Somewhere Only We Know by Cheyanne Young

 Somewhere Only We Know by Cheyanne Young

Publication Date: June 15, 2014 by 336Love

Genre: Young Adult Romance

[Special thanks to the author and OIRA Tours for the review copy!]

Goodreads Summary:

Sadie Bradford’s life is one anxiety attack after another. All she wants is to escape life’s realities for the summer and hang out with her best friend Aaron. But her grandmother has other plans: Sadie will get a job. Sadie will do volunteer work. Sadie will make new friends – friends without brain injuries that make them forget everything…friends that aren’t Aaron.

While Sadie struggles to survive her anxiety with all these new changes, she finds an escape when she dreams herself into the beautiful world of Isola Fiona. It’s a place that cures memory loss and anxiety. It’s a place where she and Aaron can fall in love.

But after dragging Aaron along with her to her dream world, things take a turn. Every time they return home, Sadie’s anxiety is a little better but Aaron’s memory is still gone. And Isola Fiona may not be much of a dream after all. As Sadie realizes that Isola Fiona is as real as her anxiety, she rushes to change the course of fate and make things right, but she may be too late…

Excerpt:

It’s the same thing every morning. Thirty seconds of bliss between the waking up and the realization. Thirty entire seconds of being a normal sixteen-year-old. Thirty billion, blissful, amazing nanoseconds with no fucking anxiety.

And then the feeling falls over me like a lead blanket thrown from the sky. Not slow, like the dread that builds gradually as you flip through your binder, realizing with each empty folder that you forgot your research paper on the kitchen counter back at home. Nope, it doesn’t happen like that.

It slams into my body, full force into every cell of my skin, not caring that my shoulders are still sunburned, as I lie paralyzed in bed. The white blobs in the ceiling morph into blurred ghosts while all I can do is watch. And I am so completely alone.

With as much control as I can manage, my fingers slip from under the safety of my comforter and feel around on the nightstand. Shaking a pill into my palm, I toss my head back and swallow it with a sip from the pink cup next to my bed. I blanch at the taste of stale water, left over from last night. Soon the anxiety will wane. It never goes away, but it wanes. It’s the little things in life, or some crap like that.

So I get out of bed.

And I throw on some clothes.

And I stare into the mirror, telling myself I’ll get through another day. Because even when my thoughts are static TV channels and my hands are trembling and I feel like today is the day I will finally drop dead—I know that I won’t. Because I never do. That comforts me a little.

Only four more days until Aaron gets home.

Book Trailer:

My review:

The idea is so interesting and I find it awesome that Chey got me on the first quarter. I skipped some parts because I was too excited for the next things that would happen. There were really great quotes that inspired me and the conflict of the story made things even better. A lot of cute and swoony moments made me fall in love with the book.

That plot twist and the freaking ending. I was like, “Whoa.”

And then I went, “No.”

And then I said “Whoa,” again.

The book reminded me of Summer of Yesterday by Gaby Triana. (Read my review here!) It truly breaks my heart when I read stories like these. The pain of wanting something that you can’t have. #TheTears

Some quotes…(Because my review copy is a finished one, YAY!)

If I could only force myself to believe the lies I tell, make my brain just pretend to be normal even though it’s not, I could get through the days easier. But that never works. I’m smarter than the lies I tell myself.

This quote is from Sadie. It’s the first quote that I highlighted because I strongly agree. We can’t fool ourselves. We will always be smarter than the lies that we tell ourselves. (Nice one there, Sadie.)

“We’ll never have a perfect world. People will always f*ck it up.”

-Jeremy

Reality sucks sometimes, and we just have to accept that. I’ve learned not to expect too much, and to go with life’s flow. It has ups and downs, but the thrill is in the experience. (Am I right?)

“I don’t want to be reminded of what I can’t have.”

-Aaron

This just breaks my heart. Every single time.

So many things in life aren’t bad because of what they are, but because of how you feel for them.

Another Sadie quote. My favorite, actually. Here, Sadie is trying to tell us that the way we see things is more important than the way they actually are. We can always choose to see the good side. 🙂

Spotlight on Sadie and Aaron’s love story…

Loving someone when you know all their flaws, loving someone when you know that he/she is imperfect…I like that kind of love. And I saw it in the book. A love that developed from friendship, a love with a great foundation. I would want that kind of love, someday. ❤

Extra things…

I like the title and the cover. They go well together. The book is simple. It’s not lengthy, and it’s not too short either. It was enough. I like Chey’s writing and I would recommend Somewhere Only We Know to everyone who knows what pain is and how beautiful life is once we learn how to get through the pain that life presents us.

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Initial Rating:4.75/5

Bonuses: 1

Demerits: None

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FINAL RATING: 5.75/5

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Final Words:

Things that cannot be explained are often understood by the heart.

Giveaway:

Chey is giving away a SIGNED paperback of SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW, a pink glitter ring featured in the novel and a $20 Amazon GC! Open internationally. [You can click the pic for the giveaway and you can also click here.]