Thou Shalt Not Road Trip by Antony John
Publisher: Dial Books (April 12th, 2012)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 336 pages
Source: ARC Tour
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sixteen-year-old Luke Dorsey is sent on a cross-country tour to promote his bestselling spiritual self-help guide accompanied by his agnostic older brother and former girlfriend, Fran, from whom he learns some things about salvation.
Review:
I'm a sucker for a road trip book so when I saw the cover for this one, I knew I had to read it. I think that due to the fact that I was strongly focused on the cover, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect with this book. The summary doesn't tell us a lot so I didn't know how focused it would be on spirituality.
Luke Dorsey is sort of an overnight success. He is very young but is already super famous among book lovers. He has difficulty dealing with this success and is mostly amazed at the way people treat him. Due to his popularity, he is sent on a book tour to promote his story.
Matt, Luke's brother, is supposed to act as his transportation from one signing to another. It's easy to see from the beginning that these brothers are not similar. Matt is a bit irresponsible and not at all prepared for a trip. He is more than willing to use funds from the publisher to take care of whatever is needed for the trip and even with that, they have several missteps along the way.
Soon, they are not only dealing wtih the stresses of travel, but bringing Matt's girlfriend and her sister (who just happens to be Luke's ex-girlfriend) Fran. This creates a bit of drama, but at the same time they learn a lot about themselves and each other.
Luke was a funny character. His writings were hilarious as well. There was just something about him that I liked immediately. He seemed like a typical, awkward young boy. He was funny without meaning to be sometimes just because of how he reacted to his brothers antics. It was a nice touch for this book.
I don't typically read a lot of books with religious topics. Not because I don't like them, but mainly because they can get preachy or, boring.to be honest. This book wasn't at all boring. Antony John's writing really kept the story flowing nicely. But, this book does have a lot of religious talk and internal dialogue. This may be something that most people enjoy, but it brought the book down a bit for me.
Recommended: Road trip fans looking for something funny with a religious meaning.
Website | Goodreads | Facebook
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Make sure to check out my character interview with Alex, and enter to win a signed copy of Thou Shalt Not Road Trip! Ends 4/28.