We Were Never Here / Sophia Hannan / Book Review

WE WERE NEVER HERE

George and Jules. Jules and George. That's what they are, what it feels like they have always been: the secretly-dating cohosts of a popular YouTube ghost hunting show that's only a cover for precious art theft. The money they've got coming in from the show (and, more importantly, the heists they've run) will pay for their fancy boarding school this fall. It will pay for their college education. It will set them up for life.

But all that was before. Before July. Before there was a knife in Jules's chest and blood splatter on Georgia's shoes. Before they called in a major favor... Before the funeral.

Now it's October, and Georgia is drowning. She hasn't been to class in weeks. She hasn't talked to her old crew, who helped research and film the YouTube show. She has hardly left her room at the fancy boarding school where she and Jules were supposed to be together. But when a call comes through from a man they owe a painting—no, not just a painting but the painting that cost Jules her life—Georgia knows she can't ignore life anymore. Because they failed to deliver, and there are consequences for failure. Consequences she can only avoid if she and her crew work fast.

THOUGHTS

Technically proficient and unfortunately quite... boring? I don't know. It's the pacing. It's the character-building. It's the convoluted plotline and character entanglements. It reads more like adult literary horror than YA, in a bad way. It just wasn't very fun to read.

PROS

Artsy	Though this book has a very conventional flavor to it, the actual set-up is quite strange? And I do mean this as a positive. I've never read a paranormal book quite like this, where the (potential) ghosts are a minor part of the actual setup of the ghost story. Where we've got art thieves as our protagonists, art thieves who have used ghosts as an excuse in the past to get close to their targets. Art thieves who also, in some part, actually believe in ghosts? So they're not just scam artists. They're some amalgamation of confidence-men, YouTube personalities, art thieves, and true believers in strange hauntings from the great beyond. And that's really strange. But also kind of delightful? It certainly shakes up genre expectations, to say the least.
Possessed	You know what's also a strange direction to take a paranormal book in? Possession. But not possession as the end point. Possession as the start point. Because Georgia is already possessed at the start of this book. She has been for months. And she's not out here seeking an exorcist. Having one of your POV characters be possessed is interesting enough, but especially when she's not falling into the archetype of being a spectacle, a tragedy, or a damsel in distress. Georgia is none of those things. She's shut herself out to keep others safe, and she's guilty of a terrible and bloody crime. She's not crying out for help. She's warding people away, because she doesn't trust herself not to do worse the next time around. And that's, well, different.
Grieving	One major component of this book is grief. It starts with a dead girl, and it leaves behind her three best friends. But being best friends can also be complicated and messy. It's not like they're all virtuous, thinking only the best of the dearly departed. They bear resentment (for good reason). They're missing a significant person in their lives. They're stuck in situations they didn't plan for without her. And they're falling apart as a group, when she was what glued them together (as far as they can tell). It isn't a book about easy grief or acceptance. It's hard and messy, and I like that component. It makes these characters feel raw, feel like flesh and blood. Alive.

CONS

Before the story even begins, they've left a dead body behind. And one of them was holding the bloody knife at the scene of the crime. So the fact that they've just moved on with their lives is, frankly, unbelievable. There are "reasons" in the book for this. They have a Get Out of Jail Free card (literally) in the form of their art-heist fence, something that's mentioned early on. But, like, how? I know they've got connections, but are the connections that good? And why would the fence want them out of this situation? It's not like they're the only ones who can do the dirty deed. At some point, kids without the money for a proper college fund become expendable, and therefore, expending so many resources to get them out of big trouble (the "I killed my best friend with a knife" type of big trouble) doesn't feel realistic, especially when there's no real indication in the book why we would have gone this route, professionally.	How?
Speaking of things that go unexplained, like, how did these random kids get involved with an art theft ring at all? It doesn't seem to be connected to upbringing, to local economics, to other interpersonal connections. They just have one contact, and that's it. How did they get tied up with this illegal art dealer? Why did they agree to do it? It's for the money; I get that. But how did they even get an opportunity like this in the first place? And why was that the best option for building up their college funds?	When?
At the end of the day, this book is just kind of... boring. It left me asking why I should care, why I should get invested. It's got some interesting elements, and I'm sure there will be fans. But I couldn't get invested. Technically competent and emotionally void, unfortunately.	Why?

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/10

Those who loved the paranormal investigation vloggers of The Monsters We Made by Peyton June will like this new camera-first investigation. Those who loved the messy entanglement of supernatural, interpersonal, and grief in Lio Min's The L.O.V.E. Club will like diving into the trenches alongside these characters.

Details Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Date: July 28, 2026 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley and Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.