Review: Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt.

Rowena’s review of Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt.

Can a road trip repair a romance gone wrong? Find out in this standalone companion to Lauren Barnholdt’s Two-way Street.

Here are Peyton and Jace, meeting on vacation. Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.

Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.

Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…

This is a companion novel to Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt.  It follows Courtney’s cousin Peyton as she tries to make her way home after Courtney’s father’s wedding and finds out some truths about herself and about her life along the way.

Peyton met Jace when she was visiting Courtney and for a few months, Peyton and Jace were everything to each other.  They talked to each other every day even though they lived hundreds of miles apart and they got super duper close until one day, Jace just stops calling.  When the book begins, we see that they’re both heartbroken over the loss of the other but we don’t know what happened.  If Jace was the one to stop calling, why was he so pissed off at Courtney or why was he such a mess over her?  I couldn’t wait to find out what happened but when I finally did, I couldn’t help but think, “That’s it? That’s what happened?”  I didn’t understand it but then I didn’t even care anymore because I wanted them to be together and things were looking good.

Peyton was one of those main characters who had a good head on her shoulders but was burned by the people that were supposed to love her most and take care of her and the plan that she makes to make it all go away was ridiculous but something that would make sense to someone her age.  I thought she was a pretty cool girl and the way that she went about her business with her head held high even when she wanted to burst into tears was cool but there were times when I wanted to strangle her with how stubborn she was with Jace.

And it was the same with Jace.  He was a cutie patootie but there were times when I wanted to hit him upside his head to get him to spit out what he wanted to say to Peyton.  There were a lot of missed opportunities and too much miscommunication that it kind of drove me crazy but when the end comes along and things are worked out and everything is out in the open, I was glad because I liked both characters and wanted them to get their shit together.

Lauren Barnholdt did another great job in making me feel as if I was apart of the world that she created for Jace and Peyton.  I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to my next Barnholdt read.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Simon Pulse.  You can purchase it here or here in e-format.  This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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