{Blog Tour} Review+Excerpt+Giveaway: Somewhere Only We Know

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Title: Somewhere Only We Know

Author: Cheyanne Young

Publisher: 336Love

Date of Publication: June 15, 2014

Genres: Young Adult, Romance

Purchase from Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Sadie Bradford’s life is one anxiety attack after another. All she wants is to escape life's realities for the summer and hang out with her best friend Aaron. But her grandmother has other plans: Sadie will get a job. Sadie will do volunteer work. Sadie will make new friends - friends without brain injuries that make them forget everything...friends that aren’t Aaron.

While Sadie struggles to survive her anxiety with all these new changes, she finds an escape when she dreams herself into the beautiful world of Isola Fiona. It’s a place that cures memory loss and anxiety. It’s a place where she and Aaron can fall in love. 

But after dragging Aaron along with her to her dream world, things take a turn. Every time they return home, Sadie’s anxiety is a little better but Aaron’s memory is still gone. And Isola Fiona may not be much of a dream after all. As Sadie realizes that Isola Fiona is as real as her anxiety, she rushes to change the course of fate and make things right, but she may be too late...

Book Trailer

Excerpt

Three sets of judgmental eyes watching you walk toward them are enough to send a normal person into a panic. I can’t even describe what it does to me. My fingertips and toes go numb and the tip of my nose gets tingly. My heart races—wait, no it doesn’t beat at all. My heart has stopped. I tilt forward and grab my chest. Oh god, it stopped. I’m dying. 

I suck in a huge breath and Aaron’s hand touches my lower back, pushing me gently forward. I take one small step, surprised that my legs can still move when my heart has so obviously stopped. As I lift another foot to take yet another step that will shorten this vast distance of concrete and pool, I feel my heart beating. A steady drum in my chest, as if it had been there all along, fills my ribcage with the warmth of relief. 

“Come on girl, don’t take all day,” Grandma says.

“I’m coming.” The words come out of my mouth, in my voice and all, but I’m not entirely sure I said them. The anxiety is in control now, not me. Aaron’s hand pushes me harder and I take two more steps toward the patio where my Grandma waits. In reality, it has probably been around twenty seconds, but it feels like an eternity.

Aaron keeps pushing on my back with more urgency. He knows I that need to walk to them, but if he knows why is beyond me. Aaron has great instincts, even if he doesn’t always know the reasoning behind them. I turn back to give him a grateful smile, but at the same time he lifts his hands to push my shoulders. I sidestep to avoid being accidentally smacked in the face but my foot lands on a decorative rock at the pool’s edge.

“Shit,” I yell just before pain soars through my ankle as it twists into itself. My knees give out. My arms flail and my eyes squeeze shut. I’m going to fall in the stupid pool with all of my clothes on in front of everyone. If I’m lucky it’ll lessen the pain in my ankle. But this is still the most humiliating thing ever.

I don’t fall in the pool. I fall into the rocks—head first.

And then I guess I fall into the pool.

My Thoughts

This is the first time I read a book with a story like this, and I love the whole concept. It was like 50 First Dates, well, on the part of Aaron's. It must have sucked so much on how he couldn't remember things so regularly. I may not be able to relate with what is happening to Aaron, but I pretty much could understand on why he did some things. Although, I think that if I was the one involved in the story, I probably wouldn't have understood it that way. It was great to see things in a different perspective.

On the part of Sadie, whenever she has anxiety attacks, her anxiety gets transferred to me. I could feel her anxiousness and all her emotions which was amazing. It also got me to see what it was like to be anxious all the time, and I really couldn't imagine what it must be like. Even now that I get anxious so rarely annoyed me so much. What more on Sadie's part? Aside from this, though, I didn't like Sadie that much because she started to forget what her past life and who stuck with her amidst all her struggles. She was also clingy to Aaron, and I really really really tried to understand that it was because Aaron was her only friend, but it still irritated me.

Both characters' story were spectacular and unique. It made me delve into the pages because I want to know how things will end for them. However, I didn't really feel very invested in this book. Rather, I felt somehow detached and indifferent. Before I knew it, I was already finished reading the book. Looking back, there were some parts that would have probably made me teary-eyed, but didn't. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just weird this time around.

Somewhere Only We Know is a beautiful and unique story about two teenagers trying to live a normal life despite having anxiety and memory loss. It was about finding love in the places they thought they'd never be able to. Young adult, romance readers should give this book a try, and they might like this more than I do.

My Rating

About the Author

Cheyanne is a native Texan with a fear of cold weather and a coffee addiction that probably needs an intervention. She loves books, sarcasm, nail polish and paid holidays. She lives near the beach with her family, one spoiled rotten puppy and a cat who is most likely plotting to take over the world.

She also writes under the pen name Amy Sparling.

Author Links

Website: www.CheyanneYoung.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NormalChey

Instagram: http://instagram.com/NormalChey

Newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/CheyanneYoung

Giveaway

Open internationally.

SIGNED paperback of SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW

a pink glitter ring featured in the novel

$20 Amazon GC

a Rafflecopter giveaway