In the small, impoverished neighborhood in Trenton, Dominique helps her mother make ends meet after school, while dreaming of getting in NYU and becoming a professional dancer. In uptown New York, Ben is a musical prodigy , who aims at being the best violinist in Berkley. It only takes a moment for them to meet. And a moment to change each other's lives.

Dominique will not have the courage to tell him where she comes from, weaving one lie after the other. At the same time, Ben is turning more and more obsessed with his strive for musical perfection. What Dominique doesn't know, is that Ben keeps a secret of his own. And his secret is much more serious.

I could start by saying what an amazing book Someday, Somewhere is, but I feel that it wouldn't do the book justice. Therefore, I will put it this way: Someday, Somewhere is the best book I have read in 2018. Portraying the everyday hardships of two completely different worlds, Lindsay Champion manages to communicate thoughts and feelings in an absolutely marvelous way. Portraying characters in an incredibly relatable way, the author manages to help the reader understand the heroes' backgrounds, their lives, and the reasons the two of them are drawn together. In a magical and effortless way, the reader is immersed in the feelings of a struggling teenager, and the mind of a musical genius.

The story is filled with moments of heartbreak, friendship, pain, and adorable scenes of falling hard in love. Moreover, there was a lot of music in this book. Wonderful scenes and carefully picked songs that create a very fitting soundtrack to the story of Dom and Ben.

Bottom line, what you actually need to know about reading Someday, Somewhere is this: This book will break my heart, and it will be worth it.

A very intense book.
I loved Dom's character but did not understand her need to lie about herself to Ben. Her best friend was a hoot and I wish I knew his story.
Ben was incredibly intense. I felt so bad for him and his friends and family.
I was super glad about the ending. Not what one would think would happen but it just worked so well.
I would read more by this author.

Wow, this book was amazing. I got approved for it on Netgalley at like the last second, and while I was really excited, I went into it not expecting too much. Boy was I in for an incredible surprise!

Dominique doesn't have it all. Not even close. Her mom is the proud owner of a not-too-successful laundromat, and her father has been completely non-existent ever since he left her mom a few years back. Unfortunately, this ultimately means that she has to put all of her dreams of becoming a professional dancer on hold until she has the money to pay for them. And so far, her future isn't looking too good. At least, until she meats Ben.

Ben is a perfectionist. It's how he became a musical prodigy at one of the top conservatories in the world. He loves playing sonatas at Carnegie Hall, but isn't satisfied until he knows he's gotten every line, section, and stanza down pat. He's not very happy with his life, either, until he has a chance encounter with a completely enchanting girl.

Now, I'm usually the first person to doubt insta-love, but for whatever reason, I think it actually worked pretty well here. And I think the biggest reason for this is that it actually wasn't quite insta-love. The first time Dominique saw Ben, while a part of her did appreciate his looks, what really attracted her to him was his incredible musical ability. And as for Ben, he fell in love with Dom's fiery spirit, not her looks.

Also, I loved how the chapters alternated between Ben and Dom. There was one chapter written from both of their POVs that I wasn't too crazy about, but other than that, the writing was flawless. I was immediately hooked into their story, and I actually surprised myself by finishing it in less than a day. I loved the amount of depth that went into both Ben and Dom, and it made reading about both of them much more meaningful. Especially when, later in the book, we find out that Ben is bipolar. I haven't really read too many books with bipolar MCs, and I think it was represented really well here.

And just a quick note - when I finally read the author's bio a few days ago, I was incredulous to find out that she's a debut novelist and that this is *literally* her first novel. I was actually hoping to find more books by her, but I guess that won't be happening for a while!

Overall, I would give this book four-and-a-half stars. Congratulations to Lindsay Champion on a phenomenal debut YA novel!

Yeah, not a big fan of this one. Mainly I didn't like the characters or the romance. If you don't like those two for this book you're basicly doomed.

Dear fact checkers of the world: A round trip train ticket to NY Penn from Trenton would cost over $30 roundtrip. Also, Trenton is more of a Philly suburb. Also, it takes time to walk from Penn to 96th street. And a Metro Card costs more $$$$.

Look, I like the premise of an unreliable narrator, but let's not ignore reality entirely.

Loved the cover.

Like the characters.

But it is all in the details.

Someday, Somewhere is not just the cute contemporary romance story it seems it is. It starts off with some insta-love, which was a little too much for me but it was also kinda cute in a way. Ben and Dominique are drawn to each other and what follows is a whirlwind romance, but there are also other things going on. The story is also about mental illness, poverty and race.

“Ben was music. And that’s the thing about music, I guess. It begins, it consumes you and then it ends.“

Dominique is mixed-race and from a poor background, and Ben is white and has never known what it’s like to not have money. The characters are very different in background which is a topic often addressed in the book, and yet they have such amazing chemistry. I loved reading their conversations, but I also loved reading their individual perspectives. Neither of the characters is 100% good, Dom (short for Dominique) is dishonest and Ben is a bit arrogant and chaotic, but both are passionate and lovely characters to read about.

“I crack myself open and pour everything tender and passionate and vulnerable out into a pool across the stage to counteract all the nerves and terror, sweat and fear. I can’t make everything sound right, but I can turn the notes on the page into music. That’s what I always do. That’s what everyone expects me to do.”

This is one of those books that just sweeps you away. While I was reading, I just forgot about everything, even time and I could keep reading forever if the book was that long. I can’t really put my finger on what it was that made this book so engaging, maybe the writing style, maybe the story, but it was so amazing. It also made me remember that books actually can do that, because it’s not something that happens often with me. I’m not a binge reader, but this book made me one.

"She’s flowy and messy and jumbled, but in this totally beautiful way. Like Jazz."

I am giving this book 4 stars, because it was a really fun book that also had some darker and less joyful parts. It was happy but also sad, so don’t go into this book thinking you’re just going to read a cute contemporary! The book reminded me a lot of The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon, because it is similar in many ways. So I definitely recommend it if you liked that!

I enjoyed this book because I loved the music aspect with Ben being a concert violinist and the setting in NYC. Dom was a good character too, strong and despite her life circumstances, she really wants to go to college and make something of her future. I love the way they meet and then how Ben looks for her after he sees her 2 times. They are so different that their relationship is very unique. They also do not spend that much time together which makes it hard for them to even have a relationship or to get any closer. I thought this book needed a better ending. I did not like being left hanging wondering what might happen someday but I guess that is the title, after all.... It took me a realize what Ben's issues were and how serious it was for him--and that whole storyline was so sad because he was obviously so accomplished at a young age. I just felt like they didn't have enough time together to even develop a relationship so that took away from the plot and the ending.. for me at least. It's a quick read and Ben and Dom are sweet characters--I especially loved Cass, Dom's best friend. Would love a whole book just about him!

**I received Someday, Somewhere from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
3.5 stars
"It begins, it consumes you and then it ends."
This book definitely flowed as the above quote describes. I was immediately transfixed with this story. This book is narrated from two perspectives: Dominique and Ben. I liked Dominique from the start. She's incredibly relatable and all she wants is hope for a better future. Ben, on the other hand, starts out as this bright star. He's a brilliant violinist that is attending a prestigious music university. To me, this story is about each of these character's individual journeys. Dominique is learning to fight for the future she wants and deserves, while Ben is realizing that he needs to accept his reality and stop living in denial.

This is a coming of age story. Both of these characters are just trying to find a way to make it in this world and they're learning how to chase their dreams. Yes, there is romance in this story but I wouldn't label it a romance novel. In all honesty, the romance didn't seem fully dimensional to me. It was a bit too Insta-love for me. I would need a bit more development in their relationship in order for me to feel invested in their relationship. However, the character arcs were not rushed. Champion does an amazing job in growing these two characters. They are different people on the last page than they were on the first page.

My biggest complaint would be the ending: what was that? I don't feel as if I got closure from Ben's story with that ending.

This love-at-first-sight story had me instantly hooked, and I kept reading because I was so invested in the outcome for these two.

•Pro: I was instantly in love with Dom and cheering for her the whole time. I wanted more for her, and was beyond happy with where Champion took her story.

•Pro: Ben was so intense. I have a certain admiration for the dedication those who perform at an elite level have, and that intensity came through ten-fold with Ben. Watching him spiral out was really difficult, because I wanted him to succeed. The look we got into his world was quite intriguing as well, and I found all the musical references fascinating.

•Pro: The romance was wonderful! From the meet-cute to how Ben found Dom again. It all made my heart flutter.

•Pro: The setting was wonderful. I have a special place in my heart for NYC. I lived there until I was in my teens, and it is still my hometown. I love revisiting places I know, and Champion took us on a fun tour.

•Con: The ending left me a little wanting. There was enough closure, but I just wanted a bit more.

•Pro: These kids were my kind of people, as they shared my love for old movies, especially musicals.

•Pro: The mental health issues were well done. I diagnosed Ben well before his problems were acknowledged in the story.

•Pro: Cass was a top-notch friend. I absolutely loved him, and you could see how much he loved Dom. It was in everything he did for her.

•Pro: Dom's life was not easy. She was poor, and lived in an unsafe neighborhood, but Dom and her mom had each other, and their bond was quite beautiful.

•Pro: I loved the way Champion divided the book, and matched the pacing to it's musical equivalent. Ben was learning this sonata, and at one point, he explained the three movements of it, and I thought it was an interesting way to divide the book.

•Pro: Though the book deals with some heavy issues, it was never too heavy.

Overall: An equally heartbreaking and heartwarming story.

Centered around Ben, a violinist at a prestigious New York school, and Dominique, a high schooler in New Jersey, this book chronicles their relationship, from their first glance to what happens next. I was a little concerned at the beginning because it seemed to be another book of insta-love, it turns out that wasn't really the case.

This book dealt with some intense topics in a non-intense way and really drew me into the story and the characters and I really wanted to know what was going to happen. This book really grew on me and by the end I was racing to find out what was going to happen.

I recieved Someday, Somewhere by Lindsay Champion from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don't remember when I requested this book, but I wasn't expecting to get it because it was sooooooo close to the publication date, but I got the eARC the day before the book was about to be published. I was happy about the fact that this book was mobi/epub file so they could go on both my Nook and Kindle. (I do read on both.)

That cover was what drew me in the most, and then the plot. The book pretty much lived up to the plot. The writing was very fast paced. I was a bit worried about not being able to get through with it so quickly since I got the eARC at the very last minute, but that ended up not being a problem at all. I like it when books have a good pace for me. I also liked the short chapters, and the different point of views.

Cass was actually my favorite character in this book. I wish he had been in the story more because he was super loyal to Dominique even when she had some of her silly teenager moments she had because of a guy. I will be honest that there were a couple of instant moments where I was just more than shaking my head at her. Some of the things she did just made me frustrated, but I liked how it all came to a circle in the end.

I liked how the happily ever after didn't happen the way it was supposed to with the way the book was going. I was happy with how it ended because it showed character growth. I really liked Champion's writing style.

I am still super thankful I was given a chance to read this book at the very last minute. THANK YOU publishers and Netgalley again!! I will definitely be on the look out for more of this author's books. The rating is a four star read especially since I was able to enjoy it and get through it a couple of days instead of a long time like I first thought. That plot was just gorgeous! I just liked how real it was with the emotions. The instant love plot made this book work as well.

Started off really good. Then the characters become so frustrating and annoying. Very disappointing.

I'm not sure if it's because I have subliminally high expectations, but ever since I spent the summer in New York City, every single book I've read since then that takes place there has failed to captivate my interest. The descriptions of New York in this one were pretty good, and definitely read as if they were written by someone who knows that city inside and out like the back of their hand. If there's one thing I hate about those who write about places they've never even been to, it's that it never ever matches the aura of the actual place. This book didn't do that, but I'm afraid to say that this is its only really positive aspect.

This book isn't absolutely terrible, I want to make that clear. But it definitely was not for me. I can recognise that it follows a similar formula to Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story, neither of which are particularly my favourite, so perhaps that why I could never properly warm up to it. At first I didn't mind it at all - I could connect to Dom, because I too feel the pull of New York City and would do almost anything to get there again. But her developing story line and obsessiveness with seeing Ben rubbed me completely the wrong way. She comes from a poor family, one that is barely scraping by, and struggles to find even twenty dollars lying around to pay for a train ticket. She calculates the cost of a subway ride, shares a bed with her mother in their tiny apartment, and then all of a sudden becomes so obsessed with boy in a different state/city that the cost never even crosses her mind. I just don't find that believable. She borrows other peoples' clothes from her mother's laundromat, which is just plain creepy, uses up her (also dreadfully poor) best friend's birthday money, and steals money not only from her family's business, but also a giant wad of cash from a jacket dropped off for dry-cleaning. She basically turns into a petty thief and criminal just because of a boy, and yet she is perpetually portrayed as someone with a good conscience, because she is eaten away by the guilt of lying to Ben, and essentially fulfills the mold of the manic pixie dream girl. Who cares if she steals clothes and money if she knows who Duke Ellington is? I just couldn't possibly sympathise with her as the story progressed and it made no sense to me that someone who grew up with as hard a life as she has would just throw it to the side like that.

As for Ben, I had mixed feelings for him pretty much from page one. He's a great musician, I will give him that. I especially liked the quote at the beginning of the book, where he mentions that every minute you don't spend practising, someone else is. But his actions were obsessive and also a little creepy as well, and it just sat wrong with me. He plasters the Upper West Side with posters with Dom's description just because he met her one time and she had an opinion on Frank Sinatra, and was always insulting others around him because either A) they weren't as good as he was, or B) they just didn't understand his genius. Literally nothing about him was appealing to me. There were so many parts of him that were revealed in the last 30% of the book that would have been beneficial to reveal early on, because at least then there would be an explanation to his behaviour and would make readers feel more sympathetic.  Yes, there is a point that is crossed where it's obvious it is no longer a obsession with perfecting a sonata and is instead a side effect of a mental illness, but it doesn't count if you don't let your readers know that. Mental illness is not a plot twist, and it was used as one. The character is built up as pompous, entitled, with an ego the size of Manhattan, but all of a sudden he's got a mental illness and the reader is left in the dust feeling awful for disliking him at all.

There were a couple of little side storylines that could have worked, but weren't given an lead-in or lead-out, merely a middle. There was no background given regarding Dom and Anton's relationship, and it goes from a matter of him being a bully to all of a sudden they dated and he abused her. It felt unnecessary and forced. Part of what makes Dom's development is that she struggles with thinking she's not good enough, and clearly Anton is supposed to be part of that story line and represent a legitimisation for the voice in her head. But it was not done well at all and felt excessive. Another side story line that didn't feel real was the one with her father. His influence (or lack thereof) had no impact or role in the majority of the story, but then all of a sudden at the end she decides that visiting him is the only thing that will make anything better. It felt like it was a placeholder, meant to give Dom a way to achieve her peaceful happily ever after.

Both of these main characters represent a certain kind of character, and they do not delve outside of that mold whatsoever. In fact, nothing delves outside of a basic, simple mold. We don't know anything about the secondary characters outside of what serves to support the main ones. It's as if as soon as they check off a certain trait, their development stops. Also, the point of Dom being Latina was handled poorly, in my opinion. It was not mentioned whatsoever in the first half of the book, and was hastily thrown in as a side note as if it was a check box for diversity. Diversity is not a check box.

The ending is rushed and ties up in all the wrong places. It's great that Dom is pursuing dance, but after an entire book's worth of developing the fact that she's really really poor, I have a hard time believing that she manages to scrounge up enough money to pay for a top-tier school like NYU. Ben's story remains unfinished, and so is their romance. Exactly what was that scene in the subway where Ben is playing the saxophone? While Dom's story line has an outlook, we don't really know where Ben ends up. Okay, he's been diagnosed, but then what? And after all this intensity they both went through when they were obsessed with each other, are we supposed to believed that their relationship came to a halt just like that?

Despite all of these things I've laid out above, there are some things I liked about this novel. Ultimately, I did like the story of Dom's background and the contrast of her and Ben's upbringing. The parts I didn't like were how these backgrounds were treated. Like previously mentioned, I liked the descriptions of New York, because it felt real and genuine. I liked that the book was split into three sections using musical terminology. I do like the emphasis on the music, and it did open my eyes to how vast and beautiful the classical music genre is. These parts of the book were excellent, and after reading the background of the author, I am really glad that it comes from a point of experience. I also really liked all the references to old movie musicals. I did say early on that this book isn't a bad one, but it certainly wasn't something I overly enjoyed and I found quite a few flaws that I felt were substantive. Perhaps if some of the plot reveals were rearranged, and the obsession with and between the two characters was toned down, I would enjoy this book. Because I do want to, I just...don't.

Pros:
- I LOVED THE SETTING. I really could relate to where this book was set, NYC and NJ. Because I live in one, and I dream to live in the other. So you can imagine how happy I was to read so much about those places.
- As well as relating to the setting, I found myself really relating to both Dom and Ben, in terms of me being a struggling artist like the both of them. Especially like Dom, being a dancer and finding how to fit into the world of one.
- I enjoyed how the two main characters meet, it was a little bit of insta love (I wish I got more out of them starting to date so that's a con), but it was cute how they both went above and beyond to try and find each other again after they part ways.

Cons:
- The ending. I thought I was going to get SOOOO MUCH MORE. I swiped the screen thinking there would be more but I was at the acknowledgements page and I was like whhatttt this cannot be true.
-Honestly I wanted more of Anton. I wanted to get inside his head and see where his thoughts came from. I also wanted to know more about why Dom had such an issue with Anton after they broke up.
- I was left with a lot of questions, and truly just didn't like that I was. They weren't questions like "I want more, I need another book. I can't get enough of these characters." It was more like confusion. Why did this happen, and what happened between some lost space.

This book is definitely enjoyable and a good one for Champion's debut novel. But I really wish I got more.

When I requested the ARC, I thought I would be more into it. The plot sounded so nice.

Unfortunately, it wasn't written for me. It's not a bad book, I know many people will enjoy it. But, for me, it didn't work. I had to force myself to keep reading it and I don't like when that happens. I apologize, but in this case I prefer not to write any public reviews.

Unable to review. Everything was fine in initial download, but now all the books that I've tried to read that are not sent to my kindle I've been unable to read. It's a shame because I was really excited to read this one.

Between that cover and the synopsis, there wasn’t a reason for me to not devour this book.

Dominique and Ben are both interesting characters. They’re both struggling with something and even though their backgrounds are wildly different, they’re both yearning. I really enjoyed the scenes with them together. Dom’s BFF, Cass, was a fantastic secondary and I wish we would have gotten something more of substance. I wasn’t a fan of how Dom treated him.

Plot wise, it was what I expected. The music portion on Ben’s side is frantic and obsessive and I absolutely loved it. Dom’s POV is maybe a bit whiny and needy, but her wanting was palpable. It was fairly obvious to me what the secret was going to be, but it didn’t take away from the story. The writing sounded more like someone’s actual stream of consciousness and I’m not sure that’s a proper description or a good thing. The page long sentences didn’t help.

Overall, it was an easy read, but there was still something in the back of my head that kept me from loving it. Oh and I definitely wanted more from the ending.

**Huge thanks to KCP Loft for providing the arc free of charge**

Adored it. Was wary at the start cause I felt like it was gonna take the insta-route but turned out to rather deep and moving, and the writing style made it even better.

et me start by saying this book has promised to be really good. There were just a few issues that i had. The first one being that one of the main character is lying about pretty much everything except her name when she meets the love interest. There is also a big case of insta love involved here. There were just small things throughout the book that would frustrate me a little bit. That being said i really loved the music element in this book. It definitely appealed to me since i myself use to play an instrument. I felt like the ending was pretty rushed, if the book would have been just a little longer i think i would've liked it a little more, rather than having such an abrupt ending. Overall i still really enjoyed my time reading this.