Wednesday, 10 June 2015

Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry (Young Adult, 10/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

 May 2015, Mira Ink, 496 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Content: teen romance, motorbike gangs, some danger, alcohol, tissues needed, humour

Summary from Katie's website
Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home


Nayu's thoughts 
I'm grinning as I type this review because this book was AWESOME! Okay there were a few choices which Emily made which I didn't agree with, and I really had thought there would be a bit more action with the rival gang, hence the almost perfect score, but apart from that it held elements I enjoy in thrillers – drama, lots of family secrets being revealed at odd moments, unique characters and characteristics, and humour to name a few. Family based reads are a huge hit with me, so it made sense that even though Emily was reluctant at first, slowly she got to know her family, even if it did take her forever to let them know her.

Being thrown into a different world was scary, especially when the plot twists were on an epic scale and took me by surprise. I'm eager to reread this book – it won't happen for a while but it's so good that I want to reread it straight away. I'm hoping that Emily will feature heavily in book 2, whose start indicates that the point of view may be told from a different person. I've seen that done in series and it works well – I just get attached to a character and want to see the all the time! Although the teen romance was a huge part of the book, I was way more interested in how Emily got to know her family, how her thoughts and feelings towards them changed both as she got to know them and as she realised that certain facts she thought she knew weren't exactly true.

Find out more on Katie's website.

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