𝟑 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

**𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐖𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 follows 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗵 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀 (h) as she reconnects with her childhood best friend 𝗦𝗸𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗻 (H) after nearly four years of losing contact. Norah’s mother and Skyler’s mother organize an unexpected road trip, and the two families are joined together for a summer trip to different destinations. On the day of their arrival, Norah is anticipating Skyler’s arrival because they were attached to the hip as children until their family moved away one day; however, he acts cold and distant upon his arrival. Confused with his reaction, Norah decides to mirror his attitude, and the two have a rocky relationship throughout the story. Still, we get to see them discover the truth about the moment of their disconnect and overcome the hurdles in their friendship… turning into something more?

Read this book if you are interested in traveling dynamics, childhood friends reconnecting, and people discovering that they are not the same people as they used to be. It's a quick read, but you get to see the heroine explore her interests as an artist hoping to be a video game animator. This book is lighthearted, but it does discuss the struggles of finding a place in the world and attempting to be your most genuine self in a world where authenticity is not appreciated. Instead, those qualities that make a person "unique" are depicted as odd through a societal lens. Fortunately, she has the support of her friends and family, who continuously show Norah that it is okay to be herself and her unique qualities are the best part of her persona.

The romance in this book is focused on the miscommunication trope; there is tension throughout the road trip and unanswered questions between Norah and Skyler, struggling to understand what went wrong in their unbreakable bond.

If you like:
𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 “𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴” 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴
𝘙𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 + 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴
𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦
𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴

Then this might be the book for you!

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐋,

I do think many questions were left unanswered and there was a lack of background exploration for Skyler, however, it focused more on the traveling aspects and the friendship rather than his life back home. Therefore, if you want a childhood best friends to lovers book that has fluffy moments, this is for sure the book to read.

Places We’ve Never Been by Kasie West
Rating: ★ ★ ★
Genre: 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
Format: 𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤
Release: 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘒𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢-𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

💟 Reunited Friends
🚗 Road Trip
⏰ Quick Read
🎮Gamer Girl

Places We’ve Never Been follows Norah and Skyler as they are reunited after several years apart. Their mothers decide to get together for a spontaneous roadtrip. Norah cannot wait to reconnect with Skyler but she quickly discovers that the feeling is not mutual. Norah can’t seem to shake that something is wrong about this trip; everyone seems to be keeping secrets. After this trip, things may never be the same for any of them.

I requested this book because I used to read Kasie West a lot growing up and I remembered really enjoying her books. She does an amazing job writing books that are short and sweet. However, I think I may have finally outgrown them. There is nothing wrong with this book but I have to say that not much really happened. The conflicts throughout the story seem to be resolved too easily and there is just a lack of tension.

This YA story was a quick read, but the characters were charming and relatable. I liked following along with the journey of a rekindled friendship, and also enjoyed the travel aspect.

This was a cute YA story. I liked the RV and cross country travel aspect. I also liked the banter between all of the characters. My main complaint was that the plot was a little slow at times. I also didn’t totally understand the animosity between the main characters. Overall a cute story.

This one was cute, but just okay. There were parts of this story that lacked for me. I didn’t like how slow this one was. There was a lot of dialogue that was just boring and a waste of time. A lot of the characters got mixed together in my opinion. I wish that the author focused in a bit better. I wasn’t convinced of the reasons why they weren’t ending up together, why they hated each other. It just didn’t make sense. I hated most of the subplots but the mom’s story. I needed to be more convinced!

I often don't like young adult reads, especially when set in high school. However, I enjoyed this one. Being a family of RVers I loved that aspect of this read. I also took some notes of real life things to do in some National Parks - so thanks for that!

All in all a cute story, with a thread of mystery that kept me reading.

This was sweet YA contemporary romance.
What I liked:
The RV Road-trip
The vacation adventures
The sibling antics
Friends to enemies to lovers trope
It’s a sweet, clean romance
The epilogue
The cover

What I didn’t love:
It was just a little slow. Not much happened in the story to keep my attention. Is this cute? Yes, Absolutely. Kasie West fans will enjoy it!

I have read almost every book Kasie West has written. In fact, my friend and I used to have our own Kasie West book club and would send each other copies of her books (with our notes) from Kentucky to Texas and back. To say I was excited to be approved for this e-ARC is an understatement. Did I squeal at work? Did I do a little happy dance? Yes.

This is yet another wonderful addition to Kasie's works. I love the best friends to not friends to friends to lovers troupe. It's one of my favorites. The whole cast of characters were amazing but I LOVED Paisley so much! Coming off a lot of time where we have all been stuck at home it was nice to read a story and feel like you were traveling. I very much needed that escape.

I will say though, without spoiling, the revelation towards the end of the book hit WAY too close to home for me right now. My family is going through something very similar and that kind of brought me right back into a reality I am trying to hide from currently so I didn't get the escape and enjoyment I hoped for in the end. Wish it would have came with a trigger warning....

MANY thanks to Random House Children's and NetGalley for this Advanced copy. I am overjoyed I got to read another Kasie West book!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NetGalley fix the issues with the Shelf app because MY GOD was this book incredibly difficult to read in that format.

I'm a long time fan of Kasie West and her sweet, charming, and romantic stories. I always love how down to earth and relatable her stories are. While this one wasn't among my most favorite of her stories, I did still enjoy it. It was a little quieter and didn't quite leave me with that heart swelling joy that I usually associate with Kasie's books. I enjoyed the RV road trip idea and it was fun to see former friends meet again years later and overcome some animosity to fall in love. I just wish there was a little more going on with the story for me. Still cute though.

This book was sweetness and smiles and road trips and friends to enemies to friends to lovers and everything I love in a contemporary young adult romance.

I binged it in a day if that’s any indicator of how much I liked it. I think Kasie West is so good at these types of novels.

Thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Another fantastic contemporary YA romance from Kasie West! This one might be favorite one yet (plus look at that gorgeous cover!).

This was a really sweet YA novel about two families that grew up together going on an RV road trip after some years of separation due to a move. I really liked the camaraderie and relationships between all the siblings, it brought some humor and tenderness to the story. I also really enjoyed Norah's perspective and seeing Skylar through her eyes. This felt like a fun and cute summer read. Than you to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC.

Kasie West has done it again. It's been awhile since I read anything from Kasie West and I'm so happy that I was able to receive an e-Arc of this book. First of all.. THE COVER! It's super cute and caught my attention right away. As for the context; this book made my heart warm. Relationships between the characters were so relatable and genuine.

I recommend this book if you are into:

- Cute YA novels
- ROADTRIPS
- Childhood crushes / friends
- Friends to Enemies to Lovers troop

Finished this book with a smile on my face <3

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's and Delacorte press for the e-Arc of this book!

Rating: 5/5 🌟

I’m convinced Kasie West writes the cutest, most wholesome romances I’ve ever read! I’ve been reading her books for years now, and they’re all so good. I loved this one especially because of the road trip element! It was just so fun to read about all the different activities/ places Norah and Skyler went to together. I also loved the friends to enemies to lovers trope. I think it really worked for the plot of the book. All in all, I definitely recommend this one if you’re looking for a sweet YA romance🥰.

Read if you like:
Friends to enemies to lovers
Childhood best friends
Road trips
Friends to lovers
Cute YA romances

Thank you Random House Children’s / Delacorte Press, Netgally, and Kasie West for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another wonderful Kasie West novel! Recently, after powering through a YA fantasy ARC that I was not enjoying, I really needed something to get me back in the swing of reading. Places We’ve Never Been by Kasie West was exactly the book I needed!

Essentially, the main character, Norah is excited to go on an RV road trip with her childhood best friend, Skyler, and his family. She’s longing for the chance to reconnect with Skyler, but on the day the road trip begins, he is clearly uninterested in rekindling their friendship. On top of the tension between Norah and Skyler, Norah knows something is going on with her mom, and goes on escapades to figure out what’s up. As the trip unfolds, she realizes that everything is not as simple as it may seem, and she may have more feelings for Skyler than she realized.

This review is certainly going to be short and sweet because I can only say how amazing Kasie West is so many times! I have not read a single book by her that I did not thoroughly enjoy, and Places We’ve Never Been was no exception! The storyline was fun, and I am dumbfounded by West’s ability to create new plotlines. While all of her books feel similar (in a good way!), they have distinct and interesting plots and characters.

Additionally, I appreciated the added mystery of Norah knowing something was going on with her family, but not being clued in on the secret. It complemented the romance well, and kept the novel moving at a nice pace.

Speaking of romance, Norah and Skyler were absolutely adorable! While I would have liked a little more romantic tension between the two, I really loved the way their background played into their story. Similarly, I thought both of them were relatable and likeable.

Overall, if you read and enjoyed Kasie West’s other books, you’re sure to like Places We’ve Never Been, and if you haven’t read a book by West before, you are missing out! This novel is sure to be an all-around crowd-pleaser!

Reading a roadtrip romance is the best thing to do while on a roadtrip. I've always loved Kasie West's books, but this one is just so 👌 Places We've Never Been was defintely one of Kasie's better and more emotional reads! I mean, cmon, there was cancer (not a good thing, but still something new), lgbtq characters and...I don't know? AMAZINGNESS!! I promise you that this book is worth the read, I couldn't stop smiling! This book was addicting, inspiring, and I loved it so much!! Kasie is a saint and deserves the best because her books are literally so angelic and purely genius. I don't know how to explain it, she’s just that good. The thing I enjoyed the most about this book was the fact that it was a roadtrip romance... Roadtrip books always make me want to have an epic roadtrip too. The characters were also so good! Skylar was hot and Norah was insecure, aren't we all? There's a lesson to learn here and I think we can learn it from her. Sometimes it's better to surround yourself with the people who love you rather than with people who you can't be your true self around. I love how Kasie gave us the I have loved you forever but you didnt know and the friends-to-lovers trope. I get that people think her books are cliche, but she just does cliche and romance so well. Like how can you not love this big ball of fluffiness? Sorry, I dont even know where I'm going with this, but I hope Netgalley is somewhat satistified with my review 😂I have been a huge fan of Kasie's for so long, so it means a lot to me that Netgalley gave me this arc to read ❤️ Her books truly have helped me through the dark times and they are always the ones I go to when I need a good romance or to get out of a slump. Kasie West is one of the authors I first learned to appreciate. So thank you to the publisher, to Netgalley, and to Kasie because I truly feel honored and I truly wanted to cry when I saw this book on my Netgalley shelf

Speaking of crying... DID anyone ever tell you that I hate epilogues because they make me emotional?? 😭😭 See, I'm getting emotional.

Places We’ve Never Been by Kasie West is about Norah and Skyler, childhood best friends torn apart when one family moves across the country. Now, four years later, the families are getting back together to take a road trip through the west, stopping for an interview with a potential college for Norah along the way. Norah is so excited to be reunited with her best friend but when Skyler shows up, he is very cold and distant. Suddenly, being stuck with him all summer isn’t the fairy tale reunion Norah has been dreaming of and she is left wondering what happened in the last few years to make Skyler hate her.

This was a cute YA romance book. It is missing a lot of the buildup for the relationship. With friends, it is very important to establish why they were such good friends to begin with. The book tries to do this with old journal entries that are read by the characters. The way they are introduced to the story is confusing. I wish there would have been a change in font to differentiate between the journal entries and the rest of the story. There was also a lot of family introduced right at the beginning which was very confusing at first. There was an issue going on with the adult characters that I won’t spoil but I do think that it felt very glossed over, especially towards the end.

I thought that Norah’s friend Willow was a good character. Willow acted as a conduit for Norah’s changing emotions throughout the story. The road trip aspect of the book was super fun and really made me want to get on the road and go on an adventure. I think the issues between Norah and Skyler were resolved in a way that was natural for teenagers. You can’t expect teen characters to come to these great emotional discoveries about themselves so I appreciated how the author didn’t try to push that onto her characters. Norah is an artist obsessed with video games which is representation I enjoy seeing in books. When I was a teenager, it wasn’t something that I saw a lot and it made it hard for me to relate to a lot of characters.

All in all, I believe this is a fun, summery young adult romance. If you enjoy fluffy books, you would like this. It’s just not anything super deep.

Book: Places We’ve Never Been
Author: Kasie West
Rating: 5 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Delacorte Press, for sending me an ARC. I still can’t believe that I managed to get one. Kasie West is one of my favourite authors and one of the few YA authors who I still keep up on.

Kasie West always has a way of making me just feel good inside when I read her books. They are light and fluffy. They are just something you pick up when you want to have a good time. This one is no different. We follow two families who have been long time friends, but have drifted away over the past four years. Now, the moms decide to bring them and the kids together for an RV road trip. Norah, our main character, is up for this. She longs to see Skylar, her childhood best friend. They had drifted apart over the years and she is sure that as soon as they see each, things will go back to the way they used to be. However, it doesn’t work out this way and it leads to some great tension. This one has the enemies to lovers troupe, which I think is becoming my favourite type of romance.

I really enjoyed Norah as a lead character. She is an artist and gamer. She wants to create video games, which is part of the reason for this road trip. She and the others are going to her college interview for a program all about creating video games. She builds what she wants to happen up in her mind. She thinks in terms of stories and that everything should turn out like it does in her head. During the course of the road trip, she realizes this and has a lot of disappointments. However, I think this really allows her character to grow. She realizes that what she builds up and what she knows her mind isn’t always what her heart is telling her. At first, she doesn’t embrace this concept, which does put her in some very messy and difficult situations. However, when she does, she comes to realize that maybe all of these pitfalls and heartbreaks were really leading her into something better. One thing that I would have liked to have seen was a bit more of the gamer side. We are told throughout the course of the book that Norah is an avid gamer, but that side of her really isn’t explored the best. The artist side is nailed though.

At first, I really didn’t like Skylar. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that the book is told from Norah’s point of view, so we are only getting to see him from her side. Through the use of flashbacks, we do get to see what he was like before the start of this book and are able to see why Norah does like him. Before the start of the book, it is like they are soul mates and made for each other. However, as they are now older, it’s like the charm is gone. He is aloof and cold. It’s like everything that we and Norah know about him is gone. He has put up this wall around himself and it’s like we really can’t break through it. As the story goes on, we are able to see these walls being taken done and start to see these little cracks. We start to realize why he has these walls put up and it just makes sense. It fits so well. By the end of the book, I could not have but to think about how great of a character he actually is. To me, his character development was better than Norah’s.

I loved the whole idea of a road trip. I don’t think that Kasie has ever done something like this. It worked so nicely for the story that we needed to have here. Our characters all have this almost closed down sense that makes them not free-I don’t know if that makes any sense or not. This road trip was almost like it was freeing the characters and giving them what they needed, when they needed it. It was almost like a journey of self-discovery of sorts, but done in the normal Kasie West way.

Anyway, I think this is the perfect summer read and a must read if you are a fan of Kasie West. If I had a road trip planned, this would be a must pack. However, if you don’t have a road trip planned and are just looking for an escape, then this may be the book for you.

This book comes out on May 31, 2022.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/jqEE8pIY53Y

I will post this review to Goodreads on May 17.

Norah and Skyler— childhood best friends, until they weren’t. Years and distance chipped away at their unity, but Norah is hopeful that a summer trip RVing will change everything. That is, until Skyler shows up and barely maintains eye contact. Norah wonders what could go so wrong, and then makes a game plan for how to handle her new friendship with Skyler, despite her old feelings.

Places We’ve Never Been is classic Kasie West: light, romantic, reflective, a pinch of drama, and butterflies in your stomach vibes. This is exactly why I read her over and over again. She’s like the first bite of cotton candy—sweet, nostalgic, airy, without being too much. I adore this author and will read anything she puts out. I’m so glad that she came up with another sweet story to enjoy. Norah and Skyler were just too cute, and there have been moments of their story that pop into my head and just make me smile. I’m already anxiously waiting her next one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press for an advanced reader copy in exhange for an honest review.

Kasie West is a fantastic writer! This was my first Kasie West book and I'm really looking forward to reading more of her books! Her writing style is easy and fluid. I really enjoyed this book. I felt like I was right alongside the characters. It was fun to read about where they were traveling too. Iv been to a few of the places written about in the book and it really took the story to a whole new depth for me. I fell in love with each character. The development of each character is fantastic and well thought out as well as the storyline. The only character I wish was more thought about was Paisley. I believe she is supposed to be 14 but she came across as much younger. I say like 11-12. She just didn't add up to her age. Nonetheless, I enjoyed her character very much. I really loved Norah. She felt very real and authentic. I'm sad to have finished this book. I really enjoyed it Iv been in a nasty reading slump and this book cleared it right up. This is such a great summer read and I highly suggest reading it!!!
Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.