This was good in theory, and I was actually looking forward to  how the plot would unfold since I love books involving a road trip and I thought the grief element was interesting. Sadly, it was, in my opinion, too ambitious with the amount of drama introduced. Additionally, there was almost nothing about the preparation for the trip or the actual trip itself.

Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Long Ride Home. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

After the devastating loss of her mother, Harley is understandably grief stricken. Living with her mother's best friend on the West Coast, does not give Harley enough separation from the life she had. Will a cross country journey provide the answers Harley seeks and help her heal?

Harley is a young woman struggling with both grief and guilt. Her life has changed immeasurably and Harley is having trouble dealing with everything. Her relationships with Dean and Mercy provide the stability that Harley needs, even as she falters. Although I did not like some of the plot, nor did I think that it was always realistic, I did like the way that the characters were written. In older times, Harley would be described as a character who is plucky, as she shows courage in the face of adversity. There is a bit of humor and charm in the writing, taking a difficult subject matter and giving it a bit of levity. Overall, I liked The Long Ride Home, but I do wish that it had been a little less transparent. A quick read with good characters, I would recommend this novel to other readers.

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book, as I couldn't get into it - nothing against the author or book, just not to my personal taste. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

When I started this last night I didn't expect to find myself crying my eyes out at 3am. And yet that's exactly what happened.I really enjoyed this book a lot more then I was expecting too. It went down a completely different path then I thought it would. It showed the struggles a teenage mother goes through deciding what's best for her baby and for her whether that be keeping the baby, adoption or abortion as well as someone dealing with their grief. 
I found Harley could occasionally come off as a bitch but she recognised that and to be honest who wouldn't be a bitch when you're terrified of falling in love and drowning with grief and fear. I loved Dean, Harleys baby daddy, he was such a supportive guy and so sweet. 
The epilogue had me sobbing. Why is it always the epilogue? Since my room's been decorated at the minute I'm sleeping in the room next to my brother and all I could imagine was me walking him up accidently at stupid o'clock in the morning.

For some reason this book was missing something. To me the storyline went by too fast and there was a lot of things that happened and was just brushed past. I can say this book was very quick but I would have enjoyed it more if the story was a bit longer and the characters were more flushed out.

DNF @ 50% 

The Long Ride Home started off well. I was excited for the road trip aspect. Harley was okay. Dean was adorable. Unfortunately, the further I got the more I began to lose interest and the more I began to dislike Harley. 

Why The Long Ride Home didn't work for me: 

1) Harley: At first I gave Harley a break for her behavior. She had been through a lot so I could understand why she would be angry and distant. Eventually, I just couldn't stomach her nastiness anymore. I hit my breaking point. I kept waiting and waiting for her to become more bearable. She didn't even need to be likable (I'm okay with unlikable characters) but I just wanted her to be more human, more aware of the choices she was making. The way she treated Dean was not okay. She was cruel in a way that I just couldn't fully forgive, and honestly, the moment at which she complete flipped out at him was the moment I was done with the book. I continued on for a little bit but I just couldn't root for her anymore as horrible as that is to say. 

2) The Writing: The Long Ride Home is written as if Harley is directly talking to the reader, and I couldn't get used to it. However, I feel like this is a me thing more than anything - these type of writing styles almost never work for me. 

3) The Rants: Harley would go on rant after rant about anything and everything, and they almost never added anything useful to the story. Sometimes they made me forget what had even been happening before she went off on her rant. 

Overall, The Long Ride Home just wasn't my cup of tea. It's hard for me to like a book when I can't root for the main character.

As always my opinion is one in a million. If The Long Ride Home seems like the book for you go for it! Some people have really enjoyed it.   

*This review will be published on Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf on March 31, 2018. The link provided will go live at that point. This review has been cross-posted to Goodreads.*

I DNF'd this book, I found it excruciatingly boring and cringe-worthy.

This book didn't really meet my expectations, I thought it was going to have a much deeper plot. I also found it really hard to connect with the main character

The premise sounded really good but I just couldn't get into the book, sadly.

The main character was really frustrating and I eventually gave up on reading this.

While The Long Ride Home tackles some major issues, such as abortion, this book was an okay read. I just couldn't get into like I wanted too. I really felt no connection to any of the characters. I didn't care what happened to them one way or the other.

Secondly, while reading this something was bothering me but I can't quite put my finger on it. I'll skim through to see what it was and update this review.

Again while the author tackles some tough issues this book lacked emotion. At least in my opinion.

Thank you Netgalley.

The Long Ride Home is about Harley, a girl who just lost her mother in a fire and is now trying to deal with the aftermath. She’s staying with a close family friend, but when summer comes she decides to go on a cross-country roadtrip with her best friend/love interest Dean to spread her mom’s ashes.

Let’s talk about the good things first. I liked the book’s focus on Harley’s relationship with her mother and how devastating it was for Harley to lose her. Harley was traumatized and not doing too well, which sounds depressing, but it’s a pretty depressing thing to go through, so I liked that the author didn’t shy away from that. Harley’s voice was fairly distinct and snippets from her past were revealed throughout the book.

Now to the things I enjoyed less, of which there are a little more. I didn’t particularly like the book’s stance on taking medicine when you’re not feeling okay. Harley doesn’t take them, which is obviously fine, and she does say to each their own, but it just seemed a little too judgemental for me overall. Harley does use a method she learned in therapy when she starts to panic, but therapy overall isn’t depicted in the best way possible either, and Harley was even suicidal at some points in the book. I would have like a more positive and inclusive approach to therapy and meds.

At the beginning of the book, Harley doesn’t believe in god, but then later on there are more and more Christian themes, and Harley thinks her mom is watching from above. Obviously a lot of people do find solace in religion and maybe I’m being disrespectful, but it all kind of seemed a bit… too easy at the end? I just didn’t expect the book to take this route, and I felt like it let the beginning down. I can totally understand believing your mom is watching out for you, but suddenly Harley saw all these signs, and I don’t know… If it had been a serious discussion of belief, I expect I would have felt different, but it was all hastily thrown in towards the end, and it just didn’t really work for me here.

Sadly, I also didn’t enjoy the romantic aspect of the book. If the book hadn’t mainly been about Harley’s struggle with grief, I would have stopped reading after chapter two. Dean was bland and perfect without at least offering anything that would have made it entertaining to read about him. In fact, reading about him from Harley’s perspective was taxing. I was happy that she had something good going on in her life, but I honestly couldn’t have taken more schmoop. To be fair, their relationship becomes slightly more interesting later on, but still. Meh. I would have been so much more involved if we had seen their relationship develop from the beginning and Dean had been more of an actual person.

Some parts of Harley’s journey were glanced over too quickly. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there are some pretty major life events that the author just skims over. It does make sense that everything else takes a backseat to Harley’s pain over losing her mother, but I’m not talking papercuts here – these were really intense experiences. They would have been interesting to read about, but we didn’t get to see any of them in detail. It would have been fine to not have these elements in the book, but as it is the story seems all over the place.

This just wasn’t a me book. It’s not horrible, but it’s not great either. It’s somewhere in the lukewarm middle: I didn’t hate it, and I was even touched by some aspects, but overall this is not going on my favorites shelf. If the description sounds interesting to you, you might want to check it out anyway though.

Road trip books are a favourite! This book didn't disappoint, Harley and Dean were great characters that kept my interest. It was hard to see Harley so upset and angsty to everyone around her, although it was understandable for the most part since her mom had just died. I'd recommend this as a YA road trip book!

I couldn't connect with the characters, I really tried hard but I couldnt.Something was bothering me while I was reading it.

My thoughts:

First off thank you to netgalley for the arc. This review took me a while to write because I was just not a big fan of this book it was not for me. I just could not get into it at all and it was hard to finish. If you like contemporary novels and road trip novels this one is for you.

Plot:

Harley's mother died in a tragic accident and know she wants to go on a road trip to bring her ashes back to her hometown. Dean goes along with her and sparks fly. She ends up pregnant with Dean's child and has to decide what to do. She learns about her mom and how she dealt with Harley's birth.
That is basically the whole plot.

Characters:

They were okay and not my favorite. I could not connect with them and they fell flat for me. Harley was okay but annoying at times.

A hardcore angsty, angry (but ultimately hopeful) story of a girl dealing with the death of a parent. Not an easy read, but one which I think will resonate with young adults in similar circumstances. 
A good choice for bibliotherapy if in a school library collection.

Harley lost her mother a few months ago, and she hasn’t even begun to recover. But it’s summer now, and summer is a time of change. So, Harley sets off on a road trip to come to terms with her loss, find out more about her mother’s past, and scatter her mother’s ashes. Her best friend, Dean, goes along for the ride, but Harley doesn’t know what to do about their relationship—which caused her to shut Dean out when they became more than friends.

Soon enough, Harley realizes she’s pregnant with Dean’s child. Hiding her secret as she learns more about her mother’s life, she realizes her mother faced the same choices she now does. If she is ever to know what the right decision for her is, she’ll have to find out the truth about her mother’s past.

From the first page, Harley’s voice drew me into this story. She’s hurting so badly from her loss, and she’s shut everyone out as a result, but she wants to change. Her internal journey is as compelling as it is painful, and the reader is dragged along for the ride, over the bumps and through the bruises, until Harley finds clarity. 
 
(Galley provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

***Also reviewed on Amazon.***

Was very disappointed in this story. Just felt like their road trip could have been a little more and that the relationships were not necessarily rushed, but just not built. Disappointed in the end.

4,5
First of all I would like to say that this book is amazing and I was really needing to read something like this so it came at the perfect time.
The Long Ride Home has a ton of important topics in its pages, the thing that I was needing to read was how Harley managed her grief because I've resently lost someone that meant the world to me and I felt so close to this incredible girl, every thought was almost the same between us and it made me feel better to know that I'm not the only one that feels like that because we all go through grief at some point in our life and we have to learn how to cope with it.
It also talks about PTSD, teen pregnancy even though Harley is 18 and another thing I really liked is that it talks about feminism, woman's right and abortion, now I'm not saying that Harley is getting one or not, I'm just mentioning an option that she has and to know what she ends up doing you have to read the book.
Well, by now I'm sure you have a pretty clear idea that I liked Harley very much. I didn't like her only because I sympathize with her but also because she's a very sweet and loving girl on the inside, it was incredible to see her evolution throught the pages. What's more I haven't felt so identified by a character in a really long time.
The only thing I could see I didn't like about this book was how instalove Dean's love for Harley was, it didn't feel real for me but it isn't a thing that could affect the story that much so I could let it pass. 
One thing that really made me mad while I was reading was that it said something bad about Twilight and I don't think it's cool to talk that way about other books that some people may like but well, it just mentions it one time. Still, I don't like that, it's the reason I can't give this book 5 stars.
Overall, I liked this book a lot and I would recommend it to everybody because even though it talks about difficult issues it does it in a way that makes you feel better instead of sad like it's expected.

4.5 stars

The Long Ride Home by Tawni Waters is a poignant yet surprisingly sometimes humorous young adult novel about a teenager’s road trip to scatter her beloved mother’s ashes.

Six months after the death of her mom, Harley is still deeply grieving her loss. In the aftermath of her mother’s death, she moves from New York to California to live with her mom’s best friend, Mercy. Angry, hurting and suffering from anxiety attacks, Harley’s only friend (with benefits) is Dean and when she asks him to join her on her cross country trek to spread her mom’s ashes, he agrees without hesitation. However, Harley is keeping a big secret from Dean and she is quick to lash out in anger when she feels overwhelmed by the events that have occurred in recent months.

Harley is incredibly prickly and antagonistic but it is impossible not feel empathy for everything she has recently experienced. She uses sarcasm and snark as a defense mechanism when things become too emotional for her. She also shuts down instead of discussing important issues and she is also quick to run away from her problems instead of facing them head on. Her road trip to take her mom’s  ashes back to New York quickly turns into an emotional journey in which Harley learns some unpleasant truths about her mother’s past. However these negative discoveries are offset by the realization that Harley is not as alone as she believes and that there are people in her life whom she can count on. Harley makes several impetuous decisions that are somewhat self-destructive but some of her choices are also unexpectedly healing.

The Long Ride Home is an emotionally compelling, gritty young adult novel.  Tawni Waters deftly handles difficult subject matter with sensitivity and she brilliantly balances the more sorrowful moments with humor. With a realistic storyline, a feisty lead protagonist and an endearingly charming hero, this thought-provoking novel is well-written with an unexpected ending.  An excellent story that I highly recommended to adult and older teen readers.