Book Review: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

Amy And Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

344 pages

5/5 Stars

Goodreads Description: 

Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew—just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road—diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards—this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.


Okay, so where to start. I had never heard of this book until a friend of mine had read it and begged me to read it. Haha. And I am so glad she told me about it! I absolutely loved this book! The book starts off with Amy at home in California explaining how her road trip to Connecticut was arranged. This takes place only a few months after her father's accident. Her mother has a new job in Connecticut, her brother is in North Carolina. She has been home in California by herself for a month, and she needs to get to Connecticut. Her mother wants her to bring their car by road trip, but Amy refuses to drive since the accident. So Amy's mother enlists in Roger to drive since he will be living in Pennsylvania with his father for the summer. So thats how it all starts. Roger and Amy then set off on their road trip which was planned out, city by city, stop by stop by Amy's mother but as they start their trip they decide to take a different path, a detour. So starts Amy's path to finding herself. They stop in lots of different and cool places across the US. Both Amy and Roger start with having certain things they want to do on this trip. Roger has a (ex)girlfriend he is trying to track down to figure out what happened with their relationship and Amy has a few places she wants to see for reasons involving her late father. This story goes on to tell both of their stories (although it is in Amy's point of view, Roger has a little story too). I loved how it had receipts from restaurants and hotels in the book as well, along with Amy's notebook for her trip. Cool little extras. The story, I thought was very well written and the characters were relate able. I kind of want to re-read it again already. Once I got through the first 50 pages or so the book just flew by for me. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys young adult books. Its a very good book about a girl finding her way through life and tragedy and learning how to talk through things with loved ones and even new people. So, yes a very, very good book!