Side Trip by Kerry Lonsdale


☆☆☆☆
ebook, 272 pages
Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Lake Union Publishing
About the Book:
With her deceased sister’s Route 66 bucket list in hand, California girl Joy Evers sets out on a cross-country road trip to meet up with her fiancé, checking off the bullets along the way. Singer-songwriter Dylan Westfield has a serious case of wanderlust and a broken-down car. Stuck at a diner between LA and Flagstaff, he meets Joy, his complete opposite. She’s energetic. He’s moody. She’s by the book. He’s spontaneous. She believes in love at first sight. He thinks love is a complicated mess. But Joy has a brand-new convertible. They strike a deal. She’ll drive him to New York. He’ll pay for gas. Only three rules apply: no exchanging of last names; what happens on the road, stays on the road; and if one of them wants to take a side trip, they both must agree.


The tune made her think of love and loss and life’s unexpected routes, like the road that had led her to him.

The only thing that I feel I can say is that this book left me wanting more, I went into reading it thinking it was going to be a quick beach read, when in actuality it is so much more than that. While it still has that quick pace and catchy writing that keeps you engaged, it is an ideal story with the complex emotional lives of adults. It's an incredibly thoughtful and intelligent book.

I love books that focus on the characters and their relationships beyond just the plot of the book. It leaves you wanting to know more about these relationships, more about Joy and her fiancé and more about Dylan. Through her writing, Kerry Lonsdale has an amazing ability to bring her characters to life and Side Trip is a great example of the power of writing that allows readers to feel and empathize with the characters. Not to mention it is also a page turner with a romantic plot that is realistic and relevant--with blurred lines, lines crossed and everything in between. The story itself is so relatable, and you will quickly be swept away on the road thru route 66. It's so hard to describe in an eloquent way how one feels about traumatic life experiences and how they bury them deep within themselves and Ms. Lonsdale did just that in this story.

Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Kerry Lonsdale for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#SideTrip #NetGalley

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