Publisher: 21st April 2021 by Hachette Australia and Quercus Books
Pages: 400 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: contemporary, women’s fiction, romance
My Rating: 4 crowns
Synopsis:
Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend's wedding in the north of Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.
But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie's ex, Dylan, who she's avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.
Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they've totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with three hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship...
Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly... is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?
My Thoughts
“I don’t care about almost. I care about what really happened. Everyone’s got the potential to do the wrong thing - if we were measured that way, we’d all come up short. It’s about what you do.”
The Road Trip is Beth’s third book. Her first book, Flat Share was met with great acclaim and I thoroughly enjoyed The Switch her second tale (HERE). So I went in expecting loads of laughter and light, fun moments. Somewhat surprisingly, this was quite a different tale, not what I was expecting, but by the end a good story.
This book definitely has more depth and substance to it, there are strong emotions adrift here and quite a lot of baggage to wade through. Split into two timelines, Beth weaved it together quite well to provide a slow unraveling of past events in explaining how the two main leads came to part ways initially.
‘I don’t even know what the real world is. The dread is tugging at me again, and in its way the fear of it is almost as bad as the dread itself.’
There are some great secondary characters here - love Addie’s sister Deb and big shout out to Rodney for the light relief. It was good to revisit how Addie and Dylan came together and I waited to see if the thing that drove them apart would hit the mark - it did for me. At times the journey was moving a little slow (much like the traffic they were stuck in!) but by the second half they were well and truly in the fast lane and it all gelled well together.
Despite not being the book I had originally predicted, it ended up being solid and enjoyable and would appeal to many. I look forward to seeing where Beth will go on her next adventure.
‘The countless times I almost changed my mind. But that’s the thing about almost: you can be ninety-nine per cent there, you can be an inch away from doing it, but if you stop yourself from stepping over that line, nobody will ever know how close you were.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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