Book Review - Where You'll Find Me

Where You'll Find Me
Author: Erin Fletcher
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th January 2014
Publishers: Entangled: Teen
Pages: 211
Source: Review Copy - Entangled: Teen
Rating: 
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When Hanley Helton discovers a boy living in her garage, she knows she should kick him out. But Nate is too charming to be dangerous. He just needs a place to get away, which Hanley understands. Her own escape methods (vodka, black hair dye, and pretending the past didn't happen) are more traditional, but who is she to judge?

Nate doesn't tell her why he's in her garage, and she doesn't tell him what she's running from. Soon, Hanley's trading her late-night escapades for all-night conversations and stolen kisses. But when Nate's recognized as the missing teen from the news, Hanley isn't sure which is worse: that she's harboring a fugitive, or that she's in love with one.

Where You'll Find Me was quite a difficult book for me to read; not because of the subject, and not because of the features in the story, but because it was good. Not mind-blowing, not life-changing, not a waste of time or disappointing, just good. I knew what I was going to rate this book the moment I took my first pit-stop, and I kept wanting it to get better, I kept wanting myself to love it, but I couldn't. It just didn't grip me enough.

The story of Hanley Helton and her garage boy was a strange one for me; there were things I agreed with, and things I didn't, especially that of the relationship between Hanley and Nate. I found the relationship between them, while relatable, a little, off kilter, or wrong in some way, because I recall having a lot of odd feelings about them; they're feelings were very insta, their descriptions quite over-used in other books in young adult, and the speed at which they claimed to 'love' each other was very predictable and unbelievable. I recall being able to understand why Nate found solace in Hanley's garage, but I didn't condone it at all, I couldn't; I found it creepy, and couldn't personally understand why Fletcher was trying to make it appear acceptable.

However, other than my very plain and blunt mood, there were some positives. I could really relate to Hanley as a character and what she experienced during her life, and I think Fletcher covered this fantastically; she really got deep into her feelings and how Hanley would have reacted to a shock like that, and also covered the aspect that affected Nate's characters, a subject I've never seen covered before in any other young adult story. Fletcher really captured how these touchy subjects can affect everyone around someone and not just the persona involved. Suicide in any form is a tough subject, and some authors will avoid the subject, especially on their debut, but she really took a risk with this book, and for me personally, it paid off. I also enjoyed the journey Hanley went on throughout the book; realising she wasn't okay in the past, opening up to somebody, and working on her friendships after she recognised she needed friends and people in her life, and that pushing people away wasn't the answer.

I was overall a little disappointed at how many unanswered questions I had; what happened to Rosalinda? Did Hanley get the help she needed? What exactly was Nate's car like? These were the little details I would have liked covered for me, and then it would have been much more likely that I would have enjoyed it a little more, and felt something more towards it, but in the end, Fletcher wrote a good book, a good start to her writing career, and I can only hope that her books will continue to cover the sensitive subjects that other authors are scared of, but do them better justice.