Review: Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt

Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt

Series: Companion to Two-Way Street

Published: July 9th, 2013

Publisher: Simon Pulse

320 pages (e-ARC)

Genre: Contemporary young adult

Acquired this book: From the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

{GoodReads || Buy this book: Book Depository || Amazon || Chapters/Indigo}

Here are Peyton and Jace, meeting on vacation. Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.

Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.

Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…

 

 

There’s nothing like a good road trip book. You get to live vicariously through people on an epic adventure, and the journey is often so much more than just a physical one. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Barnholdt’s Two-Way Street, I’m always up for a road trip book, and I was curious to read Right of Way.

A lot of the issues I had with Two-Way Street were the same in Right of Way. The characters were immature, dramatic, and overreacted to everything. And yet, even though I found myself shaking my head and rolling my eyes at their theatrics, there was a part of me that felt like their reactions were authentic. They were teenagers, after all. And it’s not that Peyton or Jace were unlikable - they both had distinct personalities, and there were moments when I felt myself warming up to them, I just never got to the point where I loved them, or even connected with or related to them. Something else that rankled a bit was all the swearing. Swearing in general doesn’t bother me, but there was a lot of it in Right of Way, and at times it felt forced - as if the author thought ‘this is what teenage boys should do’ and while it may be true, it felt like a bit much at times and I think it would really turn some people off.

I liked the dual POV and how it went back and forth not only between Peyton and Jace, but also between the past and present. I thought at first that it might get confusing, but I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with it. Kudos to Barnholdt there, because dual POV can be tricky, plus throw in the different time frames and it could be a disaster. I thought it was a nice break from traditional ‘flashback’ scenes that happen in the present, which can sometimes really bog down the story and get confusing. It was interesting to see the events that led up to the present and why Jace and Peyton acted - and reacted - the way they did - even though, again, a lot of it was overly dramatic and I often wondered what the big deal was with certain things. They made it seem like horrible, life-altering stuff, and while some of it, particularly what happened to Peyton, was pretty crappy, it just seemed like a lot of build-up and drama for something that she could have fixed if she’d wanted to, instead of just running away (which was her response to pretty much everything). 

The story felt like it was lacking a bit. There wasn’t much to the actual plot, and there wasn’t much character growth. The characters were developed well, and I felt like I got a sense of who they were, but they didn’t really learn much, or grow. Normally in road trip books, you get the sense that the journey is as much an emotional one as it is physical. Characters leave home to get away from their problems, and they learn a lot about themselves, their issues, and life in general along the way. I didn’t get that sense in Right of Way, and I was kind of disappointed.

With all that being said, I didn’t dislike Right of Way, I just thought it had issues. It was cute and funny and mostly realistic. I enjoyed the glimpses of life on the road from both Peyton’s and Jace’s perspectives. If you’re in the mood for a light read, or love road trip books, I’d recommend giving Right of Way a try.

*Note: If you haven’t read Two-Way Street, Right of Way is technically a standalone companion, but there are a few spoilers for the first book. They’re kind of obvious ones since it is a romance, so if you don’t mind that, you can read Right of Way without reading Two-Way Street.  

{Read my review of Two-Way Street}

 

Have you read Right of Way? How about Two-Way Street? Do you love road trip books as much as I do?

{Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest || YouTube || Author blog || Personal/photography blog}
{Subscribe to my author newsletter}

Top 10 Tuesday: Book trends you'd like to see more of/less of

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It was created because of their love of lists and books, and since I love those things too, I thought I'd join in every once in awhile, when I have time.

Top Ten Trends You'd Like To See More of/Less of

This is a rarity for me - I actually have 10 items on the list!  Usually I get stuck 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through (this was originally a top 8 list until a couple of minutes before posting), but I managed to think of 2 more!  Here we go...

1.  Faeries.  These books are definitely becoming more popular, but I want more!  When I first started trying to find books about faeries, I had trouble coming up with more than a few titles.  I've had an idea for a faerie novel for a couple of years and I wanted to read other books in the genre to see what was out there so I'd be sure to have an original story.  There are some really terrific books out there (my favorites so far have come from Lesley Livingston and Julie Kagawa), but I'd like to see even more, and with different spins on faerie lore.

2.  More young adult books (and other books, too) with strong, independent female characters.  Girls who don't depend on guys for their happiness or to get them out of bad situations.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a romance junkie and I don't mind the damsel in distress characters (unless they're whiny and needy), but I'd love to see more characters like The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen, who kicks ass all on her own and even though she has love interests, they're not the centre of her universe.
 

3.  I'd be interested in more books about witches and magic.  Not the wiggle-your-nose, point your finger imaginary witchcraft, but real witchcraft with roots in fact - stuff that's believable for anyone who actually knows anything about real witchcraft.
 

4.  That being said, I'd also love to see something like Harry Potter - the fantasy aspect of magic, where anything can happen and anything does happen.  Something I can completely lose myself in, a brand new fantasy world that's so real it makes real life pale in comparison.  I can't imagine anything ever comparing to Harry Potter, but it would be intersting to see more people try.  An adult version of Harry Potter would be pretty cool.
 

5.  Books with really clever, laugh-out-loud humour.  I love to laugh, so any book that can make me laugh is high up on my list.  With the exception of Janet Evanovich and MaryJanice Davidson, I can't think of an author who writes laugh-out-loud funny books.  I love quirky, eccentric characters, amusing side-kicks, clever, quick dialogue between characters or inner dialogue of the main character, things like that, and I haven't read many books lately that fit that bill.

6.  More books with unique supernatural characters.  It doesn't always have to be vampires, werewolves and zombies.  An example that I read recently was Immortal by Gillian Shields - not a vampire or other supernatural creature in sight but the book held my interest and had me wanting more.  There are plenty of creatures that go bump in the night - or day - so I'd love to see authors branching out a bit and breaking the mold.
 

Things I'd like to see less of:
 

7.  Less series.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE series and probably 1/2 - 3/4 of the books I read are part of a series, but it can be hard to keep up, and since right now I can only get my books from the library, I miss out on some great books because my library has holes in their collection of the series (like books 1, 3 and 5, but where are 2 and 4 and why on earth wouldn't you buy a complete set if you're going to buy them?!).  I love return characters, I love waiting for the next book and wondering what's going to happen, but I also love really good stand-alone books where you know that's that.
 

8.  Less books that copy Twilight.  I love vampire books, always have and probably always will, but so many new ones just seem to copy the premise of Twilight.  I'm beginning to only admit this once in awhile since people either love or hate Twilight and most of the people I come across lately hate it, but I loved it (but make no mistake, I loved the BOOKS, not the movies).  That being said, I don't need to read a dozen other books that are thinly veiled wannabes of Twilight and/or copy the idea for the cover art in some way.  It's getting old.  And since I do love vampire books, I'd love to see a new spin on vampire myth - I'm always really excited when I read something and think 'wow, nobody's ever gone in that direction before'.  It's rare lately, hence my excitement when it does actually happen.
 

9.  Stories from both the male and female perspective.  Two of my favorite authors, Nora Roberts and Heather Graham write this way, showing both main characters' perspective, but not in the first person.  As for young adult books, I've read two that did this, and they were both written in the first person: Across the Universe by Beth Revis and Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt.  I love knowing what characters are thinking and how they react in different ways to the same situation - I find it lets me delve deeper not only into who they are, but the story itself as well.

10.  Less whiny, woe-is-me characters in young adult books.  'Boo-hoo I've been sent to this stupid school and have no friends and my life sucks'.  'I'm not as pretty as all the other girls, so no one will ever love me'.  UGH!  What are we trying to teach young girls with characters like this?  That you're nobody unless you're pretty, smart, popular, have a boyfriend and an entourage of clones and wannabes?  That complaining and sulking will get you anywhere in life?  Life is all about hard lessons and it's how you deal with them that matters - and since a lot of books are about these hard situations, I'd like to see more characters who are self-assured, confident and do what needs to be done.  If there's a bit of self-pity, that's understandable at times - it's not that long ago that I was a teen, I know what it's like to have raging hormones and emotions and sometimes you do just want to give up, but the next time I come across a whiny, annoying character, I'm putting the book down, no matter how good the story might be. *steps off soapbox*

What about you?  What are some of the trends you'd like to see more or less of?  Leave a comment and a link if you have one, and I'll be sure to visit you in return!

Book Review: Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

Published: June 26th 2007
Publisher: Simon Pulse
288 pages (Paperback)
Genre: Young adult fiction/romance
Acquired this book: at the library
Warning: may include spoilers
 

Synopsis, taken from the dust jacket: This is Jordan and Courtney, totally in love.  Sure, they were an unlikely high school couple.  But they clicked; it worked.  They're even going to the same college, and driving cross-country together for orientation.  Then Jordan dumps Courtney - for a girl he met on the internet.  It's too late to change plans, so the road trip is on.  Courtney's heartbroken, but figures she can tough it out for a few days.  La la la - this is Courtney pretending not to care.  But in a strange twist, Jordan cares.  A lot.  Turns out, he's got a secret or two that he's not telling Courtney.  And it has everything to do with why they broke up, why they can't get back together and how, in spite of it all, this couple is destined for each other.

I saw this book reviewed on a number of book blogger sites, so I decided to give it a try.  It got rave reviews from most bloggers, but I'm going to be perfectly honest: I can't say I really enjoyed this book.  To be fair (I hate giving bad reviews, it feels like bad karma since I'm a writer myself), whenever I don't like a book, I always try to say at least a few good things about it.  I liked that it was told from both Courtney's and Jordan's perspectives, that was really different and interesting.  As readers, we rarely get to see both sides of a story, but in this book, we get to see things from both their perspectives and in their own words.  Another good thing was that there were parts that were laugh-out-loud funny, which is always a good thing for me because I love to laugh.  I also appreciated the twists in the story.

However, those things didn't really outweigh the things I didn't like about the book.  I didn't like Courtney at all.  She was annoying and immature and I found myself rolling my eyes at a lot of the things she said and did.  As for Jordan - it was weird for me, because I've gotten used to reading books where the boys/men are amazing, sweet, funny, and usually mature, but Jordan was just your average horny teenage boy.  That being said, I did like him much better than Courtney, and he did have his moments and redeeming qualities.

There was no real character development - no great revelations, neither of them changed or learned anything and because of that, I didn't really take anything away from it.  I like books that give you some insight into a character that sometimes reflects on yourself, or if that's not the case, they should at least leave you feeling satisfied.  All I felt at the end was relief that it was over.

*I belong to Amazon Affiliates - anything that you buy from my blog through Amazon gets me a small commission, and as a struggling freelance writer, I can use every cent I can get!  If you're considering buying this book or any other book I review, if you go to Amazon through the links on my blog to buy, I'll be eternally grateful!*

WWW Wednesdays: Week 3

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

Simple right?  I love to read and love to know what other people are reading!

 
What are you currently reading?

Right now, I'm reading Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen.  I love Sarah Dessen - her book Someone Like You is one of my favorite books ever - but it's been several years since I've read anything by her.  I've been hearing a lot about her recently with the release of her new book What Happened to Goodbye, so I thought it was time I started reading her books again.  I'm about 1/3 of the way through Along for the Ride and I'm really enjoying it.



What did you recently finish reading? 

The other day, I finished reading Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.  You can read my review here.  I loved it and gave it 4 and a 1/2 stars.












What do you think you'll read next?

My answer is the same as last week because I forgot that Along for the Ride was due back at the library sooner than Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt - haha.  It's a book I saw reviewed on a number of other book blogs and was curious about.  After that, it'll be one of my 2 other library books - Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot, or The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

So, what are you reading this week?  Have you read any of the books on my list?  Have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear from you!

Library Loot: May 21st - May 28th

 

Library Loot is a weekly theme hosted by  Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. 

Since I'm currently scraping by as a freelance writer, I unfortunately can't afford to buy books right now *insert sad face here* which I hate, but luckily I have an awesome library, so until I can have my own personal library filled with wall-to-wall books, the public library's the next best thing.

This week I only got one book and that was because it was a reserve that I had to pick up.  I always get way too many books, and because I'm a slow reader, I end up taking books back and getting them again at a later date.  I wanted more new books this week but still have most of my books from last week, so this week's only new book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  I've had this book on my list for awhile, and my cousin reminded me about it recently when she said she was going to read it, so I requested it.

I finished Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin tonight, and really enjoyed it.  I'll be adding a book review for it sometime this coming week.  Last week's library loot that still needs to be read includes: Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot, Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt, Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston, and Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, which I started tonight.

I also got 2 movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, which I haven't seen since it was in theatres, and The King's Speech, which I've been dying to see.  Looking forward to watching both of those, and hopefully getting more books read this week.

What are you reading this week?  What have you read lately that you really enjoyed?  Do you have any suggestions for my library loot picks next week?  I read just about any genre, and I'm always looking for suggestions!

WWW Wednesdays: Week 2

With last week's Blogger issues, my first WWW Wednesday post, along with all the lovely comments I received got eaten.  I'm so sad!  But I'm going to try again and hope for the best!

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading.  All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

Simple right?  I love to read and love to know what other people are reading.

 
What are you currently reading?

I'm about 70 pages into Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.  I've had Emily on my author list for ages but when I saw the previews for the movie Something Borrowed, I decided it was time to bump her up and read the book since I have this neurotic thing about reading the book before seeing the movie, and I really want to see the movie.  It's quite amusing so far, and I find myself relating a lot to Rachel, the main character.   

What did you recently finish reading?

Last week, I read Nocturne by Syrie James (the link leads to my book review), and Wings by Aprilynne Pike (which I've written a review for, just haven't posted it yet).  I rated Nocturne 3 1/2 stars and Wings was sort of between 3.5 and 4.  Sometimes I think I should scrap the star system and do A, B, C etc because those seem to fit better for certain reviews. 


What do you think you'll read next?

When I'm finished Something Borrowed, I think I'll read Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt. It's a book I saw reviewed on a number of other book blogs and was curious about.  It was one of many Young Adult book choices this past weekend at the library - check out my Library Loot post to see my other picks.

So, what are you reading this week?  Have you read any of the books on my list?  Have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear from you!

Library Loot: May 14th - May 21st

With the problems Blogger's been having, my last post, along with all the comments I received have disappeared, but they say they're working on getting all deleted posts restored, so here's hoping...and here's hoping this actually posts!

If you know me personally, or if you've read my blog before, you'll know that Saturdays are usually my library day.  I love the library, love books, love to read, love to wander the stacks, discover new authors, immerse myself in new worlds, etc, etc.  I was going to start my own library theme until Katy from A Few More Pages very nicely informed me that Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader have a weekly theme called Library Loot, so I'm going to participate.

Since I'm currently scraping by as a freelance writer, I unfortunately can't afford to buy books right now *insert sad face here* which I hate, but luckily I have an awesome library, so until I can have my own personal library filled with wall-to-wall books, the public library's the next best thing.

This week's selection of books (and movies)

Somehow this week, I ended up with all young adult novels, except for Something Borrowed.  Not sure how that happened, but I guess I'm on a bit of a YA kick since I'm writing a YA novel myself.

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.  I've had Emily Giffin on my author list forever, but never got around to reading any of her books.  When I saw that Something Borrowed was coming out as a movie, I decided to read the book because I have a thing about reading the book before seeing the movie it's based on.

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot.  A book I've had on my list for quite awhile.  I read a couple of her Princess Dairies books back in the day and enjoyed them, and although I started one of her recent novels (I think it was Insatiable) and couldn't get into it, I thought I'd give her another try.

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt.  I saw this book reviewed on a few book blog sites awhile ago, and was curious.

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston.  I've been looking into YA books about faeries for awhile because I've had an idea for a faerie book for a few years, and I think it'll be my next project when I'm done writing my current novel.  I want to see what's out there, what's been done, and what hasn't been done so that I can do something fresh.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen.  I read a few of Sarah's books when I was in my teens, and her novel Someone Like You remains one of my all-time favorites to this day.  It's been a long time since I've read anything of hers, so I decided it was time to play catch-up.

Movies: Robin Hood and Killers.  I love tales of Robin Hood and one of my favorite movies ever is Disney's Robin Hood.  I know this will be a far cry from the Disney version, and I might end up traumatized (like when I saw King Arthur after loving Arthurian tales my entire life) but I'm curious, and having Russell Crowe as Robin doesn't hurt.  Killers was a movie I wanted to see in the theatre last year so I snatched it up when I saw the library had it.

It's been about a month since I've read anything that I loved.  I finished Wings by Aprilynne Pike tonight, and Nocturne by Syrie James yesterday, and I'll have book reviews for both of them posted in the next couple of days.  I'm hoping one of this week's selections will be a new favorite - it's about time!

Have you read any of the books I picked up this week?  Have any suggestions for next week?  I read just about every genre, and I'm always looking for suggestions!  What are you reading, or what have you read lately that you really enjoyed?