The Road Trip Agreement by Tiana Warner is a slow burning, meandering adventure up and down (or down and up, I suppose) the Pacific Coast. Coral, a van life vlogger from Canada with a small but growing following, is in trouble: she’s got a deal with her parents and if she doesn’t meet the terms, she’ll lose the lifestyle she loves. She’s full of adventure, and her vlog shows it. American vlogger Ruby, on the other hand, is a bit of a perfectionist, whose videos are slow and laid back, and focus on her vegan cooking and her rescue dog, Calvin. She’s got her own problems, though, and this leads her to agree to Coral’s proposal despite already having over a million followers already: go on a joint road trip together to bring in new subscribers, and by extension income, to each other. 

 

The trip brings out different sides of each of them, with Ruby tempering Coral and Coral bringing out Ruby’s more adventurous side. There are quite a few tropes happening here, with fake dating, opposites attracting, and secrets being kept all while they’re stuck together in a van with only one bed, but it works. There really aren’t a lot of side characters with much face time, but we do get Calvin the dog, who has a big personality and helps bring the women even closer. Ruby’s mom and Coral’s sister are the two other characters we get to know the best, and they’re both supportive but a wee bit one-dimensional—mostly because we just don’t get to know them very well as the majority of the story takes place on the road. 

 

Warner brings us some lovely imagery, with descriptive writing and a nice ebb and flow between calm, restful moments and adventurous escapades. There are some hilarious mishaps, but also some more serious moments throughout the book, but it feels really balanced and nothing is too overwhelming. Despite being a super slow burn we do get there, and it culminates in a lovely spicy scene. Overall I really enjoyed The Road Trip Agreement, and I’ll definitely be checking out more of Tiana Warner’s books.