TBR Challenge: Beth O'Leary - The Road Trip

Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend's wedding in the north of Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.
But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie's ex, Dylan, who she's avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.
Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they've totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with three hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship...
Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly... is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?

Comment: It feels as if any time at all has passed, but it's already time for another TBR Challenge post.

For the month of June the theme is "road trip" and what better choice but to pick out a book whose title is precisely that one! This month, my choice was easy.

Addy and Dylan met during the summer and their connection as immediate and intense.  However, little things and the presence of Marcus, Dylan's best friend, have caused enough stress for them, and they broke up. 

Now, two years later, Addy and her sister Deb are traveling to Scotland to be at their friend's Cherry wedding, giving a lift to their friend Rodney. Unfortunately, very early on a car hits them and who else could it be but Dylan and Marcus? One thing leads to the next and they end up letting the guys go with them too. The problem is that their mini isn't the best car for people who have history together and old feelings and emotions come back... but will everyone be able to civil and will Addy and Dylan finally solve their breakup?

This is the second book I try by the author. In 2019 I've read the author's debut, which was very well received, and I was one of those who liked it a lot. Since then, I've been "collecting" the author's work and had all four books published in the shelf and have been waiting for the paperback of the most recent release. I think it is safe to say I was more than hopeful in regards to my expectations about how much I'd like all the books by this author.

Well, six years after a good experience, I now feel very let down for I didn't really like this book that much. The story didn't fully grab me and only the fact there were interesting details here and there and my personal sense of nostalgia saved it from a negative grade. To make it worse, I kept thinking while I was reading, that the road trip premise is a great one but as if often happens to my personal taste, a lovers reunited trope in the mix didn't help at all and it didn't change my mind about my general lack of interest in such stories.

The story is told in two moments, the "now" and the "then" in relation to the status of Addy and Dylan's relationship. Thus, besides having them interact now with all that baggage and keeping up the interaction with three more characters, two of which also perfectly aware of what happened between them, we also had to go through their past history and what led to the break up. I'm really not a fan of these types of plots... the "then" drags the overall story too much and makes me think we are wasting time going through something that cannot be changed. I wouldn't have minded one or two flashbacks if they were necessary, but not this way. Better yet, don't use the lovers reunited, I bet a full new romance would have been better!

Addy and Dylan aren't bad characters but I never identified with them and I think it had to do with the way they are written. Addy has many qualities but her vulnerable side was often disguised (in my opinion) under other elements. Dylan reads as someone who is misunderstood by his father and who has no real course which makes him seem to be drifting and I didn't identify with him. In a way, they are only sort of likable by comparison, because the other characters are meant to be seen as almost stereotypical (Supportive but flighty Deb, buddy but mean Marcus, comedian but invisible Rodney) and the more I read, the more duty-like it felt.

Of course, in such a story, there is a metaphorical journey to be done at the same time they go on the physical one. Things get to the point where, closer to their destination, the truth finally comes out between these people and the feelings and situations they need to deal with are actually pertinent and I'd have liked to see them have a bigger role in the story, instead of just a tool for the climax.Thus, the way things were written, it seems there are just a few details to make it worth the read, to me. I think these final elements were more or less worth it, but... what a pity the story feels aimless for so long.

The road trip ends, the wedding is on, things get solved between the characters and the main couple reaches their HEA (which is unconvincing to me, but that might be a personal preference) but I don't feel this book should have had the romance label. It's too sad and thin for that.

Anyway, I now lowered my expectations for the other books by mrs O'Leary I still have to read... I really hope this was just the one off...

Grade: 5/10