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

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

by Morgan Matson

May 4, 2010

344 pages

 

Goodreads  Chapters

Goodreads Summary:

Amy Curry is not looking forward to her summer. Her mother decided to move across the country and now it's Amy's responsibility to get their car from California to Connecticut. The only problem is, since her father died in a car accident, she isn't ready to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger. An old family friend, he also has to make the cross-country trip - and has plenty of baggage of his own. The road home may be unfamiliar - especially with their friendship venturing into uncharted territory - but together, Amy and Roger will figure out how to map their way.

Review

Loved this!! It was hard to put this book down because I felt like I was on the trip with Amy and Roger and seeing all these awesome places. The road trip diaries and pictures inserted in between the chapters were so much fun!

When Amy and Roger took a detour on their road trip, neither of them foresaw that it would turn into a healing trip for the both of them. Amy was able to slowly come to turns with her father's death. She was racked with guilt but through the trip she was able to confront her brother in person, visit her dad's favourite place and begin revealing her hurt to her mother. Good for Amy for taking the steps to making things right with herself. Roger was dealing with finding closure with his ex-girlfriend. I have not much to say about this because the ex wasn't exactly worthy of Roger. In the end, it wasn't even necessary anymore because he found a new beginning with Amy. Yay! Something they both didn't expect but it was sweet!! Although I was a bit sad that there wasn't more emphasis on the romance. I'm a sucker for contemporary romance!!

I loved the meaning behind this book and their trip. I'm a firm believer in valuing what you have now because it will be too late once you lose it. Amy does so when she realized, on the trip, that she needed to treasure her memories of her dad no matter how hard it was for her to cope with losing him. This book was more emotionally impactful than I expected but I also didn't want it to end!