Breakaway Books

Authored by Ellie Palmer; Published August 2025; Romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️

Anywhere with You simultaneously charmed and infuriated me. It is a sweet story of two best friends who finally become lovers, but I couldn’t help but question if that transition is wise.

Anywhere with You starts with Charlotte (Charley) being dumped by her boring, predictable, and safe husband of one year. When the divorce finally comes through, her former best friend Ethan, from whom she became estranged when she got married, swoops back into her life, right when Charley’s sister Laurel informs her that she will be eloping with her on-again off-again boyfriend that very weekend. Fortunately, Ethan lives a nomadic van-loving lifestyle, and the two of them set off to attend (prevent?) Laurel’s wedding.

There was a time in my life when I was a lot like Charley: I had a plan, my plan would get me where I wanted to go, and I wanted to stick with the plan. Perhaps because this was my philosophy, but is no longer, I frequently found myself extremely annoyed with Charley, who kills herself at a job that makes her miserable and doesn’t get her any closer to her dream, and who feels like she can control her sister’s love life. The way that Charley talks about knowing what’s best for Laurel nearly drove me up the wall—where are the boundaries? The acknowledgment that we can’t control other people? Trying to make decisions for another grown adult is a sure fire way to conflict and unhappiness, and it seems to be that Charley should be wise enough to understand this. At the same time, when Charley is finally able to admit why she is so hellbent against Laurel’s marriage—that she’s afraid of being abandoned by Laurel the same way their dad frequently abandoned them—I felt the power of that admission like a punch to the gut. I have certainly felt similarly as my closest companions entered relationships and marriages, even if I didn’t want to admit it. It is a vulnerable and true moment for Charley, and that truth carries the emotional weight of the novel for me.

But her romantic relationship with Ethan is confusing on so many levels, partially because I agree with Charley’s initial stance on their prospects, and I seem to be the only one. If my best friend lived his life constantly on the move, I would discount him as a romantic partner, just as Charley did, only to inexplicably change her mind. It is a huge life change to give up a stable address, home, and job, especially considering that Charley dealt with precisely that kind of instability from her father for her entire childhood. To me, it wasn’t at all insane that Charley had ignored Ethan as a romantic prospect for much of their life, regardless of how much she may have liked him. Logistics, as unsexy as they are, are an important component of a romantic relationship. (As is understanding how your parents’ relationship affects your own perspective on relationships. Charley does not excel quite so much in this area, or she may have dealt with her and Laurel’s relationships with a little more grace.) The fact that Charley’s sister and prospective brother-in-law discount all of the logistical issues, along with all other spectators, made me feel a little crazy.

All of that being said, if you have dreamt, even just once or twice, of leaving your stable life for a nomadic existence in a van, you may find Anywhere with You cathartic. Or, perhaps it’ll drive you just as nuts as it did me!