Nowhere Near You

warnings for: secondary character death, child experimentation mentions

I have followed your antics for far too long to shift my affections from my heroic protagonist to some newcomer. No matter how interesting.

Oh boy, this book.
I think that quote perfectly sums it up. The relationship between Ollie and Moritz is definitely still the focal point of Nowhere Near You, just like it was with Because You'll Never Meet Me, but with new settings and new secondary characters, somehow Leah Thomas has added even more depth to their friendship.

Nowhere Near You is a true sequel; it takes everything about the first book that was great and just adds to it. We get to meet more of the kids from the laboratory, and they're all fleshed out and vastly different. We get to see more correspondence outside of the letters Moritz and Ollie send to each other. Everything is just bigger and better and I had no idea I could fall in love with this series even more.

The stakes are higher this time, and both Ollie and Moritz are seeing more of the world than they ever have before. They're meeting new people and experiencing new things, growing up, and possibly growing apart.
Honestly I was an angsty mess reading this. Because I'm falling in love with these characters more and more with every page I read, I get more excited every time Moritz declares his love for Ollie, I get more frustrated every time one of them says the wrong thing and parts of their friendship fracture. I felt so much during this book that I cried twice whilst reading the last fifty pages. I rarely cry, so that just shows you how GOOD this is.

The ending though. That was the sweetest literary payoff I've read in months.

I know where I want this series to go. Whether it actually does go there is another story, but I know no matter what, if there is another book, it will take me on yet another journey that'll have me turning the pages frantically.

I couldn't put Because You'll Never Meet Me down.
I couldn't put Nowhere Near You down.
Please, Leah Thomas, give us a third book.