Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Release Date – May 4, 2010
Publisher – Simon & Schuster
Pages - 344
My Rating- 7.5/10

Here is the GoodReads synopsis -

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.

I picked up this book on a whim after seeing it at the library. I figured it would be a quick read that I might enjoy.

The thing with this book is that you get exactly what you think you are going to get. There is very little in the way of surprises or anything out of ordinary for the genre. It’s well written and the characters are very likeable. It’s a quick, cute, summery read that will hit the spot when you are in the mood for that type of book.

This story really only has 2 characters. We do meet a few other characters but they are either not in the book very long or spoken about by Amy or Roger. It’s hard when we really only get to know two characters because they have to sell us the story. Amy and Roger are both likeable. We meet Amy as she is still dealing with her dad’s death. She was written perfectly for someone in her position. We get to see her progress from where she is at the beginning of the book to where she is at the end. Roger on the other hand wasn’t as well developed to me. I liked him. He was sweet but I didn’t feel like we got to know much about him as we do Amy.

I loved the whole premise of the road trip and going off your original plan to find something. I loved the inclusion of receipts, journal entries, postcards, etc. It added a cute, fun touch to the story. I found myself actually reading them and looking forward to the next ones. These inclusions are sometimes awkwardly placed in the novel and cut the narrative while you are reading. It’s not a huge deal but you often have to go back once you’ve hit a break in the chapter to read the little extras.

This book will make you want to go on a road trip. The type of road trip that you just drive and see where it takes you. I recommend it if you are in the mood for this type of book.