The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary

Narrated by Josh Dylan & Eleanor Tomlinson

I listened to The Flatshare early last year and loved it but I skipped the next book (The Switch) because the premise didn’t seem very romance-y. However, The Road Trip seemed to promise more of what I want in an audiobook and as some trusted friends enjoyed it in print, I decided to give it a go. The tl;dr is that I enjoyed it but not as much as The Flatshare. The Road Trip wasn’t as funny (although those same friends found the banter more amusing than I did) and the format of the story itself meant it was heavier in tone than the earlier book. My recommendation? Don’t go into it thinking of it as a romcom; it’s a second chance romance set during a road trip, plenty to like but the laughs aren’t the main attraction.

The book starts off as Addie and her sister Deb are driving in a mini from Chichester (which Google Maps tells me is right down the bottom, to the east of Portsmouth) to Scotland to attend a wedding. They’re also giving a lift to a friend of the bride, Rodney, whom they’ve only just met. They’re rear-ended by another car which turns out to be driven by Addie’s ex, Dylan, who is travelling to the same wedding, with his best friend, Marcus. Dylan’s car is not drivable and because reasons they end up travelling together to the wedding. Travel disasters ensue which mean that the journey takes longer than intended and while all this happens, both Dylan and Addie recall their relationship and what led to its demise. In the “now” each realises that the other has grown and changed but that their love feelings have remained. It is a romance so I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say there’s a HEA.

Josh Dylan narrates the portions told from Dylan’s perspective and Eleanor Tomlinson performs the sections from Addie’s. One thing was a little different; when the story swapped from “then” to “now” or vice versa, both spoke at (almost) the same time. It’s not 100% perfectly in sync because of course it isn’t and I wasn’t really sure why it was that both spoke – only one needed to after all – maybe it was to suggest that both were remembering at the same time? It didn’t bother me. It’s just that I noticed it and it was different to what I’m used to hearing.

Dylan and Marcus come from wealthy dysfunctional families and have a lot of baggage as a result. Marcus is a difficult character to like – I don’t think I ever really did like him actually. He was mean and creepy at times but I did believe he was changing too by the end of the book. Whether it was enough? Well, the jury’s still out there.

Dylan let his baggage impact his relationship with Addie and Marcus was actively trying to break them up, but ultimately, their relationship broke down because they didn’t talk to each other about what was really important. Addie tiptoed around things she wanted to say and Dylan avoided talking about the big things at all. Dylan spent a lot of time pleasing others (especially Marcus); Addie wanted Dylan to choose things for himself and tried hard not to influence him. Dylan took a long time (too long perhaps) to stand up for himself. He had reasons but still, he’s an adult.

When they met, in the south of France on holiday, they were 21/22 – now they’re 2 years older and vastly wiser.

It’s clear there’s something significant about their breakup but we don’t find out until very late in the book. I knew from content warnings I’d read on print reviews that there was an attempted rape in the story but who and how and where and when were mysteries to me. Listeners who wish to avoid sexual assault descriptions should note this – although it is not super graphic it may still be upsetting. I didn’t love it but only because of what it was. I didn’t feel it was gratuitous.

I enjoyed the narration but neither performer was great at delivering convincing voices from the opposite gender – Josh Dylan’s voice didn’t really change for the female characters and Eleanor Tomlinson’s didn’t really change for the male cast. I had to rely on dialogue tags and context for the most part, though some characters had distinctive accents. The one exception was Rodney who had a reedy, somewhat whiny voice which was consistent across both narrators and fit his character.

What both narrators did deliver however was an understanding of the characters they were inhabiting. Their performances kept me interested when I was perhaps becoming a little impatient to find out what had actually happened back then and kept the characters more sympathetic than I might otherwise have found them.

Technically, the listen was very good with no obvious errors and good breath control etc – the only thing which kept the narration rating from being higher was the insufficient distinction between the significant main characters.

There are quirks among the cast and there are some amusing set pieces but for me the story had a melancholy overtone – perhaps because I knew in the “then” (which takes up most of the story) it was all going to come crashing down.

Even though the road trip lasts longer than the original one (long) day planned, the “now” sections don’t encompass all that much time. Sure Addie and Dylan are stuck in a car together or otherwise in very close proximity for the duration but they weren’t alone either so it would have been a bit of a stretch to believe they’d fix everything that was wrong by book’s end. I was pleased the ending was more of a (very hopeful) HFN – that made it more authentic to me. I did think this pair belonged together and I believed they would continue to work on their relationship so I was not at all disappointed by the ending.

Kaetrin

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