Review - "Nowhere Near You"

Nowhere Near You
by Leah Thomas
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 7th February 2017
spoilers? some slight ones

Goodreads

I breathed in through my nose. Thought of your video to the masses. Thought of the womble you sent me. Thought of you calling me good. Thought of you, just you-

Galley provided by publisher

Because You'll Never Meet Me is one of my favourite books, and I was all set for it to be a standalone, for Moritz and Ollie never to have contact beyond letters, for there to be a maybe less-than-satisfactory conclusion to their story. And then there came this.

If the first book was good, then this one was great. Everything steps up a notch, with Ollie out in the world for the first time, and Moritz also, in his own way. At the same time, almost every page I read made me want to cry. There's Ollie keeping secrets and how he feels from Moritz, trying to make his letters upbeat. There's Moritz having trouble with his boyfriend, and moving to a new school. Basically, I was a mess.

As per the first book, both Ollie and Moritz are amazing characters, but I loved seeing more of the "Blunderkids", as Ollie takes to calling them. As a supporting cast, they were amazing. Molly had to be my favourite (her and Klaus was so great, I loved them), but Bridget and Arthur followed close behind.

I read this while I should have instead been doing reading for an essay, and every time I finished a chapter I thought to myself, maybe I should start that instead. But the lure of the next chapter was too much and I inevitably continued reading. It's one of those books, one that you don't want to put down because each chapter solves one mystery but reveals another and you just want to know exactly what's going on. And also whether Moritz and Ollie will actually get to meet. (And whether Auburn-Stache will actually tell Ollie the truth and stop hurting him by not.)

Long(ish) story short, this is probably one of the best books I've read this year.