What can I say about this book only that I absolutely loved it.

I lived with Addie and Dylan in Provence, I could see the vineyards, smell the lavender and feel their passion. Their story hooked me in and I was rooting for them the whole way.

If you want love, drama, pain, suspense, you will love this book. It is heartwarming as it is sad .The characters are so well thought out and you can almost see Dylan's floppy hair and Addie's tiny everything throughout the whole story.

I loved loved loved it!

Having enjoyed Flatshare and The Switch by Beth O’Leary I was looking forward to reading the Road Trip and wasn’t disappointed. This is a Romcom about a couple who meet and fall in love in France where Addy is working at a friend’s villa and Dylan is on holiday at the villa. The couple have an intense relationship for a while before Dylan goes off travelling as he had planned to do. On returning to the UK events transpire to push them apart. We are given all this information gradually as the story unfolds but the ‘Road Trip’ refers to a journey to Scotland to a mutual friend’s wedding. Dylan had planned to travel with his friend, Marcus and Addy was going with her sister, Debs. When Dylan gets distracted at the start of the journey because he sees Addy, he ends up driving into their car. Because Dylan’s car is now unable to be driven, they all end up in the car with Addy and Debs and another wedding guest, Rodney. This is an uncomfortable journey for Addy and Dylan in many ways, but there are numerous events that happen along the way some of which are laugh out loud, while others are quite sad. We are also given flashbacks as to how this couple broke up and events leading up to it. There are a number of complex issues raised in this story such as Dylan’s relationship with his controlling father and also his relationship with Marcus who is also quite controlling. There are a lot of different characters in this book which can sometimes lead to confusion when following a story but the descriptions of these people are so well described it is easy to work out who is who. This book feels like a bit of a departure from Beth O’Leary’s other books with a slightly more serious tone but still very enjoyable. The sort of book that keeps you guessing until the end. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me an ARC of this book in return for a review.

Dylan and Addie are one of those gorgeous, hapless couples, each can only see their own faults, but imagines perfection in the other. The meet in the clear white heat of a French summer, full of passion and possibility. Their early intoxicating encounters, are juxtaposed, at the start of the book, with their awkward, unplanned reunion 2 years later, post break-up, when they are forced to share a car en route to a friends wedding.
It makes an interesting start. Fresh new love, unsullied, and the aftermath of a very messy split, with every else afraid to mention what went on in between, even though we, the reader, really really want to know. This carries the first half of the book. After that it struggles a little to keep the energy up. The road trip goes from bad to worse. 5 people with a lot of baggage (literal and metaphorical), crammed into a mini, and some disastrous bad luck, It wasn't laugh out loud funny, but probably the better for it, there was some nice subtle humour. The supporting characters were nicely done too for the most part. Marcus the obnoxious friend, an obvious device to create conflict, but there is much more to him than that, he is a well rounded character in his own right. I ended up quite liking him by the end of the book. Only poor Rodney got a bad deal really, I just did not get him at all.
Some of the plot twists and turns felt quite contrived and one particular plot point (near the end so I won't do a spoiler) seems to unnecessarily take on an emotive subject in a rather trivial and superficial way.
I enjoyed this book, it is, for the most part, a light fun read. I wasn't challenged, I didn't learn anything, about the world, or myself, or human emotion, but this is romantic fiction, and that is ok.

Thank you to Netgalley for my arc!
I read The Flat Share last year and I absolutely fell in love with Tiff and Leon do when this came up I had to request it!
I stayed up late last night to finish it and I absolutely loved it!!!
Who knew so much could happen on a road trip?! I loved how the story went from Then to Now so we could find out how Addie and Dylan met and then to now.
I love Addie and Dylan so much and I loved all the characters apart from Marcus. I understood why he was like he was but he was still completely horrible.
The characters were all different and they made me laugh, imagining them all stuck in that car!
I can't say anything else without spoilers but if you loved The Flat Share you must get this!!!
Released 29th April 2021.

Two years after their breakup, Addie and Dylan bump into each other, quite literally. On their way to a mutual friends wedding Dylan drives his car in to the back of Addie’s. Now they, along with three others, must car pool to Scotland.

This was a great read. I have loved every one on Beth O’Leary’s books and this was brilliant. I loved the slow retelling of Addie and Dylan’s love affair.

Having been a massive fan of Beth O’ Leary’s two previous books, The Flat Share and The Switch, I was extremely excited for this latest offering ‘The Road Trip”

It tells the story of Addie and her sister Deb who set off on a girlie road trip off to Scotland to go to a friend’s wedding. With a work colleague of their friend also in tow, they set off on what should be a great weekend. However, when a coincidence means that they meet up with Addie’s ex Dylan, well it is safe to say that the road trip suddenly takes several different turns! With a car then full of luggage and many secrets, this journey to Scotland was never going to be straight forward...

I am very pleased to say that I loved this book and continue to be a massive fan of Beth’s writing. You are drawn into the story from the very beginning and connect with the characters straight away (although I did struggle to connect with Marcus for some reason, couldn’t get an image of him in my head at all!) and you are fighting all the way for everything to work out. Whilst it may not have some of the heart-warming feelings that The Switch provoked it does bring some very important issues to light and these are tackled in a very sensitive and appropriate way. Would recommend this book to all, thank you to Beth, Netgalley and Quercus Publishing for the advanced reader copy.

Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend's wedding in rural Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.

But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie's ex, Dylan, who she's avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.

Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they've totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with four-hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship...

Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly, is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?

Thanks to Quercus and Netgalley for an early review copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I loved the Switch, I've recommended it to many people, many times. This book I enjoyed but it wasn't grabbing me like the Switch did. I felt like there wasn't enough distinction made between Addie and Dylan when they were telling their different sides of the story and found myself often checking back to see who was speaking.

An enjoyable read and I will still look forward to what she produces next.

After enjoying The Flatshare a lot and being a bit disappointed by The Switch, I was looking forward to reading this book that I was lucky enough to get an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley (thank you!). I don’t know why but my expectations for this book were high and, unfortunately, they weren’t met.

Don’t get me wrong, the book has a lot of funny situations and a good pace, it is an OK read in general. I enjoyed reading it, despite having an instant romance rather than a build-up relationship.

This story is told from two points of view, Addie and Dylan, and between the present and a couple of years ago when they met. For me, it was hard to know at times who was talking, as I felt there was no distinction between the two voices. The dynamics between characters was lacking chemistry and their relationships were quite toxic. I am all in for second chances but with its limitations.

Overall, is a good read. If you enjoy books that have super-fast paced romances, you will love this. Note that, despite being a contemporary romance slash chich lit book, there are quite a lot of triggers in this book: sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, depression, anxiety, homophobia. These themes are not explored in depth but are present and can be upsetting for some people.

I don’t know if it’s just because I’m unconsciously biased against rich people, but I found most of the characters in this totally insufferable. I cared about Addie and Deb, sisters who first encounter most of the privileged young people while working as janitors in a French holiday home, but I didn’t find out enough about their motivations and inner life. Instead, everything revolved around Dylan, Addie’s love interest and - even worse - his best friend Marcus. There are two timelines depicted, one several years earlier of everyone meeting, and one in the present day when they are reunited by an opportune car accident and have to travel together to a friend’s wedding in Scotland. I preferred the sections set in the past because at least something was happening, and the early stages of Addie and Dylan’s romance were nice. Just not for me, I think, even though I’m usually a fan of O’Leary’s work.

Beth O'Leary produces yet another well-written novel, with good pacing and developed characters. Unfortunately I wasn't too much of a fan of the main male POV and so the dislike of him and his friend, Marcus, spread throughout the novel. I could see this working as a rom-com movie, with a young Hugh Grant playing a rich boy (Dylan) who is struggling to find the meaning of his life whilst falling in love with a woman who is trying to remain grounded in hers.

There is a TW for sexual assault and attempted rape, I don't particularly feel that the messaging around this was handled entirely well and so I don't think it had the intended effect. Deb was the real MVP of this novel though.

Although this was disappointing, I loved O'Leary's previous novels enough for me to place this down to just be an unfortunate one-off.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Escapism and romance.....I have read both of Beth O’Leary’s books so was very much looking forward to this. It’s different to the others but is still very engaging. The book flits to the past when the couple first met and you sense that it’s building up to a big drama which caused the initial break up. It takes a fair while to get there but we then get to see the dynamic between the four main characters.
The ending speeds up a lot and a great deal happens in the last few chapters which bring it to a satisfying close. Although you do wonder if they will ever make this wedding with all the tension and unfortunate events along the way.
The characters are believable and it’s a good read for a sunny weekend in the garden.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus books for allowing me early access to this book in exchange for my honest and unedited review!
I was so excited for this one- I absolutely adored both of Beth O’Leary’s previous books and of course this one didn’t disappoint! I’ll be honest, I’m sometimes a bit wary of second chance romances which feature exes because they can sometimes gloss over any issues, with the partners getting back together without really resolving any of the problems. This wasn’t the case here, and I was really pleasantly surprised as all of the characters develop so much throughout the book.
The plot follows Addie and her sister Deb, who are on their way to a wedding when a car crashes into the back of them- a car which just happens to contain Addie’s ex Dylan, and his best friend Marcus. Addie and Dylan had a bad breakup a few years ago but haven’t spoken since- but what choice does Addie have but to allow Dylan and Marcus to tag along in her car- along with a random fellow guest who they volunteered to drive.
I was instantly drawn into the story- the timeline switches between the present and the past when Dylan and Addie met and started their relationship. If you like gossip, you’ll find it hard to resist getting stuck into this book as O’Leary teases us relentlessly with more details about all of the characters. I found myself changing my mind about the characters constantly- one minute I would be firmly on Dylan’s side, the next I’d be irritated at him and demanding better for Addie. You can’t help but be personally drawn into the drama, picking sides and feeling the claustrophobic nature of being trapped in a car with people who you would really rather not see again.
Honestly, the fact that they were all trapped in that car, having one nightmare after another, was a huge stress for me. I hate the idea of being late to anything so I was extremely invested in whether they would get to the wedding on time- that might just be me though.
I absolutely love the fact that some characters spoke about having therapy, and how much importance was placed on not only apologising when you’ve hurt someone, but also changing your behaviour. Certain characters (cough-Marcus-cough) will never be my favourites, but I loved how redemption was such a clear theme throughout the book. Whether you like them or hate them, the characters are so believable and even when you can’t personally relate to them, you can see the reasons behind their behaviour.
I really really loved this book and can’t recommend it enough.
Do we know when her next book is coming out or...?

This was an absolute joy to read. A smart, engaging and very moving story which sensitively and redirect fully handled some difficult subjects, I loved all the characters finding them realistic and well written.

My favourite thing about Beth O'leary's books is the fact that yes they are romance but they always have a deeper story line or a separate focus that goes alongside the romance and it has meant that I have loved her books. This one however lacked that separate, deeper story line and it wasn't made up for with the romance as I didn't particularly like the characters and so didn't like the romance. Plus the best friend is supposed to be hated and he definitely was but to the point where I hated reading about him and he made me physically angry and I hated parts of the book with him in. So good writing there for sure. I wish this had been for me but alas it was not.

Having read Beth O'Leary's previous books and enjoyed both of them, I could not wait to read her latest release.
And I was pleasantly surprised that this was a somewhat departure from those first two books.
The writing and subject matter felt a lot more sophisticated and the main character wasn't just quirky for the sake of being quirky, which had been a bit of a bugbear of mine with her previous books.
It felt altogether more grown up and reminded me a bit of Sally Rooney's work, in that way.
I was in between giving this book 4 and 4.5 stars and eventually settled on 4 stars, even though I did enjoy it and it held my attention the whole way through.
You get to see two love stories at once thanks to flashback chapters, as we see them fall in love and attempt to sustain their original relationship. And then we see them in current day, with them not having spoke for a few years since they broke up.
I will say, I wasn't particularly rooting for Addie and Dylan to get back together.
Dylan did have some redeemable features but there were just too many things not to like about him, for me. And a lot of their original relationship was a toxic one at that.
I also really disliked Marcus, even at the end I did not get the impression that because he said sorry a few times and had teary eyes, that he had fully changed, given how he behaved the whole way through, both in the past and present chapters. His friendship with Marcus was also toxic and yet by the end all is somehow forgiven.
The resolution/ending also felt rather rushed, as we spend the whole book travelling towards the wedding, only for it to be a bit brief.
It was a nice escapist read and I have a feeling that this would be a great book to read on summer adventures, particularly road trips, as you might imagine.
And if you are a fan of Beth O'Leary's previous books, this is a definite must-read, even though it is a bit different to her first two books but with enough of what will have no doubt drawn people to her work in the first place.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A road trip should be fun, a relaxing adventure especially if you are heading to a friends wedding with your sister. What it shouldn’t be is a hammer blow to your psyche when you get stuck in a mini with your ex who stomped on your heart and his best friend who seems to relish causing mayhem. Addie is determined to get though the journey as quickly as possible, but events keep spiralling out of control and surprising truths are bubbling to the surface.

This third novel by Beth O’Leary shows that she has established herself as a strong writer that characters that pull on your heartstrings. I loved the idea of the time jumps of Now and Then that draw me into the ebb and flow of the relationship and how it crumbled. The claustrophobic feeling of all the emotions rattling around the small car were compelling and at times amusing. The awkward situations add to the heighten tension and the exaggerated drama.

A romantic tale that will charm even the most world-weary soul, it’s delightful.

This is quite easily the best book I've read in 2021 so far. Having loved The Flatshare and Beth O'Leary's ability to capture people and their relationships with one another so beautifully, I knew I had to read this book as soon as possible. I was delighted to receive an ARC!

The Road Trip follows Addie and Dylan, two exes that are travelling to the same wedding. The opening chapter sees Dylan's car crash into the back of Addie's car, meaning that Dylan and Marcus (his best friend) have to tag along in Addie's car for the rest of the journey, sharing the space with Addie, her sister Deb, and Rodney, who is just along for the ride after asking for a lift to the wedding in a Facebook group. A very unlikely bunch of passengers.

The majority of this novel documents the "now" of the road trip, with flashbacks to "then" thrown in, and given from both Addie and Dylan's perspective. Immediately, the chemistry between these two characters was obvious; I would have known that they were exes without ever being told. I loved that within the first few chapters we saw both the beginning of their relationship - Addie was a caretaker for a villa in Provence, where Dylan was staying for the summer - and the remains of their break up, leaving the rest of the story to fill in the blanks. If you enjoyed the summer villa scenes of Sally Rooney's Normal People, then I think you'll love reading about the beginning of Addie and Dylan's relationship.

This book had laugh out loud moments (Rodney was a hoot, and how many times can things go wrong on one road trip?!) and tender moments of vulnerability. Beth O'Leary has such a talent for seamlessly blending the two together in one novel. I fell in love with Addie and Dylan immediately, and it didn't dip once during the entire reading experience.

Awh what a lovely heartwarming story. Not my typical read but really enjoyed it. It was just one of those feel good books that you can curl up with.

While I would happily FLATSHARE with Tiffy, or SWITCH lives for the summer with Eileen or Leena, I cannot say that I would want to take a road trip with this bunch! I liked Addie and her sister, Deb and I could probably sing along with them in the MINI COOPER and tolerate the “random wedding guest” Rodney, who was along for the ride. But, there is no way, that I could spend that much time with Dylan’s best mate, Marcus, who was driving in the BMW with him.

Beth O’Leary is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. I loved this book; especially how the story was told from the perspectives of our two main characters; spanning between then and now. There were some twists I didn’t see coming, and some scenarios that happened as I hoped they would. Thoroughly entertaining and I would definitely recommend,