Title: You Are Here
Author: Eva Woods
Publisher: Sphere
Synopsis:
Life doesn’t come with a map. Maybe you’re going the right way after all.
It is the morning of Ellie Warren’s wedding day and she is hiding under her childhood bed. She cannot shake the feeling that she isn’t where she’s supposed to be – the marriage, that is – but she can’t work out how she ended up here or where exactly she should be.
Ellie knows there wasn’t just one decision that led her to this day. Her life is made up of billions of choices but some of them must have changed the course of her life forever. Ellie is sure that if she can just find those moments, work out where she went wrong in the past, then maybe she can make things right in the present.
But what if Ellie is exactly where she is meant to be? What if all the missed opportunities and paths never taken are leading her to happiness?
My review:
You Are Here is a clever and thought-provoking novel that will make you question the choices you’ve made in your own life, and is one of my favourite books I’ve read so far this year. The book is is a brilliant mix of relatable, likeable characters and a sliding-doors-style ‘what if?’ plot (and who doesn’t love those?) which is clever, fun and so addictive to read!
I loved the main character Ellie. She is convincing, interesting and, although she’s not perfect in her decisions, she’s very likeable. She also has that very common problem of either struggling to make a decision or, if she has made a decision, wondering forever afterwards if she’s made the right one, or how things might have turned out if one decision in her life had been different. And that forms the basis of this book.
We join Ellie at the start as she prepares to marry her fiancé – who exactly this is, we don’t know – but Ellie is wondering is she’s making the right decision, and whether other choices in her life would lead to this same point or a very different kind of life. Therein, we see two alternate outcomes for every key decision in her life, starting with the university and course she picks. The plot then cleverly guides us through the alternative routes of Ellie’s life, showing us how one small change can make such a big difference…
You Are Here has humorous, poignant and surprising moments, but it’s a really fun, entertaining read. I absolutely raced through it, and although you could argue the ending tied things up a little too neatly, I loved the entire book from start to finish!
My rating: 4.5/5
Many thanks to the publisher, Sphere, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.
This sounds like an entertaining and fun book! I’m glad to hear how much of a good time you had with it. 😀 Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! Yes it was a great read!