Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matason

Amy is responsible for getting herself and her mother’s car from their old home in Raven Rock, California to their new home in Stanwich, Connecticut. The only problem is that after the accident, Amy doesn’t drive anymore. So Amy enlists her friend’s son, Roger, to act as driver for the trip. As they embark on their cross-country roadtrip, Amy and Roger find that they are both on quests that may cause them to take a little (or not so little) detour.

Another excellent Morgan Matson book! I really loved that the book focused on Amy and Roger. We got to know both characters really well–it was almost as if the reader is the third passenger in the car. You definitely are able to feel sympathetic towards both characters. All of the secondary characters were great as well! They really added flavor to the book as a whole and kept it from being one-note with just our two main characters. At the same time, they didn’t take attention away from Amy or Roger. The characters had their moment, but didn’t leave the reader feeling like we’d rather stay with them than continue on with Amy and Roger.

I also really liked the playlists and pages from Amy’s travel journal. It really added another layer to the story and was a fun addition. It added variety and helped the reader to better visualize the places that Amy and Roger were visiting. It definitely made me want to go on a cross-country roadtrip!

Overall, this was a really fun and unexpectedly deep story. Amy is dealing with things that, really, no teenager should have to deal with. I don’t necessarily agree with how she treated her mom at times, but I think in the end Amy does realize that she wasn’t quite fair to her mom all of the time. I would definitely recommend this book!

Overall Rating: 5
Language: Moderate. A few scenes with brief, strong language.
Violence: None
Sexual Content: Moderate. Sex is mentioned a few times, but nothing explicit.
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate. One secondary character has a drug problem.