Review: "Amy & Roger's Epic Detour" by: Morgan Matson

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by: Morgan Matson
Released: May 4th, 2010
Publisher: Simon
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Overall:
Recommend Level: High
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author(The Story Siren)
Summary: "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: After just finishing Two-way Street by: Lauren Barnholdt I wasn't really looking forward to reading a book about a road trip so soon. But it was ready at the library, so I decided I'd pick it up.
Simply...loved it! I can't believe this is a debut book! Like Two-way Street I felt like I truly related to Amy. She's currently under a lot of stress and depression since her father's death, that just might be her fault. Her brother's in rehab and her mom has moved to Connecticut to start a job. So Amy has been living in her house in California all alone waiting for it to be sold. And now her mother needs the car...that's in California with Amy. Amy refuses to drive. So in comes Roger who's been staying with his mother in California but needs to get to Philadelphia to his dad's.
As they embark on this journey and realize the route Amy's mother has laid out for them isn't all that fun...they decide to take a detour.
I'm pretty sure that Morgan Matson took this same road trip, because the way she describes everything Amy and Roger sees is so vivid and real.
I am a huge fan of road trips and I felt like I was on this one with them. But if I really were, that'd be quite awkward. 3 people in one bed? Weird. *wink*
Roger is hung up on his ex girlfriend, Hadley and Amy just wants to be able to feel again.
Through this book with pictures, playlists, receipts, menus, and more you get to see them find themselves and each other. I laughed, teared up a couple times and felt frustrated with real emotions.
I cannot wait for Morgan Matson's next book!! I am a big fan!


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(New rating at the bottom. Like?)

(Check out the full list of 2010 Debut Authors I have lined up to read as well as the reviews of the ones I've already read. Just click here!)