Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Chaotic and messy but in the beautiful way that manages to capture the true unyeilding power of ladting and deeply emotional female friendships.

I love the premise of this novel: it’s a messy, tender YA novel about a friendship breakup, set against the backdrop of a chaotic night at a Southern California music festival.

There are many books out there about romantic break-ups; it’s a little less common to truly explore the disintegration of a friendship. Wonderfully written, this book explores friendship over time, forgiveness, learning to find independence, & forging boundaries.

I enjoyed this book so much -it has all the elements I love.

✔️ Music festival.
✔️ A favorite band that provided the soundtrack to the main character’s lives. CoGo sounds like a band I would LOVE.
✔️ Engaging story-telling.
✔️ Heart and humor.

Jana Rubio, the super-responsible younger daughter of Filipino immigrants is best friends with Maddy Parsons. Jana’s family has created so many expectations for her that she essentially feels she has to be perfect. Maddy is seemingly more carefree, but has parents who are critical of her weight, & relies on Jana for emotional support. The two plan to see their favorite band, the Newcomers & Goers (CoGo) at the Orchards Festival, but a huge blow-out causes their lives to implode on this important night. To add to their emotional blow-out, their friend loses the keys to their only ride home, & the two are forced to work together & confront each other & figure out how to get home.

The writing was exceptional with great pacing. The story takes place in one night, but the author skillfully layered past flashbacks/tidbits that underscore the depth of the girls’ friendship that lead up to the present day. The author does a great job with character development & growth that is authentic for teens (and I was teen & have teen kids). I can certainly empathize with both characters & everyone can relate to growing apart from a friend. It’s just a fact of life. This story is poignant & buoyant.

“We can’t stop ourselves or each other from living in glorious color, from growing, even if it means growing apart.”

Thank you @netgalley & the author for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this as an easy read novel, friendships are so sacred and it's always sad when one ends. I was able to relate to both Jana and Maddy throughout the story and was rooting for them to be friends again in the end.

"years' worth of friendship cracked and broken down to one-word responses"

this had some important lessons I definitely needed to hear when I was growing up about letting go and being okay with making mistakes, the parts of the story about the interpersonal relationships between the group are easily what I liked most about the book. As far as ensuring they were never getting home, it covered every basis possible, unbelievably so and some of the resolutions were too ridiculous

I think I’m too old for this book because I got so stressed out by some of the choices. Also I found Jana really annoying. If you’re a teen I think you will enjoy this book it just wasn’t for me.

3.5 stars. This book stressed me the fuck out.

The entire book circles around Jana and her friends, Nathan, Everett, Maddy, and Maddy's boyfriend Tyler. Right before Jana's most exciting concert of her life, she gets in the biggest fight with her best friend Maddy. This leads to both girls deciding to do their own thing instead of traveling together to the concert they had both gotten tickets together for.

Halfway through the concert of their favorite band, Nathan, their driver, ends up getting crowd surfed and loses his keys in the crowd. This is a massive issue for Jana as she's promised her mother she would be able to go pick up her dad on time afterward from a conference. After losing the keys, the group winds up on a wild goose chase dealing with thieves, missing friends, and also gigantic mental breakdowns. There only option is to get the keys back somehow, no matter what, because no one else has a car or parent available (of course lol).

I cannot lie while this book was cute, it was just plain stressful. It's a massive story about how lack of communication causes larger rifts and issues between people. If Jana and Maddy had had a real conversation about what was really going on, a lot of their fight wouldn't have occurred. I kept having to remind myself that these girls were 17/18 years old because it contributed a lot to what was going on lol.

Miscommunication and pettiness is not my bag so that wasn't my thing, but I still thought the book was easy to get through. The book is short enough to go by super fast so overall I think it's a good YA and would definitely vibe well with a younger reader.

I will always read about friendship breakups and complex friendships. These relationships can cut a whole out of us. Can destabilize everything we think we know. With flashbacks to the past, we witness the cracks forming, the unspoken resentments, the strain. All these layers of memory and music which transports them. Echoes of the past haunting our car rides.

Former best friends Jana Rubio and Maddy Parsons are having a horrible night. They are seniors in high school and have been BFFs since elementary school. Now things are changing. Maddy has a boyfriend who takes attention and time that she used to spend with Jana. And Jana feels her whole year has been overwhelming. Her mother was in a serious car accident and she had to step up in ways to help the family. She has a need to be in control and doesn’t always see other perspectives.

Six end up going as a group to a music festival two hours away. When the driver ends up losing his keys while crowd surfing. The book follows the group as they divide up and try to find the keys. There are also flashbacks to other moments in their friendship. Jana’s feeling of letting her parents down is relatable for most teens. This was a quick read but there were moments where I felt the plotting was slow. And while I liked the resolution between friends I kind of wished for Jana to get some counseling or skills for her to deal with the pressures she was feeling. And to find ways to communicate better with her parents.

But this is written from a teens POV for teens. It is angsty without ever going to mean girl levels. It is about friendship and perceived parental pressures. It is easy to recommend for eighth grade and up. (3.5 Stars)

I read We’re Never Getting Home by @tracybaduawrites thanks to @netgalley. I did not time this read right… and my access to the book was going to expire. I cut off cellular data to the app, turned off my wifi and refused to close out of the app until I finished it!
Just about everything that could go wrong for Jana on her epic senior year music festival trip does… and who knows how her parents are going to react once she finally gets home!
I enjoyed following along with Jana, Maddy, Nathan and friends to find out what would happen.
It’ll be out in April, look for it!
#ilovetoread #yaliterature #advancedreaderscopy

This was supposed to be the perfect night. Jana, and her best friend, Maddy, were supposed to go to the music festival together, rock out to their favorite band, and then head straight home. But when Maddy and Jana have a big fight only days before the festival, that’s only the beginning of their troubles.

In an effort to avoid Maddy, Jana catches a ride with someone else, only to discover that he is also giving a ride to none other than Maddy and her new boyfriend. Jana is still determined to enjoy her night, but when the keys to their ride are lost in the middle of the concert, things go from bad to worse. As Jana frantically tries to find a way to get them all back home, she’s forced to face her friend, and more importantly, herself.

I received an advanced reading copy of We’re Never Getting Home in exchange for an honest review.

We’re Never Getting Home is a young adult novel by Tracy Badua. It’s a novel told over the course of a single night, with timestamps and everything, and while time-wise it’s fairly short, it covers a lot!

I want to start by talking about the structure, actually. I thought Badua did an amazing job with it. I didn’t think much of the timestamps at the beginning, but as it started to get later and later in the night, and I kept remembering Jana’s promise to her parents about when she’d be home, I just got so stressed. I was at the edge of my seat for a lot of this book, and was having a hard time pulling myself away. I actually almost missed my train stop, which hadn’t happened to me for a while, because I was just so stressed out reading this book.

But it’s not just the timestamps. It’s also everything that is happening to Maddy and her friends. The night starts with her being forced to spend it with the friend she just had a massive fight with, and with their car keys getting lost, but trust me, that’s not the only thing that goes wrong that night. And as Jana stresses out more and more, I, as the reader, was also practically biting on my nails as I waited to see whether they’d eventually make it home.

I think part of it too was that I identified a lot with Jana. She has a lot on her shoulders, such as a responsibility to her family, grades, and just being everyone’s support. And also, I just couldn’t imagine reacting differently if I were in the same situation she was in. This whole book just felt like an actual nightmare to me, that much scarier than a lot of fantasy books I read because this could actually happen. And I think that many other readers will also see at least parts of themselves in Jana, and connect with her on what seems to be the worst night of her life.

I also loved that the focus of this book wasn’t on romance, as it often is in young adult books, but on friendship and family. Jana is having a hard time with both lately. Maddy has gotten a new boyfriend, and Jana’s family has been through some tough times recently, from an accident to Jana’s sister unexpectedly coming home from college mid-semester. And while a lot of the family turmoil has been sort of resolved, it also has had lots of other effects, and a lot of them keep coming up through the book, and you really get to understand how much they’re affecting Jana and all her choices.

This was such a clever book and a stressful read. I applaud it, though, mostly because it kept me so stressed during so much of the reading experience. Any book that makes me feel this much deserves a round of applause from me, and I think a lot of other lovers of young adult books who enjoy reading about friendship and family, as well as growing up, will have a great time reading this.

We’re Never Getting Home will be released on April 16. You can preorder your copy from Quill Tree Books here.

This was a fun read. The beginning starts off slow, really slow, but eventually the story catches momentum and became a fun overall read. The dynamic between the two best friends was realistic and relatable.

Tracy Badua has a talent for stressing us tf out haha! Oh my goodness, this was such a tense ride, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it?! How does TB do this sorcery?! I highly recommend this, if you want a goofy but tender contemporary young adult novel!

#NetGalleyARC This was a fun read. The beginning starts off slow, really slow, but eventually the story catches momentum and became a fun overall read. The dynamic between the two best friends was realistic and relatable. A definite buy for my HS library.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC!

After enjoying one of Tracy Badua's earlier works, this book became a highly anticipated read for me. I found this storyline to be both unique and realistic. Two friends confront their brewing fallout as they navigate a series of challenges that prevent them from returning home at a music festival. In this book, I especially enjoyed the glimpses into both the complexities and precious moments in their friendship.

Personally, I found the main character somewhat harder for me to like due to her stubbornness, tendency to jump to conclusions, and lack of consideration for her friend's feelings. Although she was able to reframe some of her beliefs by the end of the book, I wish we were able to see more of this character development in practice in the future and toward her relationship with her parents as well.

Overall, I appreciate Tracy Badua's exploration of navigating conflict within relationships and the influence of Asian values on those dynamics. I will continue to eagerly anticipate her future work.

This was a YA that takes place overnight at a music festival. Jana and Maddy are best friends but they had a huge fight and haven't been close lately. They were meant to go to this concert together and since they weren't talking..... But when Jana's ride shows up, Maddy is there anyway.

When the driver Nathan loses the keys while crowd surfing, Jana's night goes from bad to worse.... Trying to find the keys in a huge crowd, fighting with Maddy, losing Nathan's younger brother... All while needing to get home to bring her dad back from a work thing because her mom doesn't drive at night after getting in a car accident.... She will have to learn and teach others that sometimes things happen that are out of anyone's control.

At least it gives Maddy and Jana a chance to fight..... This time to preserve their friendship. There are two timelines so we get to see a bit of what led to the huge fight. I just wish Jana was a little less uptight.

Jana is the good girl in her family but they don't see that. A rare night of freedom to attend a music festival a couple hours from home turns into one bad incident after another. And to make it worse, she's stuck with her estranged BFF and new boyfriend, and her church group friend and annoying little brother.

Jana needs to get home before her parents lose their minds but needs to come to grips with what's truly important to her over the course of this wild night. Not everything is what it seems.

Love the atmosphere and vibe of teens going to a music festival. Brought me back to my youth & all those raves!! Badua has a fresh voice: "losing 40 percent of your blood leaves room for something fresh, I guess" and "Catching CoGo live is like an eclipse: celestial bodies have to line up just right." Compelling storytelling, would recommend!

The youngest and most responsible child, Jana Rubio, is finally taking a break and she's going to the Orchard Music Festival where her favorite band New Comers & Goers (a.ka. CoGo) is going to perform. The good news is she found a ride, bad news is her ex best friend and her boyfriend found the same ride. But either way, she's going to have fun and forget her familial responsibilities. Until the keys are lost. and how in the world are they ever going to get home?

I honestly feel like this is the most relatable character I have ever read. The character being Filipino is one thing but the way she has this sense of familial responsibility at such a young age is another thing. I kid you not, when I was a teenager, I thought my parents would not let me go to sleepovers just because, but in the end, it was just my assumption. Because I have this role in the family that even my decisions are assumed to be responsible already. And in away, Jana is also like that.

This book really hits you in the face about the realities of friendship breakups. And I honestly just appreciated how thorough it was done. The way the book also went back to the past made the readers understand how and why Jana and Maddy became friends, and how their friendship started to fall to pieces. I thought it was quite poignant.

The setting of the book is also something so beautiful too. In the chaos of the things that Jana went through in this music festival, she also found the beauty in this chaos. Which I thought was similar to what she was going through.

This book contains a lot of feelings and that's awesome because this book is not even a romance book. It shares a lot of feelings and thoughts that make it realistically young adult but not cringe.

Overall, good book! And I love the adventurous aspects of this too.

4.4 rounded down to 4/5

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"We're Never Getting Home" by Tracy Badua is a heartwarming and relatable novel. The story revolves around Jana Rubio and her best friend, Maddy Parsons, who plan an epic senior year finale by attending their favorite band's performance at an outdoor music festival. However, complications arise due to a disagreement over Maddy's boyfriend, leading Jana to call off their joint trip. Despite this, circumstances bring them together on a journey to the festival, where they face challenges and, in the process, must confront and repair their friendship.

The writing style is beautiful, and the story explores themes of friendship, forgiveness, and growing up. The book is both fun and unique with a satisfactory resolution. The twists and turns were highly entertaining.

The characters were all very likeable. Jana, who starts out as unlikeable, ends up having significant character development.

"We're Never Getting Home" is emotional depth, relatability, and engaging storytelling. It blends fun elements with meaningful explorations of friendship and personal growth.