Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Road Trip

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary

53 reviews

mrsdarcylynn's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed reading The Road Trip. Beth O’Leary blends romance with heavy in a way that worked for me. I thought the road trip element was a lighthearted romp that was evened out by the heavier elements of the “then” storyline. I think if this book had been fully one or the other the storylines would have been too much, but together they work.

I had some issues with Marcus.

Namely, that Dylan would remain friends or friendly with him after all the abuse Addie suffered, when Dylan broke up with Addie at the drop of a hat for maaaaybe cheating on him (all he had was a sketchy photo of a guys leg on her thigh? And Marcus had literal years of emotional/verbal abuse on Dylan and Addie? I dunno. This part just left me feeling complicated.

A quick read and not too bad.

Content Warnings

elui's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

oliviaclaire's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had seen a lot of backlash against this book on review sites (albeit after I made my purchase) and, to be honest, I can understand why. The book itself is well written but I think there's a certain expectation that now comes attached to seeing Beth O'Leary's name on a book cover. You're assuming that you're going to be picking up an engaging, witty romcom that touches on personal and difficult topics through its characters (

emotional abuse in The Flatshare and grief and loss in The Switch

).

From the cover style and blurb offered by The Road Trip, you wouldn't expect any different. Two exes who haven't seen each other in a year are forced to drive across the UK together to attend a friend's wedding, tension and hilarity ensues surely? And it does, in places, but the majority of The Road Trip is much darker and heavier than O'Leary's previous titles. I would consider the comedy (generally set in the 'Present' sections of the book as we continue our cross country caper) as elements of mild comic relief between much longer episodes of some really quite depressing situations in our characters' 'Past'. Instead of picking perhaps one difficult circumstance and exploring its effect on our cast while a love story develops eg. the intersection of love and loss or finding your confidence again after negative relationship experience, O'Leary hands out as many heavy hitting handicaps as possible to our motley crew (

including but not limited to alcoholism, substance abuse, strained familial relationships and sexual assault

).

Addie and Dylan also don't have a particularly enjoyable relationship. There's definitely a sense of infatuation that is relatable towards the beginning of their romance (both characters are roughly 21-23 so I understand them falling fast) but I don't feel like enough is built on that foundation for this to be a sound and strong relationship moving forward. Both of them are immature, understandably, and make some terrible choices but I'm just not sure why they're so affected by the bond between them when it seems to be built on nothing but an obsession with how hot and out of their league the other one is. By the end of the book, I honestly don't know if I would have cared if they had rekindled their romance or gone their separate ways. I wasn't rooting for them like I often do for my fictional couples.

While this book isn't by any means poorly written and definitely includes some genuine laugh out loud moments it also definitely isn't quite as advertised. To be fair, this may be on the publisher Quercus rather than the author, as I'm sure they have a hand in the covers and blurbs and didn't really give typical O'Leary readers any warning of what was coming for them with this title. It isn't a bad book (although arguably I wouldn't say it's as good as either of her previous stories) and it won't put me off giving the next title, 'The No Show', a chance but it certainly wasn't the relatively light romcom gold I had been expecting when I picked it up.

Content Warnings

roxy_reads_romance's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

Content Warnings

kalin_grace's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Content Warnings

louisebeereading's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

What a fantastic listen. This roadtrip is like no other - two sisters, an ex, toxic best friend and an awkward stranger catching a ride to a mutual friend's wedding - is about as chaotic as it sounds.
Beth O'Leary has outdone herself with this forced proximity, dual POV, dual timeline second chance romance. Sounds confusing right? But no! The audible version uses two fantastic voice actors with clear announcements of the changing timeline which means the execution is masterful.
I loved the romance and tension between Dylan and Abbie, with just the right amount of drama. Everyone feels so incredibly human and still so loveable. So excited to read O'Leary's other novels!

Content Warnings

quasinaut's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I adore Beth O'Leary's writing and how she builds her characters, but this was my least fave of her three books I've read thus far. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe the alternating timelines made it hard to get invested in the characters? Maybe Addie didn't feel fully realized to me? Maybe I'm not a fan of second-chance romance?

The interactions with the full cast of characters made the book for me. Deb made me love her, Rodney amused (and, later, annoyed) me, and Marcus appropriately pissed me off. I appreciated the intricacies -- who needed to apologize, who misunderstood what happened, who got in over their head, who turned to whom for support.

Still engaging, just not my fave.

Content Warnings

madsmcw_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book took me a relatively long time to read, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but because this is a story you need to take your time with and savor. This cast of characters are messy and have dealt with a lot of crap together. I loved the dual timeline of getting to see how everyone met and how they got to where they are now. All of these characters grow so much as individuals and I loved getting to witness that.

The book isn't all emotion and tough personal growth. It also has some hilarious mishaps as this group of people race across the country to get to their best friend's wedding. So while there's some tough emotional crap there's things to keep you laughing and stop the book from getting to heavy. Overall, this is another lovely story from O'Leary and I can't wait to see what she brings us next.

Content Warnings

hmatt's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Classic Beth O'Leary here: a hilariously-told and very cute romance with complex characters and a slightly ridiculous premise. This one felt just a little too long for me with a bit of weird pacing, like the antics were slightly too ridiculous and then the ending creeped up and it was all wrapped up too fast. I also felt like the characters were less relatable than those in the author's other books, but that has more to do with their younger ages and how many of them were posh English people than how they were written. This author always does a fantastic job of writing rich and flawed characters that feel very real, and I once again came away wanting to "check up" on all the primary and secondary characters after the novel finishes.

Content Warnings

annahallan's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...