Where I Belong Review

Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release date: February 1, 2011

Source: Publisher

Corrinne Corcoran’s upscale Manhattan life is perfectly on track—until her father announces he’s been laid off and she’s shipped off to Broken Spoke, Texas, to live with her grandparents. All alone in a big public school and forced to take a job shoveling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the glamorous life she’s supposed to be living. But as she grudgingly adjusts—making new friends and finding romance along the way—this city girl begins to realize that life without credit cards and shopping sprees may not be as bad as it seems....

In this sparkling debut that flawlessly balances romance and humor, readers will grow to love sharp and sassy Corrinne as she goes on her totally reluctant but completely irresistible journey of self-discovery.

Review:

Where I Belong was a fun and light hearted debut novel perfect for reading cozying up to the fire or lounging around the pool. Corrine was a main character that readers will either love or hate. At first I couldn’t stand her. She was a whiny, demanding brat and I just couldn’t feel any remorse for her when she found out her father had lost his job. After living the high life in New York City, rubbing shoulders with celebrities, and partying with her best friend, Waverly, Corrine and her younger brother get shipped off to Texas to live with her mother’s estranged parents. I understand how hard it must be to have to move to a completely different state and with family members you’d never met, but Corrine was just plain obnoxious.

Luckily, as the story progressed, readers got to see a change in Corrine. She started to realize that while her situation was not what she expected, that she had to make the best of it. She still had much of her old opinions and ideas, but she matured quite a bit by the end of the novel, which is especially obvious when her NYC bestie Waverly comes to visit.

There are a variety of characters introduced over the course of the story. Kitsy, Bubby, Rider, Waverly…each of them had something unique about them and it was easy to see which character was not what they appeared. I loved Kitsy and Bubby because they stuck it out with Corrine and helped her adjust to life in Texas. Although, at first, if I was Kitsy I don’t know if I could have put up with Corrine and all her Texas stereotypes!

Readers got to experience Texas alongside Corrine and her friends and I loved imagining the football games and rodeo.

There was a small amount of romance in Where I Belong, but, most of all, this was a story of acceptance and learning to love what you have today, not yesterday, not tomorrow, but right now. This was a great debut from Gwendolyn Heasley and I’m sure she has more fantastic novels to come. I definitely recommend this to fans of riches-to-rags stories and if you don’t like Corrine at first, stick it out, you may be surprised!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars