I love a good road trip book. I’m extremely forgiving of them when it comes to plot, even, because I appreciate the story of movement, of place, and of the importance of getting out and seeing things. There’s always a sense of tension built straight into a good road trip book, and I think that that is part of why I’m forgiving when it comes to a lot of plot challenges. And while I found Julie Halpern’s Don’t Stop Now to be one of the stronger and more enjoyable road trip books I’ve read in a while, I did find myself struggling a little bit with the secondary plot of the book — the motivation for the road trip — and I almost wish that the secondary plot hadn’t happened at all. Even if it killed the motivation, the book would have been stronger as a straight forward road-driven narrative.

It’s the last summer before college, and on that first night of freedom, Lil got a phone call from her friend (which is a loose term, to say the least) Penny. She doesn’t answer it, but when she checks her voice mail, the only thing Penny says is “I did it.” Lil’s keen on the fact Penny has a crummy home life and that she’s been on again and off again with this guy Gavin who she suspects might be a bit abusive. Can’t know for sure, though, since she’s only kind of friends with Penny. But when the police, Lil’s parents, and Lil’s best guy friend Josh start asking Lil more and more questions about what happened to Penny, she decides to take action. Lil believes Penny’s pulled off her own kidnapping, and now Lil wants to get away too to finally come to grips with the freedom in front of her.

More importantly, though, Lil wants to know whether what she has with Josh will always be friendship or of it’s something more.

The strength of Halpern’s book, from the start, is her writing. It’s easy and fun to read, and it’s spot on realistic for teens. These characters have feelings and deep thoughts, for sure, but the fact of the matter is, they act upon impulse. Even when they finish high school, impulse is the cue for action, and Halpern captures that. Her writing is tight, and while the novel spans a lot of distance, her writing doesn’t cheat that part of the story. Part of what worked for me as a reader, I think, is knowing the descriptions of road side attractions are accurate and realistic. Lil and Josh begin their road trip in southern Wisconsin at an iconic Cheese Palace, and being an expert on both southern Wisconsin and the Cheese Palace, I found everything she wrote to be not only honest and non-belittling, I found it funny. Throughout the course of the trip, the characters will constantly refer back to the start of the trip through the t-shirts they purchased at the Palace, and it not only reroots them to the trip, but it reroots them to the crux of their storyline: are they friends or are they more than friends?

While their ultimate goal is to reach Portland, Oregon and find Penny — who they suspect to be there with a new boy — they don’t spare the road side attractions. Anyone who has done this trip knows some of the gems along the way: The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin; Blue Earth, Minnesota, home of the Jolly Green Giant; Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the Corn Palace; Wall, South Dakota, home of Wall Drug north of the interstate and the Badlands south of it; the whole of what you need to see in Wyoming; and so forth. What I love is how these iconic road stops aren’t belittled in the narrative, but the characters truly enjoy themselves. As they enjoy themselves in these places, as readers, we’re forced to consider the issues bubbling around them. Do we want them to become more than friends? Do we want them to find Penny and come to an end of the story?

Although this plot was richly fleshed, I found the secondary story with the disappearance of Penny to be considerably weaker and what ultimately made the book weaker than it could have been. She is, of course, the reason Lil gives to Josh for the road trip, even if it’s not necessarily what she believes in her heart (and she’ll say as much later in the story). But what bothered me was that there was an opportunity to develop this plot line stronger. Penny had an abusive boyfriend, and she also seemed to have developed a mysterious relationship on a vacation months earlier that led her to meet a boy in Portland after school ended. We get what are her journal entries at the end of each chapter — so as Lil and Josh progress on their trip, we’re sent back to Penny’s world. When Lil is contacted by the police and FBI about her knowledge pertaining to Penny’s disappearance, she is very nonchalant about it. She’s truly not interested in her friend’s well-being. All of this would work fine for me as a reader, as I believed that Lil truly just wanted an excuse to get on the road with Josh, but the inclusion of the journal entries took me out of that mindset. Penny’s story was interesting to me. I wanted to know more. I needed to know more. And Lil was too selfish to give it to me as a reader.

There are moments that required a considerable suspension of belief, particularly when it came to both Lil’s mother and Josh’s father. Neither cared a whole lot that their kids hit the road. But here’s the thing: it didn’t matter. I didn’t find myself worrying about their parents because they didn’t want me to dwell on it. This was their freedom, and they were taking it. I got enough of their family stories throughout the trip, and let me say — I’ve never once found a character I’ve connected with when it comes to a father-daughter relationships than Lil. I was right there with her as she talked about him, and my emotions were wrapped up completely in her words and beliefs about him and the value/impact he had on her as a person. I wanted to know more, but I was also relieved not to know more. It was hers to hold on to. And that made it all the more powerful.

Though the ending is a little tidy and I’m not sure I bought the relationship’s conclusion between Josh and Lil, I’m willing to forgive both because the road trip aspects were so well done. I appreciated the steady pacing of the story and the realistic time frame, as well. Both of those are essential elements in a story that involves movement.

This is the kind of book that will have wide appeal, and teens who loved stories like Morgan Matson’s Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour will want to pick this one up. The story and tone are quirky in the same manner as Natalie Standiford’s books, so pass this off to fans of her books.

Advanced copy received from the publisher. Don’t Stop Now is available now.

It’s another summer at Essex Historical Colonial Village for Chelsea, but unlike the last ten years of being forced to be a part of this reenactment because of her parents, she’s excited this year to have best friend Fiona along for the ride. But as much as she’s excited about that, Chelsea’s still down in the dumps about the breakup she had with boyfriend Ezra. She wants to get over him, and while she thinks that it’s possible to do so this summer with her best friend, when she discovers that Ezra is also working the summer at Essex, Chelsea becomes less and less sure of herself and her ability to move onward and upward.

Add to that a war between Chelsea’s historical reenactment village and the neighboring Civil War reenactment site, an unraveling of secrets about that neighboring site, a boy taking a shine to Chelsea who isn’t Ezra, and a quest to become an ice cream connoisseur, and you have a story that is much more than a simple breakup recovery plot line.

Sales’s trademark humor, present in her debut novel Mostly Good Girls, permeates her second novel, despite this book being an entirely different story than her first. The writing is easy to read and fall into. Sales builds Chelsea’s world immediately, and the reader never falls out of it, despite being a little bit of a strange and quirky one — how often do you read about teens who spend their summers working in historical reenactment sites and not just that, but they enjoy being members of living history? More than that, though, I felt that the discussions of history and the experience of working in such a historical world were authentic to the teens. Never once did the kids feel like they were stereotypes, and I think part of why this happens is because Chelsea cuts these ideas off from the start. She makes clear that yes, there are stereotypical teens who want to work in these places, but she emphasizes that she is not one of them . . . and by doing that, we see that no one else she introduces us to is one of them either, thereby leaving the reader to see that there aren’t stereotypes here.

I bring that up because that’s one of the strengths of Sales’s writing — her character development. Chelsea is a fully fleshed character, and she’s immediately engaging from the onset of the story. She’s a bit sarcastic and extremely stubborn, despite thinking that she’s anything but. While this fleshes her out as a character, it was what struck me as why I never felt myself liking or connecting to Chelsea. She’s stubborn about moving forward, but more than that, she’s too stubborn to even give readers an opportunity to understand why she is stubborn. We’re tossed into her post-Ezra world without really learning why Ezra was such a fantastic boyfriend for her and why she would fall into such deep mourning over the loss of her relationship. I found her to be a bit of a drag because of this. I needed more from her about why he mattered and why she needed to get over him. I didn’t find myself sympathizing with Chelsea’s break up, nor did I find myself rooting for her when she has the chance to move on with another guy.

I emphasize her because one of the strengths of this book is that the secondary characters, including Chelsea’s best friend Fiona, not only stand on their own, but they’re important in developing our understanding for Chelsea herself. We learn through an argument between Fiona and Chelsea why Ezra was such an important relationship for her, and we learn through the budding relationship Chelsea has with another guy during the summer why she’s a little gun shy about being with someone new. More than fleshing out the teen characters, though, Sales also does a good job of developing good parents. This is one of those rare young adult novels that features married parents who are happy, and they have a good relationship with their daughter. There’s a moment in the book between Chelsea and her father that will stick with me for a long time because it really highlights how true and honest a parent-child relationship can be done, and it seems so rare to read such a well-done moment. I think many readers will appreciate this relationship because it is memorable and it ultimately guides Chelsea in changing her attitude and the course of her summer.

The mechanics of the writing are solid, with believable dialog and the character relationships are, as I’ve alluded to, authentic. My one reservation in this, though, is that I think some scenes did drag a little bit — there were moments, especially when it came to character conversations, that dialog went on a little too long and there was too little action and movement. I think this can be explained a bit through Chelsea’s stubbornness and unwillingness to act, and I think that contributed a bit to why I didn’t care for her as a character. It was tough for me to hold my interest in her growth through the story against the characteristics that made me dislike her as a character, but fortunately, Sales’s writing helped keep me engaged.

One of the things that stood out for me in the writing was the setting, as it was entirely unique and yet easy to buy into. I’m not a huge history person, but I found myself loving the historical references and setting (within the present, that is). It was quirky enough without trying too hard to be so.

Past Perfect will appeal to a wide range of contemporary ya fiction readers, and one of the biggest strengths of this book, I think, is how it’s a safe one to hand to your younger teen readers as much as your older ones. There are no language nor situational issues to consider, though I think the discussion of the importance of relationships might resonate more with older teens than younger. Fans of Sarah Dessen will likely appreciate this story of growth and self discovery, as will those who like Siobhan Vivian, Jenny Han, and Sales’s first novel. I’m a little at odds with the cover on this book, and while it’s not something I like to bring up within a review, I think it’s worth mentioning — I see the cover as both a strength and as completely misleading. It doesn’t fit into the story at all, but it does offer a peak into the tone of the novel, and it has a certain level of appeal to it that a cover that might feature, say, a historical site, would.

Review copy received from the publisher. Past Perfect is available now.