Book Review: Anywhere With You by Ellie Palmer

Official Synopsis: Twenty-nine year old Charley Beekman is thriving. Is she financially strapped, languishing in her legal career, and very likely the youngest divorcee at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on a Friday night? Yes. But, now that she's accepted the inherent flaws that lie in all romantic relationships, she finally has life all figured out! She's definitely due for an upswing.

So when her free-spirited sister announces her plan to elope with her messy on-again-off-again childhood sweetheart, Charley knows she has to stop the wedding, even if it means road-tripping into the northern woods of Minnesota in a camper van with her childhood best friend, Ethan, who’s as gorgeous as he is chronically unreliable.

But when their cozy journey ignites a spark she's tried to ignore for years, Charley tries to write off her feelings as fleeting. Because after failing at marriage so spectacularly with the most responsible man she's ever known, Charley definitely shouldn't risk it all for her non-committal, nomadic, musician best friend . . . right?

As a big fan of Ellie Palmer's first novel, I was excited to see how she would write a road trip novel, especially one with a few new tropes. This book was a great ride, literally.

Charley has always had a plan, ever since finally settling down after a chaotic childhood she knows what she wants. Somewhere steady, a house with a white picket fence, a husband and a safe job as a lawyer. At least that's what she thinks she wants. When he husband, well ex-husband, asks for a divorce, Charley fights tooth and nail to keep the too big house, if only to pretend it's still what she wants. When her best friend, Ethan, shows up in her driveway and asserts himself back into her life, Charley isn't sure how he lives on the road.

The last time she had seen Ethan was at her bachelorette party, which was a disaster, then he didn't show up to her wedding. Now after minimal texts for the last year he is back, and ready to help her move on from the life she thought she needed.

When Ethan and Charley learn that her sister, Laurel, is getting married to their other childhood best friend Charley is determined to keep her sister from making a mistake. She and Ethan set off in his van to go and stop this wedding, well at least Charley wants to stop it. But as she spends more time with Ethan, in extremely close quarters, she starts to wonder why she ever thought that they wouldn't work out. As they work their way up to the North Shore of Minnesota, Charley starts to wonder if her steady life is what she really needs, or if an adventure with Ethan is what she needed all along.

This book was a fun journey into learning that sometimes the chaos might be good. Charley has to learn that even if it wasn't what she would have chosen, maybe Laurel and Petey getting married in the middle of the woods makes the most sense. She also has to learn that maybe the stable life isn't the best one, as she and Ethan start to reconnect in more ways than one. I liked how loving Ethan was the entire story, from the flashbacks to childhood/college to when he admits his love for Charley before she gets married. He was an excellent MMC and I adore him.

Charley was a good representation of the 'hopes' for perfect but how perfect might depend more on the people around us then the people we think are 'perfect'. One thing I also really enjoyed was how even though Charley knew her ex was getting remarried, it didn't feel like the overall driving force into her trying to get with Ethan, as it can be in some romance books. It's just something she knows and acknowledges, but since she has so much to figure out for herself.

The background characters, especially the cast of characters they meet while they are in the woods, are some of favorite background characters. Everyone is a little bit chaotic in their own way but are able to show Charley what she could gain if she stepped out of her rigid lifestyle. Also, the friends to lovers was just chefs kiss within this story, childhood best friends, who stay best friends?! The way Ethan keeps his cool most of the time. swoon

Overall, I really liked this book and the story it told. I love a book set somewhere that I understand and can visualize well (yay Minnesota). I think Charley's story is one we can all feel connected to and I liked how the friends to lovers trope was written within this story. If you need a hopeful, road trip novel to cap off your summer reading, I would definitely recommend this one.

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars!

Anywhere with You comes out August 5, 2025!

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