The Road Trip

Again I recognize that I am in the minority, but I do NOT understand all the 5 star reviews of this book. It seemed like hard work to finish it and I didn't care for any of the characters or whether they got an HEA. You know something isn't right when you start hoping that the main characters DON'T end up together and that perhaps the plot will have the "villain" ending up with the heroine! That's what happened to me at about the 30% mark: I just didn't care about Dylan and Addie getting back together and hoped that Marcus would somehow be redeemed and end up being her real match. But no. It wasn't to be. So it ended up being a story about an improbable road trip (5 people in a mini with all that luggage? That alone was unlikely...) with too immature characters who MAYBE had grown up a little in the 20 months since their "past," but it was hard to see much real growth or -- more importantly -- to believe in any lasting growth at all.Dylan and Addie were too bland for me to remain interested and by the 50% mark I just didn't care much if they got together. And the various "disasters" that occurred to keep this road trip going were just irritating.One nitpick: when did it become okay to regularly abuse the grammar rules and have sentences like "Dylan and her went xxx" or "Deb and him did ---" Is this accepted grammar now? It jarred because it occurred so often that the author clearly doesn't know better. But perhaps the editors should have noticed?

The writing is really good as it could keep me curious about what will happen next even I’m not that into the characters. To me, the characters are so flawed that I could not be fond of. Also, one thing doesn’t make much sense is that the characters are still so young when they come around. The gap for their growth doesn’t amount to such bug change. The story might be more convincing if the characters meet again in their late twenties.

I mean I read the whole thing and their were entertaining bits. That said, this book made me feel itchy. It’s filled with unhealthy codependent relationships surrounded by abusive behavior. I’m not even sure why the two main characters love each other? I don’t think we learn that much about them as individuals actually. I really like the authors other books but, if you’re seeking escapism this isn’t it. Potentially pretty triggering. I really didn’t want the main characters to get back together. Overall feel claustrophobic after reading.

If I read oodles of books, does that make me an expert of quality? I’m not sure, but I do know that I was so relieved with how much I loved this book. I was absolutely enthralled with this second chance trope. So many of my favorite authors have really disappointed me this year. We are talking Best Sellers of the Romance genre that appeared to have published books not written by their former selves.Did 2020 itself write their books? It really seems like that is what happened, and I don’t get they hype such books are getting. I have had to just give up on so many lame books lately.Beth really saved the day with this book. I laughed, I was in suspense , and then I was sad that it was over . I read this in one lovely Summer day. I wish I could have made it last a little longer, but it was #unputdownableI highly recommend this book for the beach, couch, pool, or office ( who needs to work when there is a book like this?!)Thanks, Beth!

***I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review***I adore this book! The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary is a comedic and oftentimes heartbreaking story about finding love, losing love, and all the messy bits in between. Imagine, if you will, planning a road trip to your best friend’s wedding and everything that could go wrong does. Now you are trapped in a car with your overprotective older sister, a random guy from Facebook, your ex who you want to hate but can’t find the energy to, and his best friend who mutually hates you. Road trip from hell, right? This is the book in a nutshell, but y’all it is so much more! Told in dual POV and alternating past and present, The Road Trip will leave you smiling long after it ends.Addie and Dylan fell in love one summer while she was working at her friend Cherry’s vacation home as the caretaker. Dylan was there on what was supposed to be a family trip, but as all things with his family, it wound up just being him. The two immediately hit it off, and the chemistry is quite steamy, but both are still immature and learning who they are as adults. Dylan struggles with depression, and I really appreciate how delicately the author handled this. She writes it from his perspective, and it feels true to life. Addie is insecure. Dylan met her at a time in her life where she was carefree and fun.Flash forward to the present. The two are heading to Cherry’s wedding, in separate cars, and haven’t spoken in a year and a half. When Dylan sees her in the car ahead of him, he loses focus remembering her, how much he loves her and how much he misses her. Then he happens to run his car into the back of hers. To prevent the group from being late to the wedding, they all pile into Addie’s sister’s mini-coop. Can you imagine? Five full grown adults in a mini-coop? I laughed every time it was mentioned.The story slowly unravels alternating between Addie and Dylan’s past, watching them fall in love, and their present, crammed into a mini-coop trying not to acknowledge the elephant in the car with them. I loved Addie and Dylan. They are a sweet couple that you can easily root for. Deb, Addie’s sister, is fantastic. She’s a single mom and always has Addie’s back. Marcus, Dylan’s best friend, is an interesting character. I wanted to hate him like Addie does, but I found that he was growing on me. His character arc made me tear up a bit even if I did want to reach through the pages at times and smack him on the head. The last character in the car is Rodney. He is a bit of a mystery. He just needed a ride to the wedding and Deb and Addie thought why not. They don’t know him or how he knows their friend Cherry. So he’s a wildcard, an innocent and harmless one they think.Overall, if you haven’t already guessed it, I absolutely loved The Road Trip. The bits of the past we got really helped to shape how I interpreted Addie and Dylan in the present. The story and pacing flowed seamlessly from one section to the next. I honestly could have read another 300 pages and been happy. There wasn’t a single character I wasn’t interested in. They were all fully developed and unique. I wanted to get to know them all! If you enjoy sweet, second chance romances with quirky antics and comedic value, I highly recommend you grab a copy.

Or you’ll regret it. It may just be my impatience but I was frustrated at first with the story going from present to past and back. However, it grew on me and I began to see it as little gifts of plot revealed brilliantly. I also had issues with Dylan’s rich boy issues at first but I got more comfortable as the story revealed that there was more to that too. Both hero and heroine are flawed and yet I was still rooting for their HEA.

I was very kindly sent a copy ahead of publication to read and review, all views are my own.It felt so nice to have a Beth O’Leary book back in my hands again, as soon as it was announced of a new upcoming book I was really excited and couldn’t wait to escape into her cosy and heartfelt writing again.This book has such a difference in tone and mood to the previous 2 books which I know many adored, this feels like the older more emotional sister of the trio, she’s a bit more somber in tone but does crack a joke every now and then, and has moment to remind you she is still light and fluffy at times also, (makes sense in my head so hopefully it does in yours too). So it’s a very different feel to the previous two books but still Beths writing is what’s nice to come back to, and again it was quick to get into and a joy to escape with.I think it’s hard when it’s so different, and when the previous books were so well loved, especially The Flatshare. The characters in The Road Trip for me weren’t as likeable, so it made it more difficult to have that connection with them and feel totally swept up in their stories and deliver that same heartwarming feeling I got before. But that aside it was enjoyable for me but maybe felt too different, and not the usual vibe I was excited about. But for some they will love that! And that’s what is so great about books because everyone gets something different from what they read.But, I liked the set up, a road trip to Scotland in a cramped Mini Cooper, tensions rife and lots of unsaid things floating about in the air. I love a switching timeline, to fill in the details and get that other person’s perspective which we get here as it alters between Addie and Dylan. And in general I liked it because it’s a Beth O’Leary book, and it has warmth, humour, sadness and relatable moments woven through.

In the early hours of the morning, Dylan and his friend Marcus have set off early to attend their friend’s wedding in Scotland. When Dylan becomes distracted by the sight of the woman in the mini in front of them, convinced it is his ex-girlfriend Addie who he hasn’t spoken to in two years after a bad break-up, he ends up driving into the back of the car.Turns out he was right, it is Addie and her sister Deb and passenger Rodney, who were also on the way to the wedding. With the car Dylan was driving no longer driveable, the five of them decide to travel together in Addie’s car. What could possibly go wrong?Having loved Beth O’Leary’s first novel, ‘The Flatshare‘ and naming it as one of the best reads of 2020, I couldn’t wait to jump right into this book.The book is told from two POVs Addie’s and Dylan’s and also in ‘Then’ and ‘Now’. In the beginning, all we know is that Addie and Dylan used to date and that their break-up was pretty bad, bad enough to make them avoid each other. However, they have both been invited to a friend’s wedding in Scotland but didn’t expect to be spending so many hours in each other’s presence.I loved that all five occupants had different personalities and how much tension the group had between them. From obnoxious Marcus who was extremely rich and had no filter, plus constantly hungry. Outgoing Deb who was a new mother and worried about leaving her son for the weekend and Rodney who Addie offered a lift to the wedding when he had no other way of getting there who is mysterious and doesn’t like talking about himself.There are a lot of adventures and mishaps on the way as well as arguments. The plot was great fun and I enjoyed the wackiness of some of what happened and the revelations that came out. Plus the tension of will they even make it to the wedding on time with so many things occurring. I preferred the ‘Now’ moments to the ‘Then’ sections but I understand that the past was needed to explain how it all ended up so bad between Addie and Dylan.The book was pure joy and I completely became hooked on the worst road trip ever, one I would have loved and hated to be a part of. It was comical and heart-warming at the same time.

When Addie and her sister, Deb, are involved in a minor traffic accident with Addie’s ex, Dylan, and his irritating best friend, Marcus, they feel obliged to offer them a lift to the wedding of a mutual friend. So with Rodney, another wedding guest, making up a fifth, they set out on a road trip to Scotland. Thereafter the book divides into alternate sections; in one we are in the present, following the bickering fivesome North, and in the other, we are in the past, when a younger Addie took a summer job as a caretaker at a villa in France and was introduced to a world where it was the norm to live on an allowance from daddy.I loved the two previous books by this author (somewhat to my surprise, since they aren’t my normal type of reading) and was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately I didn’t love this one. I found the ‘now’ sections okay, and much more reminiscent of the earlier two books (possibly because they were enlivened by the comedy elements from Rodney and Deb), however I hated the ‘then’ sections with all the longing, wanting, misunderstanding, manipulation, and angst, and the problems of the poor little rich boys. In fact I found myself wondering if these sections were adapted from something the author had written pre The Flat Share.To be fair I’m probably not the target audience for these books, but since the earlier ones worked for me I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I’ll like number four better.

* be aware, potential spoilersAddie and her sister, Deb, are just on their way on a road-trip to Scotland, where they are due to be attending a friend's wedding, when they are involved in an accident, the driver of the other vehicle, none other than Dylan, Addie's ex-boyfriend. Much to their chagrin, they soon find themselves in a car with both Dylan, and his best friend Marcus, also headed for the same destination. Will they be able to survive this journey together, when the atmosphere is layered with tension and brimming with secrets?I absolutely loved O'Leary's debut, The Flatshare, which was out a few years ago, and have heard a lot of praise for her second novel too. Coming across this, her third book, I was intrigued by the premise. I love a good road-trip story, with its forced proximity device, and this sounded like it held a lot of potential, particularly in O'Leary's hands. Unfortunately, I have to say I found myself rather disappointed with this book, and despite holding onto the hope that I would eventually fall in love with the characters and story, it just never happened.The book switches between two time frames, the current day involving the road-trip to Scotland, and chapters set about two years before, charting Addie and Dylan's relationship, from their initial meeting to their eventual break-up. Using this device, O'Leary keeps the reader in the dark as to the exact reason why the couple broke up, until fairly late in the story, teasing at these characters' history together throughout in the present day. The car journey to Scotland, also features an extra character, Rodney, who the girls were merely giving a lift to, and having this relative stranger in the mix allows for some lighter moments and humour.I liked the premise and also the set up of the book, with its dual time frame. Addie and Dylan initially meet whilst on holiday in Provence, and I enjoyed the rendering of this setting for these parts in particular.I think one of my biggest gripes was that I never felt invested enough in the central romance. It seems to be a case of insta-love, a clear physical attraction portrayed between the characters certainly, but other than that, the author did not, for me at least, manage to create a convincing emotional connection between these two. Had it just been a holiday romance, I might have been able to believe it, but O'Leary tries to paint them as lovers destined to be together, and I'm afraid I wasn't able to buy into that. I found their relationship rather immature, they go from completely besotted to each other, to constantly having arguments, a very dysfunctional relationship essentially portrayed between Addie, Dylan and Marcus (Dylan's best friend), that could but begin to grate on my nerves, and I was actually glad when they broke up. As such I had no investment in them getting back together, which unfortunately was rather the whole point of the present day narrative.Marcus features heavily in the story, and is painted as a troubled soul. To begin with I absolutely hated him, he seemed like such an attention-seeker and generally just a toxic character. I will say that as the story went on, I did begin to understand his character a little more, and softened to him a little. I understand the dynamic that O'Leary was trying to capture with these three characters, but for me the execution of it, didn't quite work, and I just thought they were all unhealthy for each other and better off apart. Certainly O'Leary does manage to convey some growth and change in the characters in the present day, but not enough to salvage things in my opinion. Dylan was such a push-over for most of the book, and certainly in the chapters set in the past, that I kind of just wanted to shake him and tell him to take charge of his own life. Again, I appreciate that the author was trying to convey him as a bit of a lost and sensitive soul, and there were hints of him sometimes suffering from depression, but I think those aspects could have been handled better, as the depression was never addressed head on.* Similarly, towards the end of the story, I didn't think the sexual assault was handled all that strongly either, it all just happened very fast, with no real exploration on the impact it had on the character, but almost just seemed a necessary plot device, and then was even rather glossed over when it came to the characters resolving their issues.I didn't find this book as funny as I think parts were meant to be either, but rather the jokes and humour as forced and over the top e.g. the whole thing with Rodney at the end.Overall, this was certainly still readable, but no way lived up to my expectations. It seems like O'Leary was trying to convey more complex characters, certainly in comparison to The Flatshare, and deal with some darker themes, but for me she just did not manage to pull this off, and this was not the road-trip I had hoped for at all. This is a 2.5 stars for me, rounded up just about to 3 stars.

I loved The Flatshare and The Switch and was so looking forward to this one and was bitterly disappointed. OK, maybe that's a bit harsh and maybe my expectations were possibly a bit too high but...Firstly I didn't particularly like the characters. This, of course, makes it much harder to get involved. Whereas, with the other books, I was rooting for the main protagonists right from the start with this one I had trouble caring.Secondly, and for me this is a biggie, it simply wasn't credible. I own a mini and, I'm sorry, you simply can't fit five people and their luggage inside. I know Ms O'Leary was going for the claustrophobic feel but I have to be able to picture the story in my mind and, with this one, I couldn't. There were also a number of minor plot details where I ended up going "no, it doesn't work like that" and this spoils the flow for me.Thirdly, whereas in the other books the underlying issues - abusive partners - were credible and gave the books a certain gravitas the underlying issue here didn't make sense to me. Add to that the stereotypical controlling father... it felt almost as if it were painted by numbers.However, that said, I did finish the book and I did, overall, enjoy it. It's 3 stars, not one star, It's just not up to Ms O'Leary's others,