Right Where We Belong is a charming YA time-travel romance full of heart, humor, and emotional depth. Delaney Carmichael’s senior year at Ivernia is spiraling—her father has passed away, the school might close, and she’s completely lost. But a desperate wish leads to an unexpected twist: the arrival of Lord William Cromwell, a swoony and confused boy from the 19th century.

While this book wasn’t what I expected, it still wasn’t terrible. I have mixed feelings on the plot and in my opinion, there should’ve been more romance since that’s a main drawer for attention. Delaney was a good character struggling with many emotions but I feel she could’ve had more depth. Overall, I have mixed feelings on the story but mostly good feelings.

Right Where We Belong took a different direction than I anticipated; instead of being a young adult time travel romance, the story centered more on the theme of grief. While I found some aspects of Delaney relatable, I struggled to connect with both the characters and the writing style. To be clear, I did appreciate certain parts of the book, and it met my expectations for tackling difficult themes. However, I had anticipated that romance would be the main focus, as indicated by the marketing, which it ultimately was not. I think readers will enjoy this book if they approach it with the right mindset, whereas I was looking for a different experience than what was delivered.

𐙚⋆°🦢.⋆ᥫ᭡ 2.75

first off, just know it pains me to give this my 2.75 rating, it really does because this book had so so much potential! it really did, but it fell flat for reasons unknown.

first off, i remember absolutely nothing about this book. even though the notes app in my phone has notes about it and the little 100% mark of me reading it shows i read it. i remember jack frickin squat. which is fine sometimes if the vibes hit, but the vibes didn't.

first off, the cover? i thought the romance innitatlly was going to be between our time traveling bestie boo, william and our mc delaney. of course it wasn't, it was between delaney + sumner (naur offense, i thought sumner was his last name. spoiler: its not).

also sumner really wasn't that annoying, the second he stepped on page i was like oh? him? he's just playing with delaney and hes probably in love with her

DING DING DING

guys call me a writer for the way i pegged this entire plot so badly that i could write the next chapter. i did love the friend group and all the different characters btw, thought that was fun. there's this trophy plotline as well which confused the crap out of me im ngl but that may be my problem.

𐙚⋆° 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𐙚⋆°


delaney

i wish i could say she had a personality but her main personality in the beginning was being annoying imo. she's okay, ive seen white bread with more gusto

sumner

brothers annoyingly hot messy best friend who somehow starts dressing + acting nicer + cleaning his room when delaney's interest shifts to william? wow

william

ah yes, the main glue of the plot. the showstopper, the je ne sais quoi might i even say. william is from the 19th century. aka, broski said why on earth is a lady wearing pants. and where is my butler? but pookie honestly was a sweetheart and kept me reading. william dunbry, i probably would have slapped some sense into you if you questioned my "trousers" but u slayed


𐙚⋆° 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𐙚⋆°

er, what romance? i mean this so nicely but the chemistry that sumner and delaney had wasnt even really there because she'd had a major crush on him and vice versa but she shoved it away and he did too (bro code) and then they had sex-- 💀

their romance was not swoon worthy

swoon worthy is me giggling at my phone at 2am not staring at the screen with the wendy williams "what was that??? gif in my head

𐙚⋆° 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𐙚⋆°

the plot was actually decent! we had the time traveling, the science, the friend group who really wanted in on the action, the tea, the gossip, the boarding school, it slayed! everything else didn't !!

all in all, an okay book, nothing special! i was going to add in a quotes section but i highlighed nothing saurr

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so yes there are my very rambly reviews, if it makes no sense i'm blaming the energy drink i chugged and my extremely late night. i wish i could have liked this book but life is too short to like mediorcre books! hopefully someone else will !!

happy reading loves!
xx jo

i really wanted to like this, i really did.
frtc!

thank you to netgalley + the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review

Right Where We Belong wasn't what I expected; instead of a YA time travel romance, the story leaned into its exploration of grief. While I was able to relate to Delaney, and I highlighted a few quotes early on, I ultimately struggled to connect with the characters and writing style. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed aspects of this and it delivered on my expectation of handling difficult themes, but I was anticipated the romance to take center stage based on the marketing, and it really didn't. I think readers will really enjoyed this book with appropriate expectations going into it, and I was hoping for it to be more of something that it's not.

This story wasn't awful. It just wasn't for me . For some reason I just couldn't get into it. I would try again later but I just couldnt connect to the story. The writing wasnt the problem because the way the grief coping was written was nice. The charcter tropes maybe just weren't for me. I'm not sure what it was .

This one was not what I was expecting and maybe that was on me. I thought I was getting into a YA time travel romance with a side of the brothers best friend trope. And while that was there... some what...this was much more focused on a daughters grief of losing her dad and learning how to push back on expectations that are set for you v what you want. And that was done well...it just wasn't what I was expecting or looking for. I had a hard time with how much this book tells v shows. There are pages on pages of backstory and memories that all just felt unnecessary and slowed the story down. With 2 love interests, I expected more page time spent on the romance, but no. And I just could not get over University of Michigan being called UMich repeatedly....it's U of M. This one was not for me unfortunately.
2 stars.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC.

beyond excited to see this books hit my inbox- this is one of my most anticipated books of 2025 and i will be sure to post my review on all retailers!! 💞

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.