Morgan Matson

After the death of her father, Amy, a high school student, and Roger, a college freshman, set out on a carefully planned road trip from California to Connecticut, but wind up taking many detours, forcing Amy to face her worst fears and come to terms withher grief and guilt.

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

I'VE READ IT ABOUT 25 TIMES NOWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwWWWWWWWWW

Ari </3

SO GOOOOOOOOD

I'VE READ IT ABOUT 25 TIMES NOWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwWWWWWWWWW

After the death of her father, Amy, a high school student and Roger, a college freshman, set out on a carefully planned road trip from California to Connecticut, but wind up taking many detours, forcing Amy to face her worst fears and come to terms with her grief and guilt.

Amy & Roger's epic detour

Bria

Monicap

So, if you’re anything like me, this is how it happened:
You heard some people on booktube talking about this book, singing it’s praises. The contemporary-centric booktubers, that is.
After about the 10th time you heard it mentioned, you put it on hold at the library. And then you went and picked up from the library.
But you had somewhere else to go RIGHT AFTER the library (i.e. doctor’s appointment) and while you were waiting, despite being in the middle of four other books, you opened this one up.
And you were so thankful.
Because you read it late into the night. And woke up early the next morning. And read it all day. And finished it.
And was in love with the fuzzy feeling you had after turning the last page.

So, looking at the title, you expect this to be just a cutesy-tutesy contemporary romance. And it is. But it’s also got the taste of the deeper kind of contemporary. 
And, even though I would have LIKED to see some resolution with her mother, I liked the way it ended. With the promise of more resolution to come.
Do I wish that there will be a sequel? God, yes.
But will I be okay if there never is? Yeah, I think I will.

Sarah Sammis

Excellent YA road trip story. I want to blip the songs included in the playlists.

http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/...

maryam

I would give this a 3.5, but I really couldn't find myself giving it a 4. It was a good story, and the characters were enjoyable, but I think I had high expectations from the reviews that I read. All in all, it was a good book.

chloe rae

This book was honestly INCREDIBLE. I don't even know how to discuss all of the things that I adored about it. It was THAT GOOD. I can't get over it.
Firstly, I want to talk about the relationships. The way the author dealt with family was probably one of my favorite parts of this book. The main character deals with the loss of a father but I still felt like I got to KNOW him, and her love for him. There was the relationship with her brother that only made me realize how lucky I am to have a brother of my own. There was the relationship with Roger, who made me smile the entire novel. His kindness and warmth made me want to reach in and pull him out into the real world. 
I also loved the characters that were only in it for a few pages, like Lucien and Bronwyn. You could tell how even though she'd only met them for a short time, they changed her life. How crazy is it that people can do that? However, I think the most rewarding relationship to watch unfold was the one with herself. She came into her own and dealt with her issues, started taking chances and really living. The growth that took place in this book was so refreshing.
Oh, and HOW COOL was the music aspect of this book? I had such a blast reading the character's playlists and seeing what all I know. There were some bands I know and love, like Owlcity and The Format. But there were so many new ones I'd never heard of before! I can't wait to look them up and see if I discover a new favorite band!
Overall, this book was fun and heartfelt and REAL and I'm just so happy I got to experience it.

Zahra

I love it even more this second time around! The road trip part is what I enjoyed the most, especially with the playlists and pictures from Amy's scrapbook. It's just such a fun and light read, and still my number one Morgat Matson book.

Maui S.

** spoiler alert **
           I love mixes.

This book is not a typical love story. I love how Morgan Matson wrote in the different scenarios in Amy and Roger's life. How Amy doesn't like to drive due to her father's death and How Roger is still hung up on his ex which is partly the reason why he agreed to come with Amy.

The novel shows that good things come in the most unexpected ways. Which is good, very good.

Ryan 

★★ // feels closed-off most of the time. interesting ending. using the word “epic” to describe this detour is quite a reach, huh.

I love Morgan Matson.

This is my second Matson book and I fell in love once again. God, her writing styles is so A+. I still remember the "feels" when I finished her Since You've Been Gone.

Details and mundane things. In my opinion her books were simple but what I like the most was the details and simple things that led to the story. For example, when Amy chose to wear black and simple clothes because she wanted to be invisible like that is so me sometimes, it made my heart ache. In this book I really love the usage of pictures throughout the roadtrip. It feels like I'm also with Amy and Roger. God, I really want to have a roadtrip right now like seriously.

Morgan Matson, don't stop witing these kind of summer-y books. You rock.

Macy Johnson

The section about Chick-Fil-A was the highlight of the book for me, tbh. 

“‘What do you think Chick-fil-A is?’ Roger asked, as we pulled off the interstate and into the parking lot. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘So why don’t we go to a nice diner instead?’ ‘You and your diners,’ he said, shaking his head. I felt the same way about his fast-food restaurants, but kept that to myself. ‘Is it supposed to be “filet,” and just spelled wrong?’ I stared up at the red sign with its curly writing. ‘I just don’t know.’” 

“I just don’t know.” As someone who was raised on Chick-Fil-A, this was hilarious. I was cackling because I absolutely cannot imagine it!! Chick-Fil-A is eVeRyWhERe in the south. This next one gave me a good laugh as well, as a Southerner:

“Roger had ordered a Coke, since root beer was not on the menu. But i’d taken Lucien’s lead and ordered what he had, something called sweet tea.” 

Something called *repeats slowly* “sweet tea.” HA!

Okay… this was actually not as bad as I thought it would be – at all! Sure, it’s got some of that content that I DO NOT THINK IS NECESSARY after I had already been converted into liking it (and I mean come on) but (spoiler alert) I guess I appreciated that it was at the very end? There wasn’t MUCH language either; some, of course, but I wouldn’t call it heavy. Anyway – things I LIKED…

This was the first quote I wrote down. It might not actually be that funny but it made me laugh out loud because how adorably embarrassing is this memory. It was too vivid in its hilarity in my brain: 
“I saw landmarks from my life passing the window at faster speeds than I was comfortable with. The Fosters Freeze where Charlie and I used to walk to get shakes, and the Jamba Juice where he deeply humiliated me when we were twelve. He told me that if you yelled out ‘JAMBA!’ at full volume, all the employees would yell back ‘JUICE!’ He lied.”
Hehehehe. Also this was pretty good.
“He’d offered to play one of my mixes, but I had put him off, letting him pick the music. Most of what was on my iPod was Broadway musical soundtracks or oldies, and it didn’t seem like Roger was a secret Andrew Lloyd Webber fan.” 

I liked that she was a theatre kid! But most of the good musicals weren’t around then, so she was into like, Phantom and Les Mis (the standards) and… Anyone Can Whistle? Which is kinda boring. She did like The Last Five Years though! *applause*

“‘I’m telling you, you can do this,’ i said encouragingly. ‘Just purse your lips and try.’ ‘And I’m telling you,’ he said, smiling at me, ‘despite what your shirt said, not everyone can whistle. And I am that person.’” Hahahaha.

I loved this so much:

“Drew shrugged. ‘It’s your funeral.’ Walcott’s head snapped up. ‘Now, that would be a good song title,’ he said. ‘It already is,’ I said, without thinking. The three boys turned to look at me, and I felt my cheeks heating up a little. My throat felt tight, but I continued, feeling like I didn’t have a choice. ‘From Oliver! You know, the musical?’ Clearly, they didn’t, as I got three blank stares in return.”

And seeing their playlists was so cool!! I liked the whole travel journal thing, but I loved the playlists even more. The titles were generally fun as well. This book had a lot of fun additives included, which made for a more entertaining reading experience. 

I honestly related to her music defensiveness, like, people who judge your music are the literal worst.

“I didn’t want to have to watch him pretending to enjoy my music, or just tolerating it, waiting until he could switch back to his stuff. It was easier to keep listening to his.” 

“‘Want to at least give me an indication of what you like?’ he asked. I shrugged, wishing he would stop grilling me about this already. ‘I like everything.’ Roger shook his head. ‘Such a cop-out,’ he said. ‘If you like everything, that’s basically just saying you don’t really like anything.’” 

Roger coming at us with some truth there.

Why do I keep reading books that mention Elvis? Hmm.

We also have our stereotypical awkward misunderstandings, courtesy of sexual tension:

“‘Thanks for making the bed,’ I said finally. ‘You didn’t have to.’ ‘It was no big deal,’ Roger said with a smile. He stood and looked at me for a moment, taking in my outfit. ‘You look hot.’ ‘What? Me?’ I stammered, completely flummoxed. ‘Yeah,’ he said, still looking at me. What? Was this some kind of come-on or something? Right before we were about to sleep in the same bed? Like this wasn’t complicated enough already. ‘Oh. Um, thank you. I mean, not that you don’t, but I’m not sure that you should—I mean...’ ‘Oh, no,’ Roger said quickly, and I could see that he was blushing again. ‘No. I mean—I meant what you’re wearing. Are you going to be too warm?’ Oh. I momentarily wondered if it would be possible to get one of the bears outside to come in and kill me.” 

So basically this wasn’t in my typical taste, but I had a good time with it and didn’t regret picking it up. It took me three tries to get to it – I almost checked it out twice before but put it back on the shelf, thinking it looked a bit too cringy. And then I saw it was by Morgan Matson and shoved it back because Since You’ve Been Gone was... one of my least favorite books. But despite all the hype and no-other-road-trip-read-can-live-up-to-this-book!! thing going on that I’ve seen (that always turns me off. I knew this one was kind of a standard favorite among those who like other standards I don't) – it wasn’t half as bad as I thought. I had all these preconceptions which weren’t actually very true. It was a little basic, but I found I didn’t really mind. It was random and fun. Some of it was a little dramatic or sad. But generally, a good time.

I thought Amy and Roger were nice and all but more like… good buddies?? I didn’t feel all this romantic tension. I appreciated that he didn’t blow the Lucien thing out of proportion, just got all bothered. Kinda cute. But as proud as I was that they reached a level of safety with each other, I felt like there wasn’t a lot of chemistry. But that’s just me.

I guess the resolution with her mom and Charlie were both okay? Not fabulous.

Quotes I found along the way:

“I’d started having insomnia for the first time in my life over the last month. I’d lie awake for hours before finally giving up and going to watch the Weather Channel. For whatever reason, I found it soothing—the preciseness of it, the way it essentially predicted the future. I liked that the meteorologists could tell people across the country what their days and weeks would bring. They were preparing people, letting them know that a storm might be coming toward them. And that way, you weren’t caught totally off guard and unprepared when it finally hit you.”

“‘You’re such a beautiful young lady!’ Why were older people always saying things like this? Even after they were always telling us not to lie.” 

“Saying goodbye is basically an invitation not to see a person again. It’s making it okay for that to be the last conversation you have. So if you don’t say it—if you leave the conversation open—it means you’ll have to see them again.”

“It was strangely otherworldish—these huge red plateaus and fantastic little driftwood trees that I couldn’t stop taking pictures of, much to Roger’s delight, since he thought that taking pictures of trees was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard of.”

“He raised his eyebrows at me and headed into the kitchen. I followed, looking around. There were signs that a number of people shared this kitchen, and not all harmoniously, with charts on the wall for trash and cleanup duties, cabinets secured with padlocks, and the words JUST EAT YOUR OWN GODDAMN FOOD AND NO ONE GETS HURT painted on the wall.” 

“I’d nodded and agreed with relatives and family friends who approached and told me what a terrible loss it was, and thanked them when they told me that I was bearing up well. I was just waiting to wake up from this surreal dream that I’d somehow landed in. Nothing seemed to be making sense. It was like a bomb had just gone off in the kitchen, and instead of cleaning up the rubble, people were stepping around it and eating mini-quiche.” 

“‘You don’t have to go away to know where your home is,’ he said. ‘Everyone knows where their home is. And if you don’t, you’ve got problems.”

“‘But what if your home has disappeared?’ I thought of the Realtor’s sign, and the WELCOME HOME message that wasn’t meant for me or my family—none of the people who’d actually lived there.” 

“Roger smiled boy didn’t say anything, choosing instead to eat a piece of bacon pensively, something I wouldn’t have thought possible without seeing the proof.” 

“‘Hadley,’ he finally said. It sounded like he was pronouncing her name a little differently now, without the same kind of inflection he’d used a few days ago. It no longer seemed like her name was constructed solely from the alphabet’s finest letters.” 

“I looked at his face for another moment, making sure I’d remember it and realizing that I was going to miss this person I hadn’t even known this time yesterday.” (cool beans. Very cool beans.)

Denaiir

3.5 stars
this was a nice read and I enjoyed it but unfortunately it felt like a very generic YA contemporary romance and I don't think I will remember it a few months from now.
I love road trips and it really made me want to plan another one, but apart from that it was a bit plain.

Nessa Luna

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

Every time I read a book about road trips, I feel like going on a road trip myself. After Saving June I wanted to go, and after Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes I just hoped someone would do that to me too, leave me little blue envelopes to tell me where to go and what to do. The fact that I don’t have a driver’s licence, or a car makes it a bit more complicated. Oh well, perhaps in the future!

This is why I was really enthusiastic about reading Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, because it was about a road trip, and I just wanted to read more road trip books. This book also has a little extra something; it has receipts, pictures, postcards, and information about the states they went through in between the pages of the book. At the beginning of the story, Amy had gotten a sort of scrapbook from her mum, to use during the trip. Her mum had also given her directions on how to drive, and how to get from California to Connecticut in four days, but this book wouldn’t have been called ‘Amy & Roger’s Epic DETOUR’ if they hadn’t decided to completely ignore those instructions, and make up their own route instead.

Throughout the story, Amy and Roger meet new people (mostly Amy’s the one meeting new people, aka Roger’s friends), eating local food, spending a lot of money on snacks, burger, fries; and they just have a lot of fun. They spend a night at Yosemite park, drive all the way through Nevada on the Loneliest road in America, and eat in one of the most expensive restaurants in Louisville. The receipts, playlists and pictures just complete the story, in my opinion.

Out of all the characters, I could relate to Amy the most. She is probably just as ‘awkward’ around people as I am. Not knowing what to say, how to say it, not knowing what to do in certain situations, feeling awkward when strange people hug you out of nowhere, yeah I felt like I was reading a story about myself to be honest (except for the whole awesome road trip part, oh I would have loved that to be true).

Like I said earlier, I liked the playlists that Amy and Roger listened to during driving, I recognized some of the songs, and I saw that there were two songs by Jack’s Mannequin in two of the playlists, and I just really love Jack’s Mannequin! I am thinking about making a playlist with all the songs from this story, so I can listen to them when I reread the story, and actually pretend I am in the car with them!

This story also had some flashbacks, in which you found out more about Amy’s family, and about the accident her dad died in. Though I normally don’t like flashbacks (especially if they’re just randomly thrown into the story, with no proper announcement), I kinda liked it in this book. Normally, it would take you out of the story completely, but I was just so curious to find out what happened to Amy’s dad, that it didn’t bother me at all.

If there was one thing I didn’t like, it was the way Hadley treated Roger throughout the story (view spoiler)[(Hadley is Roger’s ex-girlfriend). (hide spoiler)] And the way the book ended, I kinda wanted to find out what Amy’s mum thought of the whole detour, and I just wanted to read more about Charlie, Amy’s twin brother. Other than that, I really enjoyed the story, and I recommend it to everyone who wants to read a nice road trip story!

alexandra

4.25/5

morgan matson is officially one of my favorite authors everrrrr. this book is so much fun and SO SO SO ADORABLE.

i love:
+ the road trip aspects/plotline! (and now i really want to go on a road trip)
+ the chemistry between amy and rodger. like matson's other novel, SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE, the two characters mold together very naturally.
+ the ambiance. i don't know how to describe it, but it's just the feeling or vibe the book gave off. not necessarily the writing style but the way it was executed?
+ in a different and more direct way, the little snippets of doodles, photographs, and mementoes from their trip. 
+ character growth/development <33

things that made me feel iffy:
+ i could help but see parallels between this book and SYBG. both female leads start off feeling lost/alone/conflicted and are (beautifully, naturally) awkward. both males already have a girlfriend at the start of the book, and also someone they know but not reaaaaally know.
+ the romance started with a slow buildup, which is great, but escalated fairly quickly at the end.

other than those teeny tiny things, i enjoyed this novel. i was in a minor reading slump and thankfully flew through this one – it's exactly what i needed. personally, i like SYBG better than AARED (?) but this is still a fantastic novel <333

Victoria

I was truly expecting much more from this. But sadly, it came up short.

Alexa M

**4.5/5 stars** this was so cute!! I love Morgan Matson

devin.reads

** spoiler alert **
           I really want to know what happens with Amy and Roger! Overall, this was a pretty good book though.

I enjoyed how Amy and Roger documented their road trip with pictures and playlists! Kinda wish there were more romance. (view spoiler)[Just when Amy and Roger accept their feelings for each other, they separate!  (hide spoiler)]

I love road trips (because believe me, I've been on a lot) and good books. Roll that in one go? Heaven. 

The plot was not unique, but the execution was simply superb. I got to explore the United States secondhand and it made me so happy. Pretty predictable, the plot was. (view spoiler)[When I started, I predicted that they would fall inlove, I mean, duh? Four days in a car with a cute stranger. But as the book progressed on and I finally got to the middle part, there still wasn't any romantic inclination and I almost gave up hope. But then, in the last 40 pages or so, things started to change and we all know the rest.  (hide spoiler)] I expected cliche-ness, romance and all that, nothing special. I was completely caught off guard, and the title perfectly fits the experience I went through with Amy and Roger: EPIC!
 
The characters are awesome and likable as well. Amy is a cool chic, and I liked how the emotional baggage she had lightened every single day and was almost completely gone at the end with Roger's help. And Roger too, was undeniably very charming, amusing and lovable. He's funny and nice, and its a nice change after all those emo YA boys Ive been reading about. Amy and Roger, together, created light and fun times balanced, awkward bed arrangements (which embarrassed me to no end) balanced with sad, tear jerking stories which I really really liked.

I love how Amy related her story and got these flashbacks while on the road. The transition was smooth, it just didn't come out of nowhere and ruin the entire vibe of the road. I loved the people they met and the connections they got. I love their family's obsession with the King of Rock n' Roll, although I totally cannot relate. The photos made the whole thing so realistic, the facts about the states was fun to read as well. I even listened to some of the songs on the mixes. As a result I felt like I was on the road, in that car as well. Bravo, Miss Morgan. As road trip books tend to be, Amy and Roger's Epic Detour wasn't only about the places they went to and the people they met, it was also about the problems they were dealing with, at first individually and then together they resolved. It is also a story about moving on, coming to terms with grief, finding peace and happiness in the most unexpected places.

Fátima

Acabo de terminar este libro hace solo unos segundos, por lo que mi impresión de él todavía está fresca. 
La verdad me gustó mucho. Si bien al principio, durante los dos primeros párrafos todavía me preguntaba por qué estaba leyéndolo, al final logré engancharme y ni siquiera sentir el pasar de las páginas. 
Es bastante realista, y eso me gusta. Atravesamos por el mismo viaje, somos parte de él. Crecemos junto a los personajes, y conocemos increíbles personas.
Como dato curioso, voy a decir, que me recuerda mucho a la canción Long way home de 5sos.

Delaney Woods 

i really liked this book!!!! the road trip was so fun to read about and the author included the playlists that the characters listened to which was really fun to listen along with. i don’t have any specific issues but it just didn’t feel like a 5 star read. i did feel like amy felt a lot younger than roger even tho there was just a 2 year age difference. the ending also literally made me cry… so there’s that. very fun summer romance, would recommend.

Ley Stanton

That was not how I wanted the book to end up but I really enjoyed the journey. I was hoping there would be about five more chapters at the end. 
After reading so many thrillers, I really just needed something happy and light. This book was slightly what I was looking for. There was a lot of sadness with both characters as they tried to move past what put them on this road trip in the first place
From the beginning, I had expectations about how this story would end. I was ultimately right but I loved the journey there. Both characters changed so much as they talked to each other and learned to talk about the things that they were most afraid of confronting. This was, in the end, a feel-good book. You really felt for Amy and Roger's situations. How they both overcome their problems is wonderful. 
Of course, I wish they had more time together in the end. I sincerely hope there is a sequel, at least a novella, to show how they continued to get to know each other and grow as people. I will definitely be reading more of Morgan Matson's books in the future.

Bea R.

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

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

Reviews