Places No One Knows

by Brenna Yovanoff

Karissa Vacker (Narrator) and Jesse Bernstein (Narrator)

Fans of Lady Bird will love this novel about a good girl who dreams herself into a bad boy's room in this lyrically romantic novel that Maggie Stiefvater, author of The Raven King, says she read and "woke up satisfied."
 
    Waverly Camdenmar spends her nights running until she can’t even think. Then the sun comes up, life goes on, and Waverly goes back to her perfectly hateful best friend, her perfectly dull classes, and the tiny, nagging suspicion that there’s more to life than student council and GPAs.
    Marshall Holt is a loser. He drinks on school nights and gets stoned in the park. He is at risk of not graduating, he does not care, he is no one. He is not even close to being in Waverly’s world.
    But then one night Waverly falls asleep and dreams herself into Marshall’s bedroom—and when the sun comes up, nothing in her life can ever be the same. In Waverly’s dreams, the rules have changed. But in her days, she’ll have to decide if it’s worth losing everything for a boy who barely exists.

"Waverly and Marshall burn brightly . . . both refreshingly flawed as they come into their own. Readers will forgo sleep themselves to witness their vibrant, achingly real story unfold. A brilliant romance." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"A tightly woven, luminously written novel that captures the uncertain nature of high school and the difficult path of self-discovery." —Booklist, Starred

"Yovanoff offers a multilayered exploration of human connections, particularly those that manifest in unpredictable ways."—Publishers Weekly, Starred

• ISBN10: 0399568697
• ISBN13: 9780399568695
• Publish Date: 28 August 2016 (first published 17 May 2016)
• Publish Status: Withdrawn
• Imprint: Listening Library
• Edition: Bot Exclusive ed.
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 10 hours and 16 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I will start by saying I was fully entertained by this book. I thought the magical element was interesting, and liked the idea of Marshall and Waverly having this time and space that was just for them, where they could be honest with each other and with themselves.

It's quite a journey these two take, trying to figure out what and who they want to be. And, let me tell you, it was quite frustrating for me at times. Regardless, I was fully invested and quite happy with the outcome.

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[Stephanie]

This book was phenomenal. I felt a lot of things, and thought a lot of things, and overall was consumed by this book. You go, Brenna Yovanoff, you go.

3.5 stars

I love Brenna Yovanoff. PAPER VALENTINE is one of my all time favorite books, and of all her books, PLACES NO ONE KNOWS is the most similar. But—and I hate that there is a but—this is a deeply depressing book about deeply depressing characters doing deeply depressing things. The fact that all these deeply depressing elements are written with exquisite beauty is the saving grace of this book (and the reason for the extra half star rating).

Depressing books can be powerful and moving, but this one didn’t affect me the way I’d hoped. With one exception, all the miserable, self-loathing characters in this book are miserable and self-loathing for no apparent reason. They have happy loving families and no real problems except the ones they invent for themselves (everything feels fake, no one sees the real me, my friends are superficial), so the internal conflict ends up feeling indulgent and monumentally self-absorbed. That impression was made all the more glaring by the contrast of the one character with HUGE problems who is the only one to consistently show real empathy.

I wanted the promised ‘dreamy love story’ and Brenna’s arrestingly gorgeous writing, but PLACES NO ONE KNOWS only delivered on half its promise. The love story here…isn’t satisfying. The majority of the story involves Waverley and her growing disillusionment with her friends and the persona she’s allowed them to manufacture for her. There are a lot of chapters about the dance committee and what kind of decorations to make. And there are a lot of chapters about girls being catty to hide their own insecurities.

I don’t know. I wanted more and somehow less than I got with this book. I really connected with Marshal and I wish we’d gotten more than a third of the book (give or take) from his POV. I wish the magical realism of the dreaming into someone else’s life concept had been explored more. I wish Waverley had had real problems to overcome or at least acquired some self awareness by the end to put her life in perspective. I wish I’d been invested enough in the love story to actually root for these two to end up together, but I didn’t. I wanted Marshal to find genuine happiness and I don’t think he will with Waverley.

I hate that I didn’t completely love this book.