The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary: Book Review

The Road Trip is the most recent release from best-selling author Beth O’Leary. Released in April 2021 by Quercus, The Road Trip is about a trip full of roadblocks and mishaps. Addie, Deb, Dylan, Marcus, and Rodney are stuck together in a Mini on their way to a wedding in Scotland. What could go wrong?

CW/TW: sexual assault, alcohol use & abuse, homophobia, mental illness

Synopsis from Goodreads

Four years ago, Dylan and Addie fell in love under the Provence sun. Wealthy Oxford student Dylan was staying at his friend Cherry’s enormous French villa; wild child Addie was spending her summer as the on-site caretaker. Two years ago, their relationship officially ended. They haven’t spoken since.

Today, Dylan’s and Addie’s lives collide again. It’s the day before Cherry’s wedding, and Addie and Dylan crash cars at the start of the journey there. The car Dylan was driving is wrecked, and the wedding is in rural Scotland–he’ll never get there on time by public transport.

So, along with Dylan’s best friend, Addie’s sister, and a random guy on Facebook who needed a ride, they squeeze into a space-challenged Mini and set off across Britain. Cramped into the same space, Dylan and Addie are forced to confront the choices they made that tore them apart–and ask themselves whether that final decision was the right one after all.

Positives

I listened to the audiobook, and there were two narrators as the chapters switch points of view between Dylan and Addie. Josh Dylan and Eleanor Tomlinson did a fantastic job with their roles.

The pacing of the story fits the story. When we are stuck in the car, the pacing is a bit slower. The story is quick-paced when we learn about Addie and Dylan’s break-up.

Negatives

Marcus is a complete jerk. Between complaining about everything being beneath him, he tries to control Dylan’s reaction to Addie. As the book nears the end, we learn the reason behind his actions. That doesn’t make it right, but it does help the reader understand more about who he is.

Dylan needs to grow a bit more of a spine. Yes, he finally cuts ties with those who try to hold him back, but he sometimes comes across as a whiny brat.

My Opinions

This is the first book by Beth O’Leary that I have read. This is a second chance romance. I enjoyed it quite a bit; there were times it felts as though the present, the road trip, was a comedy of errors.

The story goes back and forth between the present and the past. This way, we see what the relationship between Addie and Dylan has become and where it started. Some of the flips don’t make sense where they were inserted, but others make perfect sense. The scene in the hotel bathroom, and the flip to the past, is perfect timing. As it helps everyone (reader and characters alike) understand what happened with the relationship.

I’m not sure that Rodney was needed in the story. He does help add drama, but there is already quite a bit of drama in the car between Addie, Deb, Marcus, and Dylan. Did there really need to be more?

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. And I look forward to reading some of Beth O’Leary’s other books.

Looking for some more books to read? Check out my other book reviews and my monthly reading wrap-ups.