By: J.A. Redmerski
Book Summary(excerpt from goodreads.com)
Twenty-year old Camryn Bennett throught she knew exactly where her life was going. But after a wild night at the hottest club in downtown Raliegh, North Carolina, she shocks everyone - including herself- when she decides to leave the only life she's ever known and set out on her own. Grabbing her purse and her cell phone, Camryn boards a Greyhound busy ready to find herself. Instead, she finds Andrew Parrish.
Sexy and exciting, Andrew lives life like there is no tomorrow. He persuades Camryn to do things she never thought she would and shows her how to give in to her deepest, most forbidden desires. Soon he becomes the center of her daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But there is more to Andrew than Camryn realizes. Will this secret push them inseparably together - or destroy them forever?
My Review
The first word that came to my mind after reading this book was..WOW! I'm an avid reader and I find myself relating to many characters I read about. However, this book spoke to me on so many levels. Emotionally, mentally and even a little physically by making me want to hop a bus and begin a journey to the unknown. It's been a long time since I've become emotionally invested in a book and this story was just the one to emerce myself in for a cold winter weekend.
The story begins with the main female character, Camryn. Over the past year and a half, Camryn has been faced with a series of unfortunate events including her boyfriend being killed in a car accident, her brother going to jail and her parents getting a divorce as a result of her dad having a wandering eye. When it rains it pours, right? As always, when serious shit goes down, us girls turn to the best friend. The one person we can tell everything to, confide in and not be judged for what we say, think and feel. Natalie is this person for Camryn and has been since the second grade. After being pushed to go clubbing one night, Camryn finds herself in a horrible position leading to telling Natalie that her boyfriend of five years isn't all he seems to be. Alright, we all have been there. Seeing something or hearing something about a friend's boyfriend that we wish we could just forget and never think of again. When this happens, we're faced with two options...to tell the friend or to literally pretend like nothing happened. I've done both and to be honest, telling the truth will always win out for me in the end. Keeping information like that to myself seems like a full time job. Plus, I never want to have to answer the question, why didn't you tell me, again. Obviously, Camryn felt the same way and opened up to her long-time best friend. After being verbally slapped and abandoned Camryn decides the only thing left to do is get away. I must say that at this point in the book, I'm really connecting with this girl. We've all been there. Felt like we've had too much dumped on our shoulders and feeling that we just can't take anymore. Then, when something happens that's just 'icing on the cake' all we want to do is run. But most of us talk ourselves out of it, never venturing out to see where life can take us. This is where I began to both admire and envy Camryn. I've never had the guts to just go. Feeling like I have too much responsibility or being afraid..whatever the reason I come up with, I can never take the leap. Camryn however, does. After hopping on a bus to Idaho, a destination chosen based on a baked potato being eaten by a ticket salesman, the story officially begins. However, it's not until Kansas that we are introduced to the completely edible Andrew Parrish.
Oh Andrew Parrish. What words can I say that could fully describe how wonderful I thought he was...I'm not sure there are any. I found Andrew to be completely refreshing. He's beautiful, funny, quirky and is completely in love with classic rock (one of my favorites) so naturally I thought from the beginning he was amazing. To top it off he's perceptive, captivating and protective. All of the traits a lady finds attractive in a man..and finding one who has them all is definitely hard in this day and age. So if I can't find one in real life, might as well read about them right? :) After getting to know each other during a long bus ride to Wyoming, and a few unexpected events later, Camryn and Andrew decide to embark on a road to nowhere journey..together. It's during this journey that we fall in love with both of these characters hoping that this story will have a happy ending. We see them teach each other valuable life lessons, all while teaching each other to 'live' a little more. I found Andrew to be just as strong of a character as Camryn. They're both complex with their own demons they're trying to work through. They're human. Gorgeous humans, but humans none the less. Each of their flaws was brought to the surface at the perfect time. Some shocking and some just exposed to assist us in understanding the decisions they have made or why they feel a certain way. I found that each of these flaws reminded me that nobody is perfect, even the characters in our books, which ultimately made each flaw more beautiful.
Overall, this book quickly made my top 10 list. I'm not sure if it's because I could relate to the characters so well, or because traveling on the road to nowhere has always been a dream of mine but I was emotionally invested from the get go. As this story unfolded I was faced with an array of emotions. If you can name it, I probably felt it. I laughed, I cried, had many 'awwww' moments and had my heart broken only to be mended again (twice). Did I mention how much I hated that this story had to end? I admired that these characters thought 'outside of the box' and wanted a life outisde of the expectations set by society and sometimes our own family and friends. Not only did it remind me that nobody is perfect but I was also reminded that it's ok to go against the norm and suprise people every now and then. To be you regardless of what people think and to want adventure and seek it out. I completely agree that this book should be a best seller and I hope that there are many more books to come from J.A. Redmerski. I will be looking for and reading every single one. My suggestin: Go forth and purchase this novel. If you have a similar reading style to mine, you won't regret it!
I definitely give this book 5 HATS!
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