a song.

🎵 Featured Song: “The Night We Met” – Lord Huron
🎶 Vibe Album: Folklore – Taylor Swift
🎧 Artist Recommendation: Gracie Abrams

---

✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

🎨 Colour Palette: bruised violet, soft grey, lantern yellow
🎬 Soundtrack: The Half of It meets Past Lives
🍂 Season: Late autumn—the turning point before winter
💭 Mood: Melancholic, reflective, yearning
🌧 Scent: Cold air, woodsmoke, fresh laundry, tears unshed

---

★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

Judgement (Forgiveness) – Kid’s Tarot
In this gentle, powerful rendition of Judgement, a boy sits beside a phoenix, quietly cradling its head. There are no trumpets, no proclamations - just presence. Just choice. This moment isn’t about grand revelations; it’s about the quiet decision to let go of blame, to move forward without pretending it didn’t hurt. Like Winter, this figure isn’t healed completely - but he’s chosen a softer path. One that leaves space for love, even after the fire.

All the Tomorrows After publishes on the 19th of August, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.