Book Review: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

UK Cover! SO CUTE! I Has It!

At First Sight: Ever since the accident that claimed her dad's life, Amy Curry hasn't been on cars or driving... or living. So, clearly, the idea of driving across the country - from California to Connecticut - is a quite distressing for her, even if she won't be doing the actual driving.

Instead, she'll have to road-trip for 4 days with Roger, a 19 year old guy she knew when they were kids as their mothers are friends.

Uneasy as Amy is about the whole thing, remembering her Dad's spirit of adventure and love for road trips, Amy agrees when Roger proposes to detour from the pre-established route and take the road-trip in the own terms, stopping on the places they want to instead of on the boring places Amy's mom had picked out.

So begins a small detour that turns epic as they go off route, often encountering Roger's friends and kind strangers, as they both go on a trip that has nothing to do with the actual distance covered.

Roger is reeling from a bad breakup with a girl he loved and who dumped him without warning or explanation, and he's a bit obsessed with finding answers. Amy is trying to come to terms with what happened that sunny morning her Dad died, and how that affected her relationships with her brother and mom and with life itself.

Second Glance: I had heard a lot about Amy and Roger's Epic Detour before I began to read it, it was mostly good things and I'm happy to say that it doesn't disappoint. The beginning was a little slow, but as soon as Amy and Roger hit the road, the book got into a nice, easy pace.

The book was all I hoped for in a road-trip book, how they got on little traveled roads and on busy roads and how each experience was a little different and a little awesome. I loved how they showed a bit of the local food in every stop Amy and Roger made - restaurants and fast food places - it made me hungry a lot while I was reading it. And the music! there is a lot of music in this book, even if it's by band I have never heard and I'm not entirely sure they exist, it was fun.

US Cover

And I liked how Amy and Roger started to become friends while on the road, they vaguely knew about each other before hand, but they got to know each other a lot more while on the trip, and it was believable since they were spending practically 24/7 together.

Also loved Roger's friends and the descriptions of the places they were at. I wished for a bit more time with some of these people sometimes because they were that fun. And I'll admit that a few things felt kind of rushed, particularly toward the end, but these are minor gripes.

Bottom Line: Amy and Roger definitely are two people you want to spend some time with, I wouldn't mind have them for travel companions, and I loved reading their story.

Favorite Quote: "I think we have found the Highway to Hell. We really might be in an AC/DC song at the moment." - Roger

1/2