Book Review: AMY AND ROGER'S EPIC DETOUR

Author: Morgan Matson
Number of Pages: 344
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Release Date: May 4, 2010

"Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn't seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she's coming to terms with her father's death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself."
                                                                                                       - Goodreads.com

I love books that are about road trips. There's something about driving miles and miles that seems to bring about the most fun events, as well as great depth in characters. While I may not have loved this book, I certainly enjoyed it.

One thing I really liked about this book was the "scrapbook" additions to it. Every time Roger and Amy went to another state or experienced something big, there would be a page about it that looked like a scrapbook. It's sort of hard to explain. In my opinion, it added a lot more depth to the story. Also, I liked how this road trip wasn't just a random sequence of events strung together to make a book. Things seemed to happen for a reason and everything seemed relevant to the plot.

Roger was probably my favorite character in this book. He was just so down to earth and he cared so much about the people around him. He was also quirky and had an awesome sense of humor. Although there were some things about him that annoyed me (JUST GET OVER YOUR EX-GIRLFRIEND ALREADY!!!!!!) I still really enjoyed reading about him and watching him change over the course of the novel.

One thing I didn't like about this book was how predictable it was. Like most romance novels I've read, I could accurately predict who would end up with who pretty quickly. Other than that, this was a good read.

My Rating: :0) :0) :0) :0) 4 out of 5 smileys

Would I recommend it to a friend?: Yes.

Always,
NutFreeNerd