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kiwialexa's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, and Stalking
beckylej's review against another edition
4.0
Shelby never knew her mother or her father. The latter she knows is dead but the former ran off not long after Shelby was born, sending just a postcard as a clue to her whereabouts.
Now, newly graduated and with drivers license and new car in hand, Shelby is off to see if she can find her missing mother. With careful planning, she thinks she can get to Mendocino and back in just under two weeks. But her plan is immediately off to a rocky start when an ex best friend decides to tag along. And when Shelby breaks her steadfast rule about hitchhikers, her plan takes a dangerously unexpected detour.
Unexpected is an understatement considering the book begins with Shelby holed up in a motel in Reno. Her car is gone as is her money and her companions. And apparently Shelby is convinced someone is coming to murder her!
Shelby is a wonderful character. She has more patience than me, but hits her breaking point early on with her friend's lack of help in the trip. And the elephant in the room is the fact that their friendship broke up ages ago thanks to horrendous gossip about Shelby's family. Gossip Shelby herself believed.
As their trip progresses, things run further off the rails bringing our main character (and her companions) well beyond what they think they can handle. It's mostly light and amusing, but there are some dark turns as well. That light and dark, though, make the book a compulsively readable one! For me, a person who likes the idea of a road trip more than the reality of one, it's kind of perfect. All of the ridiculous things I can imagine going wrong on a road trip - and a few things I would never imagine - seem to happen in Road to Paradise.
Oh, and it's made that much more fun by being set in 1981!
Road to Paradise is such a fabulously fun read. I love Shelby, I love the setting, and I really need to go make a playlist off of all the songs mentioned!
Now, newly graduated and with drivers license and new car in hand, Shelby is off to see if she can find her missing mother. With careful planning, she thinks she can get to Mendocino and back in just under two weeks. But her plan is immediately off to a rocky start when an ex best friend decides to tag along. And when Shelby breaks her steadfast rule about hitchhikers, her plan takes a dangerously unexpected detour.
Unexpected is an understatement considering the book begins with Shelby holed up in a motel in Reno. Her car is gone as is her money and her companions. And apparently Shelby is convinced someone is coming to murder her!
Shelby is a wonderful character. She has more patience than me, but hits her breaking point early on with her friend's lack of help in the trip. And the elephant in the room is the fact that their friendship broke up ages ago thanks to horrendous gossip about Shelby's family. Gossip Shelby herself believed.
As their trip progresses, things run further off the rails bringing our main character (and her companions) well beyond what they think they can handle. It's mostly light and amusing, but there are some dark turns as well. That light and dark, though, make the book a compulsively readable one! For me, a person who likes the idea of a road trip more than the reality of one, it's kind of perfect. All of the ridiculous things I can imagine going wrong on a road trip - and a few things I would never imagine - seem to happen in Road to Paradise.
Oh, and it's made that much more fun by being set in 1981!
Road to Paradise is such a fabulously fun read. I love Shelby, I love the setting, and I really need to go make a playlist off of all the songs mentioned!
brookesophie22's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
2.5
lilprecious's review
3.0
Not the most engrossing Paullina Simons book I've ever read, but it was interesting enough to keep me turning the pages.
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