Right of Way

May 15, 2013
Despite their breakup, handsome Jace Renault agrees to take beautiful Peyton Miller back to Connecticut from Florida on a road trip that is not only underfunded, but completely illogical on the parts of both characters. Seventeen-year-old Peyton really only wants to go as far as North Carolina and live there, but she hasn't enough money for the trip, much less starting a new life, and Jace is supposedly ducking an opportunity to give the valedictory speech at his graduation in order to accommodate her. Hijinks and romance predictably ensue. None of it is particularly believable. Jace is the least likely-to-be-valedictorian character ever, and Peyton is beyond naive about money, despite her parents' continuous arguments on the subject. Ostensibly, the lesson they both learn is that "you have to put it all out there, you have to be willing to let yourself be vulnerable. Otherwise there's no way you're going to be able to have anything real." Each teen takes turns narrating events, and their accounts wander through time to explain what has led up to the present predicament, including why Jace has suddenly acquired a dog and the peccadilloes of the adults in their lives. Some swearing is thrown in, an apparent but unconvincing attempt at verisimilitude, but the romance never gets steamy enough to raise eyebrows. An unsatisfying romantic road trip that doesn't go the distance. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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August 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Peyton Miller and her long-distance ex-boyfriend Jace Renault are reunited at a wedding in Florida. The reasons for their breakup are not initially made clear and both are anxious about their meeting. Their chemistry is instantly revived and then extinguished in yet another mysterious falling out. Their backstory is pieced together as they embark on a spontaneous and ill-planned road trip to deliver Peyton to her home in Connecticut. However, Peyton is secretly planning to go off on her own once they reach North Carolina so she can escape the hardships and anxiety surrounding her parents' impending divorce. The mystery of the teens' relationship, brief as it turns out to be, and their unexplained estrangements, fuel the plot. Readers are left wondering why they keep coming back together. Though the two voices are barely distinguishable, the alternating viewpoints infuse events with romantic tension and the drama of the misunderstood intentions. The ending is satisfying but somewhat convenient given Peyton's desire to abandon her mother's habit of relying on men for money and problem solving. Readers willing to forgive these minor flaws will race to the end of this light summer read.-Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

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