Initial Impressions: Wow, for such an anticipated title, seems like I'm on the same page with a lot of people being disappointed in this book. For me, it was mostly the fact that Zoe is 15 and still very naive and Will is 18 and impulsively protective of Zoe, never quite understanding the value of thinking situations through. And this is how we end up on the run.

It was just really hard for me to connect with either character, and although it was small, I actively disliked both a little bit instead of just feeling indifferent.

The story wasn't very exciting for me and I just felt like there could have been so much more backstory and emotion connected to the excitement of being on the run, the fear of the chase. Instead I felt like I was watching two strangers, two naive kids, just running away from their problems and forcing a relationship.

Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: Okay. So before I review, I knew that there were several people who had been anticipating this book and ended up pretty disappointed. I went into it hoping I wasn’t going to have the same issues … But I did.

NOBODY BUT US is described as a combination between Bonnie & Clyde and If I Stay by Gayle Forman, and I think those are HUGE shoes to fill. Gayle is one of my all-time favorite authors and very, very few people can compare to her quality, emotional writing. The only connection I really see to Bonnie & Clyde is simply the fact that they’re in love and on the run from the law. As far as the Bonnie & Clyde aspect goes, I was expecting a few more capers and heists which really just boils down to two teenagers making rash and questionable decisions out of fear. As far as the comparision to If I Stay…. I don’t see it at all.

Part of the reason I didn’t really connect with the story is that sometimes when I read YA, it’s so relatable regardless of the fact that we’re reading about teenagers. With NOBODY BUT US, I felt like Zoe was extremely naive, which is totally reasonable considering she’s only fifteen, but it really prevented me from liking her character because sometimes it was just painful and awkward to witness her thought process and decisions. Will has a bit of a hot temper, which didn’t bother me so much as the fact that he was pain-stakingly portrayed to sound “uneducated”. As a grammar stickler, all of the “ain’t”s and the “don’t got”s really started to get under my skin and along with the fact that he was basically calling himself unintelligent, I just had a hard time liking Will. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that the fact that school wasn’t his thing was what turned me off. I just found him almost entirely acting on impulses and using very little logic to get him out of sticky situations. It was just really hard to connect with that thought process since I think I’m a pretty logical person. Each impulsive decision got our two main characters deeper into trouble and although that makes for a more exciting story, it irritated me a little bit.

I really just felt myself racing through the book more to finish it than anything else. I actually didn’t enjoy it that much and felt a little let down. The romance wasn’t even enough to salvage it because I never really felt that spark or connection with the characters. I could tell that Will really cared about Zoe, but more in a protective sense than really deep love and Zoe was fifteen and just seemed like, “I really like this boy so I think I’m in love with him.”