Kasie West once again shows why she is an essential to any YA romance collection. Places We've Never Been is my favorite Kasie West book yet. I love road trip stories, and I love a childhood friends to enemies to lovers arc. Granted, they aren't enemies for long, but the tension was still present. This romance was so sweet and relatable, and I often find myself smiling while reading it.

I also like the huge cast of characters we follow. This story is about our protagonist and childhood bestie's families going on a road trip together, and while I liked the family dynamics, I felt they were underdeveloped. Both adults in this make such bad choices, and give such bad advice. The teens seemed smarter. It was weird. I also felt the brother's storyline was super predictable, but I love the trope it follows, so I can't complain. Still, this is a great YA contemporary that will make many readers happy.

I adored this!! Considering they were spending three weeks traveling in RV’s, I could highly relate.

There’s just something about the whole-heartedness of a good YA book. It fills my heart right up! I anticipated the reason for the trip, but at the same time, I felt like it wouldn’t have gone down exactly like it did with the husbands staying behind. It just felt strange in a way.

I loved the past and present interactions with Norah and Skylar though…it was such a pure young love. The banter back and forth between all of the kids was believable and made me smile.

If you are a fan of YA, road trips, art/gaming, or young love…I recommend picking this one up!

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhousechildrens for the arc in exchange for my honest review!

This book was sooooo good. Kasie West can write about just about anything and it will be amazing. I really felt like this is the perfect summer read and I absolutely enjoyed every aspect of it. It was pretty predictable but I wouldn't have it any other way.

A classically good Kasie West YA. Has she ever steered me wrong? Nope. And I don't expect her to. Starting at the cover sucked me right in. Her writing is flawless and the characters are sweet and charming. I will literally read anything by her, because I know I will leave feeling good! Well done!

Growing up Norah and Skyler were best friends. Then eighth grade happened and Sklyer moved from California to Ohio. They tried to remain in contact but as time passed they lost contact unless you count stalking each other’s Instagram accounts. It’s now four years later when both their moms (who were college friends) have decided to do a three-week road trip with the kids (Norah, Ezra, Austin, Skyler, and Paisley) in RVs. You know with this many people and two RVs things are bound to happen and secrets revealed.

At first, Norah is excited to see Sklyer and to reconnect. She has envisioned this trip but sadly it doesn’t go off as played. Skyler has made it pretty clear that there are other places he would rather be than on this road trip. Norah knows this isn’t going to be the trip she thought it would be but at least she has Paisley who is more than willing to hang out with her. Will this be an enemies-to-lovers story?

The book is told from Norah’s point of view so you don’t fully get to understand Skyler if that makes sense. I would have loved to have had it done from a dual perspective. Although it was fun to read his reactions. I enjoyed watching this relationship grow again. Yes, it was awkward at times but I think that just added to the storyline.

I don’t want to give too much away because I want you to pick it up and read it.

As I was reading I couldn’t help but hope that this might be a second chance at love (which I have been reading a lot of lately). Will this road trip end up being everything Norah had hoped for? Or will all the secrets ruin it even more?

I think that this is the perfect book to read this summer especially if you have a road trip planned. I love books that have road trips in them especially if they talk about the stops they make. I love looking them up on a map. Hopefully one day I will make it south of the border again.

I have never read a West book I haven’t loved so I was so happy to be reading this newest one! Childhood friends to enemies to lovers????? Forced proximity??? On a road trip???? What more can you want honestly!

PWNB is a fast-paced, engaging romance with an unexpected amount of emotional depth too (iykyk). Once again, as I always say, I am a huge fan of how West intertwines family relationships into her novels, making them just as important as the main romantic thread. She never misses!!! The dynamics of two families “stuck” together, along for the ride was perfect and I felt like I was along for the ride with them!

I loved Norah and Skyler! The concept of being childhood best friends to strangers was so interesting to unwrap as they warmed up to each other again and developed great chemistry. The ending was very unexpected to me but not necessarily in a bad way just slightly out of tune with the rest of the story in my opinion but I grew to like it too. I will always recommend Kasie West to any contemporary romance lover!

An adorable best friends to lovers YA romance about a girl named Norah who sets out on a grand adventure with her family and estranged childhood best friend Skyler in an RV across the West. Endearing and full of lots of angsty teenage moments, this is another sweet book by one of my favorite YA authors!

Norah hasn’t seen Skyler in forever and they used to be inseparable. When Skyler shows up with his family he barely talks to Norah. She can’t seem to figure out what went wrong and why Skylar won’t give her the time of day. On top of everything else, Norah feels like her mom is keeping a big secret from her.

This feels just as much like a coming of age story as it does a YA romance. There’s a lot of exploration of feelings and future decisions, and the best part is the traveling across the country. It was one of the better Kasie West books I’ve read in awhile and I enjoyed the push and pull of Skyler and Norah’s relationship. This is an easy read and a cutesy love story with just enough angst to keep me reading!

Review

Rating- 5 stars

Characters

The characters in this book were delightful. I loved getting to know them and seeing their romance blossom. Norah and Skyler were so sweet, and I loved seeing them bond both with each other, and with their siblings. The supporting cast of characters in this book were sweet as well, and I love the fact that they had sibling dynamics in the book. The mothers in this book were excellent as well.

Plot

This was one of the most unique plots I’ve ever read. I loved exploring the country with Norah, Skyler and their families. I’ve never been out west, so it was so much fun exploring an area I’ve never seen. The other plot in this book was the romance, best friends who hadn’t seen each other in years, and it was just so sweet, and so cute seeing them interact.

Writing

The writing in this novel was excellent. This novel had a mix of light hearted and heavy scenes. Light-hearted scenes were fun and gave me a break from the more heavy content. Heavy scenes were very real, and very heartwarming even if they had heavy content.

Romance

I talked about this a bit before, but I loved the romance in this novel. Norah and Skyler were such a sweet couple. I loved seeing the two of them as a couple.

Recommend For/ Enjoyment

Places We’ve Never Been was an excellent read, and I loved it so much. This sweet summer romance had all the feels, and I was so here for it. I recommend this for anyone who loved YA, and romance novels.

#placesweveneverbeen #netgalley

This was a great story to read. I loved the storyline and the characters, definitely recommend this book!

Kasie West has another hit on her hands with Places We’ve Never Been which is her latest release. It is a story about childhood best friends reconnecting and falling in love with each other all while on a road trip. Her characters felt so real and relatable that it felt like people that I grew up knowing, especially with the interactions between the siblings like how they would go from picking on each other to loving and supportive to being mad at each other and then back to joking with one another like nothing happened. That is why she is the queen of teenage fiction/romance because she is able to transport the reader right into her story so that they feel and experience what her characters are feeling right along side with them. Kasie West has done it again with Places We’ve Never Been. It was so good that I didn’t want it to end.

This was a fun, cute summer road trip story. Overall, I had a good time with this and enjoyed myself. It just wasn't entirely for me though, mainly because while it tried to be inclusive, I feel like it missed the mark in some ways, and because the main character felt like she came straight out of a 2012 YA, which is not my favourite type of character.

I also, mainly, was just wishing the setting had been fleshed out more. It's hard to dislike a road trip book and the atmosphere was fun, but I just think this could have been a stronger aspect of the story. The book is largely dialogue-driven, and because of that the setting is not always as clear.

Such a great YA story! Norah was an artist and a gamer - a pure role model for STEM girls. A good summer romance that a lot of students in secondary will relate to. That first love feeling 🥰

5/5 stars

I received an ARC of this book, and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Kasie West did it again! There are only two authors who consistently blow me away with their YA contemporary romances and Kasie West is one of them! (Sarah Sutton is the other, in case you're looking for something similar!) I read YA fantasy romance more often than contemporaries, but I can't say no to a Kasie West book!

This is the perfect book to read on a summer road trip/vacation! Just reading it made me want to pack my bags, jump in an RV, and travel across the country! Unfortunately, that's not happening any time soon, but at least I got to live vicariously through Norah.

Speaking of Norah, she is probably one of the most relatable protagonists I've read about recently! She makes weird jokes, speaks in video game references, and overanalyzes things. I also liked how sarcastic she could be at times. Reading this book from her perspective was an absolute joy!

This book begins with two families going on a cross-country road trip in an RV. Norah is beyond excited-- she'll get to see her childhood best friend for the first time in years! But her hopes are quickly destroyed when Skyler, her childhood friend, wants nothing to do with her or the whole trip. His rudeness starts to rub Norah the wrong way, and she decides to fight fire with fire.

If you're a fan of the childhood friends-to -enemies-to-lovers trope, I'd strongly recommend this! It also includes Norah's fight to become a video game animator in a male-dominated industry, lots of secrets, friendships, and entertaining sibling relationships. I wish we could get a chapter from Skyler's perspective or even a sequel! I feel like there was a lot more to his story than we got to see.

Kasie West fans or fans of sweet romances should read this!

Content: Underage drinking, romance only goes as far as kissing

Another wonderful book by Kasie West. The cover and author is what drew me to this book, but the story is what made me stick around. I enjoyed reading this one very much and I am really grateful for the publisher allowing me to do so!

I loved this book so much. This was a perfect summer road trip read, and the romance was sweet and realistic. I loved how the main character stood up for herself and it inspired more self worth in myself.
The RV road trip was such a great setting for this story, I kept looking forward to the next destination as if I was on the trip as well!
I will be recommending this to every YA reader I meet as well as anyone looking for a wonderful summer romance!

I adored this story. There's such an innocence in first love, especially the kind that grows from friendship first. I loved how Norah and Skyler were reunited on a joint family trip after years apart. Not only were they apart for those years, they were important formative years where they started growing into the adult versions of themselves. The RV trip was such a perfect setting for them to rediscover their bond. I would love to know where their journey takes them in another four years.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I share a name with one of the characters and because of that I just had to love this story. Kidding! I loved this story because it deserved my love. Kasie West has been one of my favorite authors for so long and I knew that when I read this it would not disappoint.

Unfortunately the PDF for this story never worked for me and I was unable to read it in time, however, I have since read the book in paperback and absolutely loved it! Kasie West never fails to write a sweet story that I fall in love with.

This is 4 stars on my YA scale, which is a bit different than my contemporary romance scale. I’ve decided it’s unfair go judge them side-by-side when they’re vastly different and largely for different audiences. I have a soft spot for YA but I’ve started to embrace that I’m growing out of it. Kasie West was my first ever audiobook and she’ll hold a place in my heart forever.

This was one of her better stories! I loved the RV cross-country setting. I love the childhood friends turned mistaken enemies turned lovers. I loved the complexity that comes toward the end of the story. I LOVED Skyler. Such a swoony teen boy. I loved the supporting characters, especially Paisley. Overall very enjoyable, though the ended felt rushed.

My first Katie west book and I was super impressed. I love the journey these characters went on! A great cast. Can’t wait to pick up more books by her!