Amy & Roger's Epic Detour | Morgan Matson

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NOW I JUST WANNA GO ON A ROAD-TRIP!

I always do this thing where I read books that are PERFECT for the summer time and for when I go on holiday yet I read it literally the month/few weeks before summer begins. This is one of those moments. I'm so mad about that but so glad I read this. 

Also before I go into this review, my lenient and wonderful friend Tess (who I mention in many reviews/blog posts: here, here, here and here) lent me this book, so I just want to take this part of the review to thank her (Tess I love you), you can follow her on tumblr here. (She hasn't actually even read this book yet so when I give this back to her I will whack her in the head with it!) 

This is a Young Adult, Contemporary, it is also a standalone. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour follows Amy Curry who 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. This is the synopsis on goodreads. 

I hope none of you find this cliche. I didn't. I give props to whoever wrote the blurb cause it got my attention and I had never read a road-trip book before and let me tell you, this being my first is going to be hard for any other books to top this. As well as this being my first ever road-trip book, it is also my first standalone in a very long time (my first one this year I believe). This is definitely a favourite and possible my favourite book I've read this year so far! 

Contemporaries are supposed to be realistic and that is one of the reasons most people read them in the summer when they have a couple months off to do nothing and have more free time to read, however me being a total nut decided to read this before my summer holidays meaning I'm one contemporary down from my summer tbr. Tragic. 

The google definition of a Contemporary romance book is: a subgenre of romance novels, generally with the setting after World War II. The largest of the romance novel subgenres, contemporary romance novels are set in the time when they were written, and usually reflect the mores of their time.

This in a way means that in our 'time'/'era' would be modern and realistic to our daily lives. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour is super realistic. I used to be iffy about contemporaries because I thought most of the 'romance' is forced and unnecessary at times. In a way I think the romance in this was forced almost as if Ms Matson was like "Oh, the book is about to end, lets make them kiss now." Although that is very debatable. I slept on this thought and the next morning I realised you could take it both ways. What I'm trying to say is that the romance part of this book can be realistic. Don't get me wrong, it didn't lessen my love for the book I just thought it was abrupt but then later realised it was realistic for the book to steer in this direction. If you don't agree I can see why but the rest of the book was so realistic, like the whole road-trip. 

The main character Amy was interesting. I really loved her only because she was relatable and made me laugh (out loud!). Another thing is that the way she acted towards the road-trip and Roger is probably the exact way I would react but she has more balls then me. We mainly follow Amy and Roger (as it's their road-trip and it would only make sense..) At the beginning I didn't like Amy at all but she grew on me just like the book did. I really like the way Roger was written and characterised, he was very loveable. Both of them were. Morgan Matson's writing is wonderful and humours. I don't have anything bad to say about her writing because I truly savoured this book. If anything I just wanted more, I wanted to follow through but the book ended and I felt like I had just lost a friend. 

There are so many thing I adored about this book; one of them are the playlists. Actually give me a second, I think I'm tearing up. The fact Morgan Matson decided to include playlists in each chapter/every time the main characters were heading to a new state was so thoughtful and really added to the book. You know that saying "someones music taste says a lot about the person" (I think I made that up) and I totally agree (with myself) cause it added to my perception of these characters. Also the songs are legit and most of them I hadn't heard before so I was (no joke) searching them all up and I just wanna thank Morgan Matson for getting me into some new tunes and adding to my never ending playlists. 

Not only that but Morgan Matson added scrapbook pages of Amy doodling her trip and receipts from diners and motels they stayed in. Throughout reading the book I was questioning whether Ms Matson actually went on a road-trip to write this and SHE DID! Which is a whole new level of dedication but she had a wonderful time! Not to forget that the book was amazing! I really enjoyed it. 

I just feel like the experience of reading this book and following the journey is a story in itself. Now I just feel like reading more road-trip books (any recommendations?) and going on a road-trip. 

Who wants to go on a road-trip with me? 

p.s

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