We Can Never Leave by H.E. Edgmon (June 10, 2025) - 4/5

Gripping, mind-bending psychological horror awaits the reader in We Can Never Leave. I was immediately engrossed by the complexity, hope, fear, and tangible confusion this forsaken band of teenagers brought to life through their world of the Caravan. Bird and Hugo were compelling characters, captivating the reader with their earnest, honest, and deep seated desire to find family in each other and the rest of the Caravan. Edgmon wrote both loveable and unlikeable characters with visceral grit while thoughtfully exploring themes of found family, loss, grief, and healing. The Caravan is a mysterious space pulling the characters towards solving the mystery of how they came to be whilst investigating the disappearance of rest of their caravan crew. The story was a supernatural and uncanny experience I recommend you check out!

The writing is clear and at times artistic with the audiobook being an absolute spooky and exciting listening experience. The narrator, Vico Oritz , brought the voices of our eerie queer found family - Hugo, Bird, Cal, Felix, and Eamon - to life. Each character had a haunted and visceral way of speaking grounding the narrative in the heightened emotions of each character. The pacing was comfortable to follow and a pleasure to hear. The audiobook is definitely for those looking for haunting experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for an advanced listener copy of We Can Never leave, the story was thrilling and a delight to listen to.

#NetGalley #RecordedBooks #WeCanNeverLeave #Horror #LGBTQIAP+ #Fantasy

Five teenagers who aren't human suddenly find themselves completely alone. A person who tried and failed to be human, a pair of brothers in the most toxic, codependent relationship ever, a venomous girl, and a boy-shaped shadow have lived in The Caravan for varying lengths of time. Some, like Bird, Hugo, and Felix, have lived their entire lives in the Caravan. Other came more recently, like mysterious Amon who just showed up a few months ago. The Caravan is a traveling home for misfits, those who can't live in the human world, and they do magic. Often deeply messed up magic, but don't worry about that. When the five teens wake up and everyone is gone, they set off on the world's worst roadtrip across the country to find a new safe place, but something is much more wrong than any of them can realize.
I have some mixed feelings about the writing style. I still can't decide if I liked or disliked the smarmy narrator who occasionally came in to hold the reader's hand. I liked the little asides, typically, just not the hand-holding. I also liked the dynamic between the characters. They were all so messy. Amon was my favorite character. If the whole book had been from his point of view, I would have been pleased, it just wouldn't have been the same book. This was a good book for the most part.

This is the book my soul has been searching for. I bawled after reading just the forward. Every queer/trans person should read this. (Will update later with a more thorough review)

Also, thank you to the author who was incredibly kind enough to mail me a printed copy! They are such a cool person I will for sure be continuing to support.

A nuanced and interesting book following a diverse cast of characters. Just like H E Edgmon’s other books there’s lots of discussion of queer and genderqueer identities and I found the magical aspects of the book engaging.

3.75 ⭐

I Know the synopsis says "Sweet Tooth" & "The Raven Boys" but add a little "From" to the list, but YA!

Really enjoyed this 'keep em on their toes' YA fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I love HE Edgmon’s writing and storytelling so much. It pains me so incredibly that this one wasn’t for me. I love so much of it, but I just couldn’t seem to vibe with it over all. I STRUGGLED to want to continue it. For it to take me 3 days to finish a book that I should have read in 1 day is painful in and of itself.

Now this could have been completely me. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time in my mood for me to pick up magical realism. I will go back and reread it at some point just so I can make sure that I’m not the problem here, because I love this author too much to dislike one of their books.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted ALC.

📖 Bookish Thoughts
This book was a fever dream. I received an ALC and listened to about half before borrowing the ebook from Libby to continue with immersive reading.

There are a lot of POVs, and with dual timelines on top of that, it was hard to keep track of who was who. All of the MCs were a bit unlikeable, but somehow I couldn’t stop reading. This is definitely a character-driven story rather than a plot-driven one, and while it was well written, it was also genuinely confusing at times.

I did love the queer rep and the strong found family themes.

🎧 Audio Score: 4 stars (Vico Ortiz was fantastic!)
🎙️ Narration Style: Solo
📅 Pub Date: June 10, 2025
Thank you to RBMedia and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was a bit disappointing to me. Honestly, I've read it a little while ago and I don't remember much. I do know it was quite original, it wasn't like anything I've read before but, also, it was quite confusing. The characters and plot didn't feel completely fleshed out. I didn't expect this from this author. I still found it unique and interesting overall but I wished for more. I honestly had to go back at times because I had no idea how we had gotten there. Maybe it was a me issue or maybe this should have been an eye read. But this one didn't really work for me...

3.5/5 Stars

We Can Never Leave is a quiet, aching kind of fantasy, the kind that lingers more in its characters than its world, and that’s exactly what H.E. Edgmon does best. I read this one in tandem with the audiobook and physical copy, and both formats worked beautifully to immerse me in the story's alternating timelines and shifting perspectives. I thoroughly enjoyed Vico Ortiz as the audiobook narrator who did a great job distinguishing the individual characters and portraying a cast with a wide array of gender identities. I also found the audio version easier to stay engaged with than the physical.

As with all of Edgmon’s work, the queer and nonbinary representation is rich, nuanced, and unapologetically present. The five main characters, each wrestling with their own secrets, grief, and longing for connection, felt heartbreakingly real. What struck me most was the way the novel explores abandonment not just in the literal sense (the adults vanish), but emotionally: these kids were alone in their needs and pain even before the disappearance. That emotional resonance hit hard.

The story blends mystery, found family, and a touch of the surreal as it weaves between past and present, slowly revealing what brought these characters to this moment. The mystery unfolds in layers, and while the worldbuilding is more sparse than I typically seek out in fantasy, that felt intentional, this is YA, yes, but more than that, it’s character-driven at its core.

It didn’t knock me off my feet, but it did settle into my chest in that quiet way certain stories do. I’m glad I read it.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books and RB Media for the opportunity for the review copies of this book.

3.5 stars (.5 is for that twist)

Great narrator. Voiced each kid so well and had me totally engaged the entire time.

Multiple POV that switched between present day and flashbacks. It wasn’t labeled clearly enough, so I felt lost a few times trying to figure out who I was learning about and what timeline I was in.

The character development was my favorite part. I loved every single character, even the ones I was supposed to hate. I trusted them even when I wasn’t supposed to. That made it even more interesting to read.

Bird and Jugo’s subplot teen romance was the cherry on top.

The story had so much potential. I was invested, but I was left wanting more. There were still questions that never got answered. The twist was great and completely unexpected, but the ending didn’t give the characters I loved the closure they deserved.

If a sequel comes out, I’ll be picking it up. I need answers.

I really wanted to like this audiobook, the opening definitely pulled me in. Unfortunately, I just couldn't really get into the story beyond the first few chapters. Recommended as a secondary purchase.

Thanks to Recorded Books/RBMedia for the ALC. This has not affected my review in any way.

2.5⭐ This book left me wanting more, and not in a good way. At the start, the author says that these are all unlikable characters, but I liked them all?? But I wanted to know more about them, go into depth instead of seeing them have petty arguments with each other.

As for the setting and the (lack of) plot, I think it would have been way better as a "normal" fantasy and not this poetic, confusing character-driven-but-not-really. I would have loved to see the characters confront the Caravan and figure out where they come from.

Vico Ortiz is the perfect audiobook narrator and I'd listen to them reading their grocery list.

"Did you think you were reading a story about good, but deeply damaged people surviving against all odds but finding hope for the future in each other? ...This isn't one of them. This is a book about haunted houses, except the houses are bodies and the hauntings are the lies children tell and are told.. about how dangerous it can be to dream when you grow up sleeping with something under your bed."

Thank you to Netgalley, H.E. Edgmon and Recorded Books for the ALC of the audiobook! I'm going to be honest, I understand a little bit and not a lot of it but it was still enjoyable to listen to! It may not have been for me but there are plenty of people who will find a home within this story.

"welcome home, darling. no one here is going to hurt you, i promise.





i will eat you, i promise."

*4.5
I received this arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"The only place that feels like it could ever be home, is wherever you and me are together"

H.E Edgmon did it again and honestly, I don't know how they manage to pull off these amazing, creepy, off-putting wonderful stories every single time. I had a lot of expectations for this book, and I'm gonna be honest, at first I didn't think they were met. I had a hard time figuring out the characters and I kept mixing up who was who. The further in to the story I got though, the more I got swept up in it. It was the exact right mix of creepy, off putting and road trip fun that I needed in this book. The characters developed over time, and characters that I couldn't really grasp at the start ended up feeling so much more real towards the end.
Furthermore, since this Arc was an audiobook, I have to take a second to just appreciate Vico Ortiz's amazing work. Their voice acting(is that what it would be called for an audiobook?) for this was absolutely phenomenal, and i could have not wished for a better person to give this story life.

"he was so tired of reading tombstones and pretending they were bedtime stories"

And of course its not a proper review from me without mentioning the representation in this. I loved seeing how diverse the characters were and the trans rep was as always on point. I loved the way otherness was used as a tool of fear by the caravan and how trauma was a huge driving point in the story too, without it feeling forced or weird.
Although there were definitely things that I feel like could have been done better toward the start of the book, the ending was what really got me and ended up being the reason behind the rating.
As always, I cannot wait to see more of H.E Edgmon in the future.

We Can Never Leave was definitely a great read! I loved the way it broke the fourth wall—it was such a cool, unexpected twist that really pulled me into the story and made everything feel more intense.

The concept of the half-animal, half-human characters was really interesting and added a unique edge to the world. I enjoyed the cast of characters, and the subtle romance and simmering tension between them kept me hooked.

Overall, 4/5 stars

The premise of this book was intriguing if very vague so it caught my attention. The start of the book made me think that it was going to make some sense by the end, and while some things wrapped up I was mostly left still baffled by what the plot actually was. Interesting characters, interesting world building, but so confusingly constructed. I feel like I need a prequel and sequel to explain what the hell was supposed to be going on, and I can’t tell if the confusion was purposeful or not.

Every character gets their own POV with some backstory woven throughout. It seems like some readers found it confusing but it was pretty easy to tell everyone apart while reading the audiobook. Vico Ortiz is a master at narration. Every time the 4th wall broke I was grinning like an idiot.

This isn't some warm and fuzzy book. These kids are hurting. They’re damaged. They don’t know HOW to not hurt each other. It’s painful to read because these kids don’t know anything else. Please take the author's note at the start of this book seriously.

I couldn’t put this book down. 4 stars.

Early free copy thanks to NetGalley

3.25/3.5 ⭐️

First & Foremost, this audiobook is SOOO WELL DONE. I absolutely devoured it in one sitting and i truly give a lot of that credit to the audiobook. I was sucked in from the beginning and it never lost my attention.

I really loved what this story was trying to be! It had found family, fantasy, a little bit of mystery and it was being told by a cast of queer, misfit characters that i truly enjoyed. There was a lot of representation for people who feel like they fit nowhere, but also have nowhere to go so they’re somewhat stuck.

There’s A LOT of POVs in this book, some of the were quite jarring and took me out of the overall story which was a bit of a disappointment, but i also understand why the many POVs were necessary.

I did find some parts of the story were a bit slow and dragged, but overall it was a fun time.

I would HIGHLY recommend consuming this via audiobook! The narration was done SO WELL.

Overall, it was an OK read, i believe i’ll remember the characters, but not their story but i would definitely recommend giving it a try still 😊

This book is so good. I found the fourth wall breaks and multiple perspectives interesting after initial surprise and confusion when it happened the first couple times. I felt truly connected to the characters and the narrator of the audiobook gave them so much life. The ending hurts and is true to the complicated lives of children growing up with complicated (most likely abusive) home lives.
This book is so worth a read/listen!

2.5 🌟 This YA fantasy blends elements of horror and thriller and definitely comes in strong from the start. The first few chapters jump between different points of view and timelines, which I admit was confusing at first—but eventually, it becomes easier to follow. Since all the characters are teens, we get a close look at how their thought processes shift—how they react in anger, calm down, reflect, and how their pasts have shaped them.
The audiobook helped me stay engaged, though I found it useful to have the ebook on hand to keep track of the story and characters.
Some of the most prominent themes explored are family, identity (especially queer identity), and supernatural elements. Each character is half human and half some other mythical or magical creature, which adds intrigue and complexity.
That said, I felt the book fell a bit short of the expectations set by the synopsis. While the story ends on a sort of cliffhanger, whether it truly feels that way depends on the reader’s perspective.
This ARC was kindly provided by @NetGalley, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to read it.