I would like to preface my review by saying that I love Katie McGarry’s books. I just didn’t enjoy this one. I’ve read three books in her Pushing the Limits series and gave all three books five stars each. Trust me, I was fangirling all over the place. So what went wrong with this book?

For starters, I really, REALLY didn’t like Emily. I have no tolerance whatsoever with weak and whiny characters that have to be treated with kid gloves. An entire motorcycle club tiptoes around her so as not to scare the girl who is afraid of her own shadow? Yeah...no. I wasn’t sold on that. Emily has bucketloads of fears. She’s afraid of this and she’s afraid of that, even though she’s been living a sheltered life. Guess who gets the blame for all her fears? Her parents. How freaking last year. Actually, the only people I did like in this book are Emily’s parents (especially her father who adopted her), and her biological father.

Yet, throughout the entire story the reader is told again and again how strong and brave Emily is. Really???? Because all I heard was how she has this fear or that fear, how she trembles and shakes, how she fainted three times, and how she was constantly being picked up in someone’s arms and being carried to the closest bed. I won’t even mention what a Mary Sue she is, and OF COURSE she’s a virgin (how else would it be for someone who can be compared to a shivering rabbit?). All these fears just because she fell into a hole where there was a dead body – which, so by the way, is never properly explained. Did she go for therapy after it happened to help her with her fears? Who knows, because the author didn’t deem it necessary to explain. She needed it as a crutch for Emily, so let’s leave the reader in the dark (oh, look what I did there).

*deep breath*

Anyway, Oz wasn’t much better. For a tough motorcycle dude he continually turned into gushing mush when he was in Emily’s presence – which was ALL THE TIME!!

The thing that got to me most? Olivia – the club matriarch. It is so OBVIOUS Katie McGarry modeled her on Gemma Teller of Sons of Anarchy. Olivia was TRYING SO HARD to resemble bad-ass-but-loves-her-family-to-death Gemma. Come on! How did Ms McGarry think that a hardcore SoA fan wouldn’t notice this? I couldn’t stand Olivia. Not just for trying to be a Gemma Teller, but for being so cold, aggressive, and just plain rude. That’s all she was. Still the reader is made to believe that at the end Emily loved Olivia fiercely, though I never picked up on that turn-around point between the two of them from being stand-offish towards each other to becoming loving family members. Since when did dying from cancer become a redeeming quality?

Overall, I think this was a good effort, but it failed nonetheless. I can’t tell you how immensely disappointed I am that I didn’t love this book nearly as much as I did the others. I’ll still be reading more of her books though, but probably not the rest of this series. Please, Ms McGarry, tell me you didn’t run out of good characters.

Have you ever just looked at a book and known that you were going to love it? Without even reading the synopsis, you knew that the book was for you? Nowhere But Here was definitely one of those books for me. I didn't know anything about, but I just had a feeling that it was going to be perfect and that I was going to fall crazing in love with it. And I did.

The first in the Thunder Road series is a little rough, a little gritty, a little sensual and little sexy. There's confusion and pain but also certainty and pleasure. This book is all around amazing and I couldn't stop reading once I started. It was one of those books, for me, that I thought about whenever I couldn't read. Since I began reading it before Thanksgiving, it unfortunately got put on the back burner over the holidays. We did a lot of travelling and as much as I wanted to, I was unable to read it at all until everything settled down. I couldn't wait to get back to it and I finished the book as soon I as got the chance.

The characters are amazing and they have a depth to them that isn't always easy to master. I enjoyed how their lives twisted and turned but ultimately linked them back together and pulled them closer together. It was interesting to see how all of the things that tore everyone apart in the past managed to sew them back together in the present. Emily was relateable and easy to understand, Oz was sexy and delicious, Olivia was sassy and heartbreaking and made me want to curl up with her.

This book was reminescent of Sons of Anarchy but a little tamer (but no less boring or delicious). I absolutely loved it and couldn't get enough. I'm a little sad that book two isn't about Emiy and Oz but I'm curious about Razor and I can't wait to read his story.

Rating: 5 Stars.
Favorite Character: Oz.

I'm terrible at deciding which books on my (massive) TBR pile need the most love. I also tend to fail at picking up books from my TBR when I have so many early review copies to choose from. I've taken steps towards changing that this year and I've been really happy to discover some real gems. Earlier this month, I asked for my readers to pick my TBR book for June from a list of three. Even though I wanted to read Nowhere But Here, it probably wasn't my first choice from the list, if I'm being honest. I am glad, however, I put it up to a vote. I ended up really enjoying this book.

I look at the hardcover version of this book and get a little twitchy because of the size of it. (I mean, nearly 500 pages, y'all.) It's been a long time since I read a book this long. That was one of the biggest reasons I'd not picked this one off my shelf sooner. I'm not a slow reader by any stretch of the imagination, but I still find myself intimidated by books this long. The other thing that kept me from jumping into this book sooner was the motorcycle club thing. Now, I'm used to Kristen Ashley's *very adult* MC romance. It was tough for me to imagine how in the world a YA book could possibly work. I'm happy to say I was just flat out dead wrong about that. It worked... really well.

This book did start out a little slow for me. I'm not gonna lie about that. But it wasn't a bad thing. I never felt like giving up on the book, even though it did take me an entire week to read. (But that wasn't all the fault of the book. It was a crazy week.) I loved reading along as Emily learning about this whole new part of her background. It was easy to put myself in her shoes and experience everything right along with her. How do you handle finding out a major part of your life has been a lie? Do you open yourself up to these new people who have entered your life? Do you hide your head and try to keep things the way they always were? Do you seek answers? I don't envy Emily for having to make those choices, but I was pretty happy overall with how she handled everything.

Oz was just wonderful. If it didn't feel a little creepy calling a kid his age a "book boyfriend" I would say he's a new one of mine. He was dealing with his own issues in this book and the very last thing he wanted – at first anyhow – was to be responsible for the "princess" Emily in any way. He was waiting to get patched into Reign of Terror, something he'd wanted his whole life. He was planning his future with the club and in general and Emily was probably the one thing that could get in the way.

I loved how Emily and Oz's relationship progressed. From disdain to understanding to friendship to love, we witnessed it all. It happened naturally and it felt real. This wasn't instalove or anything close. Because of Oz's charge to watch over her, they learned about each other and feelings changed. I loved that it wasn't rushed. They played off each other so well. Their feelings for each other were obvious and they were definitely responsible in some way for the other's growth during this book. It wasn't all sunshine and roses, however, but I'm not going to get into all that. Some things are better left experienced for yourself.

There was a lot going on in this book, but it flowed together really well. Emily's journey of self-discovery meshed well with Oz's. Emily was learning about herself and her family at the same time. She was letting knew people into her world and realizing she was part of a bigger community that was unlike any she ever knew before. Then of course, you had all the situations dealing directly with the MC. I knew the members of Reign of Terror were keeping secrets and, despite trying to figure out what was going on for myself, I didn't get it until it basically slapped me in the face. I like being surprised. It doesn't happen all that often.

I really enjoyed Nowhere But Here. There was an interesting cast of characters introduced and I'm excited to see more from them as I continue on with the series. This book was the total package. I got sweet romance and age group appropriate relations, a hint of action and suspense and more than a few feels. I couldn't ask for more!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.