Book Review: If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon

If You Could Go Anywhere
by Paige Toon

Publication date: May 16th 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Pages: 416

---

Summary:

Angie has always wanted to travel. But at 29, she has still never left her small mining town in the Australian outback. When her grandmother passes away, Angie finally feels free to see the world – until she discovers a letter addressed to the father she never knew and is forced to question everything.

As Angie sets off on her journey to find the truth – about her family, her past and who she really is – will enigmatic stranger Alessandro help guide the way?

Source: Goodreads

---

Thoughts:

“If You Could Go Anywhere” is my first Paige Toon read and unfortunately I’ve heard from some that this isn’t the best of her work. That’s not to say that they don’t like it though, Paige Toon has a loyal following and a huge amount of praise! I look forward to giving more of her work a go in the future.

In this book, leading lady Angie has always dreamed of travelling, but in reality she’s never left her home in Coober Pedy, a small mining community in Australia. When her Nan dies, she gets the opportunity to travel and takes it upon herself to travel to Italy to meet her long lost father for the first time.

Angie is 29, but I felt that she read a little younger. In fact, if I hadn’t known her age, I would confidently have placed this book in the genre of young adult fiction. Her choices and decisions didn’t appear rational to me, when considering her age.

What I liked the most about this story was the descriptions of the places Angie visited and even more the descriptions of her hometown, a place which I would never have been able to imagine was real. If you haven’t heard of it, Google Coober Pedy and you’ll see what I mean! If anything, I’d have liked Angie to travel more, to explore the world and the wonders it has to offer rather than spending it following round a boy. Or perhaps I’d have enjoyed a book based soley in Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world.

In general I found this book to be a little slow going and it was quite long. I didn’t find the characters to be particularly relatable and in some cases likeable, so I wasn’t too gripped throughout. I think this book would be best recommended to a young adult audience in my opinion.

Overall rating:  “If You Could Go Anywhere” is a nice read, but it sadly didn’t blow me away. It was a little slow moving and I wasn’t too keen on the characters. I’m very open to other Paige Toon reads, but this one was a 2 star read for me.

---