Review: I'm From Nowhere by Suzanne Myers


I’m from Nowhere
A few weeks into her sophomore year at Ventura High School in California, everything is about to change for Wren Verlaine. It's always been just Wren and her mother, Hannah, but when Hannah receives a reporting assignment that sends her to Greenland for six months, Wren is shipped off to Hardwick Hall, an old, prestigious boarding school back East.

For every ice queen like her suitemate Honor, who looks right through Wren like she doesn't exist, there's also a rower with adorably crinkly eyes (that would be Nick) or a friendly and funny fellow musician (like Chazzy). But just as Wren finally starts to settle in at Hardwick, clues begin appearing about the one secret her mother has ever kept from her—the identity of her father—and what Wren ultimately discovers threatens to turn her and her new world upside down.

I'm From Nowhere was a cute little book that didn't go too deep into anything but was quick enough to read that you don't feel like it's reaaally missing much. The book is about Wren, who is sent to Hardwick, a boarding school where her mother went, and between making friends and enemies, she learns the truth about her mother's past. There was nothing particularly special about this book - the book was predictable and it didn't really throw any curveballs - but I managed to read it in a few hours. It's the type of book that you can put down for a tea break, but you still want to pick it back up.

I felt a little bit like the characters weren't given much development, they just were. They all served a purpose in the book but there is no background into how they became who they are. Why is Honor so cold? Why is Nick so flirty? How come Chazzy is so eccentric? Rather than really engaging with any of them you just sort of get pulled along for the ride. At the same time, despite this, the characters didn't feel all that flat (aside from Honor and her father, they fell flat for me), so it isn't like I didn't like them. 

When I was reading I'm From Nowhere I knew that I wasn't reading anything special - it was clear that this book wasn't going to stick with me and that it would just fade into the pile of books I'll read this year, but I also knew that I was enjoying it, and in the end I think that is what this book gives. A little bit of mindless reading in a sea of hard-hitting contemporary books.

Book released 26th January 2016 by Soho Teen
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

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