Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt

rightRight of Way
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: 7-9-13
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. – Goodreads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right of Way is a companion book to One-Way Street and tells the story of Jace and Peyton, who we meet after their romance has fallen apart.  The story is told in alternating present day and flashbacks, which I actually really liked.  We see things as they are in the present, while slowly getting the back story.  It kept the pace moving along nicely and made this book a quick read.  Peyton’s life is falling apart a little bit and when she finds out something pretty devastating about her mom, she feels very alone.  It was a little frustrating because while I felt that Peyton was a strong person, she did a lot of sticking her head in the sand.  The dialogue was very quick and there were some funny moments that made me chuckle.

While this was a fun book in many ways, it had some issues that kept me from really loving it.  The characters felt very undeveloped to me.  I never got a good sense of who anyone way though their actions, I was simply told who they were.  That left me feeling very disconnected from everyone.   I also thought that the reason that Jace stopped talking to Peyton was unbelievable and silly.  Jace’s abandonment of some huge responsibilities also seemed unbelievable and inconsistent with the good guy that I think we were supposed to be seeing in this story.  It seemed even more odd when this story was trying to communicate what a good guy Jace was when his actions spoke to the contrary.  Peyton was dealing with dome pretty big issues, which were interesting and something that I hadn’t read in any other books, but when she tells herself  “Jace is going to fix everything” (paraphrasing)  that just rubbed me the wrong way.  Again, it seemed inconsistent with the character that I had gotten to know throughout the book.  Over all, Right of Way was entertaining, but there were some things that I viewed as pretty detrimental flaws in the character development and general story line that kept me from being able to recommend this book to others.

I received this galley in exchange for my honest review.

Find Lauren Barnholdt online:
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Kate


23 responses to “Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt

  1. I’m with you on the whole “a guy can fix it.” Cause I’m more of a girl who does everything, You rely on somebody to be your everything. Not possible. Still, I enjoyed the story. Nice review.

  2. I have this book for review to, but haven’t gotten to it yet. Your’s is the second I’ve read so far, and the other reviewer felt very similar. It is disappointing when books fall short, I hate that the characters felt underdeveloped. Thanks for the informative review.

  3. Hmm, yeah I bet your issues with the characterization in this would bother me, as well. I find it irksome when characters are inconsistent. I don’t know, this doesn’t sound bad, but I can’t say I’m going to be looking out for it. I really appreciate the thoughtful and helpful review!

  4. Undeveloped characters are usually a huge problem with me. I like being able to form even the smallest connection with my characters, as that contributes to my enjoyment of a book! But I’m still intrigued by Right of Way. After all, it’s a road trip book!

  5. How were the flashbacks? Was it easy to keep up with what exactly was going on? One of my biggest gripes about stories like this is the lack of flow, so to speak. They sometimes are kind of jumpy and makes it hard to keep track of where we are in the present. It doesn’t sound like you had this issue but I was just curious.

    I really hate that the characters weren’t all too relatable. I love when the MCs are and that’s what draws me to the contemporary genre. Also, girls can do anything guys can do!

    PS- I’m following you on Bloglovin’ now 🙂 I’m glad you stopped by my blog or I never would’ve found your great blog!

    PSS-sorry for all the comments!

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  7. Oh no! I had such high hopes for this one! Underdeveloped characters are never good, but the “guy will fix everything” mentality really rubs me the wrong way. I think I would be too annoyed with this book, so I think I’ll skip it. Thanks for your honesty! 🙂

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