Fun and Entertaining Read

Imagining Elsewhere by Sara Hosey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This story was funnier than I expected, ironic, different, and intriguing at the same time. It’s just so I don’t know – if you’ve read it, you’ll know what I’m trying to say better than I can say it. It was also, I think, targeted to quite a bit younger of an audience than me and I think the target audience would probably like it, get it more than I did.
Some of what was so funny and weird to me is how they kept explaining and referring to what walkmans were and that kind of thing that’s old tech nowadays but if you were a kid in the 80s like me – yep dated myself there – you remember how walkmans at one time were cool and how exciting it was when they started selling CD players and CDs lol.
Anyway, on to the story, this is about Astrid, who is a former bully, and how she becomes the bullied one by Candi in the new town they moved to after her bullying got out of hand and she went too far.
The town they move to is called Elsewhere until a few days or so after they move there. Then it gets changed to Candi-land, which is so ridiculous, but it fits in this story, you’ll see when you read it. It starts with Astrid, her sister, and her Mom trying to adjust to their new place and new school and during her first day/week at school, Astrid gets bullied by Candi, the most popular girl in the school and town as is shown later on. Then there’s a 180 and suddenly Astrid finds herself as the BFF of Candi, the popular bully, and then finds out why Candi is actually so popular and how she seems to have power over others and everything.
As things go on, Astrid, her sister, and her new friends find and realize that they have to stop Candi from keeping everyone under her control and get out of Elsewhere for good. They make a plan and things happen and then some of them get free and some of them don’t and the ending leaves questions so there’s a possibility of a continuation of this series and I’d be curious to see what happens if there is another book with this town and these characters.
It’s a fun, quick read touching on topics of bullying, depression, suicide, mental health, and such with high school-aged kids. It’s something that I’d recommend checking out if you’re looking for a quick and entertaining read with some deeper moments and topics touched on, but not overdone.
Thanks so much to Edelweiss and CamCat Books for letting me read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.



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