PLACES WE'VE NEVER BEEN

Estranged childhood pals take a road trip.

Norah hasn’t seen her old best friend, Skyler, in years. When Skyler’s family first left California and moved to Ohio, the White teens would talk all the time, but over the past year or so things have quieted down. The only real connection the two have now is the occasional like on each other’s Instagram posts. An RV road trip may be just the spark this friendship needs to get back on track, and Norah’s been counting down the days till the pair set off across the country with their respective siblings and moms. But Skyler shows up with an aloof attitude and awkward demeanor. The push and pull of Norah’s trying to engage with Skyler and Skyler’s wanting to be anywhere but there gets old fast. It’s clear something is going on with him, but readers are trapped within Norah’s perspective, and Norah does not ask the right questions to get any sort of ball rolling. This impasse kills any momentum the novel can muster, and a thinly characterized supporting cast drags it down even further. Readers will have difficulty discerning which sibling belongs to which family, who’s lying to whom, and, ultimately, if they feel invested enough to stick with the narrative and discover how it all plays out.

The perennially popular road-trip scenario does not redeem this story.