Amy's life has been going downhill lately... her brother is in rehab, her father died in a car crash and now her mum has decided to uproot what's left of the family to Connecticut. The only problem is Amy refuses to drive after her fathers deathly incident, so her mum finds a local boy heading out in the same direction only he has a few bits and bobs of extra baggage to bring along of his own.
Before even cracking the spine, I'm sure you can guess that there will be a romantic tinge to this story-line and Morgan Matson really dangles the romance in-front of our eyes for almost the entire book but alas s he sets things straight for us near the end but the connection between the two doesn't come across the pages as much as I'd usually like.
The background and settings play a major part in this book, as you'd expect with a road-trip but the descriptions of outback highways and gas stations were rather dry for me and a portion of the book i'd rather was left out. I guess it'd be more comforting to a local reader who hopes to one day take a similar route.
As a music fan, I really enjoyed seeing the lists of songs playing along the way in the car, I will definitely be downloading all of them as I love and recognize a few of these. I also really enjoyed seeing the pages featured from Amy's travel journal, I'd never expect a diner receipt or state motto could make the story feel more real to me but it did.
OUT OF FIVE STARS
Overall, my expectations were raised quite high due to the many amazing reviews I saw of this book, if I'd gone into this book unknowingly I'm sure it'd be getting a higher rating. I would've also liked to hear more about Amy's reconnection with every day life and even Roger's too, I guess a sequel wouldn't go astray here. Morgan Matson did her best documenting much more than a road-trip but I'd like to see her next attempt at YA as I feel she is very talented and I loved that she included more than just text in this book.
Morgan Matson's debut YA Novel, Amy & Roger's Epic Detour was released May 2010
