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A review by sbowlin
Wish Lists and Road Trips by Lauren H. Mae
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I am very torn on my feelings about this book.
The cover and the synopsis make it seem like a good portion of the book takes place in Costa Rica. But it's only the first 40 pages or so.
I absolutely did not like the theme that it is unsafe for women to travel on their own. It was mentioned multiple times how unsafe Brit was because she was in Costa Rica and Houston. Which is absolutely ridiculous and started me off on a sour note with the book to the point that I almost DNFd it. Brit was also very, very dependent for someone who wanted to be independent. Her whole focus in the book was to be independent and by then she was like "eh, maybe I'm not meant to be independent." Which I was not a fan of. I also felt Brit was very hypocritical at times and would expect Nick to make choices because "we all have the power to choose," but she constantly said she had no choice. It eventually resolved itself, but not until the very end. I have a hard time buying into romances that develop after a few days, so I was not convinced that the relationship was as strong as the book was trying to convince me it was. The decisions they made after only a few days together were waaayyy too much for my personal taste.
I did think that the author wrote tension and intimate moments very well. And I also really liked how there was direct dialogue to challenge the characters' thoughts. I found the characters' backstories very relatable and liked the character interactions when the backstory was more prevalent.
The cover and the synopsis make it seem like a good portion of the book takes place in Costa Rica. But it's only the first 40 pages or so.
I absolutely did not like the theme that it is unsafe for women to travel on their own. It was mentioned multiple times how unsafe Brit was because she was in Costa Rica and Houston. Which is absolutely ridiculous and started me off on a sour note with the book to the point that I almost DNFd it. Brit was also very, very dependent for someone who wanted to be independent. Her whole focus in the book was to be independent and by then she was like "eh, maybe I'm not meant to be independent." Which I was not a fan of. I also felt Brit was very hypocritical at times and would expect Nick to make choices because "we all have the power to choose," but she constantly said she had no choice. It eventually resolved itself, but not until the very end. I have a hard time buying into romances that develop after a few days, so I was not convinced that the relationship was as strong as the book was trying to convince me it was. The decisions they made after only a few days together were waaayyy too much for my personal taste.
I did think that the author wrote tension and intimate moments very well. And I also really liked how there was direct dialogue to challenge the characters' thoughts. I found the characters' backstories very relatable and liked the character interactions when the backstory was more prevalent.