Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2008
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
From three critically acclaimed and bestselling authors comes one story - equal parts charming, hilarious, and emotional - of a road trip that proves that sometimes it doesn't matter where you're going, since getting there is half the fun.
Three girls who couldn't be more different have one goal in mind: to get the heck out of Dodge. Well, Niceville, Florida, actually. But it might as well be called Nowheresville. Vicks is the wild-child fry cook whose boyfriend left for college and isn't returning any of her calls; Mel, the good girl in expensive jeans who just wants everyone to like her; and Jesse, the trailer-dwelling human morality meter who's discovered a life-altering secret.
Each has her own reason for climbing into Jesse's mom's beat-up station wagon and hitting the highway for a weekend trip, whether she knows it or not. Armed only with Vicks's ancient, battered copy of a guidebook called Fantastical Florida, a map Jesse picked up with her dwindling funds, and Mel's mom's credit card, they're Miami bound. Hearts will be broken, friendships will be tested, and a ridiculously hot stranger could change the course of everything. And if they don't kill each other first, Vicks, Mel and Jesse will not only have a road trip to remember, they'll have friends for life.
This book will be an easy sell due to the authors' combined popularity, but readers expecting a book on par with their previous works will be disappointed." - Kirkus Reviews.
""Starred Review. Whip-smart dialogue and a fast-moving, picaresque plot that zooms from lump-in-the-throat moments to all-out giddiness will keep readers going, and it's a testimony to how real these girls seem that the final chapters are profoundly satisfying rather than tidy. Ages 14-up." - Publishers Weekly.
"The authors’ styles blend seamlessly, folding three characters’ distinct voices into a funny, poignant story about facing your troubles with friends at your side." - Booklist.
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