Trust Me On This

Trust Me On This by Lauren Parvizi, 367 pages

Two long-estranged half-sisters have both been summoned to Seattle to have one last visit with their dying father, a man who doted on one daughter and largely ignored the other. Both have issues and strange baggage (both literal and emotional) to deal with on the road, but reluctantly find themselves re-connecting.

I'll be honest: I read this book more than a month ago, and I only remembered reading it because it was on my list of stuff to blog about. I obviously can't remember much (including character names), and the plot apparently wasn't my cup of tea, though there is a... cat?... that I vaguely remember enjoying. That said, the only thing I can remember better than books I love are ones I absolutely hate, which means that this one was pretty middle-of-the-road, AKA there are worse books out there. 

Tangled Up in You

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren (2024) 309 pages

Ren is 22 years old and has been homeschooled all her life, self-taught while helping take care of her family's farm in Idaho. They are off the grid, with no telephone and no internet. Her parents, who tend to be closed-mouthed, have finally ok'd her going to college in Spokane after she secretly applied and was accepted to Corona College on a full-paid scholarship, including room and board. The catch is that she can't go off campus and she must come home every weekend to catch up on her farm chores. No boys, no booze, no restaurants, no makeup, etc., etc.

On campus, Ren is totally mesmerized, and in spite of her inexperience at modern life, she's doing well. A guy she's met, Fitz, has a requirement to be at the top of each of his classes, but now, in his last semester, Fitz's future is threatened by Ren's top grades in a science class they share. Each member of the class has submitted their DNA as part of the curriculum, and the results have Ren confused. In an improbable moment, she foists herself into Fitz's road trip plans and they take off across the country. If you can accept that the driving times don't match up with reality, and also accept a few other highly unlikely occurrences, then look for a fun-filled story, with a backstory that takes its time to be revealed.

Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun, 356 pages

When they were kids, Logan and Rosemary were inseparable best friends, despite their polar-opposite personalities. But at 14, something happened that drove them apart and turned them into nemeses. Now, the two women are in their 30s and both teaching English at their small-town high school, still holding a grudge that's nearly 20 years old. The only thing that could possibly bring them together is Joe, their high school English teacher and mentor who is dying of cancer. So when Joe requests that Logan and Rosemary take him on a cross-country road trip to Maine so he can die in a place he once loved, they grudgingly agree, half-convinced that they'll kill each other somewhere along the way.

This romance novel has way too many tropes for it to work — enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, "but there was only one bed," straight-laced/chaotic pairing...and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head — yet somehow Cochrun is able to tie them all together beautifully in a hilarious, touching novel featuring characters with very real flaws and fears. I laughed, I cried, I loved it. I think it's her best yet, and that's saying something.

The Pull of the Moon

The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg (1996) 193 pages

Nan is a fifty year old woman from Boston who abruptly leaves on an extended road trip to find herself. The novel is primarily a gathering of journal entries she makes along the way, along with letters to her husband, Martin. She chooses to travel on small highways and visit small towns, sometimes striking up interactions with strangers. She also ponders her youth, adulthood, motherhood and her marriage in great detail. This was a book that I found hard to set down.

Wayward Son

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell, 356 pages

This follow-up to Rowell's fantastic Harry Potter-if-they-acknowledged-the-gay-undertones-and-gave-Hermione-her-due novel Carry On finds Simon Snow, his smart best friend Penelope, and his former-enemy-now-boyfriend Baz road-tripping through the American west in pursuit of their friend Agatha, who has suddenly gone off the grid. All three pals are a bit lost, emotionally speaking, and while it's certainly not their intention to find themselves on the road, like many fictional American road trips, that's certainly what happens here. In between fighting off vampires and visiting Carhenge and whatnot, that is. I loved revisiting these characters, and since it ends on a definite cliffhanger, I'm so excited to see what Rowell has in mind for them next.

Lost Children Archive

Lost Children Archive / Valeria Luiselli, read by Valeria Luiselli and cast, 383 pgs.

A family embarks on a road trip.  Both parents are chasing their next project and the kids are learning as they go.  The couple are verging on breaking up but are heading to the US/Mexico border to research the immigration situation.  The woman has a friend whose children are lost.  They were brought over the border but nobody know where they are.  The man is pursuing a project involving Native Americans.  The kids are taking it all in and end up obsessed with the lost children so decide to look for them on their own.  This is a story that is interestingly told.  I feel like perhaps an editor was needed to make it excellent.  I enjoyed it but found the audio version a bit too repetitive. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney, 217 pages

In the ninth book of this series, the titular wimpy kid, Greg, and his family head out on a road trip in their packed minivan and stumble into all kinds of misadventures, including winning a piglet at a county fair, to fender benders, to losing wallets at the water park, to asking a teenager to shop for sandwich fixings (that one may be the most disastrous). All in all, a perfect funny tale to have your nine-year-old read to you as you drive across the country.

The young widower's handbook

The young widower's handbook / Tom McAllister,  282 pgs.

Hunter Cady hasn't accomplished much in his 29 years except to fall in love with Kait...a successful woman who loves him back despite his shortcomings.  Hunter feels very lucky and also thinks he may have to get his act together...eventually...when disaster strikes.  Kait dies and Hunter is all alone with himself.  Cue crazy parents and in-laws, none of whom he wants to spend time.  Nobody is more filled with grief than Hunter.  He is at a total loss and doesn't know what to do when some life insurance kicks in and he decides to take Kait (in ash form) on the trip they always envisioned.  Of course Kait was the planner and the driver of the couple so things quickly go wrong on the trip.  Hunter abandons his vehicle and hooks up with an unlikely trio, young couple Austin and Amber and Amber's grandfather Paul.  They are recreating Paul's epic road trip with his young wife of many years ago.  This group is quirky and interesting together.  Hunter makes up a story that he going cross country to meet up with his wife who has started a new job.  Eventually they find out that Kait has been with them all along carefully packed away in Hunter's duffel bag.  I could relate with the grief felt by the characters and enjoyed a lot of the story.  A good first novel by McAllister.

The revised fundamentals of caregiving

The revised fundamentals of caregiving / Jonathan Evison 278 pgs.

Ben Benjamin is a complete mess.  He is unemployed, fighting a divorce, and terminally sad about an accident that precipitated his fall from grace.  He takes a job as a caregiver to Trevor, a wheelchair bound teen who probably won't live to see 25.  It is a low paying job but all he's got.  He is fighting almost everything that is happening in his life, but unsuccessfully.  Conditions make it difficult for him to get to work on time, he gets fired.  But then he embarks on a epic road trip with Trevor, not as an employee but as a friend.  Not surprisingly, the road trip turns into kind of a mess...just like most of the things that Ben touches.  The plot here is not surprising but the personality of the characters, the pacing, and the dialog is fabulous.  I admit, I could not stop reading.  This is sentimental but but not in a cloying, heart breaking way...Ben confronts a lot of his issues as he should, blaming no one but himself.  The supporting characters are made up of several other men doing their best to be father's even though they have a long history of messing up.  Will they have a second chance?  Will things work out to a nicely tied up conclusion?  Author Evison seems to know how to make it real without making it sappy.

Sisters

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier, 208 pages

A companion to Smile, Telgemeier's other graphic novel memoir, Sisters looks at the relationship between Raina and her younger sister Amara. Framed by a family vacation from San Francisco to Colorado and back again, Raina remembers what life was like growing up with her sister. As an only child, Raina was desperate for sister, but when Amara was born, things ended up differently from what she imagined. While their differences led to lots of squabbles growing up, they find on their trip that sisterhood is stronger and more important than anything else. Sisters is just as charming as Smile, though I had a harder time getting into it, not being the oldest in my family. Regardless, anyone with siblings will be able to relate to Raina and Amara's relationship and the intense love and hate that seems to accompany growing up with siblings.