This was fantastic! The writing was tremendous. It was both concrete - all the details about being on a cruise - and dreamlike. Natalie's reminiscences and the interstitial movie scenes brought a hazy, unsteady quality to the story that kept me on my toes. She's not exactly an unreliable narrator, but there's definitely a sense of something being off. The last quarter of the book stressed me out so much because the suspense was nearly unbearable. All in all, a phenomenal book.

#NetGalley #TheOppositeofHere
Woo... after reading this book I am very confused. Natalie, has recently lost her boyfriend in an accident, her family and friends go on a cruise for some reason. She meets a young man and they hit it off. The young man goes missing and for the rest of the book, Natalie spends her time searching the boat for him. Her fear is that he may have gone overboard. The Leaving, Tara's first book, left me guessing too. The Opposite of Here, shows how talented she is at weaving a amazing story. I didn't guess the ending and even though I was confused it is a interesting, twisty read.

I expected to breeze through this book and feel detached from the characters and lack of mystery, but I was wrong. This mystery takes place on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean while Natalie, her parents, and her three best friends celebrate Natalie's 17th birthday. Natalie's boyfriend unexpectedly died months prior so she’s stuck in this stoic slumber with the past on repeat. On her first night of the cruise she meets an energetic guy who breaks her out of her stupor. Fast forward 24 hours and this guy has vanished, leaving clues that lead Natalie to believe that he jumped overboard.

There wasn’t any character development other than Natalie. Her friends and parents weren’t included much. Things became interesting when Natalie spies this mysterious guy again and asks why he stood her up, and this guy says that his name is Michael and his twin brother was the one who interacted with Natalie.

From there the mystery unravels as Natalie and Michael attempt to locate his missing twin brother and figure out the clues he has left behind. The big shocker happened right on the last page. I never put two and two together so once I finished I had to go back and read the last chapter just to make sure what I read was correct.

My only wish was that I was hoping for a specific reveal between Michael and his twin. I’m not going to go into details since I don’t want to spoil anything, but the story would have been more interesting with this specific twist.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

I was provided a copy of the Opposite of Here by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Opposite of Here was way more than I expected. I read it in one sitting, which is fairly unlike me. It is a YA novel that follows 4 teenage girls on a summer cruise to celebrate Natalie, the main character's birthday. Natalie is grieving a loss in her life and the cruise is meant to be a distraction. Quite by accident, she finds herself smitten with a boy on the ship, when the unthinkable happens, she is sure he has gone overboard. I realize the premise sounds ridiculously corny, but in actuality, it was fantastic.

It was light and had a flair of whimsy. It dealt with emotions but not in an all consuming way as some YA does. It kept me interested and engaged, guessing all the way to the end. My favorite part of this story was the nostalgia. I too went on a cruise when I was 17 and the details in this story of the experience, of being a teenager, of falling in and out of love, it all rang so true. The author is so gifted in painting vivid pictures without feeling weighed down in details. It reminded me of being in the car and hearing an old song from high school that you had forgotten all about... until you hear it. Then you remember so much.

I would highly recommend this book, especially as a light summer read.

[I read this pre-pub date via a physical arc and the review was already posted.]

There is something to be said for really interesting books that had you expecting mediocrity. This is not exactly an objectively high-quality book - listen, we know that - but I think as vaguely mediocre YA thrillers go, this is just about the best you can ever do. There’s something to be said for reading something in an hour and getting chills.

The Opposite Of Here follows four friends on a cruise ship journey when the lead believes she has seen a boy fall off the ship. It is… very eerie, surprisingly. There were plot twists I did not guess, even more surprisingly! But I think what sets this book apart from other YA thrillers in this vein is the subversiveness.

Something I really appreciated was the devotion to Hitchcock references and aesthetic. So many callbacks to Vertigo. And assorted other movies that I have not seen. So. Much. Aesthetic. Altebrando’s main method of showing her character’s current state of mind is through little tiny two-line Hitcockian sketches written for a film teacher’s assignment. These sketches starts out super funny and end up super creepy as the book progresses. I feel like this kind of device could end up gimmicky, but it’s not - it’s SO effective in making you love the lead. Some of the sketches are sad, some are amusing, some are horrifying, some amazing. [this is a very real spoiler, but - you sexually assaulted me at a party. SHE REALLY DID THAT.]

The Opposite Of Here really stuck out to me because of its feminist undertones and subversion of tired tropes. Not going to lie, I started this book expecting a huge element of girl hate. Group of friends in a cabin, possible conflict, this will be a thriller with the normal stereotypical “bitchy” drama to top it off. Booooooring. And then… it becomes a story about the strength of friendship between girls. A major conflict between two leads that I thought would have been shitty and boring end up being about some really deep and awful things in the girls’ past. Similarly, the book sets up a generic love triangle and then subtly does... exactly what you don’t expect out of it. There are some really significant feminist themes in general; one of the major themes ends up being - yes, this is a spoiler - [the lead character’s sexual assault.]

Anyway. If you're looking for an actually-good YA page turner that will give you something a little different, this is absolutely recommended.