{Review} Nowhere but Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Posted by Donna
Release Date: June 4th, 2015
Finished Date: May 7th, 2015

Publishers: Mire Ink 
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback

Pages: 496
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both. 

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down. 

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

The Review: I adore McGarry’s Pushing the Limits series, so when I heard about her writing a new series I was excited and, to hear it was a YA romance around a motorbike club? Oh yeah, I was definitely signed up for that! But and it pains me to say this but for me it didn’t quite hit the spot for me.

Emily is content with her life. She has good friends, goes to a good school and her mother and stepfather love her more than anything. The only thing Emily has trouble with is her biological father’s yearly visits and not being able to connect with him because he chose his motorcycle club – Reign of Terror, over being with her and her mother and in all honestly, her step-father offers her everything she needs as a father figure. She when Emily finds out that he Grandmother has died, the last thing Emily wants to do is go visit the family she doesn’t know. But that’s where she finds herself only a few days later and once she arrives, she discovers that not everything is as it seems but people are hiding secrets – secrets that involve her and now her once happy life in is danger.

Oz has grown up knowing one thing – he will have a future in the Reign of Terror club. But when Emily arrives Oz is given his first assignment and unfortunately messes it up. Now he must do anything to get back into the good books with the club, even if that means babysitting Emily. But Oz isn’t prepared for the attraction he feels towards her, especially when everyone is hell bent on them being together. Can they overcome the obstacles that are trying to force them apart? 

There’s no denying that McGarry is a fantastic writer. She has a keen eye for detail and can write smouldering romance and hit all the right spots in a YA novel and I still believe she has that even though I had problems with Nowhere but Here. The issue for me was the characters. In all honesty I just found Emily such a hard character to like. From the start she’s very stuck up, unapproachable, overacts at the littlest thing and she’s just generally a hard character to love. I understand that she has a hard time trying to know her biological father and how difficult that could be for a teenager but, Emily brings a lot of it on herself. She listens to her everything her mother says – which half the time is lies – instead of trying to see how she feels about her father and make up her own mind. It’s not until Emily has to stay with her extended family and Oz that she slowly starts to change, but she still wasn’t great. I didn’t really understand the whole insta-connection with Oz. The first time she sees him she automatically hates him but within minutes, she feels a connection to him that isn’t explained. The same goes for Oz though. He constantly tells Emily she needs to leave, get out their lives because it causes too much stress for Emily's grandmother whom Oz is very close with. But within minutes, Oz is swooning over Emily, wanting to protect her. I didn't get it. Both characters were just very naive and I wasn't invested in their relationship as I would have liked to be. 

There are a few sweet moments in the story and enough danger to keep you turning the pages, but with it's slow pacing and the book being far longer than it really needed to be, it's one that I found I had push myself through rather than enjoying it to it's full potential. 

2.5 flowers! 

Thank you to Mira Ink for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.