A great misadventure story with friendship and family trials woven throughout, I enjoyed reading We're Never Getting Home. The main character, Jana, really finds herself and her voice through a series of trials. I enjoyed the fun Coachella meets Fyre Festival setting.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for accepting my request for an ACR of this book!
And even though I’ll be one of thousands in the crowd at the Orchards, I can pretend that they’re singing to me and only me, that I’m the most important person in the world to someone, for at least a moment.
3.5/5
I found this to be a really fun read! I loved Maddy and Jana’s relationship and the whole “Stuck in One Place” plot. It’s giving a book version of the early teen 2000 movies! There were some interesting parts in the story that I found fun to see how the characters would react. Overall, it’s a book to have if you want a good time.

We're Never Getting Home by Tracy Badua is a heartwarming novel that tells the story of Jana Rubio and her best friend, Maddy Parsons, as they try to navigate their way through their senior year finale. Their plan is to attend the Orchards, an outdoor music festival, to catch their favorite band. However, a disagreement over Maddy's boyfriend causes a rift between them, and Jana decides to go to the festival with her church friend, Nathan, instead.

But things don't go as planned, and Jana and Maddy end up traveling to the festival together after all. When Nathan loses his car keys while crowd-surfing, Jana and Maddy have to work together to find them. As they embark on this adventure, they are forced to confront the issues that have been driving them apart.

We're Never Getting Home is a beautifully written novel that explores the themes of friendship, forgiveness, and growing up. Tracy Badua has created a story that is both heartwarming and relatable. The characters are well-developed, and their emotions are portrayed with great depth and sensitivity.

Overall, We're Never Getting Home is a delightful read that will make you laugh, cry, and reflect on the importance of friendship. If you are a fan of coming-of-age stories that are both entertaining and thought-provoking, this book is a must-read for you.

A solid read, with mentions of growing apart but also the expectations from families. I think a lot of the pressure of parents was really well done.

We're Never Getting Home by Tracy Badua was a quick and engaging read. It's depiction of a friendship growing apart was incredibly realistic and is valuable for teens to read since it is a part of growing up. The main character Jana is mildly irritating as she is very negative and fails to see that she is part of the problem, but her friends aren't afraid to call her out, and that is refreshing.

Two best friends in their senior year, Jana and Maddy, have drifted apart. Maddy has a boyfriend and Jana's mom was in a bad car accident; each has demanded more attention away from their friendship. Oddly, they windup in the same car ride to a music festival and the night is full of craziness and mishaps that pushes Jana's mom into driving the car at night which she hasn't since the car accident. Will all these mishaps be the downfall to the friendship or will Jana and Maddy be able to repair their friendship before they leave for college?

Books about friendship breakups and friendship I general are so vital. I so appreciate the tender way that this was written, of what happens when young girls grow apart but so desperately still platonically love one another.

I tried getting into this book and I couldn’t. I’m not sure if it was because of the story or the writing.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
I usually gravitate towards romance or suspense/thriller when reading YA, so this was not something I would usually read, but I ended up really enjoying it. It follows a group of teens stranded at a music festival and their adventures trying to get home before Jana's curfew. The group's antics, especially Everett's, were fun and following Jana's narration felt realistic as she detailed her struggling friendship with her best friend, and her family conflicts. My biggest complaint is that Jana is mildly irritating throughout, but her friends regularly call her out, so, for the most part, this is an enjoyable read.

I loved this book. It was fun and lighthearted, while also being tense and exciting. I loved all the twists and turn that came and all the different perspectives. I liked that the story wasn't a straight line, it was a very curved road to the end.

This would be on a extra list depending on funding. It seems like a a fun book about the trials of friendship, but overall I found the writing to not be up to par for something I would highly recommend or think of as supplemental for curriculum. It could definitely be fun reading for younger high school students or students who want something easy to read for fun. That is important, but with limited funding at most libraries, I could only recommend for if you have a lot of extra funding.

We're Never Getting Home by Tracy Badua was a quick and engaging read. It's depiction of a friendship growing apart was incredibly realistic and is valuable for teens to read since it is a part of growing up. The main character Jana is mildly irritating as she is very negative and fails to see that she is part of the problem, but her friends aren't afraid to call her out, and that is refreshing.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I enjoyed reading parts of the book and connected with the whole friendship changing and falling apart. But I also I felt the book was a little too long. Sometimes I had a hard time staying interested in the story. There were some funny moments that I did enjoy.

ARC provided by NetGalley

This book was frustrating and making it difficult to put down. If you have ever been the child in your family with a lot of responsibility, this book will make you very upset. It's not a bad thing, but it will make you think about situations you have missed out on. You will want to scream at the MC for not listening to those around her. You will want to yell at her for not realizing how much fun she could have. Despite how right she is, you will want to scream at the best friend for being so mean to her. It's a twist of emotions, and it has a fantastic ending. I will be rereading this book.

I related to this one so much.

The friendships falling apart while desperately clinging to them in an effort to try and fix them, feeling as though you're the only one keeping your family together even when you're not the parent or the oldest child.

Tracy Badua has spoken to my soul and I cannot wait to see what she puts out next.

I usually enjoy Tracy Badua books, but this one was a lot longer than it could've been and really boring. The characters were funny like Nathan, but other than that, Jana/Maddy/Tyler/Everett, were just all out boring to me. The plot seemed interesting but eventually fell flat.

2.5 stars