Boop and her granddaughter Eve are reaching a crossroads. One in which they are prepared to give up trying.
Boop has struggled for years with the guilt of what she did to her family years prior.
Eve has a major confidence issue. After years of being critiqued on every detail by her mother, Justine, including dismissing her passion for design, she has given up the will to fight back, or even put in an effort.
And I'll be honest, I didn't particularly care for either woman initially. While I'm sympathetic to the issues both women faced over time, I didn't care for their hopelessness. I wanted them to fight back and speak up, rather than cower in fear of rejection.

So when Eve's friend, Anna, appears to send out a call for help, Eve decides it is the perfect chance for an escape. This escape, once Boop becomes aware of it, turns into a road trip. While the idea behind this road trip may have been to escape their own personal problems, it may also be a chance for them to fix those problems along the way.

Going into this book, I thought it would be filled with zany adventures, as most road trip books tend to be. And while there were some places the two enjoyed along the way, the trip is more about coming clean to one another and finding a way to get the other past their own insecurities. With time, and patience on Boop's part, this does happen.

I didn't feel the story needed the added narration from the detective looking for Anna, which felt out of place with the rest of the story. However, Anna's disappearance does provide a link between the road trip and each character's recovery.

"You gotta stop giving away credit for the good stuff and taking on the blame for the bad stuff."

While it was a very bumpy ride, this journey is about forgiveness and understanding it is ok to have imperfections. It is about finding happiness for oneself, not for others. And I loved that positive message.

your mom is overbearing, but I’d give anything to have someone love me that completely.” Eve bit back the inclination to volunteer. Instead, she said, “She doesn’t even know me. How can you say she loves me? She loves her idea of me.” “What if she loved you no matter what? Then it wouldn’t matter if she knew you.”

This book looks like a fun and simple book on the surface. It's about a trip Eve takes with her grandmother, to see her great aunt (and hopefully do her own side adventure at the same time.) As it turns out, the trip becomes one of those life changing experiences for Eve, Boop and also Eve's mom. As well as several other characters.

This book is about generations of women, the choices we feel we have to make, the regrets we have to live with, the sacrifices we make so that we don't have to let each other down and what it means to truly step into who you are and to support each other through that.

I loved every minute I spent with this story.

with gratitude to netgalley and She Writes Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

This is my go to genre, Southern Fiction...usually historical but for some reason this one ticked all my boxes. It was a lot more serious than I expected it to be and I liked that about it, I also loved Boop...Who wouldn't want a grandmother like that!?

Boop and Eve's Road Trip is a beautifully written and brilliantly thought out narrative of how life unfolds: relationships, motherhood, mental health and living life to the fullest. I enjoyed the writing style and the fact the characters seemed so real, some you love, some you love to hate.

The book is a well written love letter to female relationships, especially mother daughter relationships. You can't be happy living your life trying to make someone else happy...it just doesn't work that way. I found it a wonderful read about being human and the writing is exceedingly readable. A tribute to this debut author. Can't wait to read more by Mary Helen Sheriff.

I so wanted to like this book. I just didn't connect to the characters in particular Eve. I don't have to like the characters but it does help, especially with a book like this. It wasn't as " feelgood" as I was expecting, and it didn't enjoy reading it I am sorry to say.

Shortly after I started this book, I realized it was not for me. The cover intrigued me but I only got to 20% before throwing in the towel. I did not connect with any of the characters at all. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was super good. It was super original and I flew through it. It didn't feel like anything I've read in the past. Can't wait to read more from the author!! This book was unputdownable.

A nice story about the 3 generations, their misconceptions, secrets and love. A bit slow but interesting
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Boop and Eve’s Road Trip reinforces stigmas and stereotypes while inadequately and insensitively addressing deeper subjects.

Women who get dressed up to go dancing paired with phrases such as “sluts” wearing “whore boots” rub me the wrong way, even if the author is trying to convey that Eve comes from a conservative family.

Eve’s suicidal depression left an equally bad taste: starving would take too long, hanging was “ow,” and slighting wrists was “gross.” Yikes... this seems casual and not very funny.

In addition, “midget” is a pejorative term, and while Boop is old and learning, these details don’t add to the story – they just unintentionally hurt people.

The discussion of teen pregnancy at the end also made me cringe. This is 2020... Sigh.

An entertaining story of a g and other and grand daughter who take a road trip and learn about themselves and each other in the process. It ends a little, flatly but the rest of the story makes up for it

This book was amazing. I had a superb relationship with my Maternal Grandma and I could feel this reflected in this book. The everyday normality and Then in contrast, the life changing events are things every reader will relate to. I felt the writer had really captured the love between a grandparent and grandchild. Complex relationships are hard to explain, but it is done so well in this book. Overall, you end the book with a real sense of warm family love - unconditional like no other. Super read.

I really enjoyed this one. When I first saw it I thought it would be a light and fun little book about the relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter. Which it was, in part. But there was so much more grittiness to it I wasn’t expecting. I really appreciate books that are easy to read but still deal with important themes such as mental illness, self worth and complicated family relationships.

The book follows three women, Boop (grandmother), Justine (daughter) and Eve (granddaughter). Boop had a secret that filled her life with guilt and sadness, unable to be the mother to Justine either of them wanted and needed her to be. Justine was determined to be the opposite for her daughter, displaying love through picking out every detail of Eve’s life - her friends through to the career she’ll have. And then there’s Eve who’s filled with resentment towards her mother and feels like she can’t meet anyone’s expectations.

Boop can see in Eve the tell tale signs of depression, that once claimed 15 years of her own life, and feels the responsibility to help Eve. When Boop’s sister Vicky calls and needs help, Boop decides to invite Eve on a road trip in the hope the journey will do Eve some good. During the trip, Eve begins to trust herself stand up to her mother's expectations, while Boop finds a way through her past filled with grief and regret.

I’m a sucker for books about the discovery of long kept family secrets and Boop’s secret is utterly heartbreaking but also poignant social commentary of the opinions and treatment of disability and illness through the years. I don’t want to give too much away here, but I wish I could say so much more. You’ll just have to give it a read yourself (😉) and I would encourage you to do so!

I appreciate books that are enjoyable to read, but with a deeper undercurrent and this novel delivers. Although on the surface it’s about a grandmother and granddaughter road trip, it’s actually about dealing with depression, developing a sense of self-worth and enough confidence to face disappointments, and finding the strength to grow into who we can become.

Eve is a relatable character – college-aged and torn between her dreams of fashion design and parental expectations. Boop meanwhile, regrets not being the mother she wishes she could have overcome her own depression and become. She tries to compensate through her relationship with Eve, her granddaughter, but is still mired in guilt over parental decisions she has grown to regret.

I loved how Eve and her cousin are able to learn from Boop, and how Boop herself is a fully fleshed out character with desires and flaws, completely avoiding common cliches of the wise ‘grandma’ advisor in novels. On the contrary, everything about these two characters reads as complex, fresh and interesting, from Eve’s interest in fashion, to her initial disdain of a town’s garlic festival. “Pageants and garlic are both ridiculous in their own right, but together?”

A heart-warming read full of cute Boop-isms such as “Seriously, life’s full of rotten eggs. Hope’s what keeps the chickens laying."

Boop and Eve’s Road Trip delivers everything you’d hope in a witty road trip book – with even more depth and uplifting feels than you might expect.

When Eve needs emotional support, she turns to grandmother Boop. The two go on a road trip. I enjoyed the book and, as a grandmother, I enjoyed the relationship between the 2 women. It was amazing to see how much Eve needed the distance, physical and emotional from her mother.

Thank you Netgalley for this book.

There is a saying in the Southern US, “We don’t hide our crazy, We parade it down the street!”. It was not always that way, especially with people that are in high society or in political families. They had to guard their reputations, keep them untarnished and make sure that they are respected.

The protecting of past secrets leads to the plot of the book. It involves secrets of the past that need to come to light so that healing can be happen.

I was drawn to this book because it has multi-generations of a family; Grandmother, Mother and Daughter, and their complicated relationships. I love books that have an older, wiser character that knows not to sweat the small stuff and can guide the younger people to what is important.

This is Mary Helen Sheriff’s debut novel and she definitely has written a gem. While I thought I was choosing to read a story about a fun road trip, I was so wrong. This book is deeply emotional, tackling some very sensitive topics with grace and love. I recommend it very highly.

I want to thank NetGalley and She Writes Press for giving me the pleasure of reading the complimentary Advance Reader Copy. My review is my own opinion not influenced by receiving the ARC.

I was expecting more of a breezy fun grandmother-granddaughter road trip story but this was a lot deeper than I expected. I want a grandma like Boop!

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Evie’s mother has made no secret of her disdain for her daughter’s future career job as a fashion designer. Fed up with her constant sniping, Evie plans a road trip with a friend, but when the friend leaves her in the lurch, Evie’s grandmother, Boop, wants to come along. She wants to see her sister and try to help Evie with her growing depression. What follows is a tamer, Southern version of Thelma and Louise with a grandmother and granddaughter traveling through the American South. It took me a while to warm up to this story, I felt like I was plunged into the book mid conversation with characters I didn’t know well enough to like or dislike. I stuck with the book and I’m glad I did, this was a funny, no holds barred story of coming to terms with your past and future