Nowhere Else But Here by Rachel Cotton is a unique young adult romance. Theo goes missing, and while the whole town looks for him, he shows up at Rose's door, and ends up staying with her. Rose's parents are neglectful, and Theo's dad is abusive. This book covers some serious issues, but it is also a delightful love story.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This novel was meant to be about first loves and it was kind of lacking. There was emotion, but most of it was her telling us how she was feeling rather than us seeing how she was feeling. I never realised she was panicking till someone started to calm her down and it ruined the story for me a bit. It is a quick read but there’s no many plot holes or parts lacking development that I’m left with so many questions.

A quarter of me liked this book for what it was: a short-burst romance with a cute guy named Theo. I like the name Theodore a lot, actually. It was a short read, fun sometimes, mundane other times. I sometimes liked the main character. But three-quarters of me didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. It was very plain, very on-the-surface, nothing too much below it. Unfortunately, as I loved the synopsis and the cover.

The plot was different and the execution of it was okay.
Theo goes missing, Rose hides him in her house, she has to live with lies, etc, etc. He has a secret, they get found out, and all the other joys and pains of teen angst, etc, etc. I almost DNFed when I got to the halfway mark because my interest was waning. There's only so much fast-paced, unbelievable romance I can stomach in one sitting. I don't like stories where the main character and the love interest instantly get together. It makes for too much fluff, not enough development. Sure, they spent some time together, but I didn't really feel like they knew each other. Or maybe it's just me. I'm a huge sucker for slow-burn romance, so this probably wasn't going to be fun for me anyway.
There were also difficult and heavy themes involved in the plot, but they were just barely touched upon. They should've been more fully explored.

The characters were also okay. Actually, I think if I could describe the entirety of this book, it would just be okay.
Rose and Theo have never talked or hung out, some pining was done at some point, some crushing. There's an entire search party out there searching for Theo, and he chooses to hide in her house. And she just lets him. If I think back to the whole story, she was just a girl that kept on giving. It was frustrating. Her complete and utter devotion to someone she used to have an average-sized crush on was unnecessary. I really wish they had been proper friends first before they got to all the flat flirting.
Rose was really annoying to read in some parts. I did like that she kept questioning herself why she was doing this and how she kept considering the risks. It was selfish, but it was also smart. Of course she'd be wondering how it would affect her. But then it kept on happening, and we all knew she wasn't going to give it up. She was even more annoying during all the times she kept trying to force Theo to open up. I get that she was looking out for the both of them, and she was upset - but his secrets and pieces should be his alone until he's ready to open up about him. It was selfish of her to think he was keeping all of that from her, when it was not like that at all.
Theo was okay, though. Again, the word okay. But he could've had more space for development. His circumstances were serious, yet they were lightly touched upon and it left me wanting more, only because it felt too quick, too incomplete.

What I did enjoy was Rose and Brent's relationship. Two siblings who were close and had fun, light-hearted banter with each other. This was probably the only thing I was interested in when everything else had fallen flat for me. I just wanted more of Brent.

A lot of teen drama, eye-rolling romance, slack development. I wanted to enjoy this story, and I did - when I took it as a simple, short love story. But then it just...fell flat.
The cover gets 4 stars from me though.

This book is pure fluff. It doesn’t have a ton of depth, but it’s fun. I think that’s the beauty of it. People really underestimate fluff books. Their purpose is purely to make the read happy, and sometimes they aren’t deep, they don’t hav something to say. They’re sweet.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the romance, while it was cheesy at many times. It’s just such a cute story!
While this book isn’t a favorite, and I didn’t always love it, it was Laos super funny, and not in the ways the author intended. I found a lot of the plot and romance funny because it was cheesy—it’s like how people watch romcoms purely for comedy.
I’m not going to lie though. This book drove me up a wall at times. It’s very unrealistic in my opinion, and maybe that’s just because of the cultural difference? It takes place in England and I’m American. But they kept like.... not being stressed out of their minds about college? And like right before college they had money to drop on a trip to Paris? Maybe it’s because Rose’s parents are more on the rich side, idk. But money was never discussed.
I also feel like Rose was really annoying. She kept pushing for Theo to open up to her, which I kind of understand but also he needs to open up in his own time, especially about the parental abuse he’s been through. She saw it all as secrets he was keeping from her, which was like super selfish.
Anyway, this was a cute story that’s a great fluff read. It annoyed me sometimes but I liked it!

As a senior in high school this story really appeals to me. The relationship between Rose and her family improves as well as her relationship with Theo. I loved the trust they had in each other even when there was very little to trust. Cotton uses great detail to produce serious topics and romantic scenes that capture your heart. At the end of this read I was begging for more.

Ok book about a boy who runs away from home and finds shelter with a girl in his class and what happens after that

I have some mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, the plot was pretty good, and different than anything I’ve read. On the other, the main character just made me angry. She’s entitled, disrespectful, and so full of teen angst it was hard to swallow. I liked Theo, but I don’t like how the author built their relationship. It was very co-dependent in the worst ways. Plus, him sneaking into her room every night, right under her parents noses? Yes, let’s encourage teens to do that. Sounds legit. I won’t be revisiting this one.

When a missing classmate shows up at Rose's house one night, she lets him in and hides him from her parents. For the next few weeks, she spends her days with lies of omission and her evenings learning about Theo. No matter how many times she asks and how much trouble she is building to protect him, Theo will not come clean about what happened and why he is hiding. When the secret gets out, their lives change again but the lies continue.

I can't say that I enjoyed this book. I found it frustrating that Rose kept giving of herself and got nothing in return. I felt like grabbing her by the shoulders and telling her that he doesn't deserve her devotion. Theo spends the entire book hiding and when he finally admits what he's thinking and feeling, it's too little too late. The ending felt rushed and I never got the emotional payout that I have come to expect from this genre of teen fiction.

Rosa knows little about Theo, other than he's her high school chemistry lab partner, does his work efficiently and lets her take the lead. When Theo goes missing, Rosa joins the search with others in her community as she wonders what could have befallen the handsome but quiet student she once crushed on.

Then, Theo shows up at her doorstep and blurts out, "Rosa, I need your help!" That desperate plea seems enough motivation for Rosa to hide Theo in her bedroom ... for a week!

While hiding Theo and lying to her parents, her brother and her best friends, Rosa is caught up in learning more about Theo and his mysterious reasons for vanishing without a trace. She is clearly lonely as time and again she bemoans how busy her parents are as lawyers while her brother is away at the university, so it's plausible that Theo can escape notice in her house. But, come on, there's an entire search party combing the community looking for him!

I found it hard to understand either Rosa or Theo as the buildup to his explanation for going missing fell flat. There wasn't enough about his parental relationship to sense his panic or fear, and for Rosa to hide him. Mostly, this book was about a lack of parental guidance and how that could lead to making a lot of less than brilliant decisions. Also, the repercussions for Rosa after hiding Theo would have been far worse and this book only lightly touched upon the reality. And, later, when Rosa accuses Theo of lying to her, it seemed rather hypocritical given what she had done herself for a far more serious situation.

Where #NowhereElseButHere did shine was in the relationship between Rosa and her older brother, Brent. Their affection and care for each other and the way they teased/bantered with each other felt genuine; just the way two siblings would grow close because of absentee parents. If anyone, Brent was the one character I wanted to get to know better.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #BlackandWhitePublishing for the ARC of #NowhereElseButHere!

This one just wasn't for me unfortunately. I couldn't relate to the characters and didn't feel attached. I decided to DNF this one because of this.

An ok book. It was a bit boring i places but besides it had an ok plot. It could do with more excitment near the end as it got boring then. The characters where good but there could be more info about them.But all in all i would give it 3.5 stars

I love the cover of this book. I was really excited for it after reading the synopsis. I felt like it fell short for me though. It took me half way through the book to really start liking anyone and I kept waiting for something good to happen.

Rose has a thing for this guy Theo that shares Chemistry class with her. They've never really talked or hung out but Theo goes missing and shows up at Rose's house. She has parents who aren't home much so she agrees to hide him in her bedroom. This whole thing is odd and I was hoping for a more exciting story. Finding out Theo's reason for hiding was heartbreaking though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black & White Publishing for this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

#NowhereElseButHere #NetGalley

publisher synopsis: “He was reckless. He was exciting. He was Theo.
And he was a breath of fresh air in my otherwise extremely dull life”

What if the missing person is your missing piece?

Rose has always played by the rules – now it’s time to break them.

Life’s easier when you stay away from other people. Rose Valentine knows that. But some people are impossible to ignore. Take Theo Lockhart. He’s handsome, funny and beyond intriguing. He’s a mystery; one that Rose dreams of solving.

Then one night the mystery deepens. Theo turns up on Rose’s doorstep, desperate to hide out at her house. He’s keeping secrets, and Rose has a million questions. Not least – why did he choose to run to her?

If Rose lets him in, she’ll be going against everything she holds true. It’s reckless, risky – and definitely not in the rulebook. But Theo makes Rose long to break the rules After a whirlwind week of brat-pack movies, midnight snacks and non-stop chat, where do Rose and Theo go from here?


I really enjoyed reading this book until I found out why he was missing. It was a big letdown. He put his parents and possibly friends in a horrible position and wow... I can't imagine how sick parents would be in real life. After finding out how selfish and cowardly he was I had a hard time reading anymore.

I recieved an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

3.5/5 stars
Rose is searching for the 'missing bad boy' Theo but what she finds is more than she could ever imagine. Nowhere Else But Here played out very differently than I thought it would. The writing was really good. I loved the characters. Theo was flawed and mysterious. Rose was lonely, as her parents were always working. However her world is turned upside down when the missing boy shows up at her door, asking for her help. Together the find themselves in each other and learn a lot about relationships and trust along the way. I really enjoyed this book, it was a cute quick read. I do feel like the story started really abruptly, a prologue would have been really helpful for some of Theo's back story.

Rose and everyone at school knows Theo has been missing for two days, posters are up everywhere now so when Theo lands on her doorstep with secrets to hide and Rose can keep him hidden but safe, he takes her offer.



She lies to her parents, her best friends Grace and Naya and they all notice she's acting strangely and then she meets Theo's parents in school. She also knows the reason, or a reason why Theo ran away, even if her parents later tell her they found out the real reason, along with him being in her room.



No more secret movie nights, sleeping close or shared kisses in her room, he is with his mum though now safe. But Rose is angry with her parents but relies on her friends after finally confiding what had happened.



Eventually they have to talk and realise their feelings are there between them but then more secrets come out about her ex boyfriend and Theo after the way her ex treated her.



The book was a very different concept, the way Theo just turns up and relies on Rose to keep him a secret. I can't say I found it wholly believable but I liked the idea nonetheless. I did approve of the deeper reason Theo runs away and found it understandable why he would lie though he should be able to tell Rose as she helps him so much. I do think a split perspective and seeing Theo as his life goes back to being with his mum and possibly flashbacks to deeper worse times to back up the reasoning of running away. Aside from that, the second half they fell into a loving but intensely dramatic relationship like a lot of young first loves can be.



An intense way of discovering love suddenly.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this for them!

3.5 Stars

This was a very cute story with a different premise. I loved the way Rose helped Theo by letting him stay in her room. Those scenes were definitely some of my favorite.

I do wish we got to see a little bit of Theo and Rose interact before Theo disappears. The book started off abruptly and it feels a bit odd that Rose would help Theo out without having interacted with him much at school. Later on we find out why, but it could've been more clear or natural in the beginning.

I figured out the reason behind Theo's disappearance rather quickly. I wish that that storyline would have continued on a bit longer. It was 'resolved' less than halfway through the book. The rest of the book focused more on the relationship between Theo and Rose, which was super cute, but still had me less interested for some reason.

Overall, this was a really cute book that was very well written. I have to applaud the author, who by the way, is only 17 years old!

I was sent an eARC of this book by the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review.

For a debut from such a young author I was very impressed. Nowhere Else But Here deals with such hard hitting topics such as abusive and absentee parents, in a brilliant way. The one flaw in this book was the overly-descriptive writing style, which I felt detracted from the characters. Overall a lovely contemporary that I enjoyed, and plan to keep an eye out for any future releases from this author.

I liked the story and know some of my students will as well, but I didn't love the lack of character development. I kept waiting for more backstory but felt it was more of an in the moment book. Not a bad read, just left me wanting a little but more. Very impressive first novel by a young author.

when theo lockhart shows up on rose valentine's doorstep two days after going missing she doesn't hesitate to give him a place to stay. even though she doesn't know who or what theo is hiding from, she finds herself compelled to keep him safe. she's always noticed theo, even if he held himself apart from her, from everybody.

this is why she knows that seeking shelter with her is such a big step. she likes being there for him. she wants him to trust her, with his secrets, with his heart, with everything. when they get caught, because hiding a boy in your bedroom is never going to work for an extended period of time no matter how absent your parents are, things fall to pieces.

theo knows he's hurt rose because he didn't trust her with his truth. but it was so ugly. and it makes him feel weak and awful and scared. he's always liked her. he just never believed he was good enough to deserve her.

as rose and theo find their way through the trust issues and the parental issues and the life issues in nowhere else but here, they grow and change. she lets go of her need to know and control everything and he is more mindful of the consequences of his actions. in the end, though, there's this incredible love these two share. it's utterly delightful.

**nowhere else but here published on may 3, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/black & white publishing (ink road) in exchange for my honest review.

3 Stars - I recommend if you enjoy contemporary YA. The blurb is a little misleading, it's not very mysterious.

When Rose's schoolmate Theo goes missing, the entire school and town are searching for him. When Theo shows up on Roses's front porch one night asking for help, Rose can't turn him away. What is his secret and why is he asking for her help? When Theo is discovered by Rose's parents the two must figure out how to deal with the fallout and have a real relationship.

I was really intrigued by the blurb for this book, it sounded so mysterious and gripping. I was a little disappointed to find out that that part of the plot is only about 35% of the book. The rest of the plot centers around Jessie and Theo's relationship. If it had been marketed as a YA contemporary I think it would have been given a different rating, but I was just a little too thrown off. I think this is a good debut novel, it was cute and the characters were well fleshed-out, and I overall liked it... but I think the blurb was just a little misleading. I also think there were bits where they tell you that something happened, rather than "showing" it. Which is never my favorite.