I’m speechless, but not in a good way. I’m staring at this page without knowing where to begin. This book made me consider throwing it across the river and, mind you, I read it on Kobo - I was willing to sacrifice my poor Kobito.

As you are already aware, this story follows the road trip of five individuals who are making it to their friends’ wedding - throughout the book we keep going back and forth between the THEN and the NOW. The author’s idea was great, really, she wanted to glue us to the story in order to find out what leads the five of them to be where they are, on the terms they are.

Our main characters are Addie, Deb (who is Addie’s sister), Dylan (Addie’s ex-boyfriend), and Marcus (Dylan’s best friend). The reason why they all end up in the same car doesn’t matter much but I’m quoting the synopsis of the book here: “The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with three hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship.” That’s the premise. Maybe there’s more than one? I think the author tried to focus mainly on their relationship, but Marcus’ development was also an essential part of this story.

I read this book influenced by the BookTok community, but I didn’t get what I was promised. Or, at least, what I expected which was a fun road trip led by romance. Instead, this book contains constant bickering between the girls vs. the boys. It is so frustrating because what we get is a book about a boy, yes, Dyl, you’re a boy, who is lost in life and lets his toxic best friend make all his decisions for him… There’s not much NOW, there’s more THEN, and even though I do understand the importance of that for us to understand the story, maybe the author could have taken fewer pages to do so.

I was OK with the first pages of the book - they were light, fun, amusing, even loving with all the young love experience. But when Marcus took the spotlight from Addie and Dylan working on themselves, I lost it. I found the book too repetitive in the sense that it takes forever to get new details on how things are as they are and the chapters seemed the very same oftentimes.

Now, I will talk briefly about the characters, so there may be spoilers ahead.

Spoiler

I know deep down they are all in their early twenties, but let me tell you… what a lack of self-awareness.

- Addie is a strong girl, she is, so why did she take so much crap from Marcus? From Dylan, even? Take the ropes of your life, woman! You know better.

- Deb is hilarious and probably my favorite character. Very down-to-earth, very fun, and light. Most importantly, she keeps her sister’s interests as a priority. I love her. Although, I wish she could have beaten Marcus for me.

- Dylan is such an immature boy. Ok, he has family issues, daddy issues, to be fair. But… GOD DAMN IT, SUCK IT UP. Don’t you love Addie? Don’t you want to be your own person? DO THAT. Screw Marcus. You’re his friend, not his companion. Your girl’s word should be first. Also, how do you not question him following her around EVERYWHERE?!

- Marcus, mate, I hate you. You totally overshadowed the main story here. Midway through the story, due to the “glares” Addie often noticed coming from him, I did assume he was being an idiot because he loved her - or rather, he didn’t love her, he just wanted what his friend had. Ugh, all this crap because of a spoiled boy.

AND LET ME TELL YOU, they are enriched, ok? Maybe not Addie and Deb, but Marcus and Dylan are and they could have gotten mental help at any given time. Dylan, my boy, you’re not going to find yourself unless you look inside, and neither are you, Marcus.

To finish off, Addie and Dylan’s love story never felt like real love to me. I don’t know if it was because of Marcus or what, they did seem to be enamored by each other, but I wouldn’t say LOVE is the right word to describe a relationship that ends due to the strain caused by a toxic best friend.

Overall, the book was ok. It’s a light read if you’re not as aggressive as throwing your book against a wall or making a Marcus voodoo doll (oh wait, maybe shouldn’t have said that).

Still, it was an ok book and I still want to read more of the author. The story just wasn’t it for me but, hey, the premise was established. Kudos for that.

Happy readings,
Rita