ARC Review: Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook

Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook
Published: January 29, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 304
My Rating:  2 of 5 stars

Synopsis: Bonnie and Clyde meets IF I STAY in this additively 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. Described as “beautiful, heartbreaking, and exhilarating” by Kody Keplinger, author of The DUFF, Nobody But Us will prove irresistible to fans of Nina Lacour, Jenny Han, and Sara Zarr.

My Review: When I saw this book being compared to If I Stay I thought I would really like it since I loved If I Stay. This book was nothing like If I Stay. I'm not sure why it's being compared to it. I guess it's kind of like Bonnie and Clyde but a more toned down version.

I was very close to giving this book one star and I think two stars is a little generous but I think that the writing deserves some points. Alternating point of views are sometimes really confusing to read and sometimes the characters sound so similar that I can't tell which character is narrating but I think it worked pretty well in Nobody But Us. I wasn't a big fan of Will's point of view since he used words like "ain't" and "gonna" but at least I could tell when it wasn't Zoe's point of view.

That was the only thing I kind of liked about the book.

What really put me off was the romance. Will and Zoe's relationship was unhealthy. Over the course of the book Will beats up at least three people for Zoe. One of those people is her father. Now I understand that Zoe's father was abusive but if Zoe hadn't stopped him then Will probably would have killed that man. That all happened in the first or second chapter. 

At one point he beat up his friend because he didn't like what he was saying. Then later he beats up another person that was harassing Zoe but instead of asking if she was alright Will asks if she was flirting with the guy. He apologizes later for making her afraid that he might hit her because she flinched when he went to touch her. Then Zoe is sorry that she flinched when he went to touch her. 

Later in the book Zoe finally starts to have a backbone but then she hits her boyfriend that has anger issues and then she wants him to hit her. That is not a good relationship. People should not be hitting their boyfriend/girlfriend. Even though Will never hit Zoe I have no doubt that eventually he would hit her since his behavior has all kinds of red flags.

I also don't understand how Will and Zoe weren't caught while they were traveling. They acted so suspicious in restaurants and everywhere that they went. Zoe was practically clueless that the police would come after them. Their plan for when they got to Vegas had so many flaws that it was practically one giant hole.

I didn't really like the ending either since in Zoe's eyes Will is still perfect for her and she still believes her relationship with him was healthy. At one point I thought that Zoe would realize that she was just like her mother in almost every way but she kind of just avoids those kinds of thoughts.

I expected so much more form this book and it just didn't deliver. I thought I would be reduced to tears at the end because it was supposed to be "heartbreaking" but I felt relieved that it was over and that I wouldn't have to deal with Will and Zoe's messed up relationship anymore.

*I won this from a Goodreads giveaway.