I started the audiobook of this with slight trepidation for a couple of reasons. Would I love this as much as The Flatshare and why the heck did I look at the reviews 🙈

I am always going to love The Flatshare but this does come second to that. I had no idea how this would pan out. Even my mini-me was invested in the audiobook, although she told me off for all the swearing coming out of the speakers 😂

I had to know what happened with Addie and Dylan! We had to know how it would all pan out, as we had no clue. I was that impatient much to the mini-me’s disappointment I spent the last 45 minutes reading the book so I knew how it would end, sorry! <3

This book is slightly darker with the themes tackled here. Depression and self-loathing and lack of confidence hangs really heavy here. But it made the book that much more realistic, throw in unrequited love to destroy people and you have a sad tale. It was sad to see how they got from the past to the present day, and I was hoping for some kind of reconciliation.

Addie and Dylan start off as a holiday romance, but they know nothing about each other. Will they be able to make it in everyday life? Or is there just too much against them? Why is Marcus so absolutely horrific? And why is Grace not in the book more!!

I had so much time for these characters. I thought the dysfunctional family really worked in the car. I thought Rodney was cute…. until he wasn’t!! Shocking!! Although not much with him was resolved and dealt with.

I did have a lot of emotion with this book and in the bathroom scene of the hotel, I was holding my breath. It was so emotionally charged and it was the start of something. It still moves me thinking about it.

I did enjoy the book and the narrators were awesome too! I love their voices throughout the book. Just a little sad it has all come to, a satisfying, end.

Such a great book by such a great author. I’ve loved the other books and this didn’t disappoint! I’d highly recommend this.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a free ecopy of The Road Trip in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and flew through it in a matter of days! I like the unravelling of the story as we jumped between time periods.

I read two of Beth O'Leary's other books, The Flatshare and The No-Show, and enjoyed both despite some issues, so I approached The Road Trip with fairly high expectations. Sadly, this one was a bit of a miss for me.

The premise was really interesting: two sisters, one ex, one best friend and a random person are forced to travel to a wedding in a very, very small car. What could ever go wrong? Knowing Beth O'Leary's style by now I was expecting a poignant story wrapped in some humour but, while her writing is flawless as usual, this book didn't really hit the mark. The main issue I had with this was I just couldn't care less about any of the characters. And the main couple I was supposed to be rooting for? I actually wished they would break up for good, so... not a great result.

The story is told in a dual POV (Addie's and Dylan's) and across two timelines, alternating the present-day road trip and the beginning of Addie and Dylan's love story. If I'm being honest, I wasn't too keen on the past timeline except in that it served to slowly unveil the reasons that brought them to break up. This summer romance honestly felt a bit too much like insta-love, with absolutely no reason for either of the characters to be as possessive as they were that early on in a mostly physical and quite superficial relationship. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you're going for, but their actions and thoughts just didn't seem to match up, with them portraying this as the most amazing love story ever when in truth it just wasn't that deep. When the big reveal of the reason behind their break-up came along after being teased for most of the book, I was frankly disappointed and more than a bit annoyed.

The road trip part of the story was much more engaging and had plenty of funny moments as well as some more insightful ones, where characters were given a chance to develop. These were still few and far between though, with the result that I actually did not care about the characters, not even enough to hate the most unlikeable ones. There was also a particularly problematic situation regarding one of the characters, which wasn't really tackled in the way I would have expected having read the author's other works. That being said, I did like the way the conversation around mental health was handled and the way one character matured by the end of the book, even though his behaviour had been appalling up to that point and it didn't really feel as though that was fully addressed.

Despite these issues, Beth O'Leary's writing is captivating, so much so that I was still entertained and had no problem finishing this book. I also alternated the ebook with the audio version, and the narrators made all the difference. Josh Dylan and Eleanor Tomlinson were absolutely perfect in this and added loads of charm to characters who would otherwise have had very little. Honestly, I may have enjoyed this book even less had I only read it, but the audiobook improved my experience of this.

I'm still curious to read The Switch and whatever Beth O'Leary writes next, but this one was very disappointing.

The Road Trip was a refreshing twist on the Beth O’Leary books I love.

I really enjoy her quirky and sweet writing style and The Road Trip was no exception!

I’m often on the fence with dual perspective narration but felt that it really added to the storytelling.

While not my favourite Beth book, The Road Trip kept me coming backing for more.

Really wanted to love this book, but I just could not continue - I did not care about any of the characters and was really dissapointed. I did not find any of them likeable and they annoyed me quite a bit.

Lovely easy read book which is was excited to read after the Flatshare. This did not disappoint and would recommend for fans or those new to this author

The Road Trip Beth O'Leary
After loving the first two books by this author, I wanted to love this book too, but it just didn't hit the mark for me.
I never got to the point where I felt invested in the characters, and the story just about kept me going until the end, but it was more a case of, I am almost finished so will keep going.
The idea was good, but the then and now chapters didn't really link in, and it felt like random things were added in, that didn't go anywhere.
Perhaps I am in the minority.

Oh Beth O’Leary, let me love you. Whilst not as good as The Flatshare (for me) I still devoured this - honest, funny and with a whole lot of heart it’s just what I look for in my romance novels and I can’t wait to see what Beth does next.

I’m a huge fan of Beth O’Leary’s books – I absolutely loved The Flatshare and The Switch so I was excited to read this one. I have to be honest and say I didn’t adore The Road Trip as much as I’d hoped but my expectations were pretty sky high – which could be part of the reason. The story follows Addie and Dylan, exes who end up sharing a car with three others on the way to a wedding they are both attending. They have a messy history and we follow them both on the awkward road trip and we also jump back in time to witness the inception of their relationship.

First off, I have to say that Beth O’Leary proves once again she is an exceptionally good writer. She manages to write with a warmth and wit which makes her books so easy to fall into and be swept along by. The Road Trip is no exception and I did also find the story mostly compelling. The reason this book doesn’t rate as highly for me personally as O’Leary’s previous books is that the characters simply left me a bit cold. I couldn’t really find a reason to care all that much about Addie, who I found a little irritating and Dylan, who I failed to see the attraction in. Because of this, I couldn’t connect to the story with any real sense of emotion and couldn’t bring myself to truly invest in the outcome. I don’t want to put anyone off too much because I know others have loved The Road Trip and it certainly won’t stop me reading everything Beth O’Leary writes but, for me, this one just didn’t quite hit the extremely high heights of her previous books.

3.5⭐

I was expecting this to be more light women's fiction, but there was some significant depth to it, including alcoholism.

I received this book from NetGalley last year but couldn't bring myself to read it as we were in lockdown. Having read it, I now wish I had read it last year as it was a great escape!

Beth O’Leary has been such a good find for me over the last few years. Like everyone I thought The Flatshare was amazing and The Switch was sweet and heartwarming. The Road Trip was as you can guess about a road trip for friends through England to get to a wedding in Scotland. I just didn’t gel with any of the character, especially the male ones. I couldn’t understand the appeal of him at all and so the romantic relationship just didn’t work for me. The banter in the car really irritated me and overall I thought the story was just a bit underwhelming. It’s well written, of that there’s no doubt, but not a top one for me.

I have been a huge fan of Beth O'Leary's work so far, which only makes this so much more disappointing for me!

I found all of the characters pretty unlikeable, which isn't necessarily an issue, except for the fact that I was actively hoping that the relationship we were presumably supposed to be routing for, to end and stay that way. The first few chapters were promising and cute, and I loved the summer sections of this book, but it got very frustrating after that. It was hard to feel sympathy for any of the characters, despite what was happening to them.

I'll definitely be continuing with the author's future releases, but this was a miss for me.

Finished this little beauty tonight. A bit darker than her previous books I thought. Definitely struggled with Marcus as a character but really enjoyed Rodney as light relief. Definitely worth a read!

Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend's wedding in rural Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.

But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie's ex, Dylan, who she's avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.

Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they've totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with four-hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship...

Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly, is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?

#bookstagram #books #reading #libraries #borrowing #betholeary #theroadtrip #relationships #weddings #friendships #holidayromances #love

Don't usually go for this genre but the synopsis intrigued me. Unfortunately I couldn't really get into it but I would still recommend it to those who liked her first book and those who like this genre, as it's well written.

Addie and her sister are about to go on a road trip to their friends wedding in Scotland. Clothes packed, music sorted, snacks prepped, as they set off a car slams into the back of theirs - it’s Addies ex boyfriend. They end up sharing a car journey to Scotland.
The storyline to start was soft, laugh out loud and entertaining but as I got further into the book the story became angsty, emotional and powerful..a real heartfelt read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy of The Road Trip.

This premise of this book is every girls worst nightmare, having to share a very cramped car ride to a wedding with the ex you never got over. The book was fast paced and hilarious. I was so sucked into the story that I read the book in one sitting.

I had only read one other Beth O’Leary book before this but I will now be looking out for other books by this author.

A fun enjoyable read, not Beth O'Leary's best work but I don't think anything would beat The Switch in my eyes! I liked the characters, something that I think O'Leary excels at every time is her character work, and I always find them easy to root for. I enjoyed the fact that the plot was once again different from her previous works, and that this one explored a relationship that had broken apart and a pair that was thrown back into close quarters. I did find the characters harder to love this time, it at times felt like O'leary's version of Normal people by Rooney and that didn't work for me. I also wasn't a fan of using sexual assualt as the reason the two main leads where no longer together, I know O'Leary can handle these things well (The Flat Share was handled beautifully to me) so it was a little odd that here it felt like a trope that was used to create friction rather than explored and discussed. However these are still fun romance novels and are so easy to read and get invested in. I will definitely be reading her again!

As the title gives away this is a trip of a read. Comedy woven in with a lot of deep, angsty feelings which made for a good read.

A brilliant read. Full of fun! I really enjoyed this story and the characters! This will definitely be a bestseller!