This is a tough review for me. For most of the novel, I felt like it was a bit overdone...unrealistic, too perfect, Hallmark movie-ish. So, why am I sobbing through the last quarter of the book? Obviously, something connected with my hard heart! This is a fast read and has a lot going on, and even though the characters seem a little cookie cutter, you'll find yourself cheering for them and hoping for the happy ending (although it might be unrealistic, you'll really, really want it!) And I must say...LOVED Cooper! Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing an advanced copy of this novel for review.

This book absolutely kept me hooked - I read it through in one day. The characters were strong and believable and that included some of the more minor characters like her mother and her sister where the author is careful to give enough detail to explain their motivations and their history. The descriptions of Alaska were also awe inspiring and really made me want to plan a trip one day. (Not so much for Texas - cochroaches - urgh!) I feel sure the author has personally experienced the mountains, the moose and probably the bears!

Saying that I did have some reservations. There is a strong theme of Christianity in this book which runs alongside issues such as drugs and teenage pregnancy. Naturally the protagonist feels a conflict when she considers abortion but I was very surprised that a girl in her situation would change her mind and I did wonder whether the author had made this decision because of their own beliefs. Equally, you could argue that almost losing the baby and also having a stable family environment which would help her raise the baby helped her make that (extremely difficult) decision. However I was absolutely not convinced by the grandfather, Cooper, changing his lifelong atheist beliefs and adopting the power of prayer; that felt odd and contrived. I am glad that Gabriel, the boyfriend, was allowed to retain his atheist beliefs!

I found the ending where the baby's father appears rather unrealistic; the whole situation was contrived - clearly the only reason she mentions her pregnancy on stage is to engineer this ending to clear up all of the loose ends. (This declaration of pregnancy felt very "off" to me as I read it but once I reached the ending I understood why it had been used). Saying that, the author does explain Zachary's extreme behaviour by re-listing her threats towards him, and adding messages which haven't been received. I don't think this was a necessary element though - he is completely off stage by this point and could have remained so.

Warning this book does have triggers to mental health issues drug related issues and Abuse.

I enjoyed the story it’s a very hard hitting from the start this book does not gloss over hard hitting issues.the book follows 16 year old Harper whose life is a train wreck she has a abusive boyfriend is addicted to drugs dresses up and blackmails her parents. And her younger sister wants To be like her. Untill one day she gets in contact with her estranged grandpa Cooper who is struggling with his diagnosis of dementia and together they form a unbreakable relationship and are great together.

I liked the chracture of Harper towards the end. At the beginning she was a bitch but as her story unfolds we find out she has a abusive boyfriend who gives her drugs and has sex with her I felt overwhelmed with how many issues that Harper has and I couldn’t keep up I just wanted to shout at her and disliked her. When she goes to Alaska I am rooting for her she had a great relationship with her grandfather and I liked that. At 16 she has a tough journey but by the end of the book I was rooting for her. good chracture progression you can have issues and come out the other side.

Cooper is Harpers Grandpa at thebstart you find out he has dementia and is estranged from his family. I loved Cooper as a chracture I really connected with him. The dements rep was spot on and I was in tears reading Coopers dementia getting worse but still determined to do things and show Harper his Alaska before the dementia sets in.

Harpers Family especially her dad is overprotective understandable as his sister Heather died and is worries about Harper going the same way. Harpers dad likeable towards the end and goes on a good parent learning curve. Harpers mum is ok as a chracture she has a lot of backstory throughout the book.

Harpers siblings Harper has a older brother Chris who is in the Army he is mentioned a couple of times but not alot wich is a shame would of liked him to join the family at the end.Alex and Jack are the younger siblings ok chractures they dont really add to the story in my opinion.

Rachel. Harpers Grandmother is sensible wanted to find out more about her apart from being Greg and Heather’s mum.

All in all I enjoyed it the plot was good easy to follow. this book is very emotion and Raw very gritty doesnt gloss over anything. I loved the description of Alaska. I enjoyed the book would of liked a but more about Chris Harpers older brother cried at the end.

Raiting: 4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Brilliant. I went through a whole series of emotions reading this book. So many issues are tackled in this story. They are tackled sympathetically and with a feeling of understanding. I will remember this book for a long time and would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Their worlds are about to come crashing down...
At sixteen years old, Harper Lyon's life is spinning out of control. She threatens her parents with suicide unless she can meet her drug-dealing boyfriend, a college student who doesn't know she's pregnant. Cooper Lyons, her estranged grandfather, lives in rural Alaska with only his dog and cat for company. He has just been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, and he doesn't plan on letting the disease run its course. Harper needs to escape her parents and decide what to do about the baby. She and her grandpa are worlds apart, but they may be exactly what the other needs. When Harper calls her grandfather, he welcomes the opportunity to help her and redeem his previous failure with his daughter Heather, who died from a drug overdose years ago.
Can they save each other?

This was a light, easy read. It was a bit cheesy and cliche at points, but overall a good novel.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I was not a fan of this. The writing was very basic. The main character did not talk like a teenager.

The premise of this book is not bad and it deals with a lot of important issues, however I don't think it was executed very well. Most of the characters seemed inauthentic and didn't behave entirely realistically. There were big moments revealed in short sentences that could honestly be missed if you weren't reading carefully. It vaguely explored how bad strict religious parenting can be, but also came off as pro-birth, and I don't think teenage girls need more judgement about what they should and shouldn't do with their own bodies. I don't know if this was the author's intention, but that's definitely how it came across to me. The book is actually quite preachy, which really put me off.

The topics in this book range from suicide, rape, pregnancy and Alzheimer's to death, family abuse, drugs, cyber bullying, etc. Too much to explore in such a short book, in my opinion. I think it would have been better if it dealt with fewer issues and gave more time to them.

No Fences in Alaska is about a girl named Harper who is going through some things at the age of 16 and feels like her parents just dont understand her. When Harper gets herself into a lot of trouble she ends up in Alaska with her grandfather that she hasn't seen in years.
Harper and her relationship with her grandfather Cooper is just beautiful. I loved their understanding and needing of one another. This story deals with a lot of issues. Trigger warning for sex, drugs, rape, death, and mental abuse. I enjoyed this story it was definitely a page Turner, but there was some parts of the story that made me cringed with cheesiness and insta love.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

the blurb contained a bunch of interesting concepts, that's for sure... but the book fell slightly.. flat fo rme.
i think i had high hopes based on the blurb itself. the book wasn't written horribly, but at times just didn't hold my interest.

I enjoyed this book. It is well written and the characters are described well. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

This one was a little too much for me, especially considering it’s “young adult.” I’m all for being realistic and I know teenagers do rebel... do drugs, have sex, drink alcohol, etc. But I didn’t like the way this book made it all seem “ok.” Just because Harper had done worse, didn’t mean she should keep sleeping with guys and drinking at 16-years-old. It’s like the only way her family could stay together was for her to keep acting out but in an acceptable way for them. I just didn’t agree with that and I think that’s an unhealthy way to approach these subjects with young adults.
I did think Harper’s rebellion was normal, though. I grew up in a conservative household with strict rules, and sometimes the harsher the parents’ are the crazier the child gets.
I didn’t like the way she used her pregnancy against people- especially the father. Dirtbag or not, it was still his child and she went about that whole situation in a really unhealthy and inappropriate way. Again, she’s 16, so I wouldn’t expect her to be super mature about it, but I don’t think young readers should be getting terrible ideas about abortion threats and lying to biological fathers from their YA reads.
I liked Cooper, the grandpa, a lot. He seemed like he’d really learned a lot through his experiences and wanted to instill wisdom in his family. And I liked the grandma, she seemed really sweet. I wanted to smack the shouting dad and shake the silent mom who stood by while her daughter fell apart and her husband lost his temper constantly.
Overall, I’m sure this book is very realistic and relatable to a lot of people. (Though finding a boyfriend at 16-and-pregnant in a matter of a few days is pretty unreal.) I would recommend it to older friends, but not anyone 18 or younger as it has some really unhealthy (in my opinion) approaches to very serious topics.
**multiple animal cruelty triggers**

I really wanted to like this book because I loved the premise. Unfortunately I found the protagonist hard to connect with and the writing overall quite poor. Which is a shame, given the subject material. Good idea, just not a great execution. The cover is excellent though and is what initially drew me to the book.

DNF-- I read about half of the first chapter, and skimmed the rest of the chapter. It seemed repetitive and a little overdramatic so soon in the book. I also wasn't a fan of the dialogue or the interactions between the characters.

No Fences in Alaska has a more "real life" feel to it then many books I've read, when it comes to real life. There are many problems with drugs, boys, family and health, that many people deal with in life, often all at the same time. I loved that aspect of it, although it was a lot sometimes, which is just an aspect of life. All the characters were really well written, you had the people you liked and the ones you didn't. The animals played a big role in the story and that was awesome.

I gave this story a 3/5 because I loved the characters, the message and the real life aspect. I wish some of it was a little stretched out and wasn't a week long story when it felt like it took a couple years. It was a constant, event after event sequence and that made it a bit hard to follow. That sequence also didn'y help the characters development, clearly there, but rushed and unrealistic. Overall, very good story, had times where I couldn't put it down. The message was lovely, because the title is true. You have nothing stopping you in Alaska.

I really loved this book, I was simply drawn into the story and went from thinking Harper was going to be a maybe “wayward”, alcoholic teen but the more I read into the book I realised that she is rather misunderstood. The characters and story line were very well done it explores family relationships and character development. The book is on the mature side, dealing with some intense themes. It does, however, induce a sense of joy that happens when one is part of a complete family, chosen or biological.

I tried to like this book. I did. But I just couldn't. I didn't connect with Harper -- I didn't like her at all. The ending was boring and cliché for me. It could have been so much better than it was, and unfortunately the execution of the plot was poorly delivered.

All in all No Fences in Alaska was a good book. I absolutely loved the Alaskan wilderness and probably enjoyed that part of the book more than the actual storyline. I found parts to be a bit over-descriptive, and at times it felt like the days moved too fast. The only negative thing I found is the way part of it's written.

No Fences in Alaska follows the story of Harper, who is a stereotypical wild child. Partying, sex, drugs. Throughout the book you get to be right there with Harper as she learns some life lessons. This coming-of-age read would be great for teens and adults. It can be a bit predictable, but worth the read. Through the whole book starting when Harper arrived to Alaska, I could picture myself out there. I believe it would make a good movie!

Despite myself having come of age a long time ago, I still enjoy a good coming-of age novel and usually read several of them a year. And that is precisely what drew me to Glen Sobey’s No Fences in Alaska. This one in particular, though, appealed to me because one of its two central characters, Cooper, is a man in his sixties who is facing a steadily worsening case of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Even better, Harper, the novel’s other main character is a sixteen-year-old girl in so much trouble at home in Texas that Grandpa Cooper, whom she has not seen in ten years, is her best and last chance at salvaging something positive from her life before it is forever too late.

Harper lives in San Antonio and Cooper lives in a remote area of Alaska. The two have not seen each other since Harper was six years old because Greg, her father, blames Cooper for everything that has ever gone wrong in his own life – and plenty has gone wrong. Unbeknownst to Harper, she’s probably a lot more like her grandfather than she is her father, and that’s a big part of the reason that her father gets along as poorly with her as he does with his old man. But Harper, perhaps because she so deeply craves the love she is not getting from her father, is herself a big part of the problem - if her father won’t show her his love, she will find it elsewhere. Greg demands a conservative Christian lifestyle under his roof, and Harper adamantly refuses to live that way. Instead, she takes great delight in dressing provocatively, using hard drugs, and sleeping with her college-age boyfriend at every opportunity.

Most people living Harper’s lifestyle are destined to bottom out at some point, some sooner than others. Harper is no exception, but the girl is smart enough to grab at the only lifeline available to her when it happens, her estranged grandfather. Cooper, who has begun contemplating how his own life is destined to end in a whimper rather than a bang, jumps at the unexpected opportunity to do some good for his family before he forgets he even has one. And that’s where the rest of the story begins, because after Harper joins Cooper in Alaska they manage more than once, and in more than one sense, to save each other’s lives.

Bottom Line: No Fences in Alaska is a touching story in which the author pulls no punches. What Harper goes through in Texas is brutal, if not uncommon, and few of his characters are portrayed as being completely innocent of helping to cause what happens to this family. As a reader, my only quibble with the novel is the quick and drastic swing in temperament that the author demands of his key characters. I found it difficult to believe, for instance, that such an uptight family, one that failed to master one-on-one communication for a decade, could so rapidly become a family that joked openly about their various sex lives around the communal dinner table – even with Harper’s young siblings there. There’s a lot to like about No Fences in Alaska, though, so don’t let that observation scare you away. Ultimately, this is a very satisfying novel.

This is such a heartfelt read! I immediately fell in love with the range of character personalities and the way the author was able to dive into the mind of a teenager and really bring the reader in from the first page. This is the story of Harper, a wild, drug-addicted, boy-crazy party girl and her journey to redefine herself in backwoods Alaska with her estranged grandfather. As the mother of a teenage girl, the trials Harper faces truly resonated with me. Her need to fit in, to rebel against her parents, to be the girl the boys want her to be, are all things that young girls go through in real life. Harper, however, finds herself pregnant by an older college boy who wants nothing to do with her or her baby. She isn't even sure what to do about the baby herself. When she sets off for Alaska to visit her grandfather, Cooper, whom she hasn't seen since she was six years old, her intentions aren't to get attached. But they end up being everything the other needs at that moment in time. Cooper was hands-down my favorite character. His wisdom and unconditional love for his family (and pets) is what ties the whole book together.

The plot was a little predictable and cheesy, but was still a real page turner. The writing was amazing. I am so impressed with how well the author describes the Alaskan scenery. I have never been to Alaska, but had no trouble picturing the beauty of it. After some research on the reader, I have found that the other lives in rural Alaska, so that vast beauty is something he sees every day. I really like that he chose a setting that he knows so well. This is a perfect summer read - I laughed, I cried, I rooted for characters at times and hated them at times. I was truly engaged in the story. It was like a movie playing in my head; I couldn't put it down. It is the perfect beach read for parents of teenagers, or any fan of YA fiction.

I was searching my kindle for my next read and the cover of this one caught my eye. I then saw the byline of “No fences in Alaska sweetheart, “Never let them build one round you” which made me want to read the blurb which had me want to start reading the book. The genre’s listed for this book are New Adult, YA, & Teens, which this book is certainly suitable for but I would like to add I think the book should also be classed as General Fiction as I think many adults would thoroughly enjoy reading it.

The very basics of the story are that Harper Lyon is a young 16yr old who is not getting on with her parents. Harper’s mother Natalie and her parents are very religious and strict and Harpers father Greg, found religion later in life and is trying to be very strict with his children. Natalie’s parents put a lot of pressure and have exceedingly high expectations from Greg as headmaster of a school they are funding. The slightest infraction of rules is to be punished no matter who that individual is. Which is how Harper finds herself expelled from the school her parents both work at. Greg also carries what some would say is emotional baggage from his childhood. The baggage he carries is in reference to this emotional baggage is in connection to his younger sister Heather who had been into boys, drink and drugs. Heather had died despite the best efforts of Greg’s parents. Greg blamed his father for his sister’s death and also for having an affair and causing the total breakdown of the family. This is one reason that he comes down so hard on Harper, but it is also a reason she feels she cannot talk to her parents. As Greg presumes Harper is on the same track of behaviour his sister was and attempts to clamp down even more on Harper. This however just pushes Harper further away, and into the arms of an older boyfriend, Zachary who uses her insecurities and ends up having her meet him in secret, gives her drugs and when she wakes up next to one of Zachary’s friends in bed at the side of her she realises she is in fact being used. I won’t go into much more detail but Harper decides to go to her Grandfather, (her father dad who they haven’t seen or spoken to for years) to live with him. Harper uses blackmail to get her parents to purchase her a ticket. Sadly, the blackmail is in a way a last cry for help from Harper to her parents but her father is so worried about losing his job that he caves and buys her the flight ticket. Harper doesn’t know what life will be like with her paternal Grandfather but assumes at this stage it can’t get any worse. Harper is totally unaware that her Grandfather, Cooper has just been given a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and is still coming to terms with that. Cooper admits he may not have done everything right in bringing up his children or his marriage but he is sure and really wants to help this granddaughter that he hasn’t seen since she was a young child that stood on a table during a boat journey and sang at the top of her voices. Those on the boat applaud her singing, however her father Greg did not, pulling her from the table saying people have to eat from those etc and telling her off. In fact, he argued with his father about it and they had never visited each other since. Cooper hopes Harper still has a love of singing as it is something, they will have in common that they can build on. Which they do become increasingly close yet still keep their biggest secrets to themselves. Eventually there comes a point where the secrets reveal themselves. It is through the process of tackling one of the secrets that Harper meets a boy around her age who works as an EMT and plays his guitar and sings around different venues for money. It’s not long before Cooper has them set up singing in different venues for payment. Then things take a turn for the worse for both Harper and Cooper…..who can help?

I feel like I want to tell you so much more, but to go into more detail, reveals far too much of the plot, and you need to have the sequence of events to be revealed in the order and at the time the book does so.

My favourite character is Cooper, the man who has been living alone without his family for such a long time with only his cat Houdini and dog Snowball for company. He is desperate to help his granddaughter when she reaches out to him, despite him not knowing the whole story of her situation. As time goes on in the book, Cooper becomes eager to help Harper find new interests and “set her on the right track” whilst he is still well enough to do so. He is determined to help to set up Harper’s future before he succumbs to Alzheimer’s. Having said that Cooper is determined no one will have to look after him when he gets to a stage in his illness that he can no longer take care of himself.

I seriously loved this book, I was easily drawn into the book and went from thinking Harper was going to be a maybe “wayward”, alcoholic teen but the further you read into the book you realise that she is somewhat misunderstood. In that when an alcoholic drink was found in her bag at school and it is reported to the headmaster who is also her dad, she is immediately presumed guilty and expelled then blamed for “ruining” her father Greg’s reputation. Her father seems very quick to believe the worst of his daughter, he cannot seem to help himself but compare Harper to his sister Heather. As a reader you can understand why she feels she cannot approach her parents to talk about her situation and problems. When she couldn’t see that Zachary was just using her I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her and shout, you are worth so much more. Then her rushed decision to go to Alaska to her grandfather, to me showed her maturing and wanting to do better for herself. After reading some of her interactions with Cooper I wanted to hug her and shout at them both for keeping secrets lol. This book does take you through a wide range of emotions. I found it difficult to put this book down and was frantically wishing for a happy ever after ending for Cooper, Harper and her family, but that wouldn’t have been realistic and this book really represents Alzheimer’s and the other issues featured accurately and in an honest, way. I think this book covered a lot of different issues really very well. There’s the dementia, the drugs, drink, peer pressure, family issues and more all dealt with so well in this book. The descriptions of the area are so good you can envision them easily. The byline, is said by the character I adored and kind of gives you a lump in your throat and then you totally understand how powerful it is within the book too.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were, Wow! What an amazing read! I am not ashamed to admit this book had me sobbing for the last 2% of it. Alzheimers/Dementia is portrayed honestly, truthfully and without frills or lies. Absolutely loved the relationship between Cooper and Harper. Would love to hear from these characters again a few years on, I will certainly be adding Glen Sobey's other book, The War Blog to my Want To Read List and keeping an eye out for any more titles written by him.

As a final sum up what can I say? I highly recommend reading, No Fences in Alaska!
Just make sure you have some tissues handy!