Sandy M’s review of The Scenic Route by Devan Sipher
Contemporary Romance published by NAL Trade 3 Jun 14
I’m always up for reading books by a male romance author. There’s so few in the industry who write really good, emotional romance, so I’m willing to discover someone new. When I got The Scenic Route for review, I happily opened it up to meet some new characters on their journey to love.
While I get the point of the title of the book when it comes to two people meeting, discovering if they’re the right person for each other, and dealing with fate, the cosmos, or whatever it is that sometimes decides to intercede at the most inopportune times, and while I like a lot of what happens to Austin and Naomi on this roundabout trek, for the romance reader in me it takes much too long for them to finally get together. They spend the majority of the book apart, just missing each other here and there, all the while thinking about the other throughout. I want more time with them enjoying one another, especially at the end when all is said and done.
Austin is an ophthalmologist in Detroit, with his business life all planned out. Naomi is pastry chef and lives in Miami and she’s much more adventurous than Austin, taking life where it decides to lead her. He’s at his best friend’s wedding and meets up with Naomi, who is a childhood friend of his sister’s. They have an immediate attraction, spend one night together, and then go their separate ways. Not without wanting to let the other know how they feel, though. Something just stops them short of doing so. Thus begins their scenic route.
This route takes forever to navigate because neither of these characters talks to the other when they should. Even after Austin texts Naomi that he had a good time and all that, she never responds. Too many questions in her mind about him and too much going on. So much so she ends up moving to Spain. Without telling Austin. He finds out later and that causes more questions about the whole situation for him. So he tries to move on and becomes engaged to a woman who has a son. Really loving the son but discovering his love for the mother isn’t that true, he’s not that broken up when she calls it quits. Except for not seeing the boy who he now considers his own.
In between all of this there’s Austin’s mother’s and sister’s lives that weave in and out of his, and the same goes for Naomi with her parents and brother. Neither gets along that well with their parents, but they’re close to their siblings. Mandy, Austin’s sister, is one lost soul. At first I wanted to shake her silly for her attitude and the actions that go along with it, but then when she does wake up she’s quite enjoyable. She even inspires Austin to get out of his rut, which has become worse when his business partner pulls the plug on him, so he finally decides enough is enough and goes after Naomi, who’s at her brother’s wedding that is now much more than she signed on for. But he’s family, and it’s a good thing she sticks it out, because it’s been a few years since she’s seen Austin. Yes, years. They spend all those years apart. I realize this does happen in real life, but I like my fictional romance characters to have more time together.
Overall, this is a good story, despite my issues with it. I like both Austin and Naomi. Their differences from each other make them fun, and I like seeing the changes in them as they go along all those scenic roads in their separate lives, and watching Austin learn how to bend and enjoy the view is nicely done. Something I don’t like is one character dies. That’s akin to killing off a character in one of my favorite TV shows. It’s a no-no, and I never watch again. Fortunately, I enjoy Mr. Sipher’s writing and I like the title, The Wedding Beat, and the cover of his first book, so I’m willing to give that one a chance as soon as I can.
Grade: C
Summary:
For anyone who’s ever taken the long way around…Austin Gittleman is running late, and not just for the seaside wedding he’s attending. Austin’s an eye doctor, who doesn’t see what’s in front of him, until he crashes into Naomi Bloom, a pastry chef with a taste for adventure. Naomi believes a straight line isn’t always the shortest distance between places — or people.
Do any two people look at love the same way? Austin and Naomi offer conflicting narrative accounts as they circle each other through a series of miscommunications and missed connections. In The Scenic Route, life is what happens on the way to where you’re going. It’s unpredictable and sometimes fleeting, but it can be pretty wonderful when you bring the right person along for the ride.
Read an excerpt.
