Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Road Trip

a testament to why you don’t move in with your partner after less than a year of dating if you are 21.

i missed what attracted dylan and addie to each other beyond physical attraction and memories of a good summer - and it does not help that their flaws get a bit more screentime than their qualities. but accepting that they are in love and want to be together, i appreciate the exploration of a "right person, wrong time" relationship. dylan and addie were both very young and insecure in their past timeline, and i like how beth o'leary elaborated on that and the influence of their personal struggles on the couple's dynamic.

i personally like that this was not an easy-breezy rom-com and was rougher around the edges, it was just light enough for me.

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aneesasona's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a bit of a letdown after The Flatshare. Beth O’Leary still writes better romance characters than most, but the extended cast was a little 2D, the motivations a little thin, and the love story a little too “we were meant to be each other’s everything” for my taste. In her (and their) defense, most of the characters are at oldest in their mid-20s, which is maybe just not my demographic anymore.

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flannerbee's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked it way more than I thought I would. There were parts were you would get really frustrated with the characters but then as the plot went on there were revelations for way they acted that way. Definitely a romance but it wasn’t the soft romance I was expecting.

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kelsie_reads_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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asourceoffiction's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Ok. I love a morally grey character, I love flawed, messy relationships, and to an extent I think almost anyone can redeem themselves. Except in this case. I didn't love to hate the characters in this book, I just hated them. Marcus is an entitled, selfish, manipulative, problematic narcissist and I had absolutely no interest in forgiving him for the awful things he does. He clearly doesn't care about his best friend. Dylan is possibly worthy of (eventual) redemption, but not from Addie and not from me. I had absolutely no interest in seeing them end up together, I didn't feel I was given a single reason to root for their relationship (unless we're expected to believe that Addie can't do better, which is utter rubbish). Their relationship starts with a physical, rather than emotional, connection, and I see nothing but tension once things settle. And frankly, what Dylan and Marcus do when it ends is unforgivable victim blaming.

So why did I finish it? Almost entirely because I kept hoping for better after loving The Flat Share and The No-Show. By the time I realised that wouldn't happen I was so near the end it was just easier to finish. And why any stars? That's more complicated. I loved Deb as a character, so one star is for her. The other half is because I could see that O'Leary tried to tie things up in a satisfying way; it was just too little too late for me. The actual road trip (a deceptively small part of the story I felt) had some fun, ludicrous slapstick moments, and I was grateful for the side plot with Rodney providing some light relief. But mostly I'm afraid I was just disappointed.

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bubbe_knows_best's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

There’s a “mysterious” trauma being hinted at during the “current” section of the book that turns out to be sexual assault as like a twist and that really pissed me off. As this book is painfully heterosexual

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0live_tr33's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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