Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

Alternate title for this post: Becky finds another roadtrip book to fall in love with

Disclaimer: Despite 2-week driving vacations every summer growing up, and driving to visit friends all over the midwest, Becky hasn't really ever been on something you could call a real roadtrip. She hopes to remedy that some day, but predicted gas prices this summer are making that seem less and less likely.

About 6 weeks ago Amy suggested this book to me saying...it sounds like a Becky book. Girl + boy + roadtrip = Becky love. I put it on my list to read thinking it'd be a while before I got my hands on a copy as I'd already requested Dash and Lily and A Lover's Dictionary as purchases for the library (to feed my David Levithan obsession). I try to be good and not do lots of personal requesting. And I'd been trying to be good about buying books. So I really was expecting it to be a while. Then Wednesday night I open the library webpage for the 12th time during my evening reference shift to find Amy and Roger's Epic Detour is one of our featured books!! How I'd missed it I don't know, but at the end of the night I ventured upstairs to find a book I didn't really have time to read, but knew if I didn't grab it then it might be a while.

And then I made my typical Becky mistake. I started the book that night. I fell in love instantly. Amy, our lead female, has just lost her father and spent the last month alone in her house finishing her junior year of high school in California. Her mother shipped off to Connecticut to get a head start on their new life. Amy has been tasked with getting the family vehicle to her mother on the east coast, but Amy isn't driving right now. Not cross-country, not even across town. Enter Roger, a boy fresh off his first year at Colorado College and a family friend Amy vaguely remembers meeting when she was 8. The two embark on a what is supposed to be an efficient and well-planned drive east, but turns into so much more for 2 people who find themselves on quite the epic detour.

If you know my love of John Green's An Abundance of Katherines or Paper Towns, you'll see why I was sure I would enjoy this book.  But there was evidence it would go beyond enjoy even before I hit the first page of narrative. First the acknowledgments. I'm a bit of an odd reader. I always skim the acknowledgments before I start a book. I'm a bit of an editor stalker that way. It's really the only place where I can find who edits a book, and I've found I tend to adore books edited by David Levithan. Also, I've gotten to the point where I know a lot of names in the YA world and they love to write together. Now it's not a tried and true method, but usually if I like the other people in their writing group...I tend to like the book. The flashing warning signs in Amy and Roger's acknowledgments? She thanks to both David Levithan (though not the editor) and Siobhan Vivian (author of a book on my YA Primer and another fave Same Difference).

And...after those smile-inducing hints of greatness...I get ephemera!! There is a report card, email inbox, and intinerary before we even get to meet Amy on page 1. Heaven. I love books that are more than just narrative. And like some other books like this I've read, the visuals don't just complement what's in the text, they add something to it. You miss whole pieces of Amy and Roger's personalities if you skip them. One consistent visual are the music playlists. These are what sealed the deal for me. Any writer who puts The Weepies, Joshua Radin, The Dandy Warhols, The Last Five Years, Avenue Q, and Into The Woods in playlists must be writing for me. Seriously.  And don't even get me started on the restaurants they stop at. Or playing 20 questions with a history major.

There were a few things in the book that didn't always quite work for me, but overall a book that once I began I knew I wouldn't be putting down anytime soon. And one that will stay with me. Besides, now I've got some playlists to work through. Artists I need to find and explore. I may not get on my own roadtrip soon, but that doesn't mean I can't rock out like I'm on one :)

Amazon notes that it's usually purchased with Dash and Lily's Book of Dares and Anna and the French Kiss, both of which are featured on my YA Primer. Just like this one will momentarily! Go find it!