Someday, Somewhere is a novel that I have very conflicting feelings about. I just really can't say I had a good time while reading it and while writing this review I realized, I don't think the issues raised in this novel were handled very well.

This book was an incredibly uncomfortable read for me. I definitely think the cover gives off a wrong vibe. Going into this novel I simply didn't expect it to deal with so many serious issues and it was honestly kinda a downer. Now I don't wanna take away from anyone seeing themselves in these main characters but I just wanna warn you. Do not expect a fluffy, happy contemporary romance with some drama on the side. That is not what this is it all. This is definitely far from happy.

While I guess a lot of the issues I had with this redeemed themselves at the end and it did feel like the characters developed well, the romance just made feel icky throughout the novel. First of all, it is based on a big old pot of lies. And I just can't be invested in a romance that I know is based on lies. DON'T BASE YOU RELATIONSHIPS ON LIES. That's literally the worst thing and I hated reading about it so much. Also because it made no sense. At all. I know the main character had her reasons for her lies but I don't think it was written well enough to actually be relatable. And her best friend supporting her in her lies? Telling her “he will leave you if you tell him the truth”? Eww. I can't handle that shit. I always need one person to stay clear-headed. And there simply was none.
Then when the lies finally got revealed there were seemingly no consequences AT ALL. I might be petty and if there's feelings involved they won't change according to your background story, but oh my god. I can't believe we brushed that whole thing off in like.. two sentences. No. Just no.

Also.. uhm.. I mean I might be exaggerating but in a way I feel like mental illness was used as a plot twist? I just think this should have been talked about way earlier in the novel. I would have wanted to see this resolved in detail. Instead this is another thing that really got brushed off in just a couple of sentence.

And while writing I'm realizing this is where my issue is and why I felt so uncomfortable while reading this book and even after finishing. Yes, everything is “okay” at the end but where's the journey to this part? We see all of these problems building up and up, leading to a downright problematic relationship. And then we never really deal with the problems. We know everyone does the right thing and they learn from their mistakes. But as a reader I don't think I was able to get much out of it because it was cramped into the ending.

In general I didn't really think any of the relationships stood out. I didn't really enjoy any of the parental relationships or the friendships. Really, the only relationship I had some interest in was between Ben and his brother. Honestly his brother is really kinda the only person I had some real sympathy for in this novel and he was the only one who stayed clear-headed.
I think this novel could have benefited from more outsider POVs but I guess that would've spoiled the mental illness because it's no longer coming from an unreliable narrator. Yikes.
I can't speak for anyone who actually suffers from this particular mental illness and I'm not saying the representation itself was bad, it's just that the way it was handled and resolved left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Ultimately I feel more mad about this novel now that I was actually able to sit down and reflect on my experience. I can't say there was much that I enjoyed and ultimately it will be a novel I'll forget about in a couple of days.

I loved the music aspect of the story. The characters were great, and they made me smile and worried all at the same time. I wish we could have gotten to know Cass more because he was awesome in the few chapters he was in. Dom was wonderful as well even owning her flaws. Ben, my dear, made me super stressed about his health. The part I did not like most was the ending. Maybe it's parshly because Dom and Ben were not together, but I just wanted to see Ben's point of view in a better way than being told from Dom's view. Thanks to this story though, I am going to start a musical movie marathon tonight.

I’m not going to lie, this book was almost perfect but I wanted a different ending. I wanted more!!! It really killed me and made me so sad. But the story was sooooo good!
First of all, I loved the characters, all of them, even the moms. Also Cass was a super awesome best friend. Then we have Ben, oh Ben! My poor Ben! I was so sad when I finally understood him and I have to say I was also very scared. I thought this was one of those books that makes me cry and cry but although I was super sad, mostly because I wanted a different ending to the story, I didn't ugly cry. I also loved Dom, she was a great character that knew what was right and what was wrong even if she made a few tiny mistakes.
I really loved this story and will definitely recommend to my friends.

This book was a bit of a surprise. I requested an arc because of the musical aspect of it and ended up realizing that it was far more than a book with a musical focus. I loved the writing style and the way that things were revealed about the characters.I enjoyed the changing points of view and the twists as we got to know the characters more and more though the novel. The references to music made this a delightful read for anyone who has played music or enjoys it! Thank you netgalley for giving me a chance to try something a little different from what I normally read. I am very happy I took the time to read this story!

If this book were a person, I'd squish their cheeks right about now. This was just such an enthralling YA contemporary.

So, this story is told in dual POV - Ben, who's a musical prodigy living on the Upper East Side, studying at this prestige conservatory and who cares about almost nothing besides music. Then we have Dominique, who lives in a bad part of Trenton with her mother who runs her own struggling Laundromat, basically surviving on a steady diet of beans and rice. On a chance school trip to New York, Dom sees Ben playing the violin and is mesmerized - almost as much as I was by their story.

Let's break this down:

+ the characters

Listen, Dom and Ben are fan-fucking-tastic, I can't even.
Ben is this violinist prodigy who spends every single minute of every single day playing his heart out because he knows he can only be the best if he practices constantly. The passion he puts into his music translated so beautifully in this novel, I wanted to cry. I'm absolutely tone deaf but always had daydreams about being this brilliant virtuoso, and I might have lived a bit vicariously through Ben's experience.

Dom, on the other hand, lives a completely different life. She comes from a poor household, she loves dancing, and she can't afford to take classes because her mom and her are barely scraping by. This was executed so well - so often in literature, people just slap the label 'poor' on characters to show their struggle, but Dom felt so real. She has to help out her mom, doesn't get an allowance and basically only gets to meet Ben because she has this best friend Cass (who is the coolest) who helps her out any way he can so she can get her happily ever after. Friendship goals right there.

+ the themes

MUSIC I can't read sheet music, I can't tell you if a specific sonata is by Beethoven or Vivaldi or whoever, but I love listening to classical music and this book just perfectly described the feeling??
10/10 would recommend listening to the pieces Ben mentions while reading the book!

The wish for more I love the ambition in this book: Dom and Cass want to get out of Trenton, want to move to New York and have their own lives away from the poor one they grew up in. Though Dom never loses sight of how improbable it seems, she also fights for her better future. Ben is determined to be the youngest, best violinist out there. This drive (which as we learn pretty early on is unhealthy) and struggle and pressure was so relatable I wanted to cry.

Mental illness It sneaks up on you in this book, but the bipolar disorder rep was incredible. We get this slow unraveling of Ben, these phases he goes through as he grows more frantic and erratic, not only in the pursuing of his music but in his relationships and it was so intoxicating I'm getting a bit antsy just writing about it.

+ the romance
...was actually my least favorite part of this?! Don't get me wrong, Dom and Ben are adorable, but I'm always hesitant about instalove and it just didn't feel entirely authentic that the both of them were talking about love literally after meeting three times and not having any real contact between those meetings. That being said, boy, were they cute when they were actually together. Their meet cute at a fountain made my cold heart beat faster.

+ the ending (spoilers ahead, fair warning!)
...left me a bit disappointed. We get pretty good closure concerning Dom's story, but Ben's story just - stops. I just wish we would have learned more about how he recovered and what happened to his musical career. Has he switched instruments? Has he found a healthy balance in his life? Is he still obsessing over music? I need answers!

If you're looking for a YA contemporary with a lot of heart, a handsome violinist and some good mental illness rep, this one's for you!

Dominique lives in a small town in New Jersey and has always dreamed of going to New York with her best friend, Cass. Ben is a violinist who dreams of being the best in the world. One night on a school fieldtrip, Dominique sees Ben and can't stop thinking about him. Always there to help, Cass encourages Dominique to go back and talk to him, so she does. Now that she's "met" Ben, he's the one that can't stop thinking about her. But Dominique and Ben have issues they both need to face, and Dominque needs to fix what she's done if she wants to be with Ben. In heartwarming and true fashion, Lindsay Champion delivers a tale of finding the one, finding yourself, and where you belong.

First of all, how is this a debut novel? Champion writes with the skill of a seasoned pro, and I fell in love with this book in the first two chapters. Dominique and Ben are the cutest little couple, but they can't make it if they aren't honest with themselves and each other. The characters are extremely well written, with little quirks, mannerisms, and wants like everybody else, but different. Their struggle is all their own, but they are still relatable. The setting of the places they go leaves me wanting to see the same places, and I loved how the story unfolded; slow at times, but appropriately so for the situation. At times, things moved so fast, but it was meant to be like that, and you find out why afterwards. That ending had my heart ripping out of my chest, but I understand that it was better this way. Excellent work and I will definitely be looking out for Lindsay Champion in the future.

SOMEDAY, SOMEWHERE was an absolute excellent and heart shredding book. All I knew going in was it's about music, and being a musician who writes about music and also spent my entire teenagerdom listening to Beethoven on repeat...oh hello there book. You are mine. It absolutely didn't disappoint and I was so teary at the end. It balanced emotion and complex characters and had such tight pacing that I couldn't stop reading. I could feel myself speeding up with the book, like a classical piece just going faster and faster, until the string snaps at the end.

It's about music and mental illness and wanting more. I think the music aspect was done nicely and felt authentic enough even though the author wasn't a musician. I loved the parts where Ben was so into his music that nothing else mattered, because I really felt THERE with him. Even though I also ached for how unhealthy his obsession was and wanting someone to help him.

It's dual narrated by Ben and Dominique. Ben is a rich musical prodigy and Dom is super poor and watching her mum struggle to run a laundromat and has had to give up her dream of being a dancer due to money. (She's also half Ecuadorian.) Dom and Ben meet at a concert and then -- SPARKS. Their get-together-story was super cute and I loved how they had to find each other with no information. It wasn't instalove at all, but insta-connection, and it was perfectly done. They were also both equally winning, although Ben was a bit conceited (but there are reasons for that) and I rooted for Dom to have a better life and for Ben and her to work out.

I also loved the writing! It had a lot of cute and fun dialogue, some banter, some excellent side-characters (Cass was great and I hope he has a wonderful life too!) and how real it all felt. The details made the settings leap off the page. And every character felt real and complex, even if they weren't mentioned very often.

My only complaint is I felt the ending was unbalanced. Open endings I love, but I felt this was just unfair since Dom's story had a conclusion but Ben's didn't.

Honestly this book is amazing and I totally loved the combination of music and #meetcutes and two teens who just want more from their life. I'm just sitting here with heart eyes.

A lovely debut novel by Lindsay Champion. I loved her writing and even though there were parts in the story I'm not usually a fan of, I still enjoyed the book much more than I expected to.
It was sweet, fast paced and filled with music and I'm one of those who actually liked how it all ended.