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From the author of "It Started with Goodbye" comes a modern twist on the tale of Hansel and Gretel. When Ashlyn Zanotti is off-loaded by her parents for the summer, she must come to terms with her strained relationship with her father and her own personal demons to find her way back home.
About the author
Christina June writes young adult contemporary fiction when she’s not writing college recommendation letters during her day job as a school counselor. She loves the little moments in life that help someone discover who they’re meant to become—whether it’s her students or her characters. Christina is a voracious reader, loves to travel, eats too many cupcakes, and hopes to one day be bicoastal—the east coast of the US and the east coast of Scotland. She lives just outside Washington, D.C., with her husband and daughter.
Summary
After a year spent at a boarding school for her past mistakes, Ashlyn is ready to reconnect with her friends, restart her life, and enter senior year. But when family trouble hits home and she is forced to help out at her estranged cousin’s wilderness retreat center, Ashlyn struggles between returning to the girl she was or growing into someone new.
Ashlyn Zanotti has big plans for the summer. She's just spent a year at boarding school and can't wait to get home. But when Ashlyn's father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a rehab facility for "exhaustion," a.k.a. depression, her life is turned upside down again.
Things go from bad to worse when Ashlyn's father sends her to work with a cousin she doesn't even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed "indoor girl," not even Ash's habit of leaving breadcrumb quotes--inspirational sayings she scribbles everywhere--can help her cope.
With a dangerously careless camp manager doling out grunt work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little boy drama to struggle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the toughest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her dad's marching orders or find the courage to finally stand up to her father to have any hope of finding her way back home.
A modern twist on Hansel and Gretel, No Place like Here features:
- A strong female lead who doesn’t shy away from difficult parent-teen relationships
- A clean and wholesome love triangle, romcom vibes, and feel-good fuzzy emotions
- Returning cast of characters from Christina June’s It Started With Goodbye
- Perfect for fans of Elise Bryant, Morgan Matson, and Sarah Dessen
Additional text
Ashlyn, 17, is nearing the end of a year-long exile at an exclusive Shenandoah Valley boarding school, where she was sent due to a youthful mistake, and she's looking forward to going home. Her plans are derailed, though, when her perfectionist father is sent to prison for tax evasion (something she learns when the story breaks online) and her mother enters a rehabilitation facility to treat her depression. Instead of home, Ashlyn heads to a wilderness retreat center to work with her 18-year-old cousin Hannah. She tries to avoid making waves, but her resolve is tested when she begins to notice inconsistencies in her boss's behavior, when she's forced to confront her own recent past, and when a romance begins to bloom. Told in Ashlyn's fluid, first-person voice, the narrative includes realistic self-talk that will feel familiar to many teens. Ashlyn's almost too-perfect maturity may ring an occasional false note, but June (Everywhere You Want to Be) maintains just enough drama to keep the story entertaining in this insightful coming-of-age novel. Ages 13--up. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (May)
