Nobody But Us Kristin Halbrook

Goodreads Blurb

Bonnie and Clyde meets IF I STAY in this addictively heart-wrenching story of two desperate teenagers on the run from their pasts.

They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.

Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger....

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.

Nobody But Us, told in alternating perspectives from Will and Zoe, is an unflinching novel, in turns heartbreaking and hopeful, about survival, choices, and love...and how having love doesn’t always mean that you get a happy ending. 

Oh my GOODNESS. This was such an amazing book that made me tear up in the end. But, you know, sometimes I'm a rare crier, other times I'm the biggest wuss ever. But that ending. I just kept thinking "Please don't let what I'm think about to happen happen." 

When people talk about a raw and gritty story, I'm now going to always think about Nobody But Us.We have two teens who're running away from their harsh lives and while running away can sound stupid...it can definitely happen. No one said teens were smart, and teens with a hard life are desperate. I sympathized with them and both characters definitely had their own problems and were far from perfect...they were, perhaps, the most broken characters I've read about and my heart ached for them. The way this story is told, from both point of views, gives us more information, and more reasons to shed a few tears over what's happened to these teens. 

As for their trip, I enjoyed it? If that's the right word. I don't think I've ever read about runaways and I'm shocked by how...dangerous it was and how much risk they were taking. Trouble and suspicion became their companions and I found myself squeezing my eyes and hoping everything turned out okay in the end. Here's a spoiler--it doesn't. 

Zoe and Will's love was so real, but I feel it may have been born out of desperation for understanding. They were both broken and they were both reaching out for someone to get them. The result? A real love, but one that made them both a bit dysfunctional. Will and Zoe...wow. I think my only complain was how dysfunctional they got and how...well, how alike they were to Beautiful Disaster's characters. Travis and...Abby?  

The thing about this book is, well, it passes by so quickly. Their trip seemed so short, and by the time over 200 pages had passed by, I was shocked by how far I had read. I felt as if only maybe a hundred or so pages had passed before I finished and closed the book, shocked. It was just... exhilarating. This is, perhaps, one of the more raw books I've read, ever.

Pages: 272

Genre: Contemporary

Series: Stand alone

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release Date: Jan 29, 2013

Rating: 4.5-->4 stars