Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley

Hmmm....where do I begin with this one? OK, the positives first. Driving Sideways was extremely entertaining. The humor was awesome and I found myself laughing out loud numerous times. I picked this one up because I had seen a ton of great reviews and it sounded like an intriguing storyline.

But about halfway through, I noticed I kept flipping toward the back of the book checking to see how many pages I had left. And you know that's never a good sign. Three quarters of the way through and I'm getting ancy. By the last couple chapters I was aggravated by the pointless and drawn-out circumstances, it needed to wrap up already. Gosh I feel bad saying that!

It was cute, but I felt like it lost a lot of momentum toward the end and had potential to be a bit more engaging. Sorry guys, I was a bit disappointed with this one.

But seriously, I swear I'm the only one who didn't really care for it - there are way better reviews out there. Check them out below!


Description: Leigh Fielding wants a life. Seriously. Having spent the past five years on dialysis, she has one simple wish: to make it to her thirtieth birthday. Now, thanks to the generosity of the late Larry Resnick and his transplanted kidney, it looks like her wish may come true.

With her newfound vitality (and Larry’s kidney) in tow, Leigh hits the road for an excursion that will carry her from Wisconsin to California, with a few stops in between: Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, the Rockies, Las Vegas–and a memorable visit to thank Larry’s family for the second chance.

Yet Leigh’s itinerary takes a sudden detour when she picks up a seventeen-year-old hitchhiker, Denise, a runaway with a bunch of stories and a couple of secrets. Add a long-lost mother, a loaded gun, an RV full of swingers, and Hall and Oates’s Greatest Hits to the mix, and Driving Sideways becomes a hilarious and original journey of friendship, hope, and discovery

Recommend: sure, you might really like it.

Rating: ***1/2

4 comments:

Jess Riley said...

Hey, thanks for giving DS a chance! I appreciate your honest review. :)

Last week I met with a class of college freshmen who had read DS, and one of them asked me if there were any writers I hated. I said no, but there were books that simply weren't my speed...afterwards, she indicated that she loved Stephanie Meyer. When I asked if she was going to see the movie, she replied, "Duh!"

Later she sent me an email saying, "When I asked if there were any writers you hated, I was really hoping you'd say Stephanie Meyer." For some reason, this really cracked me up.

So, I was tickled to be featured with Steph M. here this week. :)

Unknown said...

Wow! Jess thanks so much for stopping by!

I really do wish you the best with your book, and as I said in my review, the humor really was awesome! So please don't think you're anywhere near the "hated it" group :-)

Thanks again, I feel very humbled you stopped by.

Kimberly

Lenore Appelhans said...

Cute cover, and I do like to read some funny novels now and then.

Camille said...

OH MY GOSH. Is that really the author of the book, commenting here? I would be freaking out.

I would have read the book just because of the cover. I am that way,