Reviews
When I tell y'all I started shaking when the DK undertones piled up I'm so not kidding
4⭐️ beth o leary has a knack for writing books where you can really see yourself living it out. they’re not over the top unrealistic, don’t require a picture-perfect hero, but you still feel like you’re being treated. her main characters are always interesting and complex, whilst still being flawed. no perfect MCs round these parts, it’s incredibly refreshing. addie and dylan are disfunctional, and while i don’t actually think they were good together nor should they have ended up tohether, it was still a really enjoyable story regardless.
This was unexpected! Really good romance. I enjoyed it a lot!
The summary of this book pulled me in like no other. I was so excited to read this. Had such high hopes for it. But I found myself losing interest in the characters, in the story itself, about halfway through the book. Sadly, I just couldn’t bring myself to finish it.
I approached this book thinking I was reading a fun romantic romp for the Valentine's holiday, but found a somewhat deeper story. The narrators Addie and Dylan hop back and forth in a dual timeline - one where they meet one summer and the other in present day, a few years later. The story touches on relationships, mental health, finding yourself (sometimes amidst supportive people, sometimes not), and sisterhood in addition to love, and leaves you with some things to think about. I'll admit that the Addie/Dylan relationship in the 'before' made me frustrated, which was likely intentional, although the growth in the 'after' is rewarding. I loved the relationships between most of the women characters, especially Addie and her sister Deb. Deb's character is deserving of her own story, that's how fun and complete she is. Overall, this is a good book, and was worth my time. I've read the author's other books and I'll read more of her in the future. It would be a good book club choice, and the discussion questions at the end of the paperback edition are actually good ones to get a conversation going.
I liked this story of Beth O'leary too. The first book I read from her is The Flatshare and her books are just such a nice read. The characters were all interesting and all the different storys of multiple people where well written. These books u can read very well and I like that u don't really have to think and work ur mind to understand it. Overall it was fun read and I loved the switch from then to now
DNF-not a romcom. Too much drama. Not my kind of people.
Tbh I didnt expect this to be so dramatic... I was very surprised by how dark it was at some points. I don't know about it, wasnt my favourite book to read :/
It's probably not my best introduction to Beth O'Leary as the subjects and topics explored are a lot heavier and more toxic than I was expecting.
It was still an easy listen on audiobook and definitely wants to make me read some of her other books in the future.
im my own chapter one, fuck men fr
i was so bored in the beginning and I didn’t really like the book at first to be honest. But after a while it kinda got better and it got funny. I loved the end very much !! It was so cute but also hilarious 👍👍
switches between past and present timelines. Was kinda bored during the middle of the book but the ending was good. Easy read but def not a must read
What a hot mess of a book.
Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review (note that the book is released at the time I got around to reading/reviewing) There were parts of this story I enjoyed, even some parts that made me laugh out loud, but overall I was just bored during most of it. What I didn't like: -The pacing of this story felt off to me. The book interchanges between past and present perspective, which I liked, but I felt like some of the "past" sections were randomly thrown in and didn't make sense where they were placed. -Marcus, the main male character's best friend, was a frustrating character to read about. What I mean by that is it felt like the author had a lot of plans of what she wanted to do with his character, but instead of picking one thing and sticking to it, she threw it all together in a big jumble. I couldn't tell what his motivations were and whether or not I was supposed to like him. Even after finishing the book and learning the truth about Marcus (which was a pretty obvious reveal), I still couldn't figure out if he is someone I'm supposed to root for or not. Sometimes characters like that work in a book, but I don't think it worked in this case. -Too many characters doing too many things. Again, it seemed like the author had a plan and reason for introducing some characters, and then she changed directions and forgot about them. It ended up being too much. I'm all for some fun side characters (which there were some) but I think this story would have flowed better without the long tangents about the extremely minor characters. It made it seem like they were going to have more importance to the overall story, but they didn't. It's very possible there's going to be a spinoff book in the series, and the author was setting up for that, but by itself it was just too much. What I liked: -There were some really funny, laugh-out-loud moments in this book that I really enjoyed. I think the 5 main characters on the actual road trip had great interactions and the present chapters following them were my favorite to read about. -The main characters had good chemistry and I was rooting for them, even if I was bored throughout. I still wanted to see them reach their HEA. -The writing style made it easy to read this book. I've read The Flatshare and my biggest critique with that was the writing style. So it was a very pleasant surprise to find this book written differently and in a way that was much easier to read. Overall: Didn't hate it, didn't love it. I probably wouldn't read it again, but I did mostly enjoy it while I was reading it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for an advanced copy of this book Beth O'Leary does it again. After loving both The Flatshare and The Switch, obviously, I was very excited to pick up her newest offering The Road Trip. This book definitely had a very different tone from the previous ones but as with those, I devoured this in one sitting! I loved that the characters were the same age as me which is so rare for me to find in books - early twenties romances just don't seem to exist - although I didn't really find myself relating to any of the characters. I enjoyed the dual timeline and didn't really prefer one part to the other, I loved how the story progressed with each section. This is definitely not a lighthearted rom-com though so don't go into it expecting sunshine this is very much a novel about depression, co-dependency, and abuse in many different forms with a splattering of romance thrown in (and Rodney for some comic relief). These characters are flawed and I genuinely wanted to yell at them on numerous occasions but ultimately I very much enjoyed my time with this book!
Gosh there were so many toxic relationships in this book it was draining at some point but it's good to see with the "now" and "then" how they evolved.
Há algo na escrita da Beth que é bastante viciante, algo difícil de explicar o porquê de ter conseguido ler este livro em dois dias, o que para mim é algo raro de acontecer. Uma leitura leve, com capítulos curtos que nos deixam à espera de mais. Um romance de segunda oportunidade, ex to lovers, com uma dose bem grande de comédia, algo que adorei bastante! Este livro trouxe-me bastantes gargalhadas com a Deb e até pelo Rodney. Gostei bastante 😊 não é um livro com uma grande carga emocional e um plot extraordinário, é sim um livro sobre um grupo de amigos, os seus problemas e algumas crises existenciais, é sobre ser adulto, sobre o amor e a sua incerteza, é sobre a descoberta de nós próprios e o medo do mundo real. Houve partes no livro que não me identifiquei e revirei os olhos, especialmente com o Pov do Dylan, mas no fundo, fez-me pensar no mundo e no salto que temos que dar para a responsabilidade do mundo adulto.
I just wasnt thaat into the book. 1/3 - 🚗 2/3 - 🚗🚗🚗 3/3 - 🚗🚗🚗🚗 I just feel like it was all over the place since it goes from then to now. the plot was also complicated that i do not get if they really like each other. it was difficult trying to finish this book. a big oof though for the plot.
3,5☆
DNF
This feels really contrived, unfortunately. Which is too bad, because it’s got a juicy setup. But most of the book doesn’t pace the drama of the character in the car dynamics well, because it’s preoccupied rationing the explosive past tension between the two protagonists. The casualty for this choice is every other aspect of the story. Then, when we do learn “what happened” it uh, kinda makes it difficult to care about any of the characters, except Addie, who feels like a stand-in for every woman who is conventionally attractive. It tries to be deeper than it us, somewhat dipping in a tow into toxic male behaviour and self doubting, but doesn’t dig down enough to get to gender performance or the root behaviours. There’s a brief bit where one or the other is self aware, but otherwise, with every other aspect of the story, it feels like it’s merely a veneer for a kind of shit relationship that presents as redeemable but, again, feels like artifice. The prose do keep the pages turning though. It’s very consumable and always feels easier to complete than put down. I can see why people like it, but somehow The Flatshare seems far more interesting and believable.
3.75* All the warm & fuzzies
I raced through this book. The story follows five people thrown together on a roadtrip from Chichester to Scotland for a wedding. These include exes Addie and Dylan who haven’t seen each other since their relationship ended 18 months prior. Beth O’Leary has a great ability to weave humour and light-heartedness with complex feelings and darker topics. The Road Trip is really cleverly crafted. It has all the ingredients of a classic rom-com backed up with a unique and unpredictable plot. Also the cast of characters were eccentric and lovable
Highlights
"Oh! Does Deb have very big feet?"
"No," I say, as patiently as I can imagine. "No, Rodney, she doesn't."
"Great! It's someone else who must've drowned, then," Rodney says, sounding cheered. "I'll get out of the river, in that case."
"You're ... in the river? Actually in it?"
Marcus perks up at this and sidles nearer.
"I'm trawling! For bodies!"
"You're ..."
"No need now though, if it isn't Deb."
Rodney's absolute conviction that there is a dead body in the river is really throwing me.
Rodney's priceless😂😂
I've always believed everyone should get a second chance. And he's sorry, and was it that bad, anyway, him staying away a bit longer than he said he would while he figured stuff out?
And ... I still love him. So there's that, too.
She shouldn't invalidate her own feelings like that. He hurt her and she should explain it to him and maybe put a little space between them in order to sort everything out. This is not healthy.
"I want her."
This is the first thing Marcus says to me.
The Audacity? Is she a car or what? I thought I could like him but his past self is so unbereable that I can't like him altogether. Douchbag
Addie is brighter than that sort of talk. She is wild and clever, sharp and bright, always twisting out of my reach. She isn't mine.
I'm hers.
Omg yesss
Addie, my answer to everything.
This is dangerous. Not the car troubles, I mean, but Dylan.
For a split second there, as I watched him strolling across the tarmac with his hair blowing in the wind, I didn't mind missing out on Dolly Parton and Minstrels with my sister.
I wanted to be here. With him.
There is a knock at the car window, passenger side. I shriek. My hand flies to my chest.
Behind me, everyone screams.
But Dylan's reaction is the most surprising - he throws an arm out in front of me, as though we're still moving and we're about to hit something.
That's too funny lmao
I thought we'd made a little progress - earlier she turned to me and offered half a smile, like the smallest bite of something delicious, and my heart soared.
A real smile from Addie is a true prize: hard to win and utterly heart-stopping when it comes.
If someone would talk about me like this I would simply die - why is he so f*cking cute?!
I'm a mess.
Every time I look at Addie something leaps inside me, dolphin-like, and you'd think after twenty months it wouldn't hurt quite like this but it does, it hurts, the kind of hurt that makes you want to fucking wail.
Help he's still so achingly in love with her I can't-
The driver has wound the window down, and she's stretched an arm out, gripping the roof of the car. Her wrist is looped with bracelets, glimmering silver-red in the car lights' glare.
The gesture is so achingly familiar - the arm, slender and pale, the assertion of it, those bracelets, the round, childish beads stacked up her wrist. I'd know them anywhere.
My heart jolts like I've missed a step because it is her, it's Addie, her eyes meeting mine in the rear-view mirror.
For a flash of a second I see the driver's face in the rearview mirror. She reminds me of Addie - if you think about someone enough, you start to see them everywhere.
Ok he is totally still in love with her so the real question is not when they're going to get together again but what happened that made them break up
Already the heat is as thick as honey, viscous and sweet. It's turning into a glorious summer morning: the sky is a deep lapis lazuli blue, and the fields are sun-kissed and yellow-bright on either side of the road. It's the sort of day that tastes of crushed ice and suntan lotion, ripe strawberries, the sweet head rush of too many gin and tonics.
agh i love this description
Marcus is explaining to Deb that he is 'often misunderstood', and is 'actually in the process of reforming, much like a rake from a poorly written nineteenth-century novel’.
LMAO