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

Beth O'Leary - The Flatshare

Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met…
Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.
But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…

Comment: This has been a very well liked book recently. Usually it takes me time to get to hyped books but I had the opportunity to get this one and I must say although it wasn't as spectacular as I imagined, it was a very good read indeed.

In this story we meet Tiffy and Leon, two strangers who start sharing an apartment after Leon places an ad so that he can get some extra money to pay the lawyer who has his brother's case while he awaits a trial in prison.

At first, without having seen each other in person because of their different work hours, they only know about one another through the post-it notes they exchange. With time, though, they start getting used to the other personality traits and when they finally meet, it can possibly lead to fireworks.

The problem is that Tiffy has an ex who just won't give up...

Many readers have praised this book and I can see what might explain that appreciation, after all this book has:

A comedy-like scenario in how the two protagonists take months to meet face to face;

A heroine who is quirky and a little unaware of her appeal plus a slight "rescue needed" status;

An introvert hero with an obvious OCD type behavior once he sets his sight on something like helping his terminally ill patient to find the love of his life;

Secondary characters that help our protagonists when it truly necessary;

A villain type of guy who doesn't cross the line but is creepy enough in an emotional way;

A HEA that is swoon worthy.

All the little details that make the list above a plot in this book really make it a winner. I think the way Tiffy was so bubbly annoyed me a little, I would have liked her to be a bit more serious, a bit more focused on formal situations but I suppose that was the point of the author, she must have wanted to showcase a cutesy heroine, with her own lackings and vulnerabilities of course, but someone who wouldn't be such a doormat that the emotional abuse she suffered was only noticeable in stages. 

I mean... I'm in the fence here because I liked how the abuse was portrayed, she was not a patterned victim in how she was abused by her ex-boyfriend but then for the reader to know about those moments, the method used made Tiffy look like a scatterbrain and I think this is why I wasn't as fond of her as I could, she had some descriptions making her look a little bit cartoonish.

Leon, on the other hand, was a very good hero and I liked how he wasn't perfect, how he processed his surroundings and it's clear he is supposed to be a bit too introvert and his dealings with others reveal how reserved and distant he can be. This works to better see his change once he falls in love with Tiffy and I also loved how dedicated he was to his brother and how apparently simple but emotional his memories of childhood were and how they seemed to have shaped some of his opinions and behaviors. We get layers with these characters and for me that is always a good detail.

The plot is on the comedy side, a little unlikely and I couldn't imagine this happening in real life. I think some situations were far fetched but of course the cute part of things, the strong relationships between some characters and their takes on what was happening made for the elements that weren't as strong in my opinion. I still think there were things that could have been better done or that I'd change to my taste but well, nothing is ever so perfect.

The romance development happens gradually and has many romantic aspects, this is actually great because often the romance lacks romantic gestures or scenes and we have those here.

I think the best part of this story is how easy it is to read it. The author's style is fluid, easy to go through and there's enough complexity to make it a good contemporary and not just a simple chick lit read. There are many references that clearly indicate this was written by a British author (British characters always seem to drink so much alcohol...) but it's still possible to just fly away among the pages and focus on what is happening. I'll definitely read her next book.

Grade: 8/10