I will preface this by saying that I have not yet read the past instalments, but Shippen made sure that there was no need to in order to understand how the world works ─ and the world was wonderful. The world was what I liked the most about this book. The powers of the Atypicals and the mystery around the potentially dangerous secret society that is meant to protect them sucked me in, and then the rest just sort of fell flat to me. I genuinely struggled to get through this book because of the format and the main character. Some Faraway Place is written in diary entries by Rose, with occasional text posts and letters by side characters. Unfortunately, this made the writing feel very simplistic and made the story become fairly repetitive. Furthermore, I really struggled with Rose's point of view in the diary entries. I just didn't enjoy her personality. She was selfish and she didn't learn from any of her dumb mistakes. There was barely any character development. The side characters were so much more interesting and I just wanted to see more of them. I hope Shippen finds her public, but it won't include me.

Some Faraway Place (A Bright Sessions Novel) by Lauren Shippen
304 pages | Releases September 28

Some Faraway Place is an emotional and deeply character-driven novel. Written as a series of diary entries, blog posts, and letters, the novel's structure makes for short chapters that are incredibly binge-able. Not being terribly familiar with The Bright Sessions novels or podcast--I've listened to a couple of episodes here and there, but not read the other novels--I was delighted by how easy it was to get wrapped up in this world despite my sparse background knowledge. I will definitely be coming back to the other novels and the podcast in the future; I need more of these characters!

Our main character, Rose, is young and new to having an Atypical power. She is insecure about a lot of things, overly defensive with people she should trust, and overly trusting of people she probably shouldn't. She is a compelling character to follow, young enough to make her mistakes frustrating but understandable, and sometimes uncomfortable in the relatability.

The story follows Rose as she comes to terms with her new ability of dreamdiving: entering other people's dreams. In the waking world, she meets and gets involved with a few other Atypicals with their own agendas, tries to deal with a family crisis, and juggles a demanding job that she's passionate about and a relationship with a cute girl who she really likes. As her real life gets more hectic and unpredictable, the pull of spending more and more time in the dreamworld--where she can control the landscape, revel in childlike wonder at impossibilities, and relive simpler days in brilliant technicolor--becomes harder to resist. Overall I found this novel immediately engaging, easy to read, and emotionally impactful. I won't soon get Rose and her family out of my head.

Recommended for folks who like coming-of-age stories, flawed characters who are trying their best, and maybe a little bit of crying with their reading. I'm guessing there would be a few additional places where the narrative would hit hard if I had the context of the additional works in this universe, but even without, it is a story that leaves a mark.

thank you to netgalley and torteen for an arc of some faraway place in exchange for an honest review.

two months ago i fell in love with the infinite noise. since then, i've been journeying through the bright sessions universe - books, podcasts, spinoffs, you name it. its a strange feeling to have a universe grow inside your chest, something that started with caleb and adam from the infinite noise evolved into something larger, more complex. with each podcast and book, i fell more and more in love with this universe.

and now we’re reached the final instalment - some faraway place.

so like. we’ve all thought about escaping reality and retreating into a fictional world inside our heads, right?

that's basically it. we follow rose, a late bloomer in a family of atypicals, who discovers that her sleeping spells are a manifestation of her developing ability to dreamdive - entering and influencing dreams. spending time in a dreamworld is complicated, but the trickier part is not losing herself and her loved ones in the process.

if you look up ‘disaster lesbian’ in the dictionary, you’ll see rose proudly staring back at you. she is an absolute disaster. she waxes poetic about hand holding but literally cannot form a single coherent thought around girls. y’know in saphhos' poem 31 where sapphos talks about fainting after hearing a beautiful woman’s laugh? yes exactly that. i love her.

but more than that, rose is a messy protagonist.

flung into a tumultuous period with no instruction manual, rose makes poor choices, throws tantrums, wallows in self pity, pushes people away when she gets scared. but at the core, she’s driven by the best intentions - to stay true to herself while being a good daughter, sister, girlfriend; to right her wrongs; to do all she can to feel enough for herself and those around her.

this book tells you that you need to own your actions, acknowledge mistakes, and accept that they do hurt others. here’s the thing about growth though: its not linear. so she’s flawed but she picks herself up, dusts herself off, falls down, and tries again. as we all do.

lauren shippen is brilliant at character development - both personal and emotional - and her characters speak for a chance at hope and love. i also credit her with turning me into a podcast lover. yes, me! owner of two dying brain cells and the attention span of a goldfish! truly a testimony to what a phenomenal storyteller she is.

social media also plays a big role in this book. that thing these characters do? finding friends and family online, creating a safe corner on the internet with people who understand, love, and support you? most of us readers do that too, finding book communities oceans away through the internet, bound by a common love.. and it was so nice to have that validated as a form of connection that is just as real as in-person ones.

maybe its because the entire tbs universe now occupies a space inside my chest, but this book felt big, like the collision of every past book and podcast in a final hurrah. a farewell to characters who are damaged but healing, struggling but trying, and hurting but loving. just as we are.

goodbyes are always tough and this one is no exception. but i can’t think of a better send-off to this universe. as they say, this is not farewell, but a hope-filled see you later.

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒅?

𝐸𝑁/𝐹𝑅

| WARNING: This digital A.R.C was kindly sent to me by the publisher via NetGalley after I requested it in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own |

Some Faraway Place is the third book in a shared world saga and just for your information I haven’t read the first and second books, I didn’t even know they existed but It didn’t affect my reading experience.
The first thing I want to point out for this review is my place regarding the story.
To make this as clear as possible, I was the target audience but for personal reasons, I didn’t enjoy being the targeted audience.

Rose is a young woman, barely out of high school, living in an Atypical family without having any ability of her own. Which mean she’s living with a telekinesis dad, a psychic mom and a mind-reader big brother while her only talent and passion is cooking.
She doesn’t want to go to college and instead wants to join the workforce as a chef’s apprentice and she doesn’t have a girlfriend, neither social life, which leads to a lot of mother’s worrying.
Until one day she discovers that she can visit the dreams of the sleeping people around her, she cans dreamdive. So after all, she’s also Atypical.

As I’m myself a young woman currently looking for a job after my law’s degree and without any partner for the past five years, I reflected a lot on Rose. But as Rose is herself a really anxious and at-the-edge character, It wasn’t a pleasant experience at all.
Because I must say Rose’s personality is the real black point of this book. I found her whiny and two-faced, playing the victim without accepting any help.

It’s a common coming of age story with a contemporary setting and some pretty cool powers, the narrative scheme follows quatres forms; Rose herself who writes everything in her journal, some letters, a Reddit sub where her brother goes to and the AOT forum that another character uses.
As you can see It’s a REALLY contemporary setting as we’re talking about Reddit and AOT which, to be honest, made me uncomfortable.

My reading was torn between two aspects, the contemporary and Rose part that I didn’t enjoy and the super-powers, dreamdiving’s part that I quite liked.
For these reasons, I’ll not buy this book but I recommend it if you’re interested in super-abilities in a 2021’s setting.


WARNING: If you’re reading this review on your smartphone, the next paragraph is the spoiler part.

<spoiler>
To be honest the story got itself way too complicate after Damien’s introduction and in regard to Rose’s reaction, I didn’t found It was a good addition.
The ending was satisfying as she finally finds a type of balance and place in the world but even for the AM, I didn’t buy the whole “Now It’s Owen so It’s going to be better” thing.
</spoiler>


| WARNING : Cet A.R.C digital m’a été envoyé par l'éditeur via NetGalley suite à ma demande sur le site en échange d’une honnête revue. Toutes les opinions exprimées sont miennes. |


Some Faraway Place est le troisième livre d’une saga dans un monde partagé and juste pour votre information je n’ai jamais lu le premier et second livre, je ne savais même pas qu’ils existaient mais cela n’a pas affecté mon expérience de lecture.
La première chose que je tiens à adresser dans cette revue est ma place par rapport à l’histoire.
Pour que ce soit aussi clair que possible, j’étais l’audience visée mais pour des raisons personnelles je n’ai pas aimé être l’audience visée.
Rose est une jeune femme, à peine sortie du lycée, vivant dans une famille d’Atypicals sans avoir elle-même un quelconque pouvoir. Ce qui signifie qu’elle vit avec un père psychokinèsiste, une mère ayant des visions du futur et un grand frère pouvant lire dans son esprit alors que son seul talent, et passion, est la cuisine.
Elle ne veut pas aller à l’Université et veut au lieu entrer dans le monde du travail en temps que commis de cuisine et apprentie, elle n’a pas non plus de petite amie ni vie sociale, ce qui mène à une montagne d’inquiétude maternelle.
Jusqu’à ce qu’un jour elle découvre qu’elle peut visiter les rêves des personnes endormies autour d’elle, qu’elle peut « dreamdive ». Donc après tout, elle est aussi atypical.
Comme je suis moi-même une jeune femme actuellement à la recherche d’un emploi après mon diplôme en doit et sans partenaire depuis cinq ans, je me suis vue en Rose.
Mais comme Rose est elle-même un personnage très anxieux et au bord du gouffre, cela n’a pas été une expérience plaisante.
Parce que je dois dire que la personnalité de Rose est le gros point négatif de ce livre. Je l’ai trouvé pleurnicharde et deux-faces, jouant la victime sans accepter une quelconque aide.

C’est un livre de « coming of age » comme les autres, avec un cadre très contemporain et des pouvoirs assez cools, le schéma narratif suit quatres formes ; Rose qui écrit tout dans son journal, des lettres, un fil Redddit où son frère va et un forum AOT qu’un autre personnage utilise.
Comme vous pouvez le voir c’est VRAIMENT contemporain vu qu’on parle ici de Reddit et AOT ce qui, pour être honnête, m’a mise mal à l’aise.

Ma lecture était divisée en deux aspects, le contemporain et la partie de Rose que je n’ai pas apprécié, et les supers pouvoirs, le « dreamdive », que j’ai bien aimé.
Pour ces raisons je n’achèterai pas ce livre mais je vous le recommande si vous êtes intéressés par les supers-pouvoirs en 2021.

ATTENTION : Si vous lisez cette revue sur votre smartphone les spoilers commencent ici !

<spoiler>
Pour être honnête, l’histoire s’est compliquée inutilement avec l’introduction de Damien et au vu de la réaction de Rose, je n’ai pas trouvé que c’était un bon ajout.
La fin était satisfaisante car elle trouve enfin un semblant d’équilibre et de place dans le monde mais même pour l’AM je n’ai pas accroché au « Maintenant que c’est Owen ça ira mieux »
</spoiler>

I really really liked the first half. I liked Rose and Emily and the Atkinson family dynamic, seeing a bit more behind the scenes of the AM, getting a totally different picture on the Atypical lifestyle...

But then a character from a previous book who I don't really like came in and derailed the whole story. This character makes the same selfish decisions over and over again and influenced our soft, complex, lonely MC Rose into following them into this pattern. And it sucked because it made the second half drag so much. The same argument was being had over and over again with various characters throughout the cast, and it just felt like there was no real progress made and at the end Rose magically decides to change tactics after doing the exact same thing wrong over and over didn't work for the 6th time in a row.

I also wonder if it's because I haven't listened to the podcast. Like, it feels like these stories (the three books in this series I've now read) just float on the surface of something bigger. Like, we see characters from the previous books surface but they reference all these things that didn't happen in the books. Is this a plug for the podcast? I guess I was under the impression that the books could stand on their own without them, but now I don't think that's the case at all.

Really didn't understand the point of this book. It was also weird. Think: 19 year old queer girl crying over a 30 year old man because she's worried about him being lonely for the rest of his life.....

Rose comes from a family of Atypicals, meaning everyone has a power such as telepathy or psychic visions. The only thing is that Rose doesn't have a power and feels a little left out. But then Rose discovers one day that she does have a power. But at what cost?  And how will she protect herself and the people she loves from her power.

This book reads like a teenage diary. Unfortunately that's not really my style and the teenage talk was a bit try hard with the acronyms like 'tbqh' - I don't think anyone says that. Characters also don't get introduced properly so you're left wondering who is who.

There are heaps of letters and forum threads in between chapters by different characters which is overdone and it's all just hard to keep track of.

What really annoyed me was how the main character is so stupidly naive and her ignorance to things and danger got so repetitive and boring. She never listened to anyone and took silly risks. I finished this book wondering what I had just read. It felt like there was no climax or resolution and therefore felt unfinished.

I love this podcast, and the other two books have been amazing, so I expected this one would be good too. And I was correct! While I felt like I knew Rose the least of the three main characters, she came to life in this book in a way that she didn't in the show. I loved seeing her come into her power, dealing with how she navigated being an abnormal, and coming into her sexuality and her place in her family at the same time. I also loved her relationship with my beloved Damian as well. A very fun story with a lot of our favorite characters making appearances. The multiple formats are also a nice breakup of the typical prose structure. Read these, listen to the show, and appreciate the brilliance of Lauren Shippen.

Thanks to Tor Teens and Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review. .
Some fareway Place taked me to The Bright Sessions. They were three weeks of joy, adventures and so much love for every character. Yes, for Damien too.
Some Faraway Place is the third part of The Bright Sessions, and one of the latest storys behind The Bright Sessions Universe.
In this oportunity, we meet Rose, a dreamdiver who's triying to control her powers. We learn a lot more about how THE AM helps their regular patients and we read again about Damien (main character in A Neon Darkness), Dr. Bright, Adam, Mark and all the bunch of Atypicals we learn to love. It was a beautiful journey.
I would like to read a lot more about Rose and Emily relationship. I just couldn't learn to love Emily. She was amazing, of course. The fact that she was a fanfic writer was a big YES for me.
I think you should listen The Bright Sessions podcast before this read.

Within the events of the universe, this is the correct order of story progression:
A Neon Darkness (book)
The Bright Sessions Season 1 (original podcast)
The Bright Sessions Season 2 (original podcast)
The Infinite Noise (book)
The Bright Sessions Season 3 (original podcast)
The Bright Sessions Season 4 (original podcast)
Some Faraway Place (book, releasing 9/28/21)
The Bright Sessions Season 5 (bonus episodes)
The Bright Sessions Season 6 (The AM Archives)
The Bright Sessions Season 7 (The College Tapes, currently releasing).

The Bright Sessions Universe is amazing and worth of your time.

The Bright Sessions series is so character driven that if you don't like the character, it's impossible to get through the narrative. Rose was hard to relate to and when reading her journal entries/blogs here, I just didn't care. I didn't like her in the podcast either because she's written like some whimsical fae girl but makes really dumb decisions so it comes off more naive and childish.
Damien is by far the most interesting character in this world and putting him in the book was maybe a mistake because it highlights how boring and underdeveloped the other characters are.

I really liked this book, it has a good combination of science fiction and young adult novel, i really love the world building and the characters.. The language is simple and accessible. I definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lauren Shippen for the digital copy.

While you could theoretically read this book as a standalone, it will be much more enjoyable and make a lot more sense (especially with regard to the side characters and sub-plots) if you're up to date on The Bright Sessions universe podcasts and other novels. I personally am a big fan so I had all the background knowledge going in.

I enjoyed being back in TBS universe and seeing some familiar places and faces. I had a hard time getting fully behind our protagonist, Rose, who's a frustrating character to follow. This is probably fairly realistic (I, too, remember being 19 and Going Through Something) but doesn't make for the most enjoyable read when a character's motivations don't always make sense and she keeps making bad decisions.

For those NOT up to speed on TBS universe, the plot as it starts to unfurl in the 2nd half -- won't make a ton of sense to you.

The plot itself does feel resolved by the end, but the characters' storylines don't so much.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read for fans of TBS universe but not my favorite installment. 3.5 stars.

While this was the third installment of an ongoing series, I don't think having not read the first two affected my ability to understand the world. Our main character was both incredibly lovable and also infuriating. It was a fun read, but not necessarily one I'll continuously think about.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

4 / 5 Stars

I know I took a long time to read this, but that wasn't the books fault at all. But rather my own. I wanted to dedicate my full attention to this, so I only read when I really had the time and mindset to do so. And since I was kinda a little busy because of personal stuff in my life, reading this took longer than I wanted.

Anywas, enough talk about stuff that is not book relevant. Let's get to the review portion of this review.

Before you read my review, you should know, that I have neither listend to the potcast that this triologiy is based on, nor have I read book 1 & 2. I went into this completly blind. If you feel like my opinion is therefore less valid, or something, that's fine. I'd disagree with you, but you do you.

My overall thoughts:
Why did I pick this up? Well, it sounded cool and I love storys about super heros. Did this book deliever on its promise? Hell yeah, it did. If you're looking for a character driven story about x-men that go to theraphy, this is for you. If you're easily bored by contemporary, this might not be what you're looking for.

There is a chance, that the world was explained in way more detail in the first two installments, but that didn't change, that this one is doing a fine job on its own. We get all the information we need to understand what's going on. It does at times feel like it would be cool to know more, but at the same time, I couldn't help but enjoy the lack of information. You know exactly what Rose knows. You can only draw the same conclusions she comes to. Do you trust the people or the AM or do you not? I KNOW that a bunch of characters were introduced in an earlier installment, but honestly, I'm kinda glad I did read this one first, because the moment you find out about Damiens past you're as shocked as Rose. You don't know if you can trust those other people and you can therefore connect with Damien on a deeper level. Honestly, I kinda really want to go read 'his' story now, because I'm curiuous to find out what went down. It was teased and hinted at and I loved it. I feel like I should probably have judged Damien more or hated him, but like, I don't know everything that went down, so for now, I'm glad that he was able to become one of my favourit characters.

I was also able to enjoy the character devolpment more. Because all the characters get one...or well, Rose and her brother and Damien. I can't speak for the other people.
Speaking of characters: they were great. Rose is a complicated and troubled person and I could understand her struggles - I mean, I'm not a superhero, but yeah. She makes a lot of bad decisions and ducks up, but honestly, for me, that's the best part about her. She's still searching, still trying to figure herself out. Just like Damien. They're both not done, there is still stuff they need to do to be better, to learn who they are and that they're great, but the book makes it seem like, both of them, even after everything they did, deserve to be those better selfs.

There is some darker stuff in there, like, human experimentation, kidnapping and various mental health issues like PTSD and yet, I feel like the overall tone and message were a positive one.

There is a lot of stuff being left unsaid though and I think that's good too. Because that's just how real life is. A faraway place that you can't quite reach yet and might have heard stuff about, but can't confirm to be true or not yet.

There is a chance, that you won't like the format of this book. It's written in forum posts on tumblr and reddit, and diary entrys from Rose. She calls them dream journely, which they maybe are at the start, but they've long changed into kinda diary entrys. I personally liked them, because they are all over the place and change topics and jump back to other stuff and thoughts, JUST LIKE REAL DIARYS and JUST LIKE REAL THOUGHTS. That's how brains work. At least mine does. So I liked it.

The rep was nice too. Handeld really greatly too. Which made reading this book a great experience.

To summ my thoughts up - agian - : I can absolutly reccomand this book and the Bright Sessions Series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan/Tor Forge for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fairly solid YA Sci-Fi Fantasy novel. Although I wasn't immediately drawn to Rose as a character, I enjoyed learning more about her as she grew over the course of the novel. If you liked the first two books in the series, you'll probably enjoy this book too.

Some faraway place is the 3rd book in a trilogy which I haven't read the first 2 books of , but that didn't seem to effect my reading experience as the characters were new and the story was totally different to the first two .
Here we follow a family of atypicals with their special powers , rose who thought she wasn't like the other members is actually a late bloomers and has the power to dream dive and change and effect people and their dreams . While rose was a very relatable protagonist and I felt so much like her , she at times was too selfish and kind of dumb . The language and theme was fairly simple and was easily understandable which I really appreciate .
In short , the magic system , lgbtq+ rep and a sci-fi story like some faraway place was a really good read

We’ve finally arrived at the last installment of The Bright Sessions book series. And I must say, I really gonna miss these characters and this story. I gave the other two books in this series a 4 out of 5 stars, and this one ins’t gonna be different. If you look at my rating system, this means these books are good, but not flawless. And this isn’t a bad thing, okay? I genuinely think that’s exactly what makes this book series so damn interesting. I first came across the podcast, which inspired this book series, a few years ago. Despite having just finished the book series, I never finished listening to the podcast (and trust me, don’t be me. Go listen to the podcast, especially before reading this one, or you’re gonna be spoiled of the story from hell to back. Don’t be me!). I’m probably gonna finish after this one, because we’re probably not gonna get a new book and like I said before, I really gonna miss these characters.

But, back to the review, this book is far from flawless. Then again, that’s what makes a story interesting, at least to me. The main character from this book is Rose Atkinson, a nineteenth year-old girl who really makes up for her age, which kinda explains a lot of the decisions she makes throughout the book. It’s not teenage fiction per se, but kinda feels like it. If you’re not into it, all the teen/young adult angst and drama, this book isn’t for you. But if you like it, then go for it. You’re really gonna enjoy it. And that’s maybe the reason why this book isn’t as flawless. The complexity of the ways the characters behave throughout the story really left me on edge in many moments. But that’s the heart of the story too. We’re not flawless, we’re complicated human beings with divergent feelings about different things, and that’s not bad. That’s good. Despite being “Atypicals”, these characters mess a lot too, but they also make it up for it. Yes, they have so-called “superpowers”, but at the end of the day they’re just like us. Lauren does a beautiful job writing this story. I still think she needs to grow more as a writer, but she did a good job until this point. Look out for her in the upcoming years, because I do believe she’s gonna get better and better at this.

Anyways, I’m not gonna explain the plot, you can read the synopsis for it, but overall, I really loved how the story was developed and how the narrative was written. The diary writing style, also made complete by online posts and letters by the side characters was very refreshing. I love seeing different writing methods being incorporated in traditional fiction. Hope to see more in future books. If you like the podcast, go for this one. I think these books were great at exploring the characters we already knew from the podcast, so I believe it was a great addition to the universe.

This book ties together the first two books in the trilogy and also connects to the Bright Sessions podcast in a similar way as the first book…a few scenes in the book seem pulled directly from the podcast, but I don’t think it’s necessary to have listened to the podcast to get a satisfying story from the books, especially after reading this book. This book gives the reader more insight into the AM, although there are still lingering questions.

This book focuses on Rose, a 19-year-old, who up until recently thought she was the only normal human in a family of Atypicals. Her dad is a telekinetic, her mom a psychic with the ability to see the future, and her brother a telepath. When she starts randomly falling asleep in the middle of the day, she thinks she has narcolepsy, but it turns out that she too is Atypical, and this sleeping is just a part of her power manifesting. She’s a dreamdiver. She can enter, and even change, other people’s dreams.

I definitely recommend this book for anyone who liked the first two, or anyone who listened to and enjoyed the Bright Sessions and who wants to learn more of the story fleshed out.

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book.

I have long been a fan of Lauren Shippen’s podcast series, The Bright Sessions, so when the opportunity arose to get an ARC of one of her books, set in the same universe, I jumped at the chance.

The book has all the hallmarks of Shippen’s previous work – it’s creative, inclusive, exciting, and dangerous. I have a fondness for the characters she creates that I can’t explain – I just find them all so endearing.

So, I fully went into this book expecting to be absolutely whisked away by the story, to once again immerse myself in the stories of Atypicals.

Sadly, that didn’t happen.

There are no flaws in the story itself. Nineteen year old Rose grew up in a family of Atypicals. Even her brother, who took longer than usual to get his ability, is Atypical.

Rose, however, is not.

She’s been waiting and waiting and waiting for an ability to manifest, to no avail. Until she develops what the doctors call narcolepsy, and what her parents say is the early signs of her ability – she can enter and alter the dreams of others.

Honestly, this book has all the hallmarks of something I would, under most circumstances, ravenously devour in like, three hours. Rose is chubby and gay and doesn’t fit in. She’s awkward around pretty girls and struggles with balancing the life she wants to live with her family’s expectations. I was so prepared to be obsessed with this story. Unfortunately, I fear the writing style is what let it down.

The book is told through a series of journal entries, blog posts, and entries on a Reddit-style website, through the point of view of several of the characters in the story. This is an interesting and creative way to tell a story – especially when most of the characters are young and #online – but it just took me out of the story. Rose’s journal entries were particularly difficult to get through; they were unpolished in a way that I’m not entirely sure was deliberate.

I did enjoy the romance aspect of the story (obviously), and the precarious balance Rose tries to find between having a normal girlfriend while concealing a very abnormal ability was compelling. That said, even the sweet romance wasn’t enough to stop the format of the book from grating on my nerves.

I am fully convinced that if I had read this book a decade ago when I was also nineteen, I would have loved it, and been so enchanted with the journal format for telling a story, but unfortunately I found it a slog to get through. If your thing is epistolary tales, though, this will absolutely be your cup of tea.

Despite my feelings about this particular book, I still love Shippen’s work, and will definitely be keen on future Bright Sessions-based offerings from her. Some Faraway Place just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Tor Books for providing me with this ARC.

Some Faraway Place follows Rose Atkinson, a character that I haven't wanted to know everything about since she appeared in the Bright Sessions podcast, as she learns to balance her life and come into new parts of her identity, namely a newly discovered power to explore other people's dreams. I will admit that how deeply I enjoyed the podcast influenced how much I enjoyed this book. I am also not certain how much more context I had for the story line because of the podcast. In that I am not certain if the story is harder to follow if you are going in without that information. Less so for Rose's arc and more so with other characters.

As with her previous projects, Shippen does a phenomenal job navigating the emotional journey of her characters with kindness. It is not just the way that she presents the characters' trauma but the path she carries those characters through their healing and all the messiness that comes with that. There are passages of Rose, and others, that are difficult to get through at times because of that process and how Rose approaches her own life. But each those felt real to me. This particular book in the series handles the concept of owning your actions and the pain they cause others in a way that hit every way I wanted it to. For every part of me that recommends this series, and specifically this book for the story telling, it is the way that Shippen approaches emotion and personal growth that makes me recommend her writing again and again.

3.5 stars.

The best thing about Some Faraway Place was how my feelings fluctuated. I started out believing I wasn't going to enjoy it at all, and by the end, I was almost emotional. And by almost, I mean I was emotional.

My main gripe remains unchanged though, and that's the format: I liked the letters and forum/blogs posts, but Rose's journal entries weren't successful. The format's a large reason I had trouble getting into the book, but I also just wasn't compelled by her voice, even if her struggles—not choosing a typical career path, feeling out of place within her family, trying to figure out who she was outside of being a daughter/sister/girlfriend—were excellent. Rose was a much more frustrating character than I expected after listening to the podcast, which was surprising in both good and not so good ways: good because she gained new depths, and not so good because she made so many poor decisions. At least she was never static! Shippen did a wonderful job crafting Rose's parents and brother and showing Rose's relationship with them, as well as—you guessed it—Damien. And Damien? Talk about gutting me, because this trainwreck of a human sold the entire book. Lauren Shippen didn't have to give us all that character development, but she loves him more than anyone, I think, and she went there.

The writing's not the best and I did often struggle to make decent progress, but Some Faraway Place closed out the series nicely.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.