Nobody But Us

I have to say I am not really sure how I feel about this book. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with it I guess you could say. I am just left very undecided. I did find myself wanting to keep reading and see what happened. I was curious as to where the story would head. However I really did not find myself having a connection with the characters like I usually do and I really can't pinpoint why. Not that I didn't care what would happen to them because I obviously did hence the reason I kept reading.

I will definitely read other things Kristin Halbrook writes. It think her writing is great. We find out so much about the characters Will and Zoe and their traumatic pasts. It is a heartbreaking story of two teenagers who are on the run from their past and along the way they make many mistakes. Their ultimate goal is to have a better life together. Will is in a group home and Zoe is abused by her father and her mother passed away. They go on the run trying to reach Vegas and start a life together. I had a bit of a problem with this seeing as Zoe is 15 and Will is 18. Will has the best intentions to get her away from her abusive father, show her what love really is and take care of her. He just doesn't seem to go about it the right way.

I really was much more into it during the second half of the book. The ups and downs these two go through were heartbreaking. The ending was a huge shock to me. I really did not see it going that way!! If anything I would recommend you read this book just for the shock the ending will give you. All in all it was a quick, heartbreaking, good read with a few flaws. But nothing that I couldn't overlook or that stopped me from wondering and speculating what would happen next.

Review originally posted on my bog: http://www.ramblingsofabooknerd.com/2013/02/review-nobody-but-us-by-kristin-halbrook.html

I immediately knew I wanted to read Nobody But Us. It sounded like one of those heart breaking, gut wrenching stories that I love so much. I was also hoping on shedding some tears. Well, this book is sad, but I didn’t cry. In fact, the end left me feeling confused. I read this straight through in one afternoon, so I did enjoy it. It had me hooked from the beginning, but I’m still not sure how I feel about the ending and the book as a whole.

The story follows Zoe and Will, two very damaged teenagers who are in love and want to get away from their lives. Will just turned 18, so he’s been kicked out of his group home. He’s leaving and he takes his 15 year old girlfriend with him, since she’s abused by her alcoholic father. They’re excited to run away together and be free, but Will also spends their whole trip paranoid about the past catching up with him. He’s made some awful mistakes, and makes even bigger ones once they’ve crossed a few state lines.

I had this horrible feeling the entire time I was reading. I knew something awful was going to happen. Then about half way through, things appeared to be looking up. I started feeling hopeful right along with Zoe and Will. Then things take a turn for the worse. It was clear from the beginning that their story could not end well, but I didn’t want things to go the way they did. I was actually mad at Zoe near the end. I know she does the right thing, but I was so emotionally invested in these two, that I couldn’t believe what happened.

At the end I was mad, confused, and sad. I expected a bad ending, but not what actually happened. It was shocking, but also unsatisfying. It seemed like a shock ending for the sake of a shock ending. There is a hint of hope at the end, so that’s good. I just wanted something more out this book, but I didn’t get it. It’s still a worthwhile read though.

This book was nothing like I expected it to be. Sad thing is, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Even more sad than that, this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2013. My expectations for this were so high, but they barely reached the bar.
Zoe is a fifteen year old girl who is left by herself with a drunken, abusive father. Will is an eighteen year old boy who has been in foster care almost his entire life. Together they found solace. They realize that the only way they can live peacefully is together, without anyone else around. So they take off on their own for a chance to survive.
Sounds amazing right? Unfortunately, this book moved super slow for me. But, I was intrigued so I kept reading. Finally at about the last 20 pages or so, it picked up. If the rest of the book had been like the last 20 pages, I would have enjoyed this so much more. Before then it seemed like everything happened just so the plot could move. But finally, the action picked up. The writing made it seem like what was being written was actually going on. And the emotion in it was incredible.
Now the emotion was the only thing really tying me to the book. I wanted to know every move that Will made because he was so emotionally driven. He may not have been the smartest, but everything he did had some type of feeling behind it and that's what caused him to do it. The number one thing was his love for Zoe. Now Zoe, she was the logical thinker of the two. She was the one that was driven by her mind and not her heart. I'm not sure why, but I didn't connect with her as much as Will. I just felt a little distant from her. I'm thinking it was because although she was the thinker in the situation, she still went back and forth in her decisions. But I will say this wasn't the easiest of situations to deal with so she deserved to be a little conflicted.
As for the romance man Will is totally swoon worthy. (Minus all the other stuff....) His love for Zoe is unwavering. Through everything, throughout the entire book he showed his love for her. As I said he was the one that really thought with his emotions, so it came off as a little intense, but it was just the way he was. Now her love for him was different. It was obvious she loved him too, but since she was the logical one, every time she tried to show it, she showed it a little different. It didn't seem as deep as it was for Will. But that's only because she wasn't as comfortable showing her emotions as he was.
Although my expectations were not met, I was still able to enjoy this. I could see why Halbrook chose to do certain things and why she left certain things out, even if I did not agree with them.