Amy & Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
Author: Morgan Matson
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Form: Book

Synopsis: It's been three months since Amy's father was tragically killed in a car accident, and about a month since her mother decided to up and move to Connecticut. With her twin brother in drug rehab, this has left Amy home alone to finish our her junior year of High School until the end of the year. Then her mother decides that instead of flying her to Connecticut, Amy will be taking a road trip there from California. Since Amy hasn't driven since the accident, she has enlisted the college-age son of one of her friends, Roger, to drive. Having an agenda of his own, it doesn't take much to convince Amy to take a few little detours off of her mother's plan - detours that end up being the therapy that Amy has desperately needed since her dad died.

Review: For a first novel, this was great! There is so much to love about this book! First of all, who doesn't dream of taking a road trip? Well, anyone under Amy's circumstances probably, but outside of that - just the trip alone is a great adventure for the readers. But the real trip is Amy's healing process throughout this book.

I read somewhere about how this book was a great road trip with a large scoop of romance on the side. I don't quite agree, because while there was a bit of romantic fizzle starting as soon as the two meet, Amy and Roger's relationship is not what this book is about at all. The book is about Amy's destination, and Roger's destination. True, the two end up intersecting at some point, and of course that is what we readers want - the story outside of the intersection is wonderful!

LOVED IT: I am so thankful I did not end up with an audio version of this book, because if I had, I would have missed out on the utter cuteness of the book itself. Throughout the book there were drawings, and a travel journal, and playlists. I LOVED those segments. Not sure who's idea that was, but it was totally AWESOME!

HATED IT: Two areas - one, a few times Amy talked about loosing her hair, but it was sort of passing statements, but it was also important. If that was going to be there, I felt that maybe there should have been explanation about how stress and such can do that to you. I knew that, but not everyone may have. The second thing, was Roger jealous when Lucien gave her that owl, and even kissed her (even if he really didn't know?) Couldn't there have been more there? He was acting weird, but then nothing more was ever said. Kind of left me wanting something...anything.

SONG PLAYING THROUGH MY HEAD: None. The book is filled with playlists, they were sufficient, I didn't need any of my own! :)

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