Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing
Release Date: May 4, 2010
Pages: 344
Ratings: 5 Stars
Summary (from Goodreads):
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.
Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour is a perfect book for summer.
It has all the elements for a great summer read: a cross country road trip,
romance, and it takes place in the summer. While most summer books are quick,
fun reads, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour offer much more.
What drew me into the story were the characters. Amy felt
like she could be any girl dealing with the loss of her father and guilt over
his death. Her emotions were so raw and true at points in the story that I was
crying along with her. While reading, I often wanted to just reach out an give
Amy a huge hug to help her with all the emotional baggage she was carrying.
Luckily Roger was there to help me do that. Which brings me to Roger. While the
story is told from Amy’s point of view, the reader still gets to learn and
understand Roger. Like Amy, Roger is dealing with issues of his own, stemming
from his recent break up. While Amy and Roger do not know one another well
before the trip, they find out they are a lot more similar than they think and
they form a friendship that helps both of them heal.
While the story takes places over a course of a couple of
days, the relationship formed between Amy and Roger feels genuine. Morgan
Matson did a good job creating Amy and Roger’s relationship and taking it from
friends to something a little bit more. The romance did not suddenly pop up out
of no where going “Hey look we love each other all of a sudden!” but instead
played out very naturally, building a relationship that blooms to romance in the
end.
This book is a must read for summer. It is a beautifully written
book, truly capturing the emotions of grieve, guilt, love, and loss. Everything
feels truly real and relatable, therefore pulling you into the story, taking
you on this cross country road
trip, filled with detours, along with the characters.
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