Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook

Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook
Release Date – January 29, 2013
Publisher Website - Harper Collins
Publisher Social Media -  Twitter/Facebook/SavvyReader
Pages -   272 pages
My Rating- 4/5
**Received from publisher for review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Bonnie and Clyde meets IF I STAY in this addictively 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.

Romantic, sensual, dangerous, and raw. Nobody But Us introduces two characters who make mistakes, fall in love, and spiral out of control. At once a look at a young love that is passionate, consuming and intense, and a tale of two desperate people trying to outrun something they can never leave behind.

Zoe and Will are both damaged. Real, broken and honest. They are written, flaws and all, with such realism that you can’t help but become invested in their story.  Kristin Halbrook writes both of them unflinchingly, and doesn’t trivialize their actions. Consequences matter in this heart crushing debut.

Consequences for actions happen in this novel. I’ve seen this compared to Beautiful Disaster. My biggest issues with Beautiful Disaster was that Travis and his behaviour seemed to be showcased as appealing. Will is a loose cannon, and has issues. I never found it showcased in any manner other than realistic. Zoe’s background and circumstances lend themselves to her being involved with Will. Will, underneath it all, is a troubled young man who is trying desperately to find something to cling to. Zoe is a lost girl who lives in a state of constant fear. It's touching and bittersweet that they both are just looking for the place they can be happy.

The events in the novel quickly snowball going from bad to worse. As the novel rushed towards it’s ending I felt battered, bruised, and also protective of Will and Zoe. I wanted to make sure they’d be okay, even though okay stopped being an option a long time ago. Part of me held out hope that it wasn’t heading in the direction the characters seemed determined to bulldoze towards.

A heart wrenching, beautifully tragic story that really does show that not every love story ends with “and they lived happily ever after”. Sometimes the spark of attraction and love ignites rapidly and consumes the couple as it burns.