Destination Anywhere

The perfect book for our sort-of still lockdown life. I really really struggled to put it down.Being behind Peyton was raw and refreshing. I escaped with her.I watched her find the true essence of herself. I watched her listen, to the inside and the out.Explores frienship in its many forms, the value of spontaneity and being definitively true to yourself.

Used as gift

I absolutely love Sara Barnard's books. She has a brilliant way with words and a serious skill at getting into the heads of teenage girls. Our protagonist here is Peyton who, after a horrible experience with some 'friends', needs to get away, and does so by flying to Canada. With no plan, not much money, and a serious lack of contacts in Canada, Peyton is on the journey of a lifetime - to discover Canada, and herself. As she travels across the country, taking in new experiences and processing old ones, Peyton really unfurls as a character.This is quite an internal book - a lot of Peyton's growth is introspective, and her past plays out as she reconsiders it, so we have the advantage of her hindsight and insight as she explains. Barnard does a great job of this, though. Sensitive and nuanced, the publication of Destination Anywhere was delayed due to global events, but it's another stunner, and a pleasingly strong addition to Barnard's already impressive back catalogue.

I really had no idea what to expect from this book, it was almost certainly an impulse request from Netgalley, due to the cover grabbing my attention, as anything with a plane on it, while in lockdowns is extra appealing as I need to be able to constantly dream of escape.And well that is what Peyton is trying to do, she is only 17, yet more or less overnight decides to drop out of college and get on a plane to Canada without much of plan. It is clear she is unhappy with her life back in England, but until you start getting the alternating chapters set in the past, and seeing how her first year of college panned out, plus other key background, you don't realise just to what extent the desire to get away is.In fact even as she was describing the toxic friendship and relationship she was in, after having done five years of secondary school being bullied and having no friends at all, I still wouldn't have guessed what would act as the ultimate trigger for her to try to flee her life.While we are getting all this background, we also get to see Peyton's travels across Canada, her lack of plan, the other backpackers she meets and forms some sort of friendships with.As a travel fiend I absolutely loved all the descriptions of Canada, especially of its breath-taking beauty, stunning scenery and some of its wildlife too. I loved the idea of backpacking across such a Canada although personally October is probably too cold for me, but it does add to the atmosphere.But this is more than just a book featuring a fabulous bit of travelling across a country that I rarely see featured in the books I read, This is a coming of age, journey of self discovery for Peyton, of learning all manner of lessons about herself, as well as with hindsight realising just where the previous year went wrong for her.She's also a talented artist and I couldn't help but be annoyed that her family didn't seem to support her that much, or listen to how she is really feeling at any point which would have attributed to the possibly rash decision to book a flight elsewhere.I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and also found myself thinking about Peyton even when I wasn't reading it, which is a sure fire sign of a book getting under my skin. And it even made me feel quite emotional too!Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.,

I love Sara Barnard's writing so had no doubt I would enjoy this to some degree. However, it's not my usual style; yes, I love YA, and I love travel, but I usually like a bit more of a mystery or thriller aspect to my books. I don't particularly like romance, and this does have some aspects of romance in it, but is not centred around it which I definitely appreciated.First of all, I have to say I related to Peyton in a few ways. No, I never experienced exactly what she did (I'll avoid spoilers, but it was certainly dramatic). But I get the feeling of needing to run away, to start over. I also understand her struggle of finding friends, of wanting to fit in and be liked; it's really quite sad how it all backfired on her. And of course, no 17-year-old should really drop out of school and run away from home, but I'm sure a lot of us had times when we were tempted, right?The journey that Peyton undertakes is quite wonderful. It made me want to travel more myself. At times, Peyton did get emotional and overwhelmed, and I don't blame her. It wasn't a holiday. She had literally run away. But she managed to enjoy herself, meet some wonderful people, and even patch things up with her family who were halfway around the world from her. (Plus, meeting some family that's not so far away, for the very first time.)It was a pretty feel-good book overall, despite the rather emotional and traumatic backstory. Peyton was certainly a flawed character, as every single one of us is. That made it so much easier to like her and relate to her. It was really easy to read and just enjoyable. 5 stars, though I wouldn't quite put it on my 'favourites' list.