Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour - Morgan Matson

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.

Review: I felt like I really was on the road trip with Amy and Roger! The places they saw, Yosamite, the diners, the pictures, receipts from places they went, track listings on what they listened to in the car - Morgan Matson really bought this book to life in a way where you would describe this as an experience rather than just a book.

I would love love LOVE to do the exact same road trip from California to Connecticut. And since I am not from the US, I truly can say I learnt a lot about the culture and differences from state to state… things like the small down diners, the lonliest road in the US.. it made me really want this as an experience.

As I am off to the States in May these types of books have me SO hooked right now. It’s exciting to think that I’ll experience some of this myself for real shortly… but the book totally captured the feelings that come along with a road trip, especially Amy’s willingness to be spontaneous and live a little, even if it meant that there would be repercussions later down the track. I absolutely loved Amy and really related to her a lot in this way.

I particularly loved the growth we saw in Amy during the journey. Going from a young girl who was hiding herself away from the rest of the world, quite happy being a wallflower and not being noticed, to someone who in some ways was forced to confront these things and come into her own (including Bronwyn throwing out her clothes and replacing them with new ones, the whole sunglasses issue she has, and of course being fearful of driving again after what she’s been through). It was absolutely endearing.

The relationship between Amy and Roger going from virtually being strangers to what it blossomed into was beautiful. The awkwardness at the start.. having to share a bed when they barely knew each other, and then slowly as you’re reading you start to notice how they become more familiar, they know each others favourite drinks and foods and idiosyncracies. It’s actually really adorable! The progression of their relationship throughout was timed perfectly, and by the end you’re chomping at the bit for them to get together already!

Roger is the ideal travel companion in my opinion. He is hot, he is kind, caring, has awesome taste in music (I listened to some of the listed tracks whilst I read the book) and he’s a little vulnerable as well because of what his ex Hadley has done to him. Maybe it’s just me, but a wounded man can be pretty sexy (as long as he gets his stuff together in the end!) and so I can honestly say I was crushing on Roger right throughout!

What a great debut novel from Morgan Matson. I really want to know more about what happened to Amy and Roger. Sequel? Please?

Rating: 5 out of 5