Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Mira INK
Pages: 496
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

After really enjoying Pushing the Limits, I was really excited to read Katie McGarry’s next companion series, as her characters are really well developed. However, Nowhere But Here didn’t really reach my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, it was a really interesting read as I hadn’t read anything about Motorcycle clubs before, but I’d say this book would be more appealing to an NA audience.

Characters and Romance:

Emily was an intriguing main character, yet she was mainly used as a vehicle for backstory. Emily is hesitant and nervous because of her childhood, but she’s also loving. I don’t think she really had a strong personality and unfortunately she’s not the sort of protagonist that will stick with me. She overcame her fears which was super commendable, and when it came down to it Emily could get herself out of a bad situation, but we don’t learn enough about her personality.

Oz was a puzzle. On one hand he’s really good with kids and on the other he’s this guy  that’s ready to join a society just because it’s in his blood. For a strong character he does what people tell him to do an awful lot. Nowhere But Here is basically about these two characters that seemly don’t go together, falling in love and challenging each other’s perspectives of their world. In hindsight this was a really beautiful thing to read.

What I disliked about Oz and Emily’s relationship was how lusty it was. They kept claiming to hate each other, but then they’d both be daydreaming about ripping each other’s clothes off. I didn’t enjoy reading about Oz’s Emily Fantasies, which were objectifying to say the least. As a feminist I was even slightly disgusted with how the men treated women as one night stands, even though on the flip side they’re really protective of the women. I’m not for a society where women don’t get to do things because men say they’re not allowed.

Plot and Pacing:

As for plot it was mainly ‘everyone’s been keeping secrets from Emily, and their importance and relevance won’t be distinguished until the very end’. Everyone kept going on about how Emily was in SO much danger, but that didn’t really seem to be the case. until the very end, when things escalated EXTREMELY quickly. America, why do you let people carry guns?

This book was incredibly slow paced, but set the scene of the club for the rest of the novels. It  introduced all the characters and gave them some minor backstories – I think Violet’s story is the one I will be most interested in reading. The ‘world-building’, I guess you could call it, was really well done and has given the world a really complex system. I hated how it was really patriarchal and sometimes crude, despite this I’ll definitely be looking at bikers in a different light now.

Overall, I gave this book 2.5 stars. Not bad, but not my favourite. Razor’s story is the next in the series, and I probably will pick it up, as now that I’ve just gotten used to the world it would be a shame to give it up.