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bookishblasian's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book! It was different than I expected. I was kind of confused reading the book description, but the reviews were good so I just went for it. Honestly, it's books like this that give me hope for future love, but also shatter my dreams cause there's no way a guy could be that sweet! Without the huge secret, this book would have been average. The secret made the book different from other love stories. Also, Jamie having diabetes wasn't a huge part of the story, but it made his character more believable. It's like he's the perfect man who is gorgeous and sweet, but he has a problem. Not everything is rainbows roses. I love how skeptical Katy was throughout the whole book. She's had everyone taken from her so she doesn't believe in love. She stays skeptical until the end. In other books, the love happens almost instantly and that's just not realistic. I loved this book so much, and I've already recommended it to people. Definitely worth a read.
culkins's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
betty816's review against another edition
4.0
Fun predictable fast light read, exactly what I needed after last insane book.
alittlewrightreading's review against another edition
3.0
Anywhere but Here was my first book by Renee Carlino and it won’t be my list.
I liked the book a lot. It was a cute love story. The storyline was a little predictable but that doesn’t really bother me….usually in a love story you know how it’s going to end.
I liked the book a lot. It was a cute love story. The storyline was a little predictable but that doesn’t really bother me….usually in a love story you know how it’s going to end.
anasatticbookblog's review against another edition
4.0
Nowhere But Here by Renée Carlino
Contemporary Romance Standalone
Nowhere but Here is a beautiful, traditional contemporary romance. With all the book trends lately (rock stars, fighters and bikers, oh my!) it was nice to just go back to the roots and read a touching, sweet, true romance story again. Though it's an average length book, it was a quick read because I just didn't want to put it down, and I read it in one day. Was it perfect? No. Was it heartwarming and romantic? Yes.
“There’s nowhere but here. Nothing else matters.”
Kate Corbin is alone. She never knew her father, lost her mother at a young age, and has no family family left. She is friendly with colleagues at the Chicago newspaper she writes for and has a 'boyfriend' that she doesn't really do much with except hook up in their building's laundry room. She's in a major rut. Depressed and writing crap fluff pieces, Kate's mantra is this:
“There’s no one to take care of me, no matter how many people surround me. I’m all I’ve got.”
Following a man who preaches on the train daily, Kate learns to live by "I'm all I got", until Just Bob, the preacher, changes things up.
"It's a game change day for you. Visualize to realize it." ~Just Bob
Kate's boss offers her a huge story. Head to Napa Valley to interview R.J. Lawson, the reclusive boy genius turned vineyard owner who had disappeared after making a name for himself as a teen.
“You’ve lost your spark, Kate. Don’t come home until you find it.”
With no time to prepare, Kate is off to Napa Valley, renting a car when she hasn't driven since the day she got her license. As she pulls into the winery, BAM. She smashes straight into one of the workers there, Jamie. Sigh...I immediately fell for the rugged, smiling winery worker as he drives her up the drive to meet RJ (who turns out to be a total douche).
"Good luck beautiful girl. You'll do great."
Within five minutes of meeting Jamie, Kate was feeling something she had never felt before. And as he offers her a tour of the winery, she sticks to the story that she has a boyfriend. She does, but not much of one.
“Just being your friend is going to be hard, but I’ll try. It’s just that… I like you. You’re witty and sweet, and you happen to be the most infinitely beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
Renée's writing is very visual. I felt like I could see the winery and it's buildings so clearly that I could almost smell the grapes on the vine. When they went sailing, I felt like I could smell the salt air. Her writing is beautiful in a soft, sweet way.
After spending time with Jamie, Kate realizes the loneliness of her life and with her 'boyfriend.'
"I wondered what hurt more: the kind of loneliness you feel when no one is around, or the kind of loneliness you feel when the person who is supposed to love you doesn't care at all, not enough to fight with you, let alone fight for you..." "I realized in that moment that Jamie made me feel that I could be, at the very least, at the bare minimum, worth coming home to."
When she and the boyfriend properly broke up over the phone, that left her free to enjoy Jamie. (Lucky Kate!) and their first kiss was great.
That was nice," I said, still stunned.
"Nice?" he said in mock offense.
"Wondrous?"
"Mind-blowing," he came back quickly.
"Spine tingling."
"Exploding stars."
"Intoxicating."
"Christmas morning."
"Chocolate Lava Cake."
"Potassium chlorate and gummy bears" (yes, I googled it, and will be doing this this week.
Jamie grew up lonely and had no family as well. Together, they just meshed.
"Jamie and I were two lost and lonely souls finding each other in the vast wasteland of adulthood."
I loved seeing the instant connection. I DO believe in falling in love quickly. I knew my husband was 'the one' within 3 days (27 years ago).
“I woke up when I met Jamie. The world became louder, crazier, more exciting, and more achingly beautiful.”
But when a miscommunication tuns into a revelation, there was some angst that just persisted too long, and it broke my heart. Poor Jamie, I felt for him, I trusted him, and I was frustrated with Kate, first for not knowing what I knew early, and second, for not getting over it quickly enough.
"I’ll be a different man if I can’t have you. I will never breathe as deeply as I did when I was with you. I’ll never see the range of color on a perfectly cloudless sky. I will never smell anything as sweet as you or hear a voice that fills my heart up as much as yours does."
Likes:
- •Beautifully told, very visual.
- •Jamie was swoony.
- •How you were able to picture the settings so vividly.
- •A pure romance book.
- •Well written.
- •A quick, light, happy making book with some bittersweet moments.
- •Though the books are not connected, there was a shout out to the characters from Sweet Thing.
- •The story had the spark that made you just want to gobble it up.
Dislikes; (hard to do without spoilers!)
- •I predicted the book from the blurb and was dead on.
- •Being a reporter, Kate should have too.
- •I was frustrated with Kate's stubbornness, though the author helped me to understand.
- •Though the writing style is unique, I found the basic storyline to be too filled with overused clichés.
Rating: 4 Stars, 3 Heat (there was sex, even wall sex, but it was lightly glossed over)
"What started out as a journey of one girl who kept herself hidden in the darkness became the story of two souls connected and growing together in the light."
I really did love the Nowhere But Here. I devoured it in one sitting and I ran the gamut of emotions. Renee Carlino has an incredibly vivid writing style that really lets you feel like you are there. Though I predicted the story early on, I still enjoyed reading as it all unfolded. I just get annoyed when miscommunication leads to a big drama, then the character extends the drama out of pride. I still think that this is a book very worth reading, and a few other bloggers have read it and said it is one of the best they have read all year. If you get the sample, you'll be sucked in, so you might as well just pick it up today. This is a published book, so don't expect a quick 99¢ price drop. It's already a great price.
"The pull toward her was like our own world existed around us, spinning so hard that the gravity forced us to the center, to each other, into each other arms, into each others souls."
Purchase Nowhere but Here by Renée Carlino
Amazon (all countries) | BN.com | iBooks
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afretts's review against another edition
2.0
This book was such a mixed bag. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Sometimes I wanted to slap the author and sometimes I wanted to high five her.
The twist? It was ENTIRELY predictable to me. I just KNEW from the moment they met what was coming. I feel like the author could have veiled that better. It took away from the story.
It took me a very long time to connect with the heroine. Kate is the opposite of a Mary Sue. She was so incredibly different from me. She reacted to things the complete opposite way. The contrast was so severe that I kept having to remind myself that it was okay for her to like things that I would hate. For example, Jamie is VERY clingy. He actually feeds her at a restaurant. If a man did that to me, I would be extremely turned off. So I had to keep reminding myself that it was okay for Kate to like that he did that. She was turned off when he confronted a man in a bar who touched her inappropriately. She says, "what do I say? That was so weird and possessive." I would have had opposite reactions to that so it was hard to not scoff while reading this. I had to keep reminding myself that she isn't me and is allowed to like and dislike different things.
Parts of this were revoltingly histrionic. I'll let these examples (and gifs) speak for themselves (disclaimer: I am not a sentimental person. My husband and I do not make sappy proclamations to each other on a daily basis and I am not generally a fan of Nicolas Sparks novels. So take from this what you will.):
I was willing to spend the last moments of my life doing what I was doing with Jamie because it made me feel like I had a purpose. I felt more aware of the humanity in others, something I had lost sight of since Rose’s death. Serving food to the homeless truly made me feel like I was connecting more deeply with others. It was one of the most authentic and satisfying feelings I’d had in a long time. I thought about Jamie comparing love to food, and now I was comparing charity to life through food.
Katy, I want to kiss you like that every second of the day, even in my sleep.
I don’t know what I’ll do if I fall in love with him.” “If you fall, let him catch you.” And then he hung up.
I only laughed ONCE when reading this novel. Once. This is a problem for me. I like a little humor sprinkled in. There wasn't a lot here:
“There’s salsa, plus I’m a vegetarian. Actually, I’m a pescetarian, but that’s just semantics.” Then I smiled really wide. “You know what? Fuck it! Let’s go get a hot dog.”
Towards the end of this, even though everything did get tied up in a pretty little () bow, there were two times when I wanted to high five this author.
I am so sick of these possessive men who want to OWN their women. I think Carlino did a good job of allowing the hero to "claim" the heroine without being an outright controlling douche:
“Am I? I’m just looking at you, at what’s mine.”
“Listen, sailor, you don’t own me. I’m not yours.”
“You’re right, I don’t own you.” He bent, still hovering, but his mouth came close to my ear. “I never want to own you, but you are mine. You’re mine to love as long as you’ll let me.”
And then at the very end there's this gem:
This is what I would really say: “Leave your life. Leave everyone you love, every care, every stress, every commitment. Live alone. Understand what it feels like to know that if you go into cardiac arrest, choke on a piece of hot dog, or get electrocuted, no one will find you. You’ll rot. No one will mourn you. Imagine this feeling haunting your thoughts for the rest of your life. You’ll wither and vanish, and some stranger will take care of your things and your burial, and you may not even get a placard. Imagine that, live it, and let yourself believe that you should be alone, and then go back to the people who love you.” That is what I would preach. That is the challenge I would present. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and the readiness to show appreciation in return. On my journey, I learned what it felt like to live. To live is to be grateful.
So yeah, this book had a couple of good moments, but overall it was just kinda...
Annnndddddddddd Dylan is a great character. That is all.
The twist? It was ENTIRELY predictable to me. I just KNEW from the moment they met what was coming. I feel like the author could have veiled that better. It took away from the story.
It took me a very long time to connect with the heroine. Kate is the opposite of a Mary Sue. She was so incredibly different from me. She reacted to things the complete opposite way. The contrast was so severe that I kept having to remind myself that it was okay for her to like things that I would hate. For example, Jamie is VERY clingy. He actually feeds her at a restaurant. If a man did that to me, I would be extremely turned off. So I had to keep reminding myself that it was okay for Kate to like that he did that. She was turned off when he confronted a man in a bar who touched her inappropriately. She says, "what do I say? That was so weird and possessive." I would have had opposite reactions to that so it was hard to not scoff while reading this. I had to keep reminding myself that she isn't me and is allowed to like and dislike different things.
Parts of this were revoltingly histrionic. I'll let these examples (and gifs) speak for themselves (disclaimer: I am not a sentimental person. My husband and I do not make sappy proclamations to each other on a daily basis and I am not generally a fan of Nicolas Sparks novels. So take from this what you will.):
I was willing to spend the last moments of my life doing what I was doing with Jamie because it made me feel like I had a purpose. I felt more aware of the humanity in others, something I had lost sight of since Rose’s death. Serving food to the homeless truly made me feel like I was connecting more deeply with others. It was one of the most authentic and satisfying feelings I’d had in a long time. I thought about Jamie comparing love to food, and now I was comparing charity to life through food.
Katy, I want to kiss you like that every second of the day, even in my sleep.
I don’t know what I’ll do if I fall in love with him.” “If you fall, let him catch you.” And then he hung up.
I only laughed ONCE when reading this novel. Once. This is a problem for me. I like a little humor sprinkled in. There wasn't a lot here:
“There’s salsa, plus I’m a vegetarian. Actually, I’m a pescetarian, but that’s just semantics.” Then I smiled really wide. “You know what? Fuck it! Let’s go get a hot dog.”
Towards the end of this, even though everything did get tied up in a pretty little (
Spoiler
marriage and babyI am so sick of these possessive men who want to OWN their women. I think Carlino did a good job of allowing the hero to "claim" the heroine without being an outright controlling douche:
“Am I? I’m just looking at you, at what’s mine.”
“Listen, sailor, you don’t own me. I’m not yours.”
“You’re right, I don’t own you.” He bent, still hovering, but his mouth came close to my ear. “I never want to own you, but you are mine. You’re mine to love as long as you’ll let me.”
And then at the very end there's this gem:
This is what I would really say: “Leave your life. Leave everyone you love, every care, every stress, every commitment. Live alone. Understand what it feels like to know that if you go into cardiac arrest, choke on a piece of hot dog, or get electrocuted, no one will find you. You’ll rot. No one will mourn you. Imagine this feeling haunting your thoughts for the rest of your life. You’ll wither and vanish, and some stranger will take care of your things and your burial, and you may not even get a placard. Imagine that, live it, and let yourself believe that you should be alone, and then go back to the people who love you.” That is what I would preach. That is the challenge I would present. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and the readiness to show appreciation in return. On my journey, I learned what it felt like to live. To live is to be grateful.
So yeah, this book had a couple of good moments, but overall it was just kinda...
Annnndddddddddd Dylan is a great character. That is all.
thebooktrollop's review against another edition
So this review is long overdue. I sat here and wrote this review a million times and then deleted it a million and one times because I haven't been able to get it right. I was having a hard time on what I wanted to say and how much I wanted to give away to the plot and if people would stone me alive if I gave a small but big plot point to this story away. It has been nerve-wracking but now I am just going to write and hope it make sense and hopefully nobody will want to stone me to death!
This book spoke to me on a much more personal level than most books do. I mean, lets be real here, there are a lot of books that "speak" to me but this one... this one, was different because of Jamie.
Now, I won't say what about Jamie that spoke to me on a personal level, you will have to read it for yourself to figure it out, but just know, a lot of what Jamie said in the story felt like he was personally talking about me. To me... through me. He took a lot of my feelings towards certain situations and certain events and explained it how I would have. The feelings, thoughts, how your body feels, everything was explained perfectly and I fell so hard for the story because of the true descriptions and research.
A book that is thoroughly researched and not just bullshitted is a winner, in my opinion, and this one was definitely a winner!
The story, other than with just Jamie personally, was deep and what true love stories are about. A soul touching love that nothing can compete with or touch. An experience that most spend their lives searching for and never experience for themselves. It was also believable because lets face it, some romance stories are amazing but are a little farfetched, but this one I could feel and I experienced right along with these characters.
Of course there were times I was frustrated with Kate and wanted to shake some sense into her because she was being outrageous. And then there were other times I could understand where she was coming from. It was a delicate balance that never fell on one side more than the other.
There were elements that seemed so Renee like in this story. A theme I have noticed with her stories, usually dealing with older, wiser people giving the most remarkable advice about love and life in general. In Sweet Thing there was Martha and in Nowhere but Here there were actually a few wise people who gave Kate advice when she needed to hear it the most. There was also angst, surprises that you may or may not see coming, and then of course appearances from Will and Mia that make your heart swoon.
I can see this novel turned into a movie that is set in Tuscany with beautiful scenery and an epic romance that people can feel through the screen! It portrays so many emotions that a film exec would be stupid not to evoke them on screen.
It was beautiful and a beautiful story deserves 5 "I love this freaking story" stars!!
This book spoke to me on a much more personal level than most books do. I mean, lets be real here, there are a lot of books that "speak" to me but this one... this one, was different because of Jamie.
Now, I won't say what about Jamie that spoke to me on a personal level, you will have to read it for yourself to figure it out, but just know, a lot of what Jamie said in the story felt like he was personally talking about me. To me... through me. He took a lot of my feelings towards certain situations and certain events and explained it how I would have. The feelings, thoughts, how your body feels, everything was explained perfectly and I fell so hard for the story because of the true descriptions and research.
A book that is thoroughly researched and not just bullshitted is a winner, in my opinion, and this one was definitely a winner!
The story, other than with just Jamie personally, was deep and what true love stories are about. A soul touching love that nothing can compete with or touch. An experience that most spend their lives searching for and never experience for themselves. It was also believable because lets face it, some romance stories are amazing but are a little farfetched, but this one I could feel and I experienced right along with these characters.
Of course there were times I was frustrated with Kate and wanted to shake some sense into her because she was being outrageous. And then there were other times I could understand where she was coming from. It was a delicate balance that never fell on one side more than the other.
There were elements that seemed so Renee like in this story. A theme I have noticed with her stories, usually dealing with older, wiser people giving the most remarkable advice about love and life in general. In Sweet Thing there was Martha and in Nowhere but Here there were actually a few wise people who gave Kate advice when she needed to hear it the most. There was also angst, surprises that you may or may not see coming, and then of course appearances from Will and Mia that make your heart swoon.
I can see this novel turned into a movie that is set in Tuscany with beautiful scenery and an epic romance that people can feel through the screen! It portrays so many emotions that a film exec would be stupid not to evoke them on screen.
It was beautiful and a beautiful story deserves 5 "I love this freaking story" stars!!
diaadiary's review against another edition
3.0
This was a really good book.
re-read thoughts:
i can't believe i read three books by the same author back to back. Sweet Thing put me into such a romance mood and so i decided to jump right into another reread. I remember being completely consumed by this on the bus ride home from high school and current day me thought I would feel those same feelings *slams on the break* *looks into the camera* I was wrong :/
this preserved image of jamie being a cutie and kate being a relatable character in my head from almost seven years ago was not replicated in current times. Jamie became annoying and boring in the second half of the book plus Kate was really frustrating. The layout of the events were pretty unrealistic and i noticed major insta love which i do NOT like at all. However, I felt pretty nostalgic while reading it especially because i still remembered everything that happened and my previous feelings for the book. Like I said before, Carlino does a really good job with the flow and giving characters actual personality. I wasn't bored:) I also recommend this to people who are just getting into this genre!
will i ever pick up another carlino book? no idea but i def won't read three back to back ever again sddgjhdj
re-read thoughts:
i can't believe i read three books by the same author back to back. Sweet Thing put me into such a romance mood and so i decided to jump right into another reread. I remember being completely consumed by this on the bus ride home from high school and current day me thought I would feel those same feelings *slams on the break* *looks into the camera* I was wrong :/
this preserved image of jamie being a cutie and kate being a relatable character in my head from almost seven years ago was not replicated in current times. Jamie became annoying and boring in the second half of the book plus Kate was really frustrating. The layout of the events were pretty unrealistic and i noticed major insta love which i do NOT like at all. However, I felt pretty nostalgic while reading it especially because i still remembered everything that happened and my previous feelings for the book. Like I said before, Carlino does a really good job with the flow and giving characters actual personality. I wasn't bored:) I also recommend this to people who are just getting into this genre!
will i ever pick up another carlino book? no idea but i def won't read three back to back ever again sddgjhdj
romancebookaddict's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't love this one. But overall still a good read.
black0star's review against another edition
3.0
Actual rating: 2.5
I didn’t like this much, which is unfortunate since I loved Before We Were Strangers and Swear on this Life.
The characters were a big part of why I didn’t enjoy it. Jamie was too perfect that it was sickening and it got worse all the way until the end.
I HATED Kate. I wanted to throttle her for not being able to forgive Jamie. I thought it was perfectly reasonable on his part and she was so quick to hate him and be miserable for MONTHS.
And she was so stupid for going an empty train car. Who does that?? I felt that segment was just to add to the page count. And to show off how perfect Jamie is.
I wanted to puke all the way to the last page. It was nothing but sex and corny love scenes. I thought it was overkill. I was dying for it to be over.
I would not read this again and nor do I recommend anyone to read it.
“I loved you before you existed, and I’ll love you after I’m gone.”
I didn’t like this much, which is unfortunate since I loved Before We Were Strangers and Swear on this Life.
The characters were a big part of why I didn’t enjoy it. Jamie was too perfect that it was sickening and it got worse all the way until the end.
I HATED Kate. I wanted to throttle her for not being able to forgive Jamie. I thought it was perfectly reasonable on his part and she was so quick to hate him and be miserable for MONTHS.
And she was so stupid for going an empty train car. Who does that?? I felt that segment was just to add to the page count. And to show off how perfect Jamie is.
I wanted to puke all the way to the last page. It was nothing but sex and corny love scenes. I thought it was overkill. I was dying for it to be over.
I would not read this again and nor do I recommend anyone to read it.
“I loved you before you existed, and I’ll love you after I’m gone.”