This was not at all what I expected, but it captivated me and I breezed through it ridiculously quickly. A short story told from the first person perspective, this reads like a memoir complied of short, but connected, essays. The writing is crisp and speaks rawly of humanity, motherhood, regret, veering off course, and redemption.

Thank you to Amazon Original Stories via NetGalley for gifting me with an ARC to review. I enjoyed it!

The Scenic Route is the story of a mom who lost custody of her young child because of a vehicle accident she caused while drunk. She decides to get away from the painful memories by going on the road in her Chevy Astro with her dog Glinda and finds van life both claustrophobic and eye opening.
Years later, while she is traveling, her now 16 year old finds her in Arizona, and they reconnect. This short story was moving and interesting!

Five stars for this short story by Kline. Kline is an author that I will read no matter what. Naturally this book was fantastic. I enjoyed the story and how Instagram vs. Reality is a big topic in today's world. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc.
Great short story that plays with all your emotions, sad, depressed, happy, and more.
Totally enjoyed

"The Scenic Route" is a departure from Kline's usual historical fiction. In this contemporary short story, a woman tries to find a way forward with her life after it is upended by a series of tragedies and poor decisions. The writing is solid and this story of forgiveness and second chances has a lot of heart. Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for a digital review copy.

Many have a destination in life and always run toward it.

The rest of us sit in its shadows and move constantly in the opposite direction.

Call it what you will. Life opens up so differently for each of us. We can't know what the events of tomorrow will bring. We can only live in the here and now.

Jess thought that she had the perfect life. A loving husband, a beautiful young son named Charlie, and a job in marketing that she actually enjoyed. But then she came upon a message on her husband's phone that destroyed her to her core. She now lives in the aftermath of scorched earth. No husband, no son, no job, and no glimmer of a future.

So she sells everything and takes to the road in an old van........until those unfinished chapters in her life come a callin'.......

Christina Baker Kline is known for her writing. Think of Orphan Train, A Piece of the World, and The Exiles. The Scenic Route is a touching story that seemed to have more mileage unrealized. It could have been another successful storyline in novel form. A 3.5 kicked up to 4 Stars because the hunger for her words is still there.

I received a copy of this short story through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Amazon Original Stories and to Christina Baker Kline for the opportunity.

Poignant, real-life, raw…
The Scenic Route by Christina Baker Kline touches on all the nerves - remorse, relief, regret, self-love, responsibility, accountability…
Great short story to illuminate life’s many challenges and how to thrive through them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story ARC.

It was OK! Worth a quick read, but probably could have been stronger given the author’s talent at writing novels. I have read several of her books, Orphan Train being my favorite!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Interesting short story, very different than the historical fiction I’m used to reading by this author. This book is instead very modern, a mother’s retrospective look at mistakes she made and the effect on her son. Easy, fast read with a simple message, but to tell you here would give it away, so I won’t.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this story, but my opinions are my own.

"It wasn't exactly pleasant. But I felt safe in the van. Boundaried. My life was small, and nobody I encountered knew anything about me." (loc. 203*)

Jess hadn't planned for #vanlife, but #vanlife is where she ended up—no more husband, no more job, no more house, no more son. In "The Scenic Route", Christina Baker Kline lets us peer through the window into Jess's life: how she got here and where, maybe, she's going.

It's interesting to read this from Kline because, although she's written contemporary novels, the only two books I've read by her have been historical. "The Scenic Route" is distinctly contemporary, touching on a few things specific to time and place: Instagramming #vanlife, wilderness programmes for teens, et cetera. (Jess does have an Instagram account, by the way, and you'd better believe I looked it up—an account by the name mentioned in the book exists, but alas, it does not seem to have anything to do with this short story. I'd have found it very funny, and impressive, if Kline had been secretly building an IG account to go with the story.) More than anything, though, I wondered whether this either started as an idea for something longer; it doesn't feel like a snippet of a novel, but (while everything is tied up within the story) there's certainly enough, thematically, for something much longer if she chose.

I don't dream of #vanlife (or even van life), but it is something that intrigues me in reading—a different world, so many different reasons for living in it.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy of this short story through NetGalley.

*I read an ARC, and quotes may not be final

Sweet story. Not to be missed.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

I loved Orphan Train and so immediately requested this short story by the author. Her writing is equally powerful here, where she tells a tale of a happy life gone awry, regrets, second chances and redemption.
Jess took to life in her van after her happy marriage imploded and she was separated from her precious only child. With thoughts of the way her life was destroyed, some of her own poor choices and her loneliness troubling her, she has her fellow van lifers only for company. As she reflects on everything that's gone wrong and her own unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation, she has to find the strength to continue.
I liked how the perspective of each character is presented very fairly and I especially loved how it ended.

3.5 "touching, tear jerking, second chance" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories as well as the author. I am providing my honest review. This will be released June 13, 2023.

What to do when your life falls apart again, when you are betrayed, when the past haunts, when you almost....
You mope and descend and then try to rebuild. Perhaps in a van and live an alternate life that numbs but the love never leaves your heart whether you were just a frail human or a minor villain.

A very sad tale of redemption and second chances. Excellent popular fiction prose that needed more exposition and development that was constrained by the short story format.

A very good short story in the contemporary women's fiction category. Believe me you will need some kleenex and wish that this had been at least a novella....