Posts Tagged: Lauren Barnholdt

YA Early Review and ARC G!veaway- Right of Way

29 Mar, 2013 by in Right of Way, Simon Pulse 7 comments

Right of Way
by Lauren Barnholdt
Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication: July 9th 2013
by Simon Pulse
ISBN 1442451270
Book Source: publisher
3.5 stars
Book summary from Goodreads: Can a road trip repair a romance gone wrong? Find out in this standalone companion to Lauren Barnholdt’s Two-way Street.
Here are Peyton and Jace, meeting on vacation. Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.

Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.

Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…
Review:
What I liked about Right of Way:
1) The characters were well written and full of personality. I related more to Jace than I did Peyton, the female protagonist just because at times she came across as self centered and bratty. Jace was pretty mature in the way he handled the whole situation
2) I love road trip books. This one reminded me a lot of You Are Here by Jennifer E Smith and Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith
3) The setting of a Yacht Club in Florida and different stops in the deep South was dreamy for a summer read. I only wish we would have learned more about them and their culture
4) The point of view was written in a very interesting way…dual point of view switching between Jace and Peyton…so you get to see into both of their heads, As well switches between present tense “the trip” and past. Flawlessly done, it is not hard to follow the storyline.
5) The side players:  BJ, hotel clerk and best friends Jordan and Courtney (the main characters in  companion novel Two- Way Street) were also fully fleshed out and easy to picture. There is humor as well as depth.
What I wish was different:
The language! Personally the amount and level of swearing was very distracting for me. Did not enjoy and can’t recommend the book for teens because of it. Why so many f-bombs? It felt forced, like the characters were trying too hard to be grown up.
I wish there was more resolution in Peyton’s relationship with her parents. The ending felt very abrupt and there is no wrapping up of ongoing issues.
All in all… a memorable read, but not one I would buy due to content.
Thanks so much to Simon Pulse for the sneak peek.
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