Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Road Trip

AUTHORS:  Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  206 pages

RELEASE DATE:  April 11, 2025

BLURB:

One secret gay crush. One journey of self discovery. One epic road trip.

Matt Landers and Jacob Mercer have been ride or die best friends forever. But now, on the cusp of adulthood, it’s all about to change. When summer is over, Jacob is going away to college and Matt will be stuck in Cape Charles, Virginia. Before that happens, they’ve got a plan for one more epic adventure—a road trip all the way across the country to California.

But if they want to borrow Jacob’s dad’s car, there are rules they have to follow.

1. Keep your location tracking on.
2. Check your tire pressure.
3. Be back a week before school starts.
4. Don’t spend your college money.
5. Check in every 24 hours.

There’s nothing in the rules about arguing over road trip playlists, eating too many gas station snacks, or sleeping in the back of the car. There’s also nothing about confessing your secret gay crush, falling for your best friend, and learning how to protect the heart of someone you love.

Summer might be short, but the things Matt and Jacob are going to learn about themselves will last a lifetime.

REVIEW:

Matt and Jacob are best friends.  They’ve graduated from HS and this their last summer together because Jacob is going off to college and Matt is stuck in town going to community college.  He lives in a trailer park with his single mother who really pays very little attention to what her only child does.  Matt’s dad took a powder when Matt was 8.  He told Matt he could come live with him when he was older.  Matt hasn’t seen him since.  He lives in CA and so he convinces Jacob that they need to road trip so he can finally visit his dad.  Charlie, Jacob’s cousin is spending the summer at Jacob’s house so this will give him Jacob’s room and everybody wins!

Jacob’s parents have some rules though 🙂  So off they go.  Unfortunately it turns out Matt didn’t exactly divulge his true plan – either to Jacob or his mom.  This lie catches up to them fairly quickly.  Jacob is hurt that Matt lied to HIM.  But thankfully he can’t hold a grudge to save his life so on their merry way they continue.  They decide hotels are too expensive so they end up buying a tent and sleeping bags.  Let’s just way that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.  Oh and sleeping next to Jacob in a tiny tent when Matt has been in love with his straight best friend forever?  AWKWARD!  And because Matt hasn’t even told Jacob he’s gay???  Super AWKWARD.

Matt wants to tell Jacob and he sort of accidentally is outed when Jacob finds a guy’s number.  Matt comes clean but again Jacob is hurt because Matt didn’t tell him before now.  He luckily gets over that fairly quickly too.  He also realizes that he may have been a little jealous of Matt flirting with a getting the guy’s number if he’s honest.  And what if maybe Jacob isn’t as straight as he through he was anyway??

This trip just got a lot more interesting 😉

Of course when they get to Cali after the long drive, things don’t go down the way Matt was expecting.  Luckily his best friend Jacob is there for him.  And he’s got a plan now too!  Maybe this isn’t their last hurrah together.  Time for a new plan where Jacob gets to keep Matt!

So I have been a fan of Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey since their first book together.   I feel like they hit just the right tone for these coming of age/new adult or whatever the current trope/genre this is being called.  Lisa Henry’s Adulting 101 is one of my favorite books of all time.  So of course I wanted this book as soon as I saw it was coming 🙂  I was not disappointed!  There is the trademark humor and dumbass shenanigans of young men, but there is also real heart and love in this story.  Even though I could see it coming from miles away, my heart broke when things didn’t turn out how Matt wanted them to.  But you know what?  They definitely turned how they needed to.  And that ended up being the true happy ending here.  Along the way there are hilarious campouts and visited landmarks and even the odd flirtation.  There is a little bit of trouble for some not quite so truthful departure communications on Matt’s part, but Jacob isn’t one to hold a grudge.  Thankfully.  He’s there for his bestie.  And thankfully they are on the same page and in it together.  It’s a bumpy road and a long trip, but everything turns out for the best 😉  I loved seeing these two get their HEA after bumbling around for a bit.  I love that the coming out/realization of changed feelings wasn’t a freak out.  I hope that is what it’s like for more people today when they open themselves up to seeing the world and the people in it more clearly.  Still a long way to go, but we can all hope and work for a better place where nobody is bothered in future.  This is a thoroughly entertaining story with laughter and tears and annoying little brothers and some really great parenting.  It’s loosely tied to the Alpha Tau series from these authors, but only tangentially with one common scene and a couple characters cameo so nothing is missing if you haven’t read that series.  I loved it.  Highly recommended.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon