Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - The Road Trip

Just another sweet story by this author. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't vibe with their relationship during the first flashback, but it quickly became very engrossing and I wanted to understand their history immediately.

Content Warnings

kebbe7's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

abdelp's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional tense

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

2.0

I loved Flatshare and The Switch, but this novel by Beth O'Leary just didn't sit right. Much of the book was well-written, with shifting perspectives between Dylan and Addie in the "then" and "now," but it is very difficult to portray realistic relationships that have been complicated by the toxic involvement of others. Some of the simplifications here honestly ruined things for me, which was a huge bummer since I was really looking forward to this release.

At the chronological if not actual beginning, Addie just seemed too emotionally healthy + assertive to put up with the arrival of the obviously toxic Marcus like 5 days into a summer fling and let a relationship with Dylan continue to develop under those terms. I get why she was more downbeaten later on to set boundaries vs. seemingly risk losing Dylan, but

when she thought it was Dylan coming to her room and it turned out to be Marcus, I don't get why she didn't slam the door in his face or why she didn't demand an actual apology after he said he knew he owed her one.

There were a LOT of red flags of which Addie became immediately aware, and I have a hard time buying this early "happy" part of the past romance.

Also, Dylan is totally drunk driving at the first flirty car-racing scene -- was that supposed to make us root for him?

That said, suspending my disbelief that Addie managed to fall in love with Dylan during their summer fling, which made it hard to root for them NOT to break up even earlier, much less not stay broken up, there were other issues:

1) The serious topics addressed

(TW: attempted rape, drug/alcohol abuse, emotional abuse and gaslighting, stalking, manipulative behavior, etc)

were taken a bit too lightly / oversimplified in the interest of making it light/funny in a way that seriously affected the novel's impact. It was both too serious and not serious enough, and the frivolity with with some of the serious topics were "resolved" took me out of the story.

2) The disjointed chronology camouflaged but did not compensate for the lack of adequate character development at certain points,

(I mean, yes, I've known people as truly manipulative and narcissistic as Marcus, and I get why Dylan was blind to his behavior for the most part, but the interim relationship period of "Marcus super-obviously negging Addie to her face in front of Dylan, and sabotaging their relationship by having a alcohol/drug-induced meltdown that interrupts literally EVERY relationship milestone of Dylan's and Addie's OVER THE COURSE OF AN ENTIRE YEAR and somehow we're supposed to believe that Dylan didn't pick up on it AT ALL? There should have been at least one reaction from Dylan about how blatantly Marcus was interfering in his relationship.)

and in retrospect, it did not distract me from the fact that just because I the reader did not know certain things at different times, that the characters DID have the information. It raises some questions about consistency in character development and progress along a redemption arc.

Spoiler: If we are to believe that Dylan has actually done the character growth he has done by putting all this work into therapy, etc, such that he is now semi-defending Addie when Marcus tries to lambaste her during the roadtrip for her perceived past cheating, and that he believes that his past friendship with Marcus was toxic and that he HAS a lot to apologize to Addie for, I do not comprehend why: (1) he is on a road trip with Marcus -- even if Marcus is changing his behavior and making the rounds within his friend/family group -- to give Marcus the opportunity to apologize to HIM if he hasn't actually done that already, and especially, (2) why he would even consider putting Addie in a position of feeling guilted into driving them to the wedding when HE KNOWS Marcus doesn't know the truth about what happened, hasn't even apologized to HIM about how he sabotaged the relationship and did all the other crap, and certainly shows no indication that any of what he did to Addie is even on his radar. It seems like it negates the character growth we're supposed to believe Dylan has undergone: He knows how seriously he fucked up in believing Marcus's "proof" that Addie cheated on him without even letting her tell her side of the story, and it does not seem reasonable that someone who is that "sorry" about how he failed his girlfriend in the aftermath of her sexual assault would be willing to expose said ex to continued abuse from the guy who didn't deserve the full story because of his track record in how he used Addie's vulnerabilities as weapons. And instead he says "Marcus has changed. Is changing. Just look out for it--please. For me. I want you to know I wouldn't be in a car with Marcus if he was still the man you knew when we were together." Just because he is willing to give Marcus margin to redeem himself doesn't mean he should be willing to give Marcus rein to hurt Addie even more than he already did.

Bottom line: the ending comes off as a cop out and it all ends WAY too quickly in the middle of the wedding reception

as they have their "second first kiss." Sure, maybe Dylan has matured some and done some therapy work ... but the earlier version was such a low bar, he still isn't a good boyfriend prospect despite the "improvement." AND he hasn't even apologized for anything other than abruptly breaking up with her after her sexual assault when that was just the cherry on the top of everything! Like, he needed to apologize for how he treated her while they were dating! He was clearly demonstrating during the "now" timeline how he would continue to prioritize his wants over Addie's needs (seriously? he's hurt that he didn't know her sister had a baby? like, he removed himself from her life.... that's what HAPPENS); why on earth would she take him back?? Especially after Marcus' creepy obsessive and stalker behavior in trying to break them up in the first place is just dismissed/forgiven as him being in love with her too? Dylan needed to own his role in letting Marcus do that! Addie doesn't owe Dylan another chance just because he says he loves her.

Needed at least another 100 pages of resolution to end the way it did.

Content Warnings