Amy & Roger's Epic Detour Review

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

Morgan Matson

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

May 2010

4/5

Quotes:

“The best discoveries always happened to the people who weren't looking for it. Columbus and America. Pinzon, who stumbled on Brazil while looking for the West Indies. Stanley happening on Victoria Falls. And you. Amy Curry, when I was least expecting her."

“Tomorrow will be better.”
“But what if it’s not?” I asked.
“Then you say it again tomorrow. Because it might be. You never know, right? At some point, tomorrow will be better.”  

“Saying good-bye is basically an invitation not to see a person again. It's making it okay for that to be the last conversation you have. So if you don't say it--if you leave the conversation open--it means you'll have to see them again."

“I think there are lots of things still to be discovered. You just have to be paying attention.” 

“You've got to have pride in your home. You are where you're from. Otherwise, you're always going to be lost.”    

Goodreads description:

Amy Curry is not looking forward to her summer. Her mother decided to move across the country and now it's Amy's responsibility to get their car from California to Connecticut. The only problem is, since her father died in a car accident, she isn't ready to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger. An old family friend, he also has to make the cross-country trip - and has plenty of baggage of his own. The road home may be unfamiliar - especially with their friendship venturing into uncharted territory - but together, Amy and Roger will figure out how to map their way.

I've recently read one of Morgan Matson's other books, Since You've Been Gone and I loved it. So the bar was set pretty high going into this one. It's safe to say that this book was everything I hoped for and even much more than that. This author has definitely made me a huge fan of her work, although I've still yet to read Second Chance Summer but that's on my TBR list after liking these ones so much. This was a great read about friendships, relationships, grief, forgiveness, and letting go. I really enjoyed Amy & Roger's Epic Detour and recommend it if you're looking for a fun and sweet read.

Amy is a likable and relatable main character. I personally related to her since she was involved in theatre and that was something I always loved growing up. While this is obviously something that not every person out there is going to relate to, it just caused me to have more of an investment in the character, if that makes any sense. What can I even say about Roger? He's on the nerdy side, but he's also beyond sweet and charming. I found his love for history and specifically explorers to be extremely endearing. He also made the best road trip mixes of them all. Seriously, one of the huge highlights of the book for me was getting to read Roger's latest mix which was mostly relevant to the state they were visiting or something on the topic of road trips. Both of the pair's personalities balanced one another out, and I loved them as they got to know one another better on their big road trip.

As a couple, they really worked for me. They didn't know hardly anything about each other when the trip first began, but gradually they formed a friendship that slowly but surely developed. Part of me wished that Amy would have been more aware of Roger's feelings for her when us as a reader began to notice his attraction and protectiveness over her. However, the other part of me knows that the relationship moved at a more realistic pace the way that Matson wrote it. Anyway, the relationship between them was just so real and rather swoon worthy.

The reason why I didn't give this book five stars is very picky of me. I just kind of wish there was more character and plot development. Not everything was resolved between Amy and her mom. The ending was cute but I was hoping for more of a conclusion to officially wrap everything up. Needless to say, I loved the music choices made by Matson, all the characters, the road trip plot, and so much more. It was just the kind of book I needed to read after all of these heavier angst filled books I've been reading lately.