Saturday 2 July 2011

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

For Review: Simon & Schuster
Published: 7 July 2011

From Amazon: Amy Curry is having a terrible year. Her mother has decided to move all the way across the country and needs Amy to drive their car from California to the East Coast. There's just one problem: since the death of her father, Amy hasn't been able to get behind the wheel of a car. Enter Roger, the son of an old family friend, who turns out to be unexpectedly cute...and dealing with some baggage of his own. Meeting new people and coming to terms with her father's death were not part of Amy's plans for the road trip. But then neither was driving on the Loneliest Road in America, seeing the Colorado Mountains, visiting diners, dingy motels and Graceland. But as they drive, and she grows closer to Roger, Amy finds that the people you least expected are the ones you need the most - - and that sometimes you have to get lost in order to find your way home.

I've always wanted to go on a Road Trip across American.  I went to America when I was 14, feel in love with it and have always wanted to go back.  Reading Amy and Roger's Epic Detour felt the next best thing to actually doing it - and probably the closest I will ever get -  but never mind!

I was pretty much hooked from the first page.  I loved meeting Amy and learning why she is the way she is.  Roger is instantly likeable and you get the feeling that the two of them will get on really well from the first time they meet.  I completely fell in love with both characters and loved watching there friendship grow.  Both have things they need to deal with and they seem very good at helping each other do just that.  I really enjoyed that the focus is not just a possible romance between the two - and found Amy's internal journey trying to cope with her father's death was excellently portrayed.

I also loved the additional material that's included - photographs, receipts and Roger's playlist.  All of it made me feel as if I was right there, experiencing it all with them.  And boy did it make me hungry every time they stopped for food!  And frozen custard?  I really want to try some of that!

There are some superb secondary characters along the way (Lucien being my favourite!) and I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute of it.  I loved how it ended but at the same time I wanted a little more closure on the story involving her mother and brother - I thought it played quite a large part of the story so I wanted to see more of how that panned out.   Otherwise,  I wouldn't change a thing - I really, really loved it!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Fab, isn't it?! I want one of those travel journal things now. I thought the ending was perfect. I liked that there was a truth to it. It felt right for the book for me.

Liz. R said...

I have this on my tbr pile, glad to see you enjoyed it! Frozen custard actually sounds kind of appealing, I want to try it too! Thanks for the review :)

T.B. said...

Hi! I just found your blog from Megan's Fortnight of Guests! I loved your Cover Wars post by the way :)

I've heard some really great things about this one! The way in which photographs and other things are incorporated throughout the story sounds really interesting. It was probably a lot of fun to read the book that way as well. I can't wait to pick this one up! Great review!

Anonymous said...

Great review - Im itching to get my hands on this! Im looking forward to the blog tour :)

Amy @ Turn the Page

So Many Books, So Little Time said...

I loved this, too! Especially all of the extra material.

Lauren said...

Yay! I've been wanting this one for ages but I've made myself wait for the UK edition. Your review has completely psyched me up to read it. :)

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