SPOILER FREE :D

Interesting story line. I liked the concept; however, the execution was a little lacking. The main character Julia was so strong and deep of a character in the beginning. You get this feeling of abandonment, loss, depression, and it feels realistic. But as Julia's world becomes more and more crazy, she starts to lose touch with herself and becomes more and more flat as the story progresses. Things you knew about her, like her constant blushing and self-deprecation seemed to be pushed aside, not because she's growing or changing as a human being, but to move the storyline along.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON IN:

But it was interesting. The dynamic between Julia and Evan is weird, especially towards the end after they cross over together. You begin to get a real sense of Julia as two people, which seems to come out near Evan and Reece more than anyone else. It's just weird. When she starts having memories from the other Julia, then it gets really weird.

I feel like this book could have been a complete story, but the author seems to only want to drag the story out to make more money, not because the story required it. Another fifty pages and she could have cleaned up the whole thing really nicely. Reece, Evan, and Julia would have crossed over, destroyed the portal somehow and then in the next scene they're all laying together on the beach together in the sunlight that Reece has never felt. Would have been a beautiful ending. But no, everything has to be a series anymore. Super disappointing.

The story has some great qualities too though. There is a fantastic dynamic between Julia and her family. The stress of their situations and lives together is nearly palpable. It's very real. The descriptions were good. The characters were unique and fun. The concept is cool. Great one-time read; I would suggest borrowing it from someone if you can. ( )

First off, this book was nothing like I expected! Going by the cover and by the synopsis, I thought it was going to be a ghost book (which is why I downloaded it in the first place). However, it has no ghosts in it. It's about a parallel universe/alternate reality.

Saying that, I did love this book. I found myself staying up at night just to read the next chapter. The characters are well formed and so is the plot.

There is a love triangle which is kind of annoying since they seem to be in every book at the moment. I also found Julia a bit annoying at the end of the book which I won't elaborate on because of spoilers.

However, for the most part, this book does make you believe that an alternate reality could exist. I'd definitely recommend this book to all fans of YA. ( )

Interesting premise. It was nothing like I expected. I'm glad I stuck it out through the sappy teen romance section and made it to the dystopian alternate universe part. I would purchase for my high school library. ( )

My thoughts upon finishing Here are really a jumbled mess. My apologies in advance to you, dear readers. Denise Grover Swank has written something completely different than what I've seen before. Here is a crazy mix of paranormal abilities, with some romance, a dash of contemporary and then science fiction that flies in right out of left field. It even has a little bit of a dystopian feel at times. Point being? This wasn't what I expected at all.

I was so drawn in at the beginning, and I genuinely enjoyed the first half of the book. Julia's story is intriguing. We have a girl who wakes up after an accident, with no recollection of what happened, and feels the full brunt of her friend's death. After that she just tries to blend into her surroundings so that she doesn't have to keep reliving those feelings. Safe in her own isolation. This I liked. I liked the original Julia who had to be coaxed out of her shell by her parents, friends and teachers. Her story had more of a contemporary vibe and I was feeling it.

Then Evan started noticing Julia and things went a bit haywire. Now I was just hanging on for dear life, mostly reading to find out what on earth was going on. I started to put the pieces together as Evan dropped hints. Swank does her best to put in tidbits of information here and there to help ease the transition into the second half of the story. Still, when the transition finally did come it was very jarring for me. It threw me for a loop and made the rest of the read odd.

My other problem was just that Julia changes so drastically as a character from one half of the story to the next. In the second portion she jumps around in her emotions so often that it was emotionally draining for me as a reader. I felt bad for Evan. There are moments where she was just downright mean. If someone is saving your life, you really shouldn't snap at them. I understand the whole stress aspect, but really? It also blew my mind how easily Julia's feelings for both boys in the story flip flopped. It made me dislike her a bit, I'll admit.

Anyhow, to wrap things up, Here was a book that I was torn over after finishing it. I loved portions, and then was lost at others. I adored Julia, and then wanted to shake her. There was so much in this story that had potential that I feel got lost in the modge podge that this book becomes. This is the first in a series, and I'll likely give the second one a shot to see if I am back on board. The ending is really cute, and a cliff hanger. Final verdict? Give Here a shot. It's an interesting read, and you might find yourself connecting with it where I didn't. ( )

I was a little unsure of where this story was going at first, not having read the blurb about the book to even have a clue what it was about. I was thinking that perhaps Evan was an alien from another world or something. Well, I wasn't TOO far off. Evan has come from an alternate dimension in which the Cold War did release a nuclear bomb. Evan's world is bleak, dark, and damaged. The two worlds collide in a weird set of coincidences, and in Evan's world, Julia dies, while in her world, her best friend, Monica, dies. In Julia's world, she blames herself for her best friend's death, but when this new Evan shows up and he explains what happened, it seems less likely that she was at fault.

The story is certainly different, and kept me interested. The one flaw I found was when Even was trying to explain how his world could be one way, and her's another. It didn't jive with me, and seemed more like a contradiction. On page 227 of the ebook version, "He shrugs. 'Every time you face a choice, or something happens, the opposite happens in another universe.'"

Well, if that is true, then how did her parents end up together in BOTH realities? Wouldn't they have made a different choice in one?

"It's usually parallel though, because once the choice is made, the universe splits. Let's say you get a job offer. In the original universe, you decide to take the offer. But in the universe that splits off, you don't. It's like the universe divides, kind of like cell division. In mitosis, the cells split with identical DNA. With the universes, they split identically too, just the opposite result of the action that created the divide. Obviously this means there are an infinite number of universes."

Again, doesn't seem right to me... AND, which is the ORIGINAL universe? Anyway, the author's explanation seemed to contradict itself, which I didn't care for... other than that, I enjoyed the romantic love knot Julia found herself in with Reese and Evan, although when I first met Reese, his character was almost so much like Evan's in the way that he sounded (his demeanor and comfort with her), that I had to remind myself it was a new boy.

I'll probably try to get the next book in the series, from the library. ( )