The Map to You is a sapphic friends-to-lovers new adult contemporary romance. While I enjoyed the premise of this book, and the beginning was gripping and interesting, unfortunately the second half of the book fell flat to me.
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Our two main characters got together rather quickly after the book started. This was surprising, but it allowed for a lot of tension and drama in the second half of the book. I was not expecting this, and was put off a bit by it.
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I liked the look into familial dynamics, but ultimately it was not enough to make this book particularly memorable or life-changing for me. For somebody looking for a romance with heavier themes, this might be the perfect book though.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book and exchange for my honest opinion.

The Map To You focuses on college footballer Sasha. She always falls for girls she can’t have, and is currently in love with her best friend Kinsey. They also take a long road trip together full of angst and drama!!

I love a queer love story. I also love a love-from-afar trope. So this book is everything for me.

I found the representation great and the story very realistic and relatable, which made me enjoy it more.

I personally really liked the writers style and it worked for me. It did read more YA than adult to me though, but I like that.

It's not all love though, there are trigger warnings for addiction which can be hard to read, so please be aware of that if this is something you might struggle with!

This was such an incredibly sweet book! I appreciated how nicely it balanced the line between YA and NA which makes it the perfect transitional book for high schoolers going into college. The characters were so sweet and the yearning for the first half of the book was amazing. I loved how much family played into the story and seeing the two polar opposite family dynamics was a nice contrast to the sunshine and grump trope that the main characters embodied. The third act breakup was really age appropriate and I appreciated that the reconciliation was done in a way that respected the fall out. Can’t wait for more books by Rachel Stockbridge!

What do I want to say about this story….

First, Rachel Stockbridge does a fabulous job designing the cover. It is so Sasha and Kinsey. I love it.

Okay so I am going to kind of give a spoiler here, but I want readers to be prepared. There is some family drama in this romance that deals with addiction and the effects it has on everyone in the addict’s circle. It can be painful to read at times, especially if you come from a home similar to this one.

Rachel Stockbridge writes pain and angst beautifully in The Map To You. This is a really good new adult romance which adeptly deals with the pain of new love, unrequited love, and the loss of self to a person you love.

We get to meet two women who present as one image and who are somewhat different than they appear. (Sounds so mysterious doesn’t it? (Evil chuckle)) Stockbridge addresses what many students at college journey through as they grow into who they are becoming. Who do you want to be? Do you want to let down your barriers that you built up in your teenage years to deal with whatever obstacles you have had or do you want to keep them up? Do you want to take chances? Do you really want to take a chance to feel pain again? Do you want to be the charmer that no one really gets close to? Do you want to be a prickly cactus that no one really gets close to? Who do you want to be?

The struggle is real. Stockbridge does not shy away from the issues of learning how to communicate when you can’t even really identify what is going on inside your own mind. I personally really love Sasha. I would have given a long time before Kins does. I love that back-and-forth dialogue. There is something so sexy when words are spoken in a tone or spin. Witty sarcasm is my kryptonite and Stockbridge gives us plenty of it.

The Map To You is a clean and sweet romance. There is angst, but what romance doesn’t have some drama? There is a road trip. There is family drama. Romance is also included and some really deep soulful kisses. Rachel Stockbridge gives us a college romance that makes me want to grab some popcorn and re-read some of my favorite scenes.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

I am here for all of the loving from afar & polar opposite tropes, especially when they are also queer love stories. I found myself disliking Kinsey & her “Look at me, I’m moody” thing. I loved Sasha & all of her brokenness, though. Kinsey’s parents were like sunshine. I loved the general story, but found a lot of the dramatic parts to be going on for too long (long winded) & felt the story lose momentum. Their first kiss was magical & realistic & was my favorite writing of the whole book. Overall, a fun read! Side note, there were like five too many “brusque” for me.

The Map To You is about Sasha, a college footballer who is always falling for girls she can’t have and she is currently madly in love with her best friend Kinsey. The two take a road trip which makes it harder for the two to keep their feelings in check.

I found the first half to be very slow, I didn’t really enjoy it until about 50% through. I loved the first kiss and confession of feeling scene. The chemistry between the two MCs was at its best in this scene.
Unfortunately, for me the book goes downhill after the MCs break up. I felt that the drama between the two was very forced. I felt like the main conflict was from outside their relationship and I didn’t necessarily feel like it should have impacted it the way that it did.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style, it felt clunky and I found it difficult to read, which made me struggle through this book. Also, while The Map To You is technically adult romance, it felt very YA contemporary. I think the characters didn’t feel like they were in their early 20s and felt more high school age.

While I didn’t love this book, I don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the story or the writing. It just was not for me. I think if you are a fan of the first book of the series and like the author’s writing style, then you would have probably enjoyed this book.

The Map to You opens with a very long prologue, and then we skip ten months ahead. I believe that time gap is covered in the previous book, Next Stop Love, and while it would be nice to have the context in the first book, it is not necessary to enjoy this second installment.

Varsity soccer player Sasha Deforest (21) likes the grumpy, artsy Kinsey Han (Chinese American) even before they became roommates. Now that they are no longer living together and the third person in their best friend squad Beatrice is not around, Sasha and Kinsey’s friendship quickly turns a bit awkward. But when Kinsey’s mother is hospitalized six hundred miles away, Sasha immediately volunteers to drive Kinsey, never mind all the classes they’re going to miss. Throughout the journey, Kinsey also begins to realize that Sasha is not as happy-go-lucky as she seems to be.

Sasha and Kinsey are so cute together! Their own insecurities led themselves to believe that they’re both unlovable, and it made me so happy to see them acknowledging their feelings and working through problems. Yes, they’re both frustrating at times, but being a new adult (or in any period of life, really) is about learning through mistakes and growing more comfortable and confident in oneself.

A large part of the story surrounds Sasha’s relationship with her drug addict mother. While not all drug addicts try to get money for drugs in the guise of asking for food money, that is what her mother has been doing since Sasha was a child. I like how even though Sasha knew she couldn’t rely on her mother to change, she still held out the wish of being cared for. The want of being loved is so real, and losing hope and letting go are always difficult. It was especially painful for Sasha to realize that the loving relationship of the Hans (Kinsey’s parents are so awesome) is something she would never have.

While Sasha and Kinsey’s budding romance is great, I find the dialogues and thoughts feel a bit repetitive. I get that Sasha uses flirtation and joking to dodge questions, Kinsey doesn’t think Sasha would like her grumpy self, etc., but these are reiterated so many times I started to wonder what other facets of their lives we could have seen if the story wasn’t so fixated on these things.

Stockbridge created characters that are easy for readers to care for, and The Map to You was definitely worth the read.

[content warnings: child abuse (neglect), drug abuse, hospitalization of side characters, alcohol (intoxication), past abusive relationships]

I loved this! The characters were absolutely adorable and the plot was great. I adore this genre of romance and being able to read a sophic one makes my little lesbian heart swell with joy. I absolutely can not wait to get to suggest this book to people and gush about it at work.

I think I'd give this actually a 3.5. This was such a sweet read! I didn't read the first book in this series, but it didn't seem like I was missing much as I read, which I was thankful for. The romance in this was really sweet and there were so many moments where my heart absolutely fluttered just reading the lines. The relationship had a nice development too that didn't feel too quick, but also didn't take too long. I really liked Sasha especially. She had a lot of her own challenges, of course, but I kind of adored her even with all her flaws. I related to having an unrequited crush and felt for poor Sasha often in the story! Their grumpy/sunshine relationship was my favorite and every time their differences were on true display, it was amazing.
My main issue with the book was that I didn't always feel the stakes were high enough. I think because where I was expecting lots of yearning and angst within the romance, it just wasn't there in the way I expected! I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting it from the description so I was just a little surprised. Basically, I wanted more tension and higher stakes. One thing I LOVED was that the stress of college life is actually discussed. Finally a book with college students where the college aspect is actually recognized! The side characters were also nice additions to an overall really nice read!

3.5 stars. This was pretty cute! Stockbridge’s writing is solid and her characters feel like real people. This book was more intense than I was expecting it to be, and was even a bit angsty at times, but the author retained a light tone throughout. It’s the second book in a series (the first book featuring Beatrice and Julian, who are great in this book) but I was able to understand everything without knowing anything about the previous book. I did, however, feel that we were missing some important aspects of how the MCs’ friendship formed.

NYU student Sasha Deforest (21) has been crushing on her close friend Kinsey Han (21/22, Chinese American) for a while, and Kinsey’s starting to develop feelings for Sasha too. When Sasha decides she’ll drive Kinsey to North Carolina for a family emergency, the close quarters force the two women to face their mutual attraction. But before they’re ready for romance, Sasha and Kinsey must first work through their own personal issues; Sasha’s hesitant to let anyone know about the family issues that’ve harmed her sense of self-worth, and Kinsey thinks her caustic personality is bound to ruin every interpersonal relationship.

Sasha and Kinsey are polar opposites — Sasha is a bubbly soccer player and Kinsey is a prickly graphic design major — and I enjoyed their interactions. They’ve got this thing going on where Sasha flirts and Kinsey deflects, which makes for some awkward yet endearing situations. It also means that it’s super satisfying when pretenses are dropped (Kinsey’s sweet side is so freaking glorious!). I found Kinsey particularly relatable in her difficulties with maintaining relationships with people, and I always like when protagonists are shown having difficulties with social interactions. Stockbridge also does a great job showing the messy new adult experience in which we don’t really know who we are yet.

Sasha and Kinsey have quite a bit of chemistry, but it’s mostly noticeable in the first half of the book where they interact more (as opposed to dealing with other situations). While I’m all for useless sapphics, I found these two to be almost too useless at times, and it’s frustrating how they often just don’t communicate. They could also be pretty annoying at times when lashing out at people, especially Sasha, who we’re told isn’t supposed to be ruffled by much. On a positive note, shoutout to Kinsey’s parents, who are the best characters in the book imo!

Despite all the cute things about this book, I only liked it, mainly because of how repetitive it was. Don’t get me wrong, I like introspective books, but Kinsey and Sasha’s internal struggles are hashed out so often that I started to lose interest. There’s also quite a bit more tell than show imo. Based on the character archetypes of the MCs, this feels like a book I should have loved, but I oftentimes found myself checking to see how much I had left because the pace was dragging. I don’t know, I don’t think there’s much wrong with this book per se — for this one, I’m mostly rating based on vibes.

Despite the few bumps in this book, I did enjoy it and will be looking forward to reading more from Stockbridge!

Buddy read with Hsinju! Check out their review here!

content warnings: alcohol, mentions of alcoholism, mentions of drug abuse, child neglect, guilt, manipulation, hospitalization, non-fatal heart attack (side character), mentions of past toxic relationship

I received an ARC from Rachel Stockbridge via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story was super cute, the banter and chemistry between the main character is well written and a delight to read. I love how relatable the characters can be and the backstories like friendships ect. However the beginning isn't my favorite, the prologue starts off with Kinsley moving in Sasha dorm. In the next chapter Kinsley and Sasha have been close friends for months. I'm not a big fan of the time skip but I can overlook it. It was a quick read and definitely something I would recommend and reread

This book was really fun. I enjoyed all the relationships that we got to see, however the miss-communication aspect of it was a little bit too hard to get over. However, if that isn't something that bothers you then I would still recommend!

The Map to You is the second book in the Next Stop Love series by Rachel Stockbridge. A Queer friends to lovers romance between two college friends.

Our leading ladies Sasha and Kinsey are solid characters who are each well-developed. Sasha is energetic, and fun, even if she's using it to mask her childhood trauma. Kinsey comes off as not the friendliest, but she's a ride or die type friend. Together I believed their friendship and even Sasha's crush on Kinsey, but I guess I had trouble believing in their actual romance. It all felt so rushed. Only friends for a year, discover and acknowledge feelings over a road trip , then have a big break-up two days later . It was just poorly paced.

I would like to believe that I didn't miss anything significant having to do with this couple by not reading the first book, but I might have cared more about them if I had read it. This is also labeled as a New Adult book but read much more as a Young Adult with the characters behaviors and the low level of steam. In my opinion, the only New Adult aspects were the drinking scene and the fact that they are in college.

2.5/5 stars

Sadly, I was underwhelmed by this one and I don't have much to say.

Side Note: My favorite character was probably Sasha's cousin Trev who we only met over the phone, but I would read a book about him finding his HEA in a heartbeat.

4.5 stars! My only issue is that it took so long to get to the good parts... but I guess that may have been the authors point to drag it out... either way she totally killed it once she got the ball rolling.

The mental/physical anguish Sasha goes through had me in the feels and even shed a tear over shared emotions from my past.

Totally relatable and definitely had some well thought out characters even though they were frustratingly cheesy in the beginning it led to a point.

Great book even without the hot and steamy love scenes. Once it got to the good stuff, I couldn't put it down.

This book. THIS BOOK. It is SO sweet. A genuine delight to read. The characters were well thought out. The writing was realistic. It was funny and heartbreaking all at once. I’m really excited for when more people get the chance to read this.

Kinsey is full of frowns and bossiness. Sasha is sunlight in human form. Their personalities and the way they’re written is stunningly complementary. Their chemistry is flowing and natural. The transition from friends to lovers feels genuine. It’s not rushed, it doesn’t come out of nowhere. Getting a narrative from both girls really helps to get up close and personal with both of their feelings (and hurts my feelings along the way). Even the side characters are fully formed and have clear roles within the story.

When Rachel Stockbridge said she makes her characters work for their happy ending, she meant it. I was so happy for Sasha and Kinsey. Then came the spiral. While it was a little dramatic, I could also very clearly understand how it happened. We all say stupid and selfish stuff when we’re backed into a corner we don’t want to be in. But both girls end up recognising that. They find support from their friends and family (shoutout to cousin Travis) and in the end, work to uplift each other to be better people.

I think the conflict was a bit too much at times, especially with Beatrice and Nova. Otherwise, this was the wlw rom-com I didn’t know I needed. Yeah it hurt my feelings but it cellotaped my heart back together too.

The Map to You is released on January 25th 2022 and I would recommend it to anyone. Buy this book to warm your heart. Thank you NetGalley and Rachel Stockbridge for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was lucky enough to be chosen to get to read an ARC of The Map to You. It’s the first book I have read by this author but I don’t believe it will be the last. This book is about being young, being queer, being in love, and how messy and complicated life and family can be in amongst all those other things, which is why I think it resonated with me so much.
I certainly made my share of bad decisions in college when I was trying to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. There were moments when I thought the author had somehow been able to hijack my memories and some of my experiences and she put them into this story! I don’t think she did (who can ever really know😏) but I do think that speaks to how many shared experiences we have with our peers even when we seem worlds apart.
Cheers to a wonderful queer story, and I really hope you all get your hands on a copy of this when it’s released on 1/25/22.

Thank you, NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty mid-tier book for me. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. Mostly, I just thought there wasn't a lot going on here. The stakes were pretty low. While their issues were somewhat relatable, it didn't keep me super interested. I did empathize more with Sasha's issues and I thought she was interesting in that respect, but I absolutely hated the miscommunication/lack of communication used throughout the whole book.

I liked the two main characters, Kinsey and Sasha, but I didn't love them as much as I wanted to. I also liked how it felt like a YA story while being set at college. Bottom line is, I expected this book to have more romance than it did.

Overall, it was just okay. If nothing else, it was a quick read.

This was a cute read! I thought Sasha & Kinsey were a cute couple but the miscommunication & no communication drove me crazy. It seemed like the romance part of the story almost was a secondary part, which was disappointing. I thought that they were very fleshed out charcters & I enjoyed their story, but there was a bit too much angst for me.

This book was so cute. I read it in less than 24 hours. It had the best friends to lovers trope, and it kept me interested throughout. It was a book I'd suggest to my students that want to read more queer fiction. I liked that it focused on the relationship, but it wasn't focused on coming out, which I find too common for my liking.

The Map To You might have a really cute cover, but the book holds some very heavy topics and there’s a lot to wrap your head around. While this book didn’t do the trick for me for the most part, there were definitely some parts that I enjoyed more than others. I went into the story expecting something soft and cute, but I was given so much more to unwrap and wrap my head around.

What worked for me:
* The two leads are incredibly fleshed out and interesting, there’s so much going on with them that makes you gobble up every minute of what you get. Sasha and Kinsey had so much to offer, their personal struggles, their journeys and their family drama.
* I liked the college setting and all of the little details we got about their lives on campus and of course all of their friends. While at times it felt a little stifling, I loved just how deeply involved all of their friends were, constantly making sure that each of them was doing okay.
* I really loved the road trip side of the story, that was probably my absolute favourite part of the book. Because when trapped in a car with someone, the true nature of the other person always comes out. And Sasha and Kinsey tackle their friendship and relationship through the course of that car journey and it was great.

What didn’t work:
* I like a good slow burn as much as the next person, but there was no end to the slow burn. There was no explosive moment when they finally give in to their feelings. I’m also okay with closed-door romances, but this one didn’t deliver all of the feels at the end.
* The romance was very secondary and I struggled to connect with their relationship because there were so many other big focus points—Kinsey’s family, Sasha’s mother—and it took away from the story in a really big way. I would have liked more of Sasha and Kinsey talking about their feelings. So much of the story was them thinking about it and I didn’t feel that connection at all.

All said and done, the writing was great even if it was a little long-winded in places. While I struggled to enjoy the story, it might work for others!