'Out of Anywhere' is the story of Shay, a young woman, who after years on the road is longing for a place to call home. I was drawn to this idea of home and really enjoyed how Andrea Nourse explored it in this novel. I also loved the way in which Nourse constructed the character of Shay and the importance that the relationship between mother and daughter had to play in this. It was easy to see the ways in which her past was impacting her in the present and this made her feel human. Although I did struggle to get into the book initially, once it had grabbed me, I struggled to put it down. I feel as though this has to do with Nourse's plot development as it took the story progressing for the characters to come to life. To this point, the end also felt a little rushed for me, it lacked closure and I finished the novel with a sense of confusion. In spite of this 'Out of Anywhere' is still an uplifting and human story about the messy reality of life. I'd recommend adding it to your tbr if you're looking for an easy to read novel that still has some substance and heart.

I loved Out of Anywhere. The characters in it tugged at my heart. Shay is our protagonist, that I found myself rooting for from the beginning. For someone so young, she's experienced more than her fair share of personal trauma and I really liked seeing her growth throughout the novel. I adored the small town setting of Wishing and the people in it. Out of Anywhere gives off cozy vibes but with an edge. I really enjoy how Andrea Nourse writes her characters; they tend to be vulnerable and have an authentic realness to them. Thank you Andrea Nourse and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 @𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 - 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.⁣
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Summary from GR: "Having lived as a nomad for most of her life, Shay Lane is desperate to find a place to call home. Yet, she follows in her estranged mother's wandering footsteps and bounces from town to town, never settling down, because it's the only way she knows. That is until her car dies outside Wishing, Missouri, and she finds herself stranded in a small town filled with nosy neighbors and too many questions.⁣
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Shay is eager to leave as soon as she can but when random gifts start appearing, her curiosity gets the best of her. Shay doesn't know what to think or who to thank, or what they expect in return. As Shay settles into a life in Wishing, she searches for the identity of her anonymous benefactor. With each new gift, the threads of her life and her mother's begin to unravel. If she pulls the wrong one, she may never find her mother or the home she's been searching for."⁣
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Well this was fun! I've read a few books by this author and she does a great job of writing characters who evoke strong feelings in me. There were times when I was irritated and questioned some of Shay's choices, but then a few pages later I was completely on her side when something happened and she was feeling frustrated. ⁣
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There were a lot of subtle twists I didn't see coming and while it wrapped up quickly at the end, there was nothing left unanswered, and I was engaged the whole time while reading! ⁣
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𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 releases this Tuesday, August 3rd!

Out of Anywhere follows Shay Lane, a woman who has spent her entire life on the road, moving from place to place. When her trusty car finally gives up on her, she's forced to stay in a town called Wishing until she can pick herself back up and move on. However, Shay has always been desperate for a place to call home, and Wishing might just be that place.

So I must admit that when I first requested this book I definitely misread the blurb, as it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I don’t read much general fiction as it’s not usually my thing, but I went into this one with an open mind.
I really liked Shay as a character and liked seeing her emotional growth throughout the book. The writing was very clever and made you really understand all the pain she's had in her past, so of course you root for her throughout the story. I would say that there's a lot of internal monologuing in this, and after a while it got a bit repetitive and annoying. Shay spends ages thinking about how she's never settled anywhere before, then can't seem to decide whether or not she’ll stay, even though we as readers know she's going to stay.
I also absolutely loved the descriptions of life in a small town. I've never been to America, and certainly not a small town in America, but I really felt like this book gave me an insight to what that would be like. I liked the characters of the town on the whole, although some things did start to get on my nerves slightly.

A few things that I didn’t love about the book knocked a few stars off for me. The main one was that there was just an insane amount of secrecy that bordered on ridiculous. I couldn’t understand it, and it meant that when we finally got answers at the end, it felt rushed and too convenient. I also guessed so many of the plot twists, and then got frustrated that Shay couldn’t seem to see what was right in front of her.

Overall, many things that I enjoyed about this book, but also some things that bugged me. Perhaps it’s because this isn't my usual genre that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped to; I think if you're a big fan of general fiction then you might enjoy this more than I did.
I recieved an eARC of this book from NetGalley in return for my honest review.

Huge thank you's to Andrea Nourse, the publisher, and Netgalley for an eARC of this book!!!

Shay is such a strong character. Such a well written character. I was hooked from the first page, as Shay is in such a relatable situation. The mystery, and intrigue kept me flipping pages well into the night! I truly finished the book and immediately hugged my device to my chest, as if wrapping Shay in a hug.

This novel is like an addictive TV show, each chapter kept you wanting to know more, giving you just enough action and filling your head with questions.
I like going into books blind for the most part and didn't anticipate it being centered around the mystery so much. It really kept me engaged and wanting to know more about Shay's past and her elusive mother.
The small town atmosphere is perfectly realized and I feel like I got to know Shay as a character and see her grow throughout the novel.
The writing was sometimes a little repetitive and at some point it got a tad annoying: yes I know Shay has never settled anywhere, yes I know she's thinking of living but I also know she won't... However, besides that minor detail I enjoyed this book and it even got me teary eyed by the end.
It's a solid 3.5 stars for me.

Wowowow! This book is a must read! It was so real and heartbreaking and heartwarming (yes both at the same time!) The story kept me guessing the whole time! It is so well written and relatable. I loved how the characters were developed and their relationships to one another. Amazing read!

This book follows Shay, a 25-year-old woman who has lived her life on the road.
Motels and cheap sheets, gas station food and counting pennies. That was the life she knew with her mother, until one night she and her mother are separated, and Shay must learn to navigate life and the road on her own.

I really enjoyed this book! Growing up in a town with less than 1500 people, I appreciated the small town feel and sense of community that the author created. It felt homey and welcoming.

There is also the idea of generational trauma, and the ways we hold on to the past as a buffer for the present. Throughout the book, Shay unravels her story, along with her mother's, to find a place where she belongs. A place she can heal and grow, even if she must make that place herself.

There are a lot of inner monologues, which was a little much at points, but I prefer books with more dialogue, which is probably why that was my only 'issue'.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book! If you are looking for a story of finding yourself and your place in the world, I recommend this book for you.

TW for mentions of r*pe and sexual assault.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!
My review will be posted on my Goodreads, along with my Instagram (@samwisereads). I will post my review on Instagram on August 3, 2021, to promote for publication!

Shay has lived her whole life on the road, and when her car breaks down outside of the town of Wishing, not far from her own and her mother's birthplaces, she's drawn into staying and ends up finding out all about her mother's past. It wasn't bad. The ending was maybe a little too neat and I didn't necessarily think it made sense for her new friends to keep so many secrets from her, regardless of the reason. Also (spoiler) why didn't Tammy just call 911 after being hit by the car instead of calling Miranda?? 3 stars.

I come from an Asian household where blood family is one of the most—if not THE most important thing in life. No matter who you are, what you do, and where you go, at the end of the day family will always be there; the first ones when you are born, and the last ones when you die. In "Out of Anywhere," I encountered a solid story of found family and how a community can come together out of love for a common goal. And I gotta say, it was very refreshing to read.

I love stories like this where I feel like they're also small slices of the character's lives that I get to peer into. I followed the story of Shay Lane, a strong, independent, but very solitary girl who avoids attachments and putting down roots and is by far THE angstiest character I have read all year. Luckily, the angst rubbed off on me in a good way. Nourse built up our protagonist in a way that made sense, laying down the foundations that made Shay the woman we encounter in the story. I understood her motivations for the decisions she made, which is a major plus already for me! In that way, I ended up rooting for her until the end when we finally find out how things make sense.

Given the first person POV, we see how all the characters revolve around Shay's life. On the top, they might seem like simplistic depictions, but I personally felt like these characters had equally rich lives of their own off the page and out of Shay's POV. Everyone had a role to play in our MC's story, and I'm so glad they weren't just caricatures for the plot.

The juxtaposition of the internal monologues and flashbacks gave context to the present-day events of the book, helping the story move along swimmingly. There were some plot points that made me go "........okay??" but I approached it all with suspended disbelief and that made things work for me. Plot-wise, I actually figured things out by the first few pages, though jokingly because of course, we want to hold all judgment before the book ends. Interestingly as I continued reading, the unfolding events made me second guess a lot of my initial theories. It held enough mystery to keep me on my toes, hooking me in and letting me finish almost 60% of the book in one sitting. (Spoiler: my theory was right haha)

Given that, I love how the book was written, save for a few minor issues I was willing to overlook. These include a number of repetitive passages that tried so hard to reemphasize things, as well as some grammar errors that might just be because it's an advanced copy, but the writing was fitting of Shay's voice and character.

By the end, I was left pretty satisfied with how things turned out. It was refreshing to see that everything had an answer and a reason why it turned out that way. For some, it might be a bit too neat of an ending so that's something to watch out for. I rate this an honest 4.5⭐️ because again, I genuinely enjoyed it! It's a breather of a read that packs a meaningful story that's not all fluff, with a touch of mystery to keep you hooked until the end.

I know I've said this several times before but YAY MY FIRST EVER ARC!!! I was given an advanced copy for my honest opinion and I stick by what I said. Thank you so so much to NetGalley and Andrea Nourse for what I feel is a first major step into really investing time and effort in reading books. Catch this on sale on August 3rd!

It's the story of a young woman, Shay Lane, who lives the life she's always known, driving her car, Trusty Rusty, across the United States. However, the car eventually dies on the side of a road near the town of Wishing, Missouri. Shay, with less than $200 in her pocket, has no choice but to settle in this town while she earns enough money to decide what to do next. When gifts that meet her wishes start to appear, Shay can't believe that they are only due to the name of the town. She decides to investigate to find out who her mysterious benefactor is. Could it be her mother, whom she hasn't heard from in six years but regularly leaves voice mails to? What if the town of Wishing has more to hide than the identity of an anonymous benefactor?

This book, which I was lucky enough to read thanks to NetGalley, was a very pleasant surprise for me. The description had already made me want to discover it, but I didn't expect to be so invested in reading it. I couldn't put my reader down until the book was finished.
Through Andrea Nourse's writing, you quickly become attached to most of the characters in this book, you can easily relate to them, they could be any person living in a small town: your neighbours, your friends… Unlike some of the characters in other books, they feel ‘real’ and I really appreciated that.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Andrea Nourse for allowing me to discover this little gem.

As for me, I got very attached to Shay. Her emotions are very well translated in the book and you experience them along with her, whether they are negative or positive. You just want to be with her at every new step she goes through.

For me, he only negative point of this book is its end which seemed a little too rushed and which left me doubtful on certain points. However, this is just a matter of personal taste and doesn't put in doubt the author's talent.

I highly recommend reading this book.

Loved Out of Anywhere by Andrea Nourse! An unusual storyline - intriguing and engaging, with equally intriguing and engaging characters. I hated the story to end.

I enjoyed Shay's story, I found the writing to be intriguing and entertaining. I certainly did not want to put it down. I only noticed a few editing mistakes, overall it was very well put together. Shay is an odd character, I think she is represented very well with her background and trauma taken into consideration. I also enjoyed the other characters though their air of mystery and many character cues our main character doesn't pick up on consistently annoyed me. Other than the potential purposeful ignorance of the main character at times, I did relate to her and felt that for the most part her actions made sense in her story. This book made me think and had me trying to figure out how I would behave if I were in Shay's shoes. I would enjoy continuing to discuss and sharing this book with others.

I think the author timed the book very well, answers were finally revealed one the tension and annoyance felt by both the reader and Shay became a bit too much. The town is very mysterious, but lovable, it's not a main character but I can see how the author meant to make the townspeople into one. The author is good at pointing out aspects of our main character that are annoying to both the reader and the rest of the characters. I do feel the ending was rushed and the closure provided was not as satisfying as expected. It seemed like the story just needed to be wrapped up quickly.
Thank you to the author and NeGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Andrea Nourse, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.

This was a pretty good story! We are instantly meant to feel bad for Shay, as she has never really had a normal life before and suddenly finds herself thrown out on the road alone. I definitely got a strange feeling as soon as she got to Wishing, and everything seemed to be too perfect to be true. However, I did wish she calmed down a little bit and was able to just appreciate everything the town was doing for her. I know a life on the road makes it so you can’t really trust anyone, but they gave her a place to stay and a steady job, the least she could have done was not question every action they did. I was happy this story didn’t turn into a stereotypical romance, and loved the mystery aspect. However, I feel like the whole book led up to this huge discovery, and then it was super rushed at the end. I didn’t really understand why everyone in the town was so secretive about the “truth” that Shay was searching for, and the only real reason we got was because it was her mother’s wishes. Even though we found out what happened at the end, I feel as though I didn’t get real closure with our characters.

Loving the book. I love books based in small towns which give me the cozy vibe and I am so happy to be reading this one.

This book reminded me of a plot from a Hallmark movie. It felt like something I have seen before. I do look forward to reading more books from this author.

Why do so many good books stumble right at the end? That was my experience with this offering by Andrea Nourse. “Out of Anywhere” is a suspenseful, engaging story that held my attention throughout until I reached the Epilogue and felt let down.

Shay Lane spent the first nineteen years of her life on the road with her mother. Then the unthinkable happens and after a hurtful argument, her mother demands she get out of the car and abandons her on the side of a highway. For the next six years, Shay replicates the only life she has known by moving from place to place. The story begins with Shay’s clunker car dying in the middle of the night, the final straw for her fragile emotional and financial states. Rescued by a small town police officer she finds herself embraced by the people of the small community of Wishing, Missouri. Despite her plans to make a few dollars and head out back on the road, she finds unusual support from several prominent citizens, and when gifts that match her current needs start arriving, her curiosity compels her to stay. The longer she stays the more she begins to care for these people and the more she suspects they hold the answers to many of the questions she has about her mother and her past.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shay as a protagonist. She came alive through the pages and her pain and suspiciousness evoked compassion and a real hope that she could change the course of her life. As wounded as she was, she had an indomitable spirit until the point where she just surrenders to her loss of control and lack of answers. It moved me to the point of tears.

The characters development is solid and the two antagonists are sufficiently reprehensible, if a little over the top, in the evil lurking behind respectable facades. The pace moved along building suspense as the mystery deepens with each new “clue” to the truth of Shay’s history and relationship with her mother. Ultimately, this is a story of redemption and forgiveness for both Shay and her mother.

I deducted a star in this review for two reasons. First, I didn’t feel the justification for the secrecy around the truth that Shay so desperately sought was adequately explained. Perhaps only her mother could answer this and then the rationale might still be distorted by long-standing suffering and betrayal. The second reason is that the Epilogue wrapped up the story with a too quick, too pat resolution to the threat posed by the antagonists. Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I do recommend it.

My thanks to the author and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing a digital ARC in exchange for an independent, honest review.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.