Thank You Publisher for Sending me and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book, but just couldn't get into it. I think it could have been really fun but I just couldn't get into the writing style.

K.C. Dyer’s new novel, Eighty Days to Elsewhere, is an entertaining romp around the globe that reads like a mash up of the Jules Verne classic, Around the World in 80 Days, The Amazing Race reality TV show, and Eat Pray Love. The novel follows Ramona (Romy) Keene, a young woman who lives in New York City and works with her uncle in his bookstore in the Village. Although Romy dreams of being a photographer and of traveling, she instead sticks close to home, the charming bookstore a safe haven from the world. When an evil new landlord arrives on the scene, jacks up the rent on the bookstore, and threatens to evict them, Romy is desperate to do whatever it takes to save the bookstore.

She applies for a job at a company called ExLibris Expeditions, an unusual company whose mission it is to create custom adventures for clients based on scenes from their favorite books. (How cool does that sound?!) The custom trips involve a great deal of research, including actually traveling to each destination being considered to figure out transportation, things to see and do, etc. When Romy applies for the job, as part of her application process, she is tasked with doing the legwork on a custom trip that follows the route taken in Around the World in 80 Days. There’s a catch, however, a few of them actually: 1) Romy is given significantly less than 80 days to complete her task because of the timeline the client has given ExLibris, 2) Romy is not allowed to travel via commercial airline since that mode of travel didn’t exist at the time of the novel, and 3) Romy is competing against another applicant who is also applying for the job. Whoever successfully completes the trip first and by the stated deadline will win the job and a $10,000 bonus.

It’s best to watch the adventure portion of the book unfold for yourself, but I did want to share some highlights.

5 Reasons You’ll Want to Read Eighty Days to Elsewhere

1. It’s a book of journeys. We follow Romy on her actual physical journey around the world, which is perfect for readers like me who love to travel but have been sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic. Romy’s trip takes us through London, Paris, Mumbai, Singapore, and so many other incredible destinations. Even though Romy couldn’t stop at any destination for very long because of the contest, I still loved reading and learning a little something about each place she visited. In addition to the physical journey, we also follow Romy on a psychological journey. Romy has been grieving the loss of her parents and that grief has been holding her back from fully living her life. This trip gives her the opportunity to really live, learn, and grow as a person. The Romy who comes back to NYC after her journey is definitely not the same Romy who left.

2. Romy’s misadventures. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I’m just going to say that Romy must seriously have the worst luck of anyone on the planet. If something could go hilariously wrong at any of her destinations, it absolutely did. It got to the point where I couldn’t wait for her to get to the next country just to see what went wrong next and how she was able to recover from it. All I kept thinking the whole time I was reading these misadventure scenes was that this book would make a very entertaining movie or series.

3. Serious topics are tackled as well. It’s not all fun and games on Romy’s trip. The author also takes on some serious and thought-provoking topics as well, as part of Romy’s journey of growth. Romy learns about the plight of Somali refugees, racism on a level she has never seen it before, her own privilege, and she even has an encounter with Greenpeace and whale hunters, just to name a few. These encounters make it a very eye-opening trip for Romy.

4. Show stealers. Romy meets an adorably sassy Somali teen named Sumaya on her trip. When Romy meets her, Sumaya has lost both of her parents and is trying to make her way to find her aunt, who emigrated several years earlier. Sumaya is a force of nature, determined that no one and nothing will stand in her way, and she also has a pretty mean stand-up routine, as she wants to be a comedian when she grows up. Sumaya not only steals the spotlight once she joins Romy on her travels, she will also steal your heart.

5. Romance. Speaking of getting your heart stolen, there is romance in the book as well. Be forewarned that it’s a slow burn and definitely takes a backseat to Romy’s psychological journey, but it’s still really nice to watch Romy finally let her guard down and let someone in. I’m not entirely sure what trope it falls under so I’m going to call it a mix of enemies to lovers and rivals to lovers.

Now I will confess that there were a few times along the way when I had to suspend disbelief. Seriously, no one could have the kind of consistently bad luck Romy has. Also, a few of the places in Around the World in Eighty Days are probably not places that Americans would be advised to travel to at this point in time. That said, I finally just told myself that this is fiction and that I needed to stop nitpicking unlikely scenarios and just enjoy the ride. Once I did that, I enjoyed Eighty Days to Elsewhere immensely and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining adventure.

***ARC Provided by the Publisher via NetGalley***

3.5 Stars

This book is the slow burn romance between Ramona and Dominic...and it's also a slow burn romance between Ramona and travel, adventure, and being willing to trust herself in different places and situations.

I think that is what really drew me to this one, more than anything, the idea of travel. I am not going to lie, travel is my happy place. I am never more alive than when I am planning a trip, or deciding where we are going next, or on the plane, or in a new place (or even one I have been to before but wanted to see again. So, 2020 has been a rough one. Heck, as I am writing this, the State Department *just* removed their 4th level warning on leaving the country, although most of the world is still blocked to US travelers. But, enough about the disaster that is 2020.

Traveling with Ramona, well, it was an adventure and I can't lie it was good for me, and for her, and for the people who met her.

I loved the loosely based idea of travel based on novels and the recreation of the trip even thought it was not able to be 100% recreated.

I also enjoyed the relationship that she developed with Dom as she got to know him better in rooms in Mumbai, on trains, on a rather notable helicopter ride...through all of it, I liked that you watched Ramona open up as "New Romy" and as she opened up to the new her, and to new experiences, she was more willing to let Dom in, and I loved that opening up of her as a person.

I think, as the author says at the end, travel opens you up to so many things that are different, to new experiences and to new ways of seeing the same things, and I loved that you got to take that journey.

I enjoyed and recommend this title...especially for anyone who is more than ready to leave their house, even if it's still from the comfort of your favorite reading spot.

The synopsis and overall idea of this book really drew me in and made me so excited to read this book! Then I actually started reading it...

The beginning started out really slow, but I was optimistic. The author was setting up the scene nicely and I recognized there were some things I, as the reader, needed to learn before I could jump into the adventurous part of the story. However, it all seemed to drag on for too long. Even once the main character embarked on her great adventure, I wasn't feeling the excitement of it with her. I was still feeling bored and almost like I was being dragged along.

I stuck with it though, hoping things would get better. They somewhat did, just not as much to the extent that I would have liked. I appreciated that we were able to experience a lot of different activities and highs and lows with the main character, but it didn't feel exciting.

Even the romance fell a little flat for me in this book. We'd get little glimpses of her love interest, but not enough to really progress the relationship in my opinion. Again, I was hopeful at the beginning because things seemed to be setting up nicely, and then it just dragged. There were some cute moments, but I wasn't completely swept up in it.

The evolution we see in the main character was probably the only thing I really liked about this book. She was almost in a rut in her life at the beginning of the book so it's nice to see her learn more about herself and what she wants in life as she goes on this crazy adventure.

Overall, this was a thumbs down for me. I've been seeing lots of great reviews for this book so maybe it was just me, but whatever the case may be, I won't be recommending this book.

This book. I have so many mixed emotions. It is truly a book for book lovers. How awesome would it be to go on a literary journey or to work for a company that creates them?!?! SIGN ME UP! The locations were so well described that you could feel the author’s passion for them. I just think the story got lost in the details and the frenzy. I missed finding a way to connect with the character’s personalities and I definitely didn’t feel their connection to each other. There were some very important topics included here: systemic racism, white privilege, and plight of refugees - but it didn’t dive too deep into them. My favorite part was their relationship with a teenage refugee that they met while traveling by ship from Egypt to India. I loved Romy’s growth and definitely got a big women’s fiction vibe from this more than romance.

So, if you are longing for a travel fix (who isn’t right now?!) with important political issues and a touch of romance thrown in, this might be just the thing! A big thank you to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an eARC.

I am not completely sure about how I feel about this story. I really enjoyed the premise - woman, Romy, decides to take a job retracing the journey featured in Around the World In Eighty Days. Along the way of she meets a variety of people who help her continue to her next stop. But I didn’t love Romy as a character. Perhaps it’s the way her personality was shared throughout the story, but I didn’t quite connect. She is incredibly unaware about the world around her, which makes sense since she’s only left New York once (reasons explained very late in the book). But some of the things she says and does makes her feel a little too naive.

In terms of the romance, I didn’t quite buy into the relationship. Romy spends so much time maintaining that she is competing with the guy, Dom, then after minimal actual conversation she flips a switch and decides she loves him. Perhaps I am just a little cynical about this one.

This story becomes more than the recreation of the literary journey. And I did enjoy seeing how the travel really opened Romy’s eyes up to the things happening in the world. I will say, reading this book when you can’t travel is both a blessing and a curse. *sigh*

Overall, a nice story. 3.5 stars (rounding up to 4)

I wanted to love this book, but just couldn't get into it. I think it could have been really fun but I just couldn't get into the writing.

I was intrigued by the premise of this story, and whilst there were parts that I really enjoyed, by the end I was just " finally is over".

I was quite over the travel dramas at every turn. It ended up feeling like the world's longest road trip.

I liked Ramona putting herself or there and the adventure she embarks on.

However as each new destination was reached, I was all "oh god, what will happen here?", But not in an excited way.

I felt that this book could have been cut down a lot, and have at least a few times what nothing went wrong.

I found myself putting this book aside a few times, and was tempted not too finish it more than once. I am glad i persevered though.

Eighty Days to Elsewhere isn't a romance, not really anyway. I mean there's romance in there but it really takes a backseat to a lot of the plot.

So, we have our main character who literally never leaves her hometown ever, until this magical job shows up. Which, by the way, is a high paying job but they are posting paper flyers with number tabs on the bottom to rip off to call.

Romy is in need of a job ASAP, she finds this flyer and decides to go check it out.

Here's where I'm going to preface by saying, as a reader you can literally get me to believe in the craziest things, but you need to write it to make me believe it.

I literally did not believe this job at ExLibris was true. They never vetted Romy or hardly even glanced at her resume before handing her paperwork and a company credit card and just let her leave the country? Not buying it.

The main portion of this book is just riding on a train or boat. That's it. Romy barely even sees any of the towns she's supposed to be visiting. We literally spend most of the book in some form of transportation.

Now only this, but the book decides to take the most white, privileged woman and plunks her into racial issues and middle eastern wars and the like. She literally lives under a rock that she has no idea this stuff happens. It was too much for too short of a book for the author to tackle.

Overall, I wished I enjoyed this book more but I didn't and that's so disappointing to me.

This book was a DNF for me. I really wanted to like this one. I loved to idea behind this book but was not wowed by it. I had a really hard time getting through this. I got through about 55% before I gave up.

Pro: this book has amazing imagery and makes you wish to be on an around the world trip. I wanted to instantly get on the next plane to anywhere (although I cant currently)

Con: I was not a fan of Romy's character. You can tell she was making a lot of progress through the book but she still fell a little flat for me. I wanted her to be able to enjoy some of her trip but she was too focused on getting home the entire time.

Pro: The enemies to lovers storyline! I am a sucker for an enemies to lovers trope!

Overall, this book just wasn't for me. I think this book will work for a lot of people but there was just something about it I couldn't get into!

EIGHTY DAYS TO ELSEWHERE by K. C. Dyer is a fun literary journey around the world! We follow the travels of Romy and boy does she get into some wild situations. Fellow bookworms will appreciate this character as she works in a bookstore and embarks on a trip to retrace Phileas Fogg's journey from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. I enjoyed how this book transported you to so many different cities especially during this time when world travel isn’t an option. Of course I loved how one of Romy’s destinations was my home city of Vancouver! Turns out Dyer lives in BC too! I love that connection! This book is categorized as romance but there’s barely any romance in it.

Any book that will potentially have a travel aspect will always intrigue me, and when I heard the full premise of Eighty Days to Elsewhere (Ramona "Romy" Keene needs a job to save her family's bookstore, and embarks on an audition journey for Ex Libris Expeditions mirroring the one Phineas Fogg takes in Around the World in Eighty Days as best she can), I was even more excited to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, the concept of this story ended up being stronger than the actual execution. There was too much going on in this story, and it felt underdeveloped. I was particularly bothered by the parts that invited the main character to check her privilege because, though it was a good thing to see her challenged, the way it was done cheapened the included situations. I also didn't feel comfortable with how many of the travel challenges were handled (and yes, I know this is fiction, but having known people who have experienced similar difficulties, I just wasn't into it). To top it all off, I never really clicked with the main character either. While I did find some of the travel adventure bits interesting, overall, Eighty Days to Elsewhere was really a disappointing read.

This was a fun, splashy romance that's great for travel lovers! It was so pleasant to armchair travel while stuck at home in pandemic times and I enjoyed this creative concept. Dyer's light, breezy writing style is a breath of fresh air and I'm excited for more of their books!

Wow, what an adventure! I think I’ve found the perfect quarantine book. It was so fun being able to travel to all of the places and experience the different cultures, especially since COVID has squashed so many travel plans. Romy was a little abrasive and insensitive at times, but it was great seeing her growth! At times, the book felt like it was rambling a little, but overall it was a fun read! I wish I could grab my passport and go traveling with Romy and Dom.

This was such a fun read, especially during the quarantine where it's not possible to travel anywhere. I enjoyed living vicariously through this book.

During this hard time of social distancing, this is a book that can let you travel without leaving home.
The characters fell a little flat for me. I wanted Romy to really immerse herself into the culture of the places she was traveling and really enjoy it but seemed to busy in researching it instead of just enjoying it.
A cute book and fun travel read.

I loved the travel of this book, and it felt like I could explore the world without ever leaving my home! It was fluffy and fun and a delightful romp around the world. However, I had a hard time getting attached to Romy's character. It didn't feel like she was invested in her travels, and she relied so much on the internet without exploring the culture of the places around her. There was a lack of language exploration, sight seeing...it simply felt like transportation was the only part of travel. I would have liked to see a bit more personality.

This was such a fun read. I really enjoyed all the travel info and the descriptions of far away places. I got to explore the world through this book, which was by far the best part of the book.

I did feel like the romance angle and the social commentary were not the best. The romance was really quite slow, which I appreciated. What bothered me was the main character's inner musings about Dom (in the beginning). He wasn't even given a name but was categorized as evil. It just seemed like a lot and that she was going way overboard in her judgements especially before she even really knew him. The social commentary when done subtlety was good. The blatant in your face instances were harder to swallow, mostly because they felt like they should of been handled better. Overall, the author did a fantastic job of giving the reader a good look at different cultures, practices, and religions. I was very impressed by her descriptions of various parts of the world. She had the ability to transport you there. It made me want to travel and see the things depicted in the book.

I absolutely loved this book, and I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. I was drawn in with the premise of someone traveling the world following a pattern mapped out in Jules Verne's book Around the World in 80 Days.
But I fell in love with Romy as she did just that. This book was more than just Romy and her quest to get the job where she had to follow the path set out by Verne. It had heart, determination, facing your fears, and going outside your comfort level. We got to travel around the world with Romy by visiting places such as London, Mumbai, Hong Kong. We got to meet interesting people, and we got to fall in love. This book wants me to see more of the world.

In a time of social distancing and extremely limited travel for the safety of people all over the world, this tale of travel was full of whimsy and wanderlust. In order to get the money needed to save her uncles’ beloved bookshop in NYC from an evil, rent-hiking new landlord, Romy - who never travels - applies on a whim for the job of a lifetime - planning literary themed vacations. The interview is more of a quest: recreate a modern Around the World in 80 Days, only in MUCH less time, and she’s racing against another applicant. People will be quick to lump this into the romance category, but that’s actually more like a c-level plot line (though very cutely done), so it might more accurately be described as chick lit (I hate that term!! But you all know what I mean when I say it). A great read especially to kick off the summer! (less)