Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
4.5/5
I've read a bunch of Kasie West books in the past few months and her sweet romances hit the spot every time. I absolutely loved the ever-changing scenery, it was described so well sometimes I would look up and be surprised it wasn't really there. A total comfort book that captured my attention and held it.

Places We've Never Been is about a cross-country road trip with two families. This trip also gives childhood friends, Norah and Skyler, a chance to reconnect. Four years ago, Skyler's family had to move for his dad's job. After the move, the friendship between Norah and Skyler kind of fizzled out. When they see each other again, the relationship is strained. Skyler is actually pretty mean to Norah and distances himself from her. Throughout the trip, however, they are able to face the past and their feelings for one another. Throughout the story, readers are also left to guess what prompted this road trip. All of those secrets are revealed in this book. Kasie West always knocks young adult romances out of the park. This was a sweet story that readers are sure to enjoy.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Places We’ve Never Been by Kasie West follows Norah. She is super excited to go on a cross-country RV family summer road trip along with her childhood best friend Skyler’s family. She hasn’t seen him since his family moved away years ago. When Norah sees Skyler again for the first time he seems less than thrilled to be there. Norah is shocked, so she reacts just as coldly to him. Norah can’t understand why Skyler has turned from her best friend into her enemy. But soon the duo spends time together as they travel the country and they begin to see each other in a new light, which may lead to more than friendship.

This is a very quick, sweet read. Kasie West has an easy to read writing style. I like how family is featured very heavily in this story, and the road trip setting is fun!

very cute! i liked the childhood-friends-reunited of it all, even when norah and skyler were standoffish towards each other. the characters were all great, and west dealt with the heavier stuff in a respectful and optimistic way.

#netgalley

This was a sweet story that I loved reading. It’s about two teens that were best friends growing up that become distant after he moves away. Both their families decide to go on a road trip and they’re forced to hang out together. It’s has a pretty predictable outcome but there are some twists along the way you may not see coming. The author does a great job of keeping things a mystery and keeping you hooked as to how things will eventually come together. It was a solid, cute read I would definitely recommend to others. My only issue was that text conversations shouldn’t be written in italics. Italics is usually for inner dialogues. But maybe it will change in the final edit. Otherwise, a great story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

I loved this book. I liked watching the rekindling friendship between Norah and Skyler and the romance that followed. I've never been on a road trip in an RV and it's sounds like it would be a really cool experience. I was disappointed about Norah not getting into her dream school, but loved that she found a better fit for her. I think the Kasie West set the book up for a possible sequel, but it would work just fine as a standalone.

Kasie West really is the queen of ya contemporary fiction. I flew through the book and loved the wholesomeness of this. The relationship between the main character and her love interest was so sweet. I enjoyed the flash backs. I also liked the layers of relationships (romantic and otherwise) happening here. West is an autoread summer author for me.

Estranged childhood best friends reunited for a cross-country family road trip filled with secrets, romance, and friendship. Norah hasn’t seen her childhood best friend Skyler in years and after their friendship fizzled out she doesn’t know what to expect when seeing him again. One thing she did not expect was to be treated with the cold shoulder and treating her like he’d be anywhere but there with her. Hurt and confused Norah decides to do the same, expect the more time their families spend together and the more they are forced to interact with one another the more Norah will discover out why their friendship died out and what secret her mom has been hiding. It doesn’t help that her brother is acting strangely and her other best friend is in love with a secret person. I generally really do love Kasie West books and while this one nailed the childhood friends turned lovers theme, it also felt a bit anti-climatic at times and honestly having Skyler treat her like the plague for about 50% of was not helping and then he suddenly was nice again? Really? At one point I had just hoped they would only be friends because honestly it just didn’t feel like there were any sparks between them. Norah is also trying to get into her dream school and part of the road trip is for her to go do an interview for them. Throw in some fun sight seeing, a nice and cute boy who she keeps running into, and a journal from her childhood and you get one heck of a roadtrip. Overall it was an okay book, not my one of my favorites but it definitely was a sweet read for the most part.

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 stars

Thank you Random House Children for a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was my first Kasie West novel and it was not bad! It's a sweet friends to lovers YA novel. The road trip element definitely kept me engaged and prompted me to look up some of the tourist locations mentioned. I love traveling but haven't ventured west much so definitely adding some of the place to my list!

Kasie West is an auto-buy author for me and I absolutely love everything that she writes. This book was so different from her other novels. Norah and her family go on a road trip in an RV with her mom’s best friend’s family, including Skylar, who used to be Norah’s best friend before they grew apart when he moved away. Norah is excited to restore their close friendship, but when they arrive, Skylar is very distant. Throughout the book, they rebuild their friendship and realize there is something more there. I loved the road trip setting of this book and the side characters like Norah’s best friend, Willow. There was also some other family drama happening with these characters that really helped keep me engaged. As always, I am excited to read whatever Kasie West writes next.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I want to start off with thanking NetGalley for giving me an arc of this story. I really enjoyed how the relationships were set up between memories and slight nods to things that have happened in the past. The fact that they were on a big road trip really amplified the tension of it all. I also was shocked to see a town close by where I live mentioned because it’s rare that anyone talks about it.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a sweet contemporary ya romance about two former friends that find love while on an RV vacation. Love all of the characters and family dynamics at play. I appreciated that this was clean for romance. A nice summer read!

This was a cute read. It follows similar tropes of friends to lovers, but the characters are engaging and easy to relate to and the plot had some interesting turns. Fans of West's others books will enjoy this one as well.

Awwww. This was another sweet read from West. Her books are reliably interesting enough to keep me reading, yet with always wonderfully wish-fulfilled endings. I especially liked the RV road trip element of this story, as well as the surprisingly powerful interview plot line. 💜📚

I really enjoyed this YA summer romance, a best friends separated by distance and multiple years, are thrown back together with their siblings and moms for a trip up the west to Seattle. Norah wants to be a video game designer, and also isn’t sure why her best friend is so chilly all of a sudden.

Family complications, trying to figure out how to be one’s self and not just who people want you to be, and figuring out communication are all elements that make up this story as Norah figures out what happened and the feelings that she actually has for Skyler.

It’s a sweet YA romance, with kissing and a couple of instances of mild language, but nothing too much.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this title!

Thanks so much to Random House Children’s for allowing me to read the ARC of this book! It was the perfect summer, road trip, beach-y, light teen romance. PG, perfect for readers ages 13 and up. No language, only kissing, and just a feel-good modern teen romance. Kasie does a great job using updated language, technologies and phrases that I hear teens in my high school using so it feels very relevant. I will definitely be purchasing this one for my library and recommending it to my readers!

This was an adorable, quick romance that made me laugh and cry. It will be a definite hit with my romance fans, and it's a perfect fit for my upper middle/lower high school students.

Having read a few other books written by West, I thought I was instantly going to like this one. However, I didn’t. The beginning was a very slow start and I questioned why I was continuing to read it, but I eventually grew to love it! Skyler and Norah’s friendship turned relationship is so relatable! I was rooting for them and I’m glad to see they ended up happy, as well as Olivia, Skyler’s mom.

Kasie West’s books always contain the sweetest, fluffiest young romances, and Places We’ve Never Been was no exception. If you’re looking for something lighthearted and fun to take your mind off the real world right now, this is the book for you. I found it a tad unoriginal in that none of the plot or characters really accomplished anything new for the genre, but as long as you’re not expecting anything groundbreaking, you won’t be disappointed.

great book and had me on my seat. I enjoyed the characters and all that happened in the book. I enjoyed being in this world and seeing the growth of the characters. I enjoyed the drama of the story and I can't wait to read others books by this author. i liked them traveling and reconnecting