The Road Trip in What's the Name of That Book???

Mar 21, 2021 CLM rated it liked it

Shelves: 21st-century, sisters, friendship, uk, romance, poor-but-honest, contemporary, road-trip

Explain to me why editors don't edit characters who say, "Me and my sister . . ."?

If it is meant to be authentic, I don't want to hang around in real life with people who use bad grammar so why would I do so with fiction? ...more

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Nov 26, 2022 Sharon rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club

I love O'Leary's writing, and she does flirting and sexual tension like nobody's business. The structure of the book leans on one of my pet peeves (a mysterious happening in the past that the main characters all know about but the reader doesn't learn till the end), but that wasn't too bad.

I was frustrated, though, that the ending did not go nearly far enough to pay off the damage the characters did to each other throughout the story. There were so many small hurts and mistakes throughout the re ...more

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Jan 04, 2025 Nadine in NY Jones rated it did not like it

Shelves: forced-proximity-or-one-bed, second-chance-romance, romance, contemporary-romance

I loved most of this book, but the reason that Dylan and Addie broke up made me so angry that I ended up down-grading my rating to one star.

This entire book consists of the road trip, plus flashbacks to when Dylan and Addie first met, plus a few chapters at the end when they finally get to the destination. The trip takes about 36 hours total, five adult people crammed into a mini Cooper, with a stop at a discount hotel for an overnight in the middle. O'Leary does a fantastic job showing charac I loved most of this book, but the reason that Dylan and Addie broke up made me so angry that I ended up down-grading my rating to one star.

This entire book consists of the road trip, plus flashbacks to when Dylan and Addie first met, plus a few chapters at the end when they finally get to the destination. The trip takes about 36 hours total, five adult people crammed into a mini Cooper, with a stop at a discount hotel for an overnight in the middle. O'Leary does a fantastic job showing character growth for her four main characters (Dylan, Addie, Addie's sister Deb, and Dylan's bestie Marcus). The fifth passenger, Rodney, was mostly there for comic relief (view spoiler).

O'Leary does such a fantastic job of showing character growth that I started to hate the characters! At first I was "awww Dylan and Addie are so in love" when they meet in the villa in Provence (and who would NOT be so in love during a few care-free weeks in the Provençal sun???), but once Dylan comes back to England, it became clear to me that he was NOT a great person and he had a hell of a lot of growing up to do. After a while I REALLY didn't like him, and I didn't like him with Addie. (We were meant to dislike Marcus, but I don't think we were meant to dislike Dylan. I found Marcus to be an unlikeable but interesting and complex character.) Addie has got her shit together, and Dylan was just a deadweight dragging her down.

I usually love second chance romances, but it was hard for me to be excited about their "second chance" when he was such a complete schmendrick during the first real-world go-round of their relationship. Sure, he had some therapy in their two years apart, but ... could two years of therapy really be enough to fix all the shit he had going on??? I think not!

In short, I started out LOVING this book, I was thoroughly charmed by the present-day predicament and the sweet start of their relationship in the flashbacks. But after reading all the flashbacks leading up to their break up, I did NOT want to see these two together again! (view spoiler) It's difficult to enjoy a romance when you do not want them together.

If you want to know the problematic reason why Dylan and Addie broke up, here it is in all its problematic and spoilery glory: (view spoiler)

Also, Dylan's poetry was beyond tiresome. He has no future as a professional poet and he should just give up now and find a proper job.

I did really like how Deb starts the book as happily and unapologetically single, and she finishes the book still happy and unapologetically single! We need more happy single women!!

TW: an attempted rape, and the victim blames herself. Two male stalkers who are both treated as no big deal. ...more

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Jul 28, 2021 Laura rated it it was ok

Really enjoyed her other two books. This one just didn't work for me. It's hard to even say what specifically it was. The jumps back and forth in time were fine for me, I had no problem with them. I just didn't care at all about any of these characters, and it felt like they'd all be better for getting out of each others lives entirely.

It was a relief to finish, unlike her previous books which I immediately wondered about rereading. ...more

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Aug 20, 2021 Maria Elmvang rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021, 2-stars, ya, not-owned

A 2.5 star review. Rounded down, because it really was just okay.

Which is a shame - I've liked both of the other books I've read by Beth O'Leary - but there was nothing at all feel-good about this novel, and it is just not romantic at all to read about the start of a relationship when you KNOW from the set-out that they're going to eventually break up. (Of course I also knew they'd get back together again - it's that kind of book). Reading about a relationship falling apart is just unpleasant.

I ...more

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Aug 26, 2022 Jess rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction, audiobook, romance

Told in two voices, and alternating between then and now. This is simultaneously an emotionally resonant story of two people who fall in love but aren’t ready for it yet (they both have some growing to do) and a madcap road trip farce.

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