Review: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

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.

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour is one of those feel good contemporary novels that read almost like a good summer movie, and one that I personally think I would have enjoyed a little more if I had read it in the garden in the sun rather than holed up in my bedroom while it was throwing it down with rain outside. 


When I started this book I had no idea what to expect, a friend who had read it compared it to Sarah Dessen and at first I didn't see where she was coming from, but later I realised that she was referring to the way that Matson writes a wholesome, fun story with a little bit of angst. In Amy and Roger, Amy is dealing with the recent death of her father and much of the book is based around her attempts to come to terms with the loss and open up again.

But I think that is where the Sarah Dessen comparisons stop. Amy and Roger is much more than just a book about a summer fling, stuffed with angst, the book is fun, the chapters are interrupted by snapshots of the places the pair have been, receipts, notes, anything like that and it make sthe journey a lot more real. I did feel that at some points these interuptioms really did disrupt the flow of the story, especially as sometimes they come in the middle of sentences and while I understand it's to creat this 'scrapbook' theme, it did really irritate me at times.

I also feel that the flaws of this book were totally genre related, the story was very predictable, some parts were just sigh worthy - like how they have to share a bed because there aren't two rooms available. This seemed cringey as they stop at plenty of places and it's all the same. The book is more about the moral; 'It's not about where you're going, it's how you get there.' (as quoted from the book) as well as Amy's coming to terms with her Father's death, which puts the book on some pretty emotional ground, which is dealt with superbly.

I totally did enjoy this book though, for a totally adorable summer read, the romance is perfectly executed and you see the subtle changes in the feelings of the characters way before they themselves notice it, and by the end you will be cheering for the pair. The ending is left on a sort of cliffhanger but, without giving spoilers, more observant readers will notice the date on the receipt on the last page and find a conclusion to the story. (cryptic enough?).

All in all, Amy and Roger's Epic Detour was a book that I can only describe as charming, sensitive and totally loveable. Despite the cheesy genre conventions, I still found this book great and would definitely recommend it to fans of Robin Benway and Sarah Dessen.

Overall rating: B

Stand alone/series: Stand alone

UK Release: July 7th 2011

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Book obtained via: Bought by my lovely boyfriend