Blog Tour: Places No One Knows Review

Title: Places No One Knows
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Published: May 17th 2016 by Delacorte Press
Source: Finished copy sent by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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"For fans of Lauren Oliver and E. Lockhart, here is a dreamy love story set in the dark halls of contemporary high school, from New York Times bestselling author Brenna Yovanoff.

Waverly Camdenmar spends her nights running until she can’t even think. Then the sun comes up, life goes on, and Waverly goes back to her perfectly hateful best friend, her perfectly dull classes, and the tiny, nagging suspicion that there’s more to life than student council and GPAs.

Marshall Holt is a loser. He drinks on school nights and gets stoned in the park. He is at risk of not graduating, he does not care, he is no one. He is not even close to being in Waverly’s world.

But then one night Waverly falls asleep and dreams herself into Marshall’s bedroom—and when the sun comes up, nothing in her life can ever be the same. In Waverly’s dreams, the rules have changed. But in her days, she’ll have to decide if it’s worth losing everything for a boy who barely exists."

Thoughts: I've been a fan of Brenna's for quite some time and have always enjoyed her twisted tales. When I heard she was branching out and doing a contemporary novel, I knew I had to check it out. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. PLACES NO ONE KNOWS is a wonderfully written, addicting novel with a slight dream-esque paranormal twist that sucks you in from the very first page.

First off, let's talk about Waverly. She knows how high school works and knows how to play it to her advantage. On the outside, she looks like she has it all figured out. The catch (because there always is one) is she never really reveals who she truly is. Not to anyone. She can't even sleep at night. Then, this one night, she lights a candle, chants, and magically ends up somewhere else, with someone she didn't see coming.

Enter Marshall.

He's the only one that can see her, so it feels more like a dream than reality. This is when Waverly can really be herself, but when the sun rises and it's time to go back to school, can Waverly finally break out of her perfect shell and be herself or will she go back to pretending that girl doesn't exist and neither does Marshall?

To be honest, while I was a fan of Waverly's from the start, I didn't really like Marshall. Not in the beginning. He was into drinking and drugs and didn't really seem to give a hoot about school or anything else for that matter. He's not the type of guy I normally go for both in the literal and realistic sense. It wasn't until Waverly started taking down his walls and vice versa that I started finding myself more attracted to him. That's when part of me started getting annoyed at Waverly. I completely understood what she was going through with wanting to live that impeccable life, but it's all a facade. Is she really willing to give up this great guy for a shell of who she really is?

These characters felt real to me. Their frustrations, anguish, all of the trials they went through made me feel like I was going through it with them. Though it's a YA book, I feel like a lot of adults can relate to the story and the general lessons behind it all. Not to sound cliche, but it's about not judging a book by it's cover. Sometimes you don't really see who people are or any of the whys behind it. Maybe instead of being so haste to judge, we should be kind and more accepting.

If you're a fan of LUCID, BEFORE I FALL, and JELLICOE ROAD, this is the book for you. It really is a fantastic novel you don't want to miss!

Rating:

4 Stars