Shelby Sloane has received the best present a
graduating high school senior in 1981 could receive – a 1966 yellow Shelby
Mustang. She has lived a sad life
wondering what had happened to her mother after she was abandoned as a
child. She decides to take the yellow
Mustang on a road trip west after graduation to California to try to find her
Mom. Her ex-best friend Gina finds out
about the road trip and asks to tag along to meet her boyfriend in
California. Shelby has everything
meticulously planned and doesn’t really want a companion until she realizes
that Gina will pay half of the bill.
They start on their road trip and things immediately go from bad to
worse. Gina’s family has stops set up
all along the route that are out of the way and include the two carting dogs
around the country. Shelby also picks up
a hitchhiker which is expressly against everything their families had told them
before leaving and against the rules that Gina and Shelby have made together.
The girl they pick up, Candy Cane, is mysterious,
troubled and also wants a ride to California.
When the girls discover that there is a threatening man after Candy
Cane, they decide to take her with them.
Will they make it to California?
What is the secret behind Candy Cane and what happened to Shelby’s
mother?
I was very interested in reading this novel as I’ve
heard a lot of great things about Paullina Simons, in particular, The Bronze
Horseman. I’ll admit I was disappointed
by this book. The writing was excellent,
but I found I didn’t really like the characters and it felt like their story
was never ending with not much movement.
Once they got on the road and picked up Candy Cane, the story seemed to
be constant fighting about whether to keep Candy in the car or not and a very
long journey on 2-lane highways across the country to avoid pursuit. I felt the ending was a letdown as well. I don’t want to give more details as I don’t
want to ruin the story for others, but I felt there were no surprises and the
characters were not compelling enough for me to care about their story.
Favorite quotes:
“But there is another road in Nevada that takes you
almost there: U.S. 50, the loneliest
road in America.”
“I was young, that’s what the young are supposed to
do, not think about much, not thing about consequences, and so I hadn’t.”
“You know what I have been thinking traveling with you
through every mile of this country? What
if there is no place in the world for me?”
Overall, Road to Paradise is a road trip and coming of
age story that had good writing, but characters that I did not find compelling.
Book Source:
Review Copy as part of the TLC Book Tour
About Road to Paradise
� Paperback: 544 pages � Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (November 29, 2016) Love, passion, and friendship collide on the road trip of a lifetime in this breathtaking novel from Paullina Simons, internationally bestselling author of The Bronze Horseman and Tully. There�s no telling where a journey will lead you� Shelby Sloane has big plans for the summer of 1981. She�ll drive cross country in her graduation present�a classic yellow Mustang. In California, she hopes to find the mother who left her behind long ago, and then return East in time to start college. Her childhood friend Gina is desperate to reunite with her boyfriend in Bakersfield and has convinced Shelby to bring her along. With Gina on board, Shelby�s carefully mapped-out itinerary is quickly abandoned. Soon, so is their �no hitchhikers� rule when Shelby picks up a mysterious girl named Candy Cane, who sets them all on a new and dangerous course. Streetwise beyond her years and decked out with tattoos, piercings, and spiky hair, Candy is on the run from a past darker than anything the two suburban girls have ever known. Candy draws Shelby and Gina into her terrifying world, where life as they know it is turned upside down and there is no place left to hide.
Laura, thank you for your honest review of this book. I enjoyed reading the quotations you chose.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts as part of the tour.
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