Blog Tour: No Place Like Here

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No Place Like Here
By Christina June
Young Adult Contemporary
Paperback, Audiobook & ebook, 288 Pages
May 21st 2019 by Blink

From Christina June, author of It Started with Goodbye and Everywhere You Want to Be, comes No Place Like Here, a modern twist on Hansel and Gretel.

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.

The cherry on top? 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.

Fans looking for stories with elements of drama, romance, friendship, and an unflinching look into navigating and improving even the most difficult parent-teen relationships need look no further.

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Excerpt

I pursed my lips. “I’m sorry I was shocked by the fact that you didn’t tell me before the internet did.” As soon as I said it, my stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster. Clapping back at him never went over well.

My father exhaled into the receiver. “Unhelpful, Ashlyn. This is a very difficult time for me right now. It is certainly not the time to be disrespectful. You were not raised to act this way.”

My chest tightened the way it always did when he criticized me. I wanted to tell my dad it was a very difficult time for all of us right now. Because of him. I wanted to tell him I was angry something catastrophic was happening to our family. Because of him. I wanted to tell him I felt embarrassed and ashamed. Because of him. I wanted to tell him that despite my anger, I was scared. Because of him, and for him as well. But I said none of those things.

“Yes, sir.” It never failed. If I said, “Yes, sir,” he nodded his head and we moved on. But how did we just move on from this?

“Now, here’s what’s going to happen. Are you listening?”

“Yes, sir.”

“One, I will turn myself in to the Williams Correctional Facility in two weeks’ time. I will be there for fourteen months and one day, possibly less. Sometimes a sentence will be reduced when an inmate demonstrates good behavior.” He called himself an inmate. I wanted to throw up. “Two, your mother is not herself right now.” Who is she, I wanted to ask, but kept quiet. “She will be checking herself into the Hart Canyon Rehabilitation Center this summer.”

A shriek got stuck in my throat and came out like the whine of a wounded animal. “Is Mom on drugs?”

“No, Ashlyn, your mother is not on drugs,” he said, like I should know better. What did he expect? I just found out my father was a criminal. Anything seemed possible now. “She is exhausted.”

Exhausted was sometimes code for depressed; I knew what that was from my Introduction to Psychology course this year. But a rehab center?

“So, you’re both leaving me,” I said flatly, while my stomach bottomed out.

He sighed loudly again, annoyed. “Your mother and I are handling our business so this family can move forward.” He sounded so matter-of-fact. No nonsense. As if this was just another business transaction and not the total destruction of our family.

Other Books by the Author

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, and hopes to one day be bicoastal – the east coast of the US and the east coast of Scotland. She lives in Virginia with her husband and daughter. She is the author of IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE, EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, and NO PLACE LIKE HERE.

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