A road trip story seems like the perfect setting for a summer beach read. It really interested me that the road trip would be made with an octogenarian and a 20-something. A bit different than your typical summer getaway trip.

There are three stories going on in this book. We have Kathleen, a widow who made a name for herself as host of a travel show back before cable television. Her daughter Liza is a middle-aged married mom of teen girls who overworked and underappreciated. Then there’s the hired driver, Martha, who is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.

Kathleen is definitely an interesting character. She was way ahead of her time with her travel show, had her daughter later in life before that was the norm, and put her career before her family in a time that was virtually unheard of for a woman. Kathleen has some skeletons in her closet that have turned her into a woman who has a hard time with shows of affection, yet she found her soulmate in her husband. A man who understood her wanderlust and never made her feel “less than” for leaving for long stretches of time to follow her dreams. While I understood these things about Kathleen, I had a hard time with how she reacted to her daughter. It was very hard for me to find a connection to her. As the story progresses it becomes obvious that she’s not oblivious to her inadequacies and it helps to humanize her to the reader.

My sympathies in the mother/daughter relationship were always squarely with Liza. She has a huge heart and often turns a blind-eye to how much she does for others without anything in return. Sure, we shouldn’t do things to get a reward. But nobody in her family seemed to realize how hard she worked to keep the wheels turning smoothly in their lives. Liza’s is my favorite arc in this story. I was rooting for her and cheering for her even while I was screaming at her to speak up! There are a lot of ups and downs in her journey. Plenty of times I thought she may misstep or overstep. It was beautifully done.

Ah, Martha. Sweet, feisty, compassionate Martha. Talk about black sheep of the family. At least, that’s how she’s viewed. Where, in my opinion, Martha is the only good one in her family. She is older than someone I would consider having a coming-of-age story, but she really blossoms. She was in stasis for a few years so it makes sense. Martha’s family really did a number on her confidence, which drove her to making some very bad relationship decisions. Kathleen may not have been a great mother, but she was just who Martha needed to get back her self-respect and learn to stand up for herself and her dreams.

Put all of these ingredients together and it makes for an engaging and heartfelt story.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

You can find an excerpt from this book on my blog, All In Good Time.

Fun Summer / Road Trip Tale With Heart And Laughs. This is one of those books that is great escapism, and yet also clicks on so many levels in your "real" world - almost no matter your situation. You've got a lot of growth here across three generations of women in a family (80 yr old grandmother who wasn't always around for her daughter and who has secrets, 40s ish mother who is at the end of her rope, twin teens daughters who are doing usual Zoomer teen girl stuff) - but then you *also* throw in a reasonably well developed husband (not a focus of the tale, and yet not written as an absolute brute either) and a pair of strangers with their own well developed and complicated backstories. Truly a great road trip tale along the classic Route 66, with the usual hilarity and hijinx along the way - and *also* truly a great summer "break from reality" tale of finding yourself and what really matters - both in one (longer, 400+ page) book. Very much recommended.