All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful and provocative love story between two unlikely people and the hard-won relationship that elevates them above the Midwestern meth lab backdrop of their lives. 

As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It’s safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. 

Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house until one night her stargazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father’s thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold. 

By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy’s family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world.

Ugly Lives, Beautiful Moments

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💚💜💙❤️🤎
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: 😋🙂🤨🤣😍
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

🎧 Audiobook Review: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

Author: Bryn Greenwood
Genre: Romance / Literary Fiction
Narrator(s): Jorjeana Marie

🦸🏻‍♂️ The Heroine: Wavonna (Wavy)

Wavy’s life begins in chaos—born in the back of a stranger’s car to homeless parents whose van had broken down. By age five, both parents were in jail, and her aunt took her in. Wavy didn’t behave like other children: she rarely spoke, refused to eat in front of people, and communicated only with her cousin Amy at night. When she was caught eating from the trash and displaying other concerning behaviors, her aunt brought her to a therapist. Wavy and Amy often snuck out after dark, stealing from neighbors and wandering the town.

Eventually, Wavy moved in with her grandmother, who was patient, gentle, and determined to understand her. Though Wavy still wouldn’t eat meals, food quietly disappeared from the fridge. Her grandmother recognized her intelligence, coaxed her into speaking, and enrolled her in school—until Wavy ran away, reminding her grandmother too much of her troubled mother, Valerie.

When Valerie was paroled two years later, Wavy’s grandmother helped her regain custody of Wavy and her baby brother, Donal. It quickly became clear how much Wavy had suffered under her mother’s care. Valerie’s paranoia about “dirty” food led her to wash Wavy’s mouth out with Listerine or bleach. Wavy called her “scary momma,” and the name only became more fitting over time. Wavy essentially raised Donal herself.

After moving into a farmhouse with Valerie’s new husband, Liam, things deteriorated further—until the day Wavy met a giant of a man who had crashed his motorcycle nearby. His name was Jessie Joe Kellen.

🦸🏼‍♀️ The Hero: Kellen

Kellen’s injuries from the crash were extensive: a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, a twisted ankle, and a broken arm. It took months before he could work again, and even then, he ended up doing meth runs for Liam. When he finally returned to check on the girl who had helped him, he was horrified by the state of her home—moldy dishes, filth everywhere, and Valerie passed out in a drugged haze. He felt a protective pull toward Wavy, who was living in conditions no child should endure.

🔥 Plot Dynamics

Kellen liked the way Wavy looked at him—like he mattered. Few people had ever looked at him that way. One day, he gave her a ride to school, then returned to her house to clean, feed Donal, and restore some order. Soon he was driving her to and from school regularly, attending her conferences, and quietly becoming the only stable adult in her life. Teachers even assumed he was her father.

Their relationship was unconventional and, at times, uncomfortable—but it was also the safest, most nurturing connection Wavy had ever known.

🌟 Strengths

• The relationship between Kellen and Wavy is undeniably non-traditional, yet the author manages to portray it with nuance and emotional honesty. Despite the age difference, Kellen is the single best influence in Wavy’s life—protective, gentle, and steadfast.
• I expected to dislike the story based on the age gap I had read about in other reviews, but once I started listening, I was completely absorbed. The characters felt painfully real, and the emotional stakes kept me hooked.
• A major turning point in the book genuinely shocked me. I had no idea where the story would go afterward, and it just kept getting better and better, I was in tears more than once.

💔 Limitations

• The descriptions of Kellen weren’t my favorite. He’s portrayed as huge, not conventionally attractive, and possibly cognitively slow due to fetal alcohol syndrome.
• The tone of the book is heavy and often bleak; these characters live hard, painful lives.
• The first intimate moment between Kellen and Wavy is deeply uncomfortable because of the age gap. I was relieved that the narrative acknowledges this and that Kellen feels the weight of guilt about it.

🎙 Narration

The audiobook is told through multiple points of view but performed by a single narrator, Jorjeana Marie. The shifting perspectives—Amy, Grandma, Wavy, Kellen, and others—add depth and context to the story. Jorjeana’s soft voice suits the material well, and I enjoyed her performance overall, though the male voices didn’t land as strongly. This is one audiobook that would have benefited from dual or duet narration.

💭 Final Assessment

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is a story that challenges your comfort zone and refuses to offer easy answers. It’s raw, unsettling, and emotionally layered, exploring trauma, loyalty, and the complicated ways people try to love each other when they’ve never been shown how. While the subject matter is difficult and sometimes distressing, the author’s ability to humanize these characters makes the experience unforgettable.

This isn’t a traditional romance—it’s a character-driven exploration of survival and connection in the darkest circumstances. Despite the discomfort, I found myself deeply invested, moved, and ultimately grateful I listened. It’s a book that lingers long after the final chapter, for better and for worse.

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