I really enjoyed this story, for the most part. I will say that it’s probably my least favorite of Morgan Matson’s books, but I still had a great experience reading this story.

What I liked:

1. The settings. I like road trip stories. Even before reading the author’s notes at the end of the book, it was totally obvious that she had experienced the places she was writing about. To learn that she’s actually taken this road trip made me appreciate the book even more than I already did. She was really able to paint a picture that made me want to take my own cross-country road trip. I will say that some of the stops, like the last one to Dairy Queen, added nothing to the story. At that point, it felt like the author was including it simply because it’s somewhere she stopped, and not because it actually added to the narrative.

2. The multimedia aspect. I loved all of the additions to this book, such as pictures and road trip mixed tapes. Morgan Matson does things like this in her other books as well, and I really enjoy that aspect of her writing. It just all works together to enrich the narrative.



What I didn’t like:

1. Characters decisions.
Roger’s ‘quest’ to pretty much stalk his ex-girlfriend was something I really had a problem with. All through the book we’re told by him, his friends, and even the ex’s brother what a manipulative person she is. Hadley is literally never shown in a positive light. This begs the questions: What on Earth did Roger ever see in her? And why would he go so far out of his way (literally) to talk to her, especially after she consistently blew him off, lied to him, and ignored his calls? I just wanted to shake him and tell him to have a little self-respect! Then, he talks to her for five minutes and the spell she has over him is broken, and he moves on with Amy within a day.

Amy also does some things I really didn’t like, namely breaking into her brother’s rehab and confronting him about their father’s death. I didn’t like that she was doing it in the first place, as people who are in rehab should feel safe while they are working through their shit. That’s why people aren’t allowed for the first part of the program. But because Amy is relatively selfish, she doesn’t think at all about that. She confronts him in his room. This is really inappropriate. She should have waited until she could sit down with him and a counselor.

So, my issues aren’t the fact that these characters make these poor decisions. People do stupid crap all of the time. My problem comes from the fact that no one truly calls them out on their behavior. It’s treated as acceptable. Yes, some of Roger’s friends tell him to forget about Hadley. And Charlie stands up for himself to a certain extent with Amy. But it’s obvious from the writing that we aren’t supposed to have a problem with their actions.

2. The Romance. Now, I actually really liked them as friends. A lot. I even think they could make a good couple, down the road. But this book takes place in the course of what? A week, maybe 10 days? Amy spends most of that time feeling guilty about her father’s death and wanting to honor his memory and Roger’s thoughts are taken up with wanting to track down his ex-girlfriend. A romance between the two of them at this point just didn’t feel authentic to me. I could see laying the groundwork for it, maybe even have them share a kiss. But their relationship goes from 0-80 in about two pages and it’s intense. And then it’s just over just as quickly. I guess I just wish that if their romance was supposed to be such a big element to this book that it would’ve been given a little more time, a little sturdier foundation.


3. The flashbacks. I just didn’t think they added much to the narrative. That information could’ve been relayed to the reader in a more effective way. Every time we flashed back I felt the momentum of the story come to a grinding halt.

4. The ending/loose threads
I didn’t like how abruptly this book ended. I wanted to see Amy have a real conversation with her mother about how she felt about her father’s death. Because honestly, I was more interested in Amy’s journey through her grief than I was her romance with Roger. But we don’t get to see any of that. It felt like my copy of the book was missing a couple of chapters.
Also, I was expecting we would get some sort of resolution to her story with her best friend, Julia. Not that we actually know that much about Julia, but we know that they were best friends and she wasn’t able to open any of Julia’s emails because she was afraid she would break down reading them. It didn’t have to be a long, overdrawn thing. It could’ve been as simple as Amy opening one of the emails at the very end of the book. Maybe the last lines of the book could’ve been her writing Julia back. I don’t know. I just felt like the book has absolutely no closure. Also, there is a character Amy has a flirtation with who is never mentioned afterwards. It felt totally unnecessary to the story.

I enjoyed my reading experience, but as I digest my feelings for this book I don’t see it being one I’ll revisit in the future or even remember a month from now.