Author: Morgan Matson

Synopsis:

When you're on a road trip, life is all about the detours. . . .

Amy Curry is having a terrible year. Her mother has decided to move across the country and needs Amy to get their car from California to Connecticut. There's just one small problem: Since her father died this past spring, Amy hasn't been able to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger, the nineteen-year-old son of an old family friend, who turns out to be unexpectedly cute ... and dealing with some baggage of his own.

Meeting new people and coming to terms with her father's death were not what Amy had planned on this trip. And traveling the Loneliest Road in America, seeing the Colorado mountains, crossing the Kansas plains, and visiting diners, dingy motels, and Graceland were definitely not on the itinerary. But as they drive, Amy finds that the people you least expected are the ones you may need the most—and that sometimes you have to get lost in order to find your way home.

Review:

“Tomorrow will be better.”
“But what if it’s not?” I asked.
“Then you say it again tomorrow. Because it might be. You never know, right? At some point, tomorrow will be better.”

I feel like I must preface this review by saying that I picked it up because this was my Young Adult book club for adults (lol) book choice for this month. I honestly was NOT excited to do a YA contemporary because lately I’ve been feeling old and jaded and can’t connect with the characters anymore since I’m about a decade older than them (omfg I hated even typing that). HOWEVER, I am so, so happy that we made this choice. I LOVED this book so much and was reminded about all of the reasons that I used to love contemporaries. Sure, some of this is unrealistic just like how they all kind of are with the ditching of the parents, but come on, that’s just how these work you know?

I haven’t read any road trip books in a long while and I really liked the concept of this one. I mean obviously I didn’t like that Amy’s father had died and that she still can’t stand the thought of driving the car and still has panic attacks but I appreciated that she and Roger only had a slight connection and that he, of course, didn’t treat her like her a broken thing. I loved when they decided to take a different route from the one Amy’s mom had planned and all of the places they visited along the way. One of my favorite parts of the book was reading about all of the good food they had, too. Ugh I love food, even when I’m not five months pregnant, lol! My grandma used to have us make a food journal when we went on trips so we could tell her all of the yummy things we had when we got back so I’ve always had fond memories of trips and the food that goes with them depending on the specific areas you’re at.

Hmmm what else to say? I thought it was really cool how everywhere they stopped had a pretty big impact on either both or one of them. Whether it was the people they saw or just little things that happened when they stopped, all of it seemed destined to happen how it did. Seeing Amy be coaxed out of her shell again and start to heal was a wonderful thing. I very, very much recommend this book if you’re looking for a solid YA contemporary that’s more than just an easy fluff piece. This one has plenty of important things like grief, the different faces it can take, how to overcome it, broken hearts, young people falling in love and taking a chance—all of the best and worst parts of a young life.