This was a lovely romance between two young adults--not teens, but actual young adults. I don't usually read books about characters at this stage of their life (I am not even sure if there are that many?), but I did enjoy it and I thought it was well done. The author has a nice, distinctive voice. I thought the banter between the characters was great, and I enjoyed the friendship between the young women. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will not talk about the latter part of the book. I will say that I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, but it was still a good ride.

I attempted at 4 different times to get a good start on this book, and each time the storyline failed to pull me in over the course of the first few chapters. I wasn't able to connect with the characters and eventually needed to abandon the book.

This book was sweet, and romantic, and one of my first dips into a romance travel novel. It was written quite well, and I did enjoy the characters. I had issue connecting with them at first, but they did grow on me, and and learned to appreciate them. I made it through this book fairly quickly, within 36 hours.

This book is the story of Jack and Heather, who meet on a train while both traveling through Europe. But it's so much more than that. Heather is traveling with two college roommates, and Jack is following his grandfather's journal written after World War II. I loved the friendships between the college roommates, and the witty romantic relationship between Jack and Heather. The gorgeous descriptions of the sighs in Amsterdam, Paris, Bulgaria made the book intellectual as well. Loved this book!

If you mix Lurlene McDaniels novels with Chasing Liberty and subtract the whole bit about Mandy Moore being the president's daughter, you've got J.P. Monninger's The Map that Leads to You. It's a charming story suitable for all those looking for a sweet romance sprinkled with wanderlust. You'll quickly befriend Heather, Constance, and Amy as they navigate through their first post-grad summer and begin their epic trip to Europe. As a relatively recent college grad myself, Monninger nails that inner struggle everyone (to some extent) faces upon college graduation day. How will you live your life as an adult? What kind of job will fulfill you? How else will you spend your days? Who do you want to be spending them with? For twenty-somethings especially, many tidbits from this novel will resonate strongly.

A mediocre novel about romance, first love, and staying true to yourself. I found the characters pretty one dimensional and didn't really find myself relating to them as much as I had hoped I would.

THIS WAS A NICE SURPRISE,I DIDN'T EXPECT TO LIKE IT SO MUCH SINCE ITS A NEW AUTHOR TO ME,BUT I FIND THIS STORY UNIQUE.THE WRITING WAS BEAUTIFUL WITH SOME REALLY INTENSE AND EMOTIONAL MOMENTS.THE CHARACTERS WERE LOVABLE AND THE ROMANCE SWEET AND BEAUTIFUL.



THE STORY IS ABOUT HEATHER AND JACK WHO GET TOGETHER AND TRAVEL AROUND EUROPE FOLLOWING JACK'S GRANDFATHER'S JOURNAL.THE PLOT WAS INTERESTING AND THE WAY THE STORY WAS WRITTEN I FELT LIKE I WAS A PART OF IT!

What a wonderful and different book. It was witty, romantic and had me wondering what it was that made Jacks mood change so suddenly. I enjoyed the friendship of the girls and I also liked the snippets of text messages that started some chapters. The travel through Europe was great and the way it was written and the places they went seemed so much more real that some other travel romances. I really liked the "finding your true" and the feelings came across well enough to give me that first love feeling in my gut. I also like how it ended, just a perfect teary love story ending.

3.5-- this is a solid novel for people who are somewhere between YA/romance and literary fiction. It's sprawling, and much longer than your typical romance or YA narrative, but still very accessible and contains many of the tropes you'd expect from YA/romance. The changing of tenses threw me off, and then at certain points it becomes pseudo-epistolary, which was kind of out of nowhere. While I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it, it seems like it was slightly too ambitious a piece for the writer. But kudos to take on such a challenge, and it is a solid effort! I also commend the publisher on taking a chance on something that's not completely YA or romance. It's elevated, and I think there's an audience eager to graduate to a more involved, epic story like this!

DNF

I tried. I really did. First, the ebook format was screwy so that didn't help with the annoyance that was the main character. I was 9% in and all I knew about her was that she loved organization. I just couldn't do it anymore.

What I liked- okay- loved- the friendship of Heather, Amy and Constance. Three college graduates out to explore Europe before settling in to the real world of work and bills. Sounds fun and amazing.

Intellectually written, gorgeous descriptions of the sights in Paris, Amsterdam, Germany, Bulgaria, etc., but it causes a loss of focus or concentration on the characters. When things come together around 75% into the book it's already such a tragic, heart breaking story that I found myself angry. I know the world is full of love, loss and tragedy, and we need to deal with those issues. I prefer to do so by hiding behind romance novels with HEAs. Nicholas Sparks' fans will love this book.

The story of Jack an Heather, their paths crossing on a train to Amsterdam and the relationship that develops. If you believe in fate then this book emphasises that when you look the least life deals you some interesting cards. As Jacks character emerge he's a love ,I can't say hate character because you know from the description he has a secret and there are clues to determine this but you don't really want to believe them. Heather almost seems a predictable character who for the more organised controllers amongst us you can identify with but this girl has an amazing strength that makes you want to cheer and hug her. Wow. The author takes you on the most amazing trip around Europe in this book where you almost feel that you smell and taste everything.. the characters that surround Jack and Heather are well written and not predictable.
This book had me in tears in more than one place. Excellent book. Thank you for the opportunity to review.

I received and ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for my review. Oh boy! I cannot say enough good things about this novel! It is a fantastic story of love and new relationships, travel and adventure. I really don't want to say more so I don't reveal any spoilers, but this book is a must, must read!

This book touched me, right to my very soul. Oh, I struggled with it at first. I couldn't find my way - it was deep and symbolic. It had that insta-love, where you just know without a doubt, down to your very toes, that this person is your everything. That your soul sees theirs - but it happened too quickly, and I was rolling my eyes. What kept me going was the characters. I loved the interactions between our hero and heroine. I laughed out loud. I swooned. I was mesmerized by the way they related to each other and the easiness of their souls fitting together. Yet, there was something beneath the surface of the story. Some secret that was being foreshadowed. And I didn't want to go there. But, I hung on and powered through. And then, my heart was handed to me, and I wasn't sure I could recover or go on, just like our heroine. I had to know the answers, just like she did. And I got my answers, and I didn't like them one little bit. There is beauty and cruelty here - in the words, in the symbolism and in life.

The premise is good, but the writing isn't even throughout. At points, it felt like it was aimed at teens and at others it felt like it was for a mature reader. I couldn't continue.

There were many things which resonated with me in the novel. Not meeting a nice guy on a train sadly, but the references about books and what memories they evoke, the worlds they open up and why they make great travelling companions. I liked Jack from the get go - he likes books and is into something more than just travelling for the same gap year that everyone else seems to do now. He goes on a trail of places mentioned in his grandfather's diary. A booktrail of sorts for personal reasons. Is older Jack still single I ask myself? But I digress...

Each section is separated into a different country or city! Could this BE any more booktrail tastic? The clues and the journey from one place to another is quite fun - it's random and very much what you would expect on a gap year. Some of it I remember myself - it was fun recognising a lot of where they visit on their journey! Remember the freedom of your own gap year, the carefree existence of those times, getting on and off a train at will, staying "anywhere central"....this is a booktrail in a book with maps and ideas of where to go for real!

It's an easy read, but for the younger reader really. It's a bit twee in places but maybe I'm old and have forgotten what first love is like. It's bookishly good fun though following clues around Europe.

I wanted to like this book. I love travel romances, so I thought that this would be right up my alley. But everything about this book was cliched and almost unrealistic.

I never got a vibe for the main character. What was her personality? I get that she had oppressive parents, kind of, but was she sarcastic? Was she a dreamer? What? The boy, Jack, was entirely a manic pixie dream boy, deep and sarcastic and zany for no reason. He felt exactly like Augustus from The Fault In Our Stars, except he was supposed to be older, which took away some of the charm.

And I never really "got" the relationship. One second, they are exchanging witty repartee, the next they're fighting, the next they are so in love they can't possibly live without each other. Their fights were all about the same exact thing, and always resulted in the same breakup/reunion (where he magically found her in whatever country she was in). After the big "twist" at the end of the second third of the book, I had no sympathy for the main character at all. She was better off without him.

The last third of the book, when the focus remained with Heather, definitely picked up again. There was SOME intrigue and some mystery, though the cliches didn't go away.

The author also shifted tense multiple times. There would be a short chapter in second person(which was jarring to me as a reader), then half the book in first person, then several more short chapters in second person, followed by more first person. I think I understand what the author was trying to do, but it didn't work for me.