Where You'll Find Me by Erin Fletcher Published by Entangled TEEN on January 7, 2014
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 211
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley, Publisher
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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 is a fun, quick read that really didn’t surprise me in any way. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it’s a rather predictable read that won’t really shock anyone.
Hanley might be one of the dumbest protagonists I’ve ever read about. She finds a random teenage guy living in her garage and one of the first things that pops into her mind is how attractive he is. I’m not even kidding. I don’t know about you guys but usually if there is some random person living in my garage, I think about calling the cops not about how pretty his eyes are. That’s not Hanleys reaction. She kicks Nate out but when he shows back up she decides to let him stay since it’s cold outside. No questions asked. This is even after he tells her that he can’t stay in a homeless shelter because they check ids. That’s kind of a red flag.
Nate is almost as bad. He’s this mysterious guy who is holing up in Hanley’s garage but he has money to buy food at the food court and clothes when Hanley wants to go on a date with him. How dumb is that? If I was homeless I would not be buying a new shirt for a date with the girl whose garage I’m living in. His reasoning for being homeless was not as bad as I expected and I actually found myself tearing up at his story. He was more fleshed out than Hanley and I appreciated that at least.
Hanley’s back-story really got on my nerves. She lost someone close to her and she completely shut down. She didn’t let anyone get close to her after that. That’s understandable to me but then she got mad at people for not trying to get close to her. She was very hot and cold. And then she meets a random homeless guy and decides to let him get close to her and know things that no one else does? It was unrealistic to me.
Overall, this review really doesn’t show any good things about Where You’ll Find Me but there were a few. It really was a fun read once I got past my issues with Hanley and Nate. If you have some free time on a rainy day, give this one a chance.
Conversations of a Reading Addict’s review: “This is a coming of age story that will break your heart into pieces at times.”
Closet Geeks and Slow Mo’s review: “The story was well paced and so well written, that I read this in one sitting.”
City of Books’ review: “Where You’ll Find Me is clearly a YA contemporary you don’t want to miss.”
Hmm, I don’t think this book is for me. I love the romance, but Hanley, like you said, sounds like an idiot. To let some strange guy live in her garage – that’s crazy. I don’t care how pretty he is. And it seems odd to me, that he has money for food courts and dates, but he’s homeless.
Hahaha these characters sound really really stupid and unrealistic. Might skip this one until I can’t find anything else to read one day, haha. Good review!
Yeah, I don’t think I can get past the basic premise here. Some guy suddenly moves into her garage a d that’s just… Okay? And not concerning in any way? Also kind of skeptical that her parents would be unaware of a dude living in their garage.
Haha I actually loved this one, but it’s great to see another perspective XD I agree, it was stupid of Hanley to not call the cops (and to let him inside to eat and take a shower like whoa what if he’s a killer?!) but I still enjoyed it.
– Kazhy @ My Library in the Making
This is too funny, why, oh why did she not call the police? You’re right anyone in there right mind would be running to the back door where the baseball bat is kept (as well as picking up the phone on the way), I’m glad you found some good areas in this book but for me it just sounds a little too questionable. Also one question I have is she a teen or is she a women living on her own?
Georgie @ What She Reads
Hanley is a teen who lives with her parents – who are also written as the stupidest parents ever! Not only do they not know a boy is living in their garage, they don’t notice that Hanley sneaks out of the house every night to go party. That was really my biggest problem with this book – Hanley blames her sneaking out on her parents because they don’t care enough about her to notice. It was just dumb. BUT, I will say that the writing was really good, and it’s a short book that is really easy to read.
Not sure if this one would fit my personality well – dumb protagonists drive me up the wall. 🙂
I had some of the same issues with this book that you did. I also thought Hanley was pretty self-centered. Even when she was trying to ‘help’ Nate, she made everything about her. You didn’t mention Hanley’s sneaking out (and back in) which I thought was very unrealistic. I really wish I had liked this book more than I did.
Too bad the main character didn’t react in a credible way – especially when presented with something as extreme as someone living in her garage. That would’ve been something that could’ve gotten them closer in a deeper way if she had reacted differently, with more conflict.
Glad he got you caring about the story though! 🙂
Lovely review 🙂