Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

" Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn't seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she's coming to terms with her father's death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road -- diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself."-GoodReads.

Paperback, 352 pages

Published May 10th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour started out great. Right off, I felt connected with Amy. Her father was killed in a car accident and Amy is having such a hard time dealing with it, especially since she believes she is to blame. That is a lot to deal with.

With her mother already in Connecticut Amy has to drive their car from California to their new house all the way across the country. Thing is, Amy doesn't drive. Enter Roger. He is coming to her rescue and driving the car for her, all she has to do it co-pilot and tell him how to get there. 

A road trip story. A perfect summer read. Or so I thought. As I said before, the book started off great. I loved all the playlists and little tidbits about each state Amy and Roger went through. Amy was very believable as someone who was wounded. Roger....well, I'm still not sure what to think about him.

He is described as very good looking (of course, fictional boys must never be 'average'), almost unattainable in Amy's eyes. It's not until a scene that he puts on his glasses to do some night driving that she says it helps make him look a little dorkier...less perfect. I guess looks is where his perfection stopped because I just could not really get into him. Roger would be funny and entertaining but then he would get all crazy and bring up his ex-girlfriend...who he has been obsessively calling and trying to figure out why she left. I started getting a bit creeped out. They hadn't even been together that long. I just could not get him. 

The secondary characters, all the ones that were introduced into the story while they were on the roadtrip, were pretty neat and added a great element to the book.

*WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK AND DO NOT WISH TO KNOW THE ENDING SKIP THIS PART AND HEAD STRAIGHT TO THE END WHERE THE ASTERICKS ARE*

Okay, so normally I really try to keep all of my reviews spoiler free. But the ending of this story really bothered me and I need to vent somewhere. And I would like to know if anyone who has read it agrees with me.

As previously mentioned, I wasn't a big Roger fan...he's just a bit too much for me. Throughout the book I could tell that Amy liked him a bit and at times Roger flirted with her but it never seemed like that much. The blossoming romance was a bit lost on me. I mean, they were driving in the same car for what, 10 days? And all of sudden Amy is saying things like Roger is making a face only she would recognize the meaning of? Well...that happened in the middle of the road trip. So after knowing him for all of 5 days she really knows what he means when he looks a certain way? Or says something in a certain tone? I don't think so.

But the thing that pissed me off is when Amy finally started feeling strong and happy again pretty much the first thing she does is (*highlight to read only if you really want to see a huge spoiler*)jump in bed with Roger.*

Again...only knowing him for 10 days...seems a little soon for that. 

But then it gets even better! After getting back out on the road she thinks they are all happy together...WRONG AMY! You are not. He's not even sure what he wants. Roger states very clearly that she needs to "let go of being the navigator and let things take their course". 

*jaw hits floor* What....the....HELL?!?

Bitch move, Roger....(pardon the language).

Strangely, Amy is okay with that? Again, I don't think so. After everything she has gone through and doing that was her way of breaking out of her shell and then he bails on her...she would have been an emotional wreck.

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END OF SPOILERS (and rant).

I was sorely disappointed in the ending of this book. It could have gone out with such a bang...but it was even less than a fizzle for me. I think I sat at my desk trying to decide if the ending really ruined the rest of the book for me, or if I would ever be able to read it again, and the answer ended up being yes the ending ruined the book and because of that, no, I wouldn't be able to read it again.

If you have read this book, what about you? Did you like how it was ended? How did what happened work for you and made you enjoy it?

Leave a comment, I would love to hear your opinions. 

BUT, try not to be spoilery...and if you have to be, be kind and put a warning.