Review: Where the Road Takes Me by Jay McLean

Chloe has one plan for the future, and one plan only: the road. She’s made a promise to herself: don’t let anyone in, and don’t let anyone love her. She’s learned the hard way what happens if she breaks her rules. So she’s focused on being invisible and waiting until she can set out on the road—her dream of freedom, at least for a little while.

Blake Hunter is a basketball star who has it all—everything about him looks perfect to those on the other side of his protective walls. He can’t let anyone see the shattered pieces behind the flawless facade or else all his hopes and dreams will disappear.

One dark night throws Chloe and Blake together, changing everything for Blake. For Chloe, nothing changes: she has the road, and she’s focused on it. But when the so-called perfect boy starts to notice the invisible girl, they discover that sometimes with love, no one knows where the road may lead.

I was super interested in this one ... I can't really put my finger on why it intrigued me so much ... maybe because the blurb made the main character sound just completely against falling in love or anyone loving her. I knew that there would be some earth shattering change within these pages on that standpoint. I won't say whether there was or wasn't because that would spoil the fun but I will say this, it will keep you on your toes. Plus, I enjoy reading love stories about couples where they are doomed to fail ... that came out wrong ... I like seeing them end up together even though they have tons of obstacles and are doomed to fail. It kinda reminds me of my husband and I and our love story. Okay, enough sappiness ... moving on!

Right away, this novel reminded me of a certain novel by an author whose last name rhymes with harks ... I won't say which one or if they made a movie of it ... (they totally did). But the resemblance was uncanny. Almost. The further I got into the novel, the more it distanced itself from that other (very familiar) novel. And that is a good thing because if it had stayed parallel, I would have put this one down. No need to read another novel exactly like it, right? Well, it did change and morph into something different, thank goodness.

It was really great, I loved "watching" the characters change and mature within the pages ... the relationships with each other and secondary characters was interesting and made me keep reading. Surprisingly, it never got confusing ... there were quite a few characters to keep up with but it never became an issue. I just really enjoyed reading Where the Road Takes Me. 

But then it happened. First of all, yes, this is a young adult novel. Yes, it is written for and about teenagers. That all being said, there were many times where this novel turned whiny and teenangsty (no, it's not a word but it totally should be). I just wanted to get past the whiny stuff because it was changing the story from being endearing to frustrating. At that point, I was just ready to put it down. But thankfully, it changed again. The story kicked back up and moved forward and I found myself enjoying the remainder of the story. But keep in mind, this novel is pretty sad right from the beginning and it's one that makes you think about how you would act if you were in the same situation. All in all, pretty good. I would be interested in seeing what else this author has written since this is my first novel from her. 

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