Lindsey Goldstein’s Gap Year channels Julia Roberts’ soul-searching in Eat Pray Love combined with Reese Witherspoon’s grit and sense of adventure in Wild with a twist. Our heroine Jane has just dropped her daughter at the airport for a gap year in Spain before attending college. Shortly after, Jane’s husband of over twenty years tells her he’s in love with someone else, and within days she is replaced at her steady, but unfulfilling CPA firm.

Down but not out, Jane decides to take her own gap year to Ecuador to fulfill her college dream of summiting the famous Cotopaxi volcano with its majestic snow-capped peak, as well as to see the amazing wildlife of the Galapagos Islands. Used to catering to everyone else’s needs—her daughter Eliza, her husband Clark, her boss Alan--Jane finally takes the time to figure out what she really wants and to become who she always wanted to be in life.

Gap Year is a truly inspirational read with a heart-warming mother-daughter story, as well as a tribute to new experiences and friendships, showing that during difficult moments in our lives, we can forge new paths, carving out a more fulfilling future.

Lindsey Goldstein’s fabulous debut novel has a cinematic writing style that makes readers feel like they are trekking up steep mountains with Jane, enjoying sumptuous local foods, and meeting nurturing new friends who rejuvenate her spirits along the way.

Fused with humor, irony, and fun romantic elements, Gap Year is perfect for book clubs and enjoyable weekend reading—so engaging I finished the book in two days. One of my favorite stories I’ve read this year. Highly recommend.