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October 28, 2013

Review: Anywhere but Here by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Title: Anywhere but Here 
Author: Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Publisher:
 Simon & Schuster Canada
Publication date: October 15, 2013
Genre(s): Young Adult/New Adult (Contemporary)
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Pages: 320
Cole’s small town is a trap he’s determined to escape in this fresh and moving debut novel that balances loss with humor.

Ever since his mom died, Cole just feels stuck. His dad acts like a stranger, and Lauren, his picture-perfect girlfriend of two years, doesn’t understand him anymore. He can’t ditch his dad, so Cole breaks up with Lauren. She doesn’t take the news very well, and Cole’s best friend won’t get off his case about it.

Now more than ever, Cole wants to graduate and leave his small, suffocating town. And everything is going according to plan—until Cole discovers the one secret that could keep him there…forever.
I've always been a sucker for realistic fictions, and this one started pretty good. Oh oh, you're probably thinking "why did she just say started?", because it went pretty downhill after that. Yes, I was disappointed. I really liked the idea, and the plot was interesting, it just didn't go into the direction I wanted it to be. I'm not saying it was a bad book or anything, I enjoyed it, but it just wasn't as good as I had hoped it would have been. The main protagonist, Cole, lives in a small town called Webster. After his mother passed away last year, he's been wanting to get out of the "Web", as they call it. His guidance then gives him a pamphlet of film school in vancouver, and he decides to start the short film for the application, and then study there. 
The characters were great. To me, Cole seemed like a very confused kid. He has a great girlfriend, who he suddenly decides to break up with. He doesn't even bother speaking with his dad, or try to communicate with him as family members should do. Cole's best friend, Greg, doesn't even like the fact that Cole broke up with Lauren, and everything is just messed up. Towards the middle, somethings were just confusing in this book. The plot was all over the place, and I didn't really get much of anything. I still read on though, and I was glad that things weren't confusing anymore.  Another important factor is the romance, and let me tell you, the romance was literally all over the place! I was not happy with how it ended in the romance part, and I just did NOT understand Cole. It really frustrated me. 
Overall, this book was good. You might think I hated it from my review, but it was an ok book. There were somethings I hoped would have been different, but I really liked the ending (aside from the romance). If I had to give this book a mood, it would be quiet. It felt very quiet to me. I would definitely look into Tanya's future books, and I would recommend this to any of those who like realistic fiction/contemporary books. 

5 comments:

  1. I'm glad the book was pretty good, but it's too bad that the main character is kinda frustrating. It makes it hard for me love a book when it's like that. I might have to think about this one. :)

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  2. Not a book for me, but oh, I'm sorry you didn't fully love it. Glad the beginning was good, but sad the rest wasn't the same. Thank you for sharing, though :D

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  3. Aww, I'd probably end up not liking this one if the whole plot and story line went messy around the middle. It looks like it has a lot of potential too bad the executions not that great. Thanks for the honest review, Farah! :)

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  4. Thanks for the review. I am glad that you liked this overall, despite some its downfalls. The cover would have sucked me in so I am glad to read your review before considering it so I know what to expect.

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  5. Aww, I'm sorry that you didn't love this one! I hate when a plot is confusing... it just sucks. I'm sorry that you couldn't understand Cole's decisions. Awesome review, girly! I hope that your next read is better! :)

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