A Road Trip to Remember: My Review

 

 

A Road Trip to Remember  

 

About the Book:

 After agreeing to enter the New Life Assisted-Living Community outside of Boston, Agatha “Aggie” Robard talks her devoted, serious granddaughter, Blythe, into driving her to Florida, stopping to see old college friends along the way. She particularly needs to speak to Donovan Bailey, the man she’d thought she would marry right after graduating from college. By asking Blythe to go with her, Aggie is hoping to prove to her that life should be about having fun too. Their road trip is a great idea for both of them as long as Aggie’s son and his wife, Blythe’s difficult stepmother, don’t find out. 

While the rest of the family is away on vacation, Aggie and Blythe set off on their secret adventure. All goes well until Aggie falls while dancing on the beach with Donovan, breaking a bone in her leg. Then Blythe’s father is seriously injured in an automobile accident. Blythe and Logan Pierce, Donovan’s young assistant, do their best to step in for them at The Robard Company working together, fighting the attraction they feel for one another. 

The road trip brings about happy memories, surprises, and love as Aggie and Blythe meet others and discover new possibilities for everything they’ve ever wanted. 

 

My Comments:

Since I've been stuck at home a lot lately, I've taken to reading road trip books and when I saw this on NetGalley it looked like too much fun to pass up. 

I find myself more and more drawn to books with "mature" heroines and in that Judith Keim does not disappoint.  Aggie wants to see her old college friends before they die and decides that this is the time.  Her grand daughter becomes her partner in crime as they head for Florida.  

Some of us have people in our lives who were very important during one part of that life, but who have spent the rest of the years as happy memories.  I wasn't particularly close to anyone in my high school class, but I enjoy our reunions and am looking forward to our 60th birthday party this summer--who better to celebrate turning 60 with than the people with whom you were a teen?  Seeing Aggie with her college friends made me smile and remember mine.  

I wish I could tell you that this book touched me deeply or had some twist I didn't see coming, but I can't tell you that.  While a fun read, it was also very predictable--but that's not always a bad thing.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B-

Featured Book: Amazing Gracie

Amazing Gracie

About the Book:

When Gracie MacDougal returns to Seagull Point, Virginia, seeking to reform her workaholic ways, she discovers more than relaxation. The picturesque town calls to her, as does the waterfront Victorian house she envisions as the perfect bed-and-breakfast. But one person stands between Gracie and her new goal…and he isn’t budging. 

Southern charmer Kevin Daniels isn’t interested in selling Gracie’s dream house, but he’s definitely interested in something else…her. Enticing the uptight businesswoman into letting down her hair becomes his new mission in life, but beyond that? He already has way too many people depending on him, and has no intention of adding one more. 

Gracie’s not looking for a home. Kevin’s not looking for a wife. But sometimes even the best intentions can wind up going wonderfully awry.

Previously published by Harlequin Mira in 2010.

My Comments:

As noted above, this is a re-issue.  I read it a few years ago and here is what I had to say about it:  

While perusing the bargain rack at my local used paperback store Amazing Gracie caught my eye.  It is a sweet romance about Gracie, a hotel executive and workaholic who quits her job because she has a different vision for the luxury hotel than does her new boss.  She goes to a small town in Virginia, a place she had vacationed with her family once, as a child.  She realizes that she has no one who is important to her--no family, no close friends.  

While there she falls in love with an old-fashioned Victorian house, which she decides to turn into a bed-and-breakfast.  The only problem is that the property manager, Kevin, won't tell her who owns it (he does) but they start spending time together.  Guess what happens?  

The book has subplots about Kevin's cousins and Gracie's ex-boss but I can't say there was ever any real tension in the book or any doubt about the ending.  I really liked Kevin's aunt, who used to own the house.  All in all, I'd characterize the writing style as somewhere between fair and good and the book as a happy fluffy read.  Grade:  B-

I'm publishing a new post on this book because it is available on NetGalley.  As I got into the book I realized I had already read it.