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shaq 's review for:
The Road Trip
by Beth O'Leary
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Susceptible and Disorienting.
Not sugar coating this, Im a fan of Beth O Leary, but this one was a miss. Im not going to lie, Im half minded, like the rating is more likely a 2.5 more than a solid 2, and so Im kind of flip flopping on whether it should actually be a 2 or a 3, but for now Im sticking with it.
Im just not sure where the author was kind of going with this story. The whole foundation on which the love story is built on is straight up physical attraction, literally the fact that the person was nearby and they had zero to little impulse control. Even their interactions were kind of off-putting, bordering on negging with the way the love interest would see the other as this 'tiny, petite, little thing' way too often.
The story has some redeeming factors, in the second chances and redemption and like a makeup story but its, honestly, barely touched upon and just dumped over with the suspense of expectation and 'they all lived happily ever after'
Like if a couple breaks up for a reason, then those reasons need to at the very least be properly addressed, and no, I think 'Ive started going to therapy' is just a copout to expect all problems to magically be solved with.
Marcus is straight up still an obnoxious person that literally doesnt care about others, okay, maybe hes going to not actively sabotage a relationship because hes interested in the girl that his friend is going for, but every other action of him acting like a 7 year old child with zero repercussions is still given the benefit of 'Oh its just you know how he is'
Dylan I dont think even really got to address the fact that he really needs to get his act together, hes always reliant on others to tell him what he wants, and anytime that support system goes away, its still going to lead to that problem, which is why, yes great you guys got back together, but its not like the similar issues that you faced arent gonna resurface in some other shape way or form.
Addie.. I dont even know if she actually had changed in any way. Lets hope that Dylan doesnt have any other priorities or his lifestyle doesn't differ from Addie's because it didnt end well the last time. Justifying cheating even if its at an emotional level is just such a weird take, just overall weirded out by the whole thing.
The titular road trip was actually not what I had expected either, it seemed like they were heavily unprepared for how long it would have taken them, even with some delays, what kind of people just walk into a wedding AS ITS HAPPENING?
Overall, the story is just an unrealistic portrayal of life in general, that also kinda lacked the depth that I have generally found in Beth O Leary's other stories. It still has that nice descriptive and catchy writing thats overall joyful but the message of the story was ... something else.
Not sugar coating this, Im a fan of Beth O Leary, but this one was a miss. Im not going to lie, Im half minded, like the rating is more likely a 2.5 more than a solid 2, and so Im kind of flip flopping on whether it should actually be a 2 or a 3, but for now Im sticking with it.
The story has some redeeming factors, in the second chances and redemption and like a makeup story but its, honestly, barely touched upon and just dumped over with the suspense of expectation and 'they all lived happily ever after'
Like if a couple breaks up for a reason, then those reasons need to at the very least be properly addressed, and no, I think 'Ive started going to therapy' is just a copout to expect all problems to magically be solved with.
Marcus is straight up still an obnoxious person that literally doesnt care about others, okay, maybe hes going to not actively sabotage a relationship because hes interested in the girl that his friend is going for, but every other action of him acting like a 7 year old child with zero repercussions is still given the benefit of 'Oh its just you know how he is'
Dylan I dont think even really got to address the fact that he really needs to get his act together, hes always reliant on others to tell him what he wants, and anytime that support system goes away, its still going to lead to that problem, which is why, yes great you guys got back together, but its not like the similar issues that you faced arent gonna resurface in some other shape way or form.
Addie.. I dont even know if she actually had changed in any way. Lets hope that Dylan doesnt have any other priorities or his lifestyle doesn't differ from Addie's because it didnt end well the last time. Justifying cheating even if its at an emotional level is just such a weird take, just overall weirded out by the whole thing.
The titular road trip was actually not what I had expected either, it seemed like they were heavily unprepared for how long it would have taken them, even with some delays, what kind of people just walk into a wedding AS ITS HAPPENING?
Overall, the story is just an unrealistic portrayal of life in general, that also kinda lacked the depth that I have generally found in Beth O Leary's other stories. It still has that nice descriptive and catchy writing thats overall joyful but the message of the story was ... something else.