Where You'll Find Me by Erin Fletcher
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.
Publishes in US: January 7th 2014 by Entangled: Teen
Genre: ya contemp
Source: Entangled Teen via Netgalley
Series? No.
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I chose to read Where You'll Find Me because it was available in exchange for a review on Netgalley and the synopsis sounded like something I would like. I wanted to know what Hanley was dealing with and what would drive Nate to live in her garage instead of living at home.
The issues in the story were pretty well done, although I think that Hanley's story could have further been explored. I think that she began to deal with the emotions, but as the reader, I wanted more about her pain, the past friendship and what led to her guilt and running.
I could tell that her parents loved Hanley but I do know that they were being pretty blind in a lot of aspects. As a parent myself, I can sympathize with the lost feeling that you don't know how to help your child or have them deal with their issues in a healthy way.
The chemistry and draw of Nate is well done, and I can understand why Hanley would keep the secret, after all, she knows what its like to want to disappear and hide from dealing with pain, guilt and issues. I do appreciate how Hanley didn't implicitly trust everything Nate said even though she was attracted to him, but that she trusts little by little and that she is hurt when she thinks the trust is misplaced. I like how Nate is caring, doesn't judge and how kind of a soul he has. I know that he has secrets, and when the depth of them were revealed, my heart really broke for him.
The pacing was good, I never really wanted to put the book down. The world building was good, I think that it was realistic for the most part, and for the things that were a bit of a stretch I could still think of explanations.
I saw great progress in all of the relationships and that pleased me. Between Hanley and her best friend I think was the biggest change, which made me happy when their friendship began to change for the better, getting deeper and actually talking to each other instead of just partying together and keeping it surface level. I also liked how Heather and Hanley got closer and how that came about.
The ending was good, and kept with the tone of the story, and gave hope, but nothing was wrapped up too much that it seemed forced or unrealistic.
My question to you, my lovely readers:
Have you known anyone who ran away from home?
