Review: This Changes Everything by Danielle McKechnie
Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2026
As summer 2026 continues strong but with a hint of autumn in the air, it's a great time for a few more satisfying beach reads. I love a lighter, fun book in the summer, and this is one. I was happy to review This Changes Everything by Danielle McKechnie for The British Columbia Review. This article was originally posted there on August 19, 2026.
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I always enjoy a propulsive, bingeable story on the lighter side during the summer months. A book that takes pride of place in a beach bag, or stowed in a carry-on for a quick, sunny getaway. Vancouver-based Danielle McKechnie’s debut novel This Changes Everything fits the bill, and it was a good addition to my summer reading list.Though marketed as a romance, there’s more to it than that, and the book made for worthy reading as I passed the time on my umbrella-shaded back porch with a cup of iced tea.
You don’t have to read this novel in the summer, of course. The cover is cute and actually evokes more of a fall vibe, with simple drawings in muted colours and falling leaves. I love that one red maple leaf dots the “i” in McKechnie, which is a cute Canadian-ish detail. Indeed, this book starts and ends in Vancouver, spanning eighteen years in the life of main character Ellie McCain.
Part 1, titled Everything Before, draws the reader in with a focus on Ellie’s life up to age 21. At 12, she’s an actor at heart, auditioning for commercials and even landing a few roles, but her summers are also consumed with being a part of the local golf club, and it’s there that she meets Rory Campbell, a boy she immediately feels drawn to. It’s a painfully earnest meet-cute and the self-consciousness of both Ellie and Rory rings true. They only see each other in the summers, so the relationship remains an unspoken mutual crush, and takes a long while to develop into anything more.
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| Author Danielle McKechnie (Rhonda Dent Photography) |
That’s just the first half! Part 2, Everything After, features 29-year-old Ellie and flashes back to events starting when she was 21. I won’t divulge too many details of the plot, but suffice to say that this is at its heart a second chance romance, and there may be hope for Ellie and Rory yet.
This Changes Everything works on many levels and will appeal to a fairly broad range of readers. That’s largely down to how Ellie’s character feels fully drawn and quite authentic on the page. Writing from Ellie’s point of view, McKechnie nails the fragile vulnerability and emotions of the teen years: it felt so true and took me back to those emotionally fraught times. Ellie struggles with low self-esteem and uncertainty over how she sees her future. Should she pursue acting? Will she stay in Vancouver or follow her dreams in New York? Overarching all is the unrequited angst over her crush on Rory.
Given that the book is largely a romance novel, albeit with different plot points that also speak to a coming-of-age narrative that fleshes out the story, the core romantic relationship needs to really satisfy, making me care deeply about these two souls. While Rory and Ellie’s dynamic felt true to life, I missed the sense of a slow, relentless tension building between them. I found Rory’s character lacked some depth, which can be a challenge in writing from a single point of view. Though I enjoyed the story, I didn’t get enough of Rory’s inner life or personal struggles to care deeply whether he and Ellie would be together in the end; the stakes felt too low.
With that said, I did like their reunion (wink wink), where McKechnie’s skillful use of humour shines:
“My god,” I huffed, as Rory pulled me in to his chest. His breath steamed the back of my neck with his steady panting.
“I feel like we should high-five after that.” Rory breathed out a laugh.
I laughed as well, then lifted my hand over my head, and he happily slapped it.
Even if the core romance lacked some intensity, there are many other features of this novel that work as a coming-of-age story. A compelling storyline addresses the sexual harassment Ellie endures at several points. I so appreciated how the author handles this not uncommon issue in such a straightforward and compassionate way. In her teen years, entirely disturbing advances from a peer’s father on the golf course send Ellie into a spiral of shame, and even worse, being dismissed and devalued for speaking out: “It felt like everything inside me was being compressed, as if I were physically shrinking. I was so deeply confused, and I still couldn’t speak. Why wasn’t I talking?”
Danielle McKechnie (Rhonda Dent Photography)It has real world consequences, too, in that she never returns to the golf course. In the acting world, Ellie’s put in uncomfortable, unsafe situations that she must navigate alone, and as this type of harassment continues into her adulthood career, she has to make a tough decision over and over to either ignore egregious behaviour, or risk losing her career.
The novel’s romance is fairly sweet, though gets a bit spicy occasionally, and wraps up before the end of the book. I enjoyed the last chapters, though, because McKechnie uses the pages to allow Ellie to confront and resolve the harassment issues and make life decisions that work for her, on her own terms. Plus, the way that her friends came together to support her was heartwarming.
Near the end of the novel, Ellie draws deep to find the courage she needs to move into a future on her own terms: “…I had finally made it to my next tomorrow. I breathed in an old memory: There’s before this moment, and everything after. For the rest of your life, you’re living in the after.”
Reading This Changes Everything made me contemplate the fact that there is more than one new beginning in a life. There are several “afters,” and we can strive to be active participants in choosing our own course. It’s a good message! I’d recommend this book for an engaging and lighter read, with a dose of serious subject matter that adds interest and import.
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