Sandy M’s review of Traveling Light by Lynne Branard
Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 10 Jan 17
Not your typical romance, Traveling Light is an easy, quirky, and fun afternoon read. It is also the way our main character, Alissa, grows after leading a not-so-exciting life.
Alissa’s father hopes she’ll take over the family business, but suddenly she’s ready to explore life a bit more, think outside the box, and just live with some spontaneity for a while. All because she impulsively bids on an abandoned storage unit and inside she discovers an urn with the ashes of a man named Roger Hart. She learns he’s from New Mexico, so a road trip is in her foreseeable future, hoping to find out a bit more about this forgotten man from his family. So she heads west with Casserole, her three-legged dog.
Only to be sidetracked along the way by both people and places. She picks up a young hitch hiker, Blossom, who is on her way to see her dad in Texas. Despite their age difference, these two share a bond by the end of their trip together. Blossom has been through a lot in her short life, is going through nearly as much presently, all more than anything Alissa has experienced in her own life. They definitely teach each other quite a bit. Blossom’s boyfriend joins the fray, thus more emotion and more fun in the works.
The only thing that bothered me is things seem to be left hanging a bit at the end. There is a romance on the horizon, but we don’t get to see the fruit of that labor at all. I realize that isn’t the main theme of the book, and it is at least a happy ending for Alissa after her eye-opening experiences, and delving a little into it would have been nice. Otherwise, though, a well-written and well-developed story that I enjoyed. Enough that I will check out some of the author’s other works.
Grade: B
Summary:
Driving from North Carolina to New Mexico with her three-legged dog, a strange man’s ashes, and a waitress named Blossom riding shotgun isn’t exactly what Alissa Wells ever wanted to be doing. But it’s exactly what she needs…
It all starts when Alissa impulsively puts a bid on an abandoned storage unit, only to become the proud new owner of Roger Hart’s remains. Two weeks later, she jumps in her car and heads west, thinking that returning the ashes of a dead man might be the first step on her way to a new life.
She isn’t wrong.
Especially when Blossom, who just graduated from high school, hitches a ride with her to Texas, and Alissa has to get used to letting someone else take the wheel. Posting about their road trip on Facebook, complete with photos of Roger at every stop, Blossom opens Alissa’s eyes to the road in front of her—and to how sometimes the best things in life are the ones you never see coming…
No excerpt available.
