I didn't expect to like State Highway One as much as I did! Sam Coley's debut novel made me think about my own road trip around New Zealand when I was young. Alex returns to NZ after his family are involved in an horrific car accident. Alex get the first flight he can out of Dubai, his new home, but finds that his parents have died and that his twin sister Amy is in intensive care and fighting for her life. After his parent's wake Alex goes on a crazy trip from the North of NZ to the Southern tip of NZ with Amy by his side. State Highway One is a sad story about family, relationships and growing up. Thanks to NetGalley for my digital copy.

There is nothing better than a book written by an author whose skills at setting the scene are next level and the way that Sam Coley depicted New Zealand in this debut had me wishing I could get back there to do a road trip of my own! I thought Sam did a wonderful job with the characters and I loved the evolution of the relationship between the twins as they navigate through family separation, grief and memories old and new. I look forward to seeing what Sam writes next!

This book follows a brother and sister on a road trip. It's a very emotional, heartfelt, and realistic story that focuses on finding your way home.

I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to read more from this author. It was a book I didn't want to put down, and I was sad when it was over.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

I really loved this book. It was a super surprising and refreshing read, and I was sad to say goodbye to Alex at the end of it. I rarely rate a book five stars, but I think this one deserves them all! I was amazed to read that this is a debut novel!

The novel centres on Alex and Amy, siblings who are grieving the loss of their parents. They decide to take a road trip that will take them from the top of New Zealand to the very bottom. The characterization is great, and even though not all the characters are likable, they are all very real. Even the more minor characters bring a strong sense of themselves to the stories. I thought the writing was amazing, and I screen-shotted lots of quotes that I thought were both beautiful and profound. I had never read a book set in New Zealand, and I learnt a lot about the country!

This is a book I will purchase and share with my friends.

New Zealand is my favourite place away from home (Australia). And each time I have visited Aotearoa, I have road tripped, so naturally the premise of this book captured my attention.

Once I started reading, I immediately got lost in the beautiful prose and the stunning visuality. No matter where Alex was, Coley’s exquisite writing made me feel like I was right there’s other him. At the beach, in the scrub, in a storm, camping, in a car with endless kilometres and asphalt ahead of me.

This book is at once a road trip story, and a coming-of-age story, and a discourse on the complexities of family story. No matter where you want to peg it, State Highway One is both compelling and emotional, and I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to Sam Coley, Hachette Australia, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an arc of this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.

I suspect that it will be with me for a long time to come.

State Highway One is close to my heart because I know the areas referred to and the route travelled. It is always nice to be able to picture those things in your head as you read.

Alex left New Zealand a long time ago and hasn’t looked back. He hasn’t spent any time with his twin sister, Amy, in years and on the death of their parents he returns to attempt to reconnect with her and the idea of “home”. Following the funeral Amy tells Alex she doesn’t want him to go yet and instead wants the pair to travel the length of State Highway One together, from tip to tip of NZ, and maybe heal past wounds. Alex reluctantly agrees and the pair set off.

They say you can never go home, and that, for so many, is true. It is particularly true where you never felt you had a “home” in the first place. Which is exactly what Alex and Amy feel about theirs. They were born to parents who weren’t probably particularly interested in having them in the first place. They were often ‘neglected’ for the shiny bright lights of bigger and better things and with that independence came estrangement, from their parents and each other. And the ‘big betrayal’ of Amy created a chasm which left Alex (in his mind) no choice but to leave.

State Highway One is well-written and the Alex character rang true to me. He hid who he was when he was younger and then has to hide who he is later, when paired with the feeling of neglect by his parents and feeling ostracised from his sister, eventually those feelings will reach a boiling point, and the journey is one needed to be taken to resolve everything left unsaid.

I had predicted the ‘twist’. For me, at the time of reading, there were some implausible timeline and character issues which, on reflection, were put in as clues, but left me with only one choice about where the story was going.

Ultimately though, for me, this is a deeply reflective and moving story. It’s about the ties that bind, about how we deal with the scars of our childhood, about nature versus nurture, about the ‘what ifs’ and the grief of things left unsaid and unattended. I recommend giving this one a read and thank Hachette Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity.

‘They say you can never go home again …’

Alex has been away from New Zealand for years. It has been a long time since he spent any time with his twin sister Amy. When their parents are killed in an accident, Alex returns from Dubai. A decision is taken: to travel the whole of New Zealand’s State Highway One, from one end of the country to the other. Alex intends to return to Dubai: can the return trip be undertaken in two weeks?

The journey begins. A pilgrimage: full of memories, reminiscing about the past, searching for answers or at least explanations.

The story unfolds. There is humour here, interspersed with sadness and regret. The tension increases to the stage where I found it impossible to put the novel down. How will it end? Are there answers to be found here in this pilgrimage? Will Alex survive?

Tense. Taut. Unforgettable.

This is Mr Coley’s debut novel, winner of the 2017 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes. I intend buying my own copy as soon as the novel is released.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith