Book Blurb:
No Place Like Here by Christina June
Publisher: BLINK
Release date: May 21, 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Retelling
Ashlyn Zanotti has big plans for the summer. She’s just spent a year at boarding school and can’t wait to get home. But when Ashlyn’s father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a rehab facility for “exhaustion,” a.k.a. depression, her life is turned upside down.
The cherry on top? Ashlyn’s father sends her to work with a cousin she doesn’t even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed “indoor girl,” not even Ash’s habit of leaving breadcrumb quotes—inspirational sayings she scribbles everywhere—can help her cope.
With a dangerously careless camp manager doling out grunt work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little boy drama to struggle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the toughest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her dad’s marching orders, or find the courage to finally stand up to her father to have any hope of finding her way back home.
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My Review:
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Heart, Teen--
Ashlyn has done everything within her power to be the perfect daughter while away at boarding school so that she could convince her parents that she should be able to spend her senior year at home. But before she gets the chance, she finds out through an online post that her father has been arrested for tax evasion. To make matters worse, the post is true, her mother is going away to recover from exhaustion and she is being sent away to an outdoor retreat to work with her estranged cousin. Ashlyn has no idea how she is going to survive the summer.
I feel like No Place Like Here was the perfect summer read, something you can take to the beach or pool with and escape into the drama and ideal summer scenario that the book provides. This was such an easy book to read, Ashlyn was a real person with flaws, insecurities and hopes making her someone I could empathize with and root for. And Christina has such a way with her writing style, making the story approachable, and the pacing so easy that I had a hard time putting down the book because I kept saying "just one more chapter" until I ended up finishing. I have not read anything written by her yet but I have wanted to for years and now I will for certain pick up another as soon as I can because I enjoyed the complete package that was No Place Like Here.
This was a book about relationships, and honestly I am not speaking about the romantic kind. Sure, there was a slow burn, unexpected for Ash (but not for me, I saw it coming and was super excited for it!) romantic relationship that was just starting at the end of the book, but that was not the real kind of relationship that I loved from this story. Really, the relationship that unfolded on the pages that stole my heart was the one between Ash and her estranged cousin Hannah. The two girls could not have been more different and do not know each other, but circumstances forced them together and what took place was adorable. They became the best of friends and I just ate it up. I loved Hannah's no nonsense approach to just about everything, it was the perfect balance to the evasiveness and judgement that seemed to control every aspect of Ash's life. I was afraid from first meeting they were going to clash and be enemies but I was so happy to be proven wrong. Also the relationship between Ash and her mother and her father played a big role in the character arc of the story and who Ash became as a person by the end.
There was a little bit of everything wrapped up in a quick read- romance, action, mystery, drama (both family and life in general) as well as a coming of age story too. I really enjoyed this book and I think it is the perfect next book for anyone looking to escape into a summer drama. I can't wait to pick up more books by Christina in the future.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this title.
Christina June writes young adult contemporary fiction when she’s not writing college recommendation letters during her day job as a school counselor. She loves the little moments in life that help someone discover who they’re meant to become – whether it’s her students or her characters. Christina is a voracious reader, loves to travel, and hopes to one day be bicoastal – the east coast of the US and the east coast of Scotland. She lives just outside Washington DC with her husband and daughter.
She is the author of IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE, EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, and the forthcoming NO PLACE LIKE HERE.
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