Places We've Never Been

A very quick, cute read. Overall really enjoyed the book.

this was a pretty cute YA rom com! i loved the road trip aspect, and connecting with the entire family involved. i think it lacked a little bit of an emotional element for me, but it was a super fun and quick read!

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. Book: Places We’ve Never Been Author: Kasie West Book Series: Standalone Rating: 4/5 Diversity: Gay character Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, romance, road trip, summer, grumpy/sunshine Publication Date: May 31, 2022 Genre: YA Contemporary Romance Age Relevance: 13+ (romance, underage alcohol consumption, child abuse, drugs, divorce, cancer, gore) Explanation of Above: There is some romance in this book, though it takes a bit for it to take off. There are mentions of underage alcohol consumption and to a character being roofied. There is also vague context to child abuse in how a father character treats their child. I’m not sure if that was implied by the author or not but that’s how I saw it. There is also a brief mention of divorce and some mentions of cancer. There is also some very brief gore with blood. Publisher: Delacorte Press Pages: 336 Synopsis: Norah hasn’t seen her childhood best friend, Skyler, in years. When he first moved away, they'd talk all the time, but lately their relationship has been reduced to liking each other’s Instagram posts. That’s why Norah can’t wait for the joint RV road trip their families have planned for the summer. But when Skyler finally arrives, he seems...like he’d rather be anywhere else. Hurt and confused, Norah reacts in kind. Suddenly, her oldest friendship is on the rocks. An unexpected summer spent driving across the country leads both Norah and Skyler down new roads and to new discoveries. Before long, they are, once again, seeing each other in a different light. Can their friendship-turned-rivalry turn into something more? Review: Overall this was a good YA Contemporary Romance book. I loved the grumpy sunshine aspect of the romance and I loved that it was a road tripping romance as well. I also loved that the MC was a coder and an artist! The book did so well to develop all of the characters and the world building was also decent. I thought that the book was interesting and I read nearly all of it in one sitting. However, I did think that the book had a lot of characters and it was confusing in how they were all introduced. It was a bit too quick for me. The book had a lot of flashbacks as well, but they weren’t sectioned off well in the arc I was given, which also led to some confusion. I also thought that the book was super slow and that it took a long time to get anywhere with the romance and overall story. The book also had a bit of a cliffhanger in how a certain character dealt with another character and it seemed like a big deal to me but wasn’t in the book, which I found very confusing. Verdict: It was good!

“You feel better?” he asked. I nodded against him. “See,” he said. “I remember my thing.” I think this is a very sweet YA childhood-friends-to-lovers book. I love how the author wrote about the importance of being your authentic self, I think it’s an extremely important message, especially at that age. Sadly I felt like the first half and the second half of the book didn’t flow easily together. It almost read like two different stories to me. There was also a lot going on plot wise and I’m not sure all of it was necessary, but it did keep me engaged in the story. The romance was also very sweet but it felt like a switch was flipped and everything changed overnight. But I still shipped them because they were SO CUTE, especially at 13. Even though this book may not be for me I did really enjoy how personable, funny and relatable the characters were! The authors writing style was fun and she delivered the perfect summer road trip vibes in her book. 3/5⭐️