Road tripping: One car, five people, and a whole lot of history

The road trip was my first outing with English author, Beth O'Leary. I confess to diving into the book with no knowledge of the author or her other works. Judging a book by its cover, I was expecting something fun and feelgood, a story told with typical British humour. There ARE lots of funny moments, but the book tackles serious and confronting subjects. As I've come to see with all of O'Leary's books, the covers don't really match the contents. The tone of this one is quite dark despite the witty bits. O'Leary's novels are bit of a mixture in this way.

You can also read my review of The no show, the second book I read by O'Leary, and the final three in the one post.

The road trip | Published April 2021 | Read August 2023

On the surface, The road trip has all the makings of a fun ride. Addie and her sister, Deb, are driving from Chichester to their friend's wedding in northern Scotland. In the back of the car is Rodney, a stranger they met online who bummed a lift as he was attending the same wedding. Not long into the journey the girls are involved in a car accident. The other car is totalled although no one is seriously hurt. The other car's passengers are none other than Dylan, Addie's ex-boyfriend, and his obnoxious friend, Marcus, also going to the same wedding. Addie and Deb feel compelled to offer the boys a lift. It's a super awkward situation as Addie and Dylan's relationship ended two years previously without a word exchanged since. Soon all five are wedged into Deb's mini for the long drive to Scotland.

The story then goes back and forth between the road trip action and exploring Addie and Dylan's relationship from beginning to end. It starts with their first meeting when Addie was working as a caretaker at the South of France villa where Dylan and Marcus were staying, to their painful break up. The story is told from both Addie and Dylan's perspectives. The heart of the novel is the forced proximity = second chance trope but with a cast of colourful characters along for the ride (literally!).

There were parts of The road trip that I loved. O'Leary's dry British humour and cultural references made me smile, as did the witty banter on the road trip. There were lots of funny mishaps along the way that were hilarious. I loved Deb, the feisty, snarky sister, whose unwavering support for Addie was nice to read. I thought Rodney was a hoot even though his reason for attending the wedding was inappropriate and hard to reconcile given I kind of liked him.

I liked that the author tackled serious subjects - mental health, sexual assault, homophobia, toxic relationships - but those subjects could have had more depth if there was less going on in the novel. I liked the writing style and plotting, though, and it made me stick with the story to the end.

There's a lot to unpack in this novel alongside learning about Addie and Dylan's relationship and the second chance part of it during the road trip. Their relationship didn't resonate with me, though, but that's probably because I am old and cynical (haha) and their characters were a lot younger than me. I liked Addie but didn't feel quite the same about Dylan, which meant I wasn't really rooting for them to get back together. Dylan's friend Marcus was a grade A douchebag and I didn't like the way he took up so much of the book, despite the fleshing out of his backstory. Reading about his possessiveness of Dylan and his attempts to break Addie and Dylan up made my blood boil.

Despite the bits I didn't like, I still enjoyed the book. Just be patient with the pace and focus on the good bits that I still think overshadow the not-so-good bits. The characters are rich and well developed, even if you can't stand them, and the British humour on display is definitely worth the effort.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐