Review: Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt

Title: Right of Way
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Genre: Contemporary YA
Series: N/A- Standalone 

Hardcover, 320 pages 
Publication: July 9, 2013 by Simon Pulse

Source: Publicist

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Here are Peyton and Jace, meeting on vacation. Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.

Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.

Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…

RIGHT OF WAY is a companion novel to TWO-WAY STREET, but readers don’t necessarily need to read it first to read RIGHT OF WAY(unless, you want some back story).  RIGHT OF WAY introduces us to Jace and Peyton. Jace and Peyton met once a year ago at a Christmas party and they hit it off right away but due to the long distance and secrets Jace and Peyton stopped talking once they return to their home state.  Months later they meet again in the summer at Peyton’s cousins dad’s wedding, both still harboring feelings for one another.

RIGHT OF WAY is light-summery read, with switching POV between the two main characters, Peyton and Jace.  The book is dubbed as a road-trip book but the characters weren’t really ‘on the road’ much. The book switches between the present (Jace driving Peyton home, on the road/trip) and the past events leading up to the wedding and the trip. I’m actually not a fan of multiple/dual POV but Barnholdt made it work for the story and characters, and found myself captivated by her writing style.

Things are a little awkward between Jace and Peyton, since they both felt like the other person broke their heart and they never had the opportunity to talk things out. So when Peyton was left stranded in Florida at her Uncle’s wedding, Jace offered to drive Peyton home…to Connecticut! Jace is definitely the mature adult of the two; even though things are weird between Peyton he didn’t give Peyton a hard time. Jace wants to spend time with Peyton, and cares about her overall well-being. Peyton on the hand acted like an immature child for most of the trip. It was obvious that Peyton needed help having no ride or money to get anywhere; but she let her pride get in the way, brushing Jace off every time he tried to be nice. The situation between Jace and Peyton could have been easily fixed if they had better communication, and it was bummer that it took them the majority of the book to have it. 

Overall RIGHT OF WAY was a light-fun read, but I thought the plot could have been resolved quicker and felt the ending was too rushed which left readers hanging a bit. However, I absolutely would recommend this book to everyone looking for a quick read/or some brain candy.