FicWishes: Desperate Measures - Lori's Review of WHERE THE ROAD TAKES ME by Jay McLean

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Desperate Measures - Lori's Review of WHERE THE ROAD TAKES ME by Jay McLean

Title: Where the Road Takes Me

Author: Jay McLean

Publisher: Skyscape

Publication Date: 2/10/2015

Source: ARC from publisher through Netgalley

Chloe has one plan for the future, and one plan only: the road. She’s made a promise to herself: don’t let anyone in, and don’t let anyone love her. She’s learned the hard way what happens if she breaks her rules. So she’s focused on being invisible and waiting until she can set out on the road—her dream of freedom, at least for a little while.

Blake Hunter is a basketball star who has it all—everything about him looks perfect to those on the other side of his protective walls. He can’t let anyone see the shattered pieces behind the flawless facade or else all his hopes and dreams will disappear.

One dark night throws Chloe and Blake together, changing everything for Blake. For Chloe, nothing changes: she has the road, and she’s focused on it. But when the so-called perfect boy starts to notice the invisible girl, they discover that sometimes with love, no one knows where the road may lead.

Jay McLean is the author of the More Series, including More Than This, More Than Her, More Than Him and More Than Forever. She also has two standalones coming soon titled Where The Road Takes Me, and Combative.
Jay is an avid reader, writer, and most of all, procrastinator. When she's not doing any of those things, she can be found running after her two little boys, or devouring some tacky reality TV show.

She writes what she loves to read, which are books that can make her laugh, make her smile, make her hurt, and make her feel.
You can follow Jay on Instagram and twitter @jaymcleanauthor. You can also find her on her blog atwww.jaymcleanauthor.com where you can subscribe to her newsletter and get teasers and updates first hand, her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jaymcleanauthor or her fan group on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mores..., or you can contact Jay directly at jay@jaymcleanauthor.com

I love 'road trip' stories. I will always read them. That is what drew me to this story in the first place. Then I saw that it was written by Jay McLean who I have been wanting to read and I knew this was a no brainer for me.

Chloe doesn't get close to anyone. She has her family, but even they are kept politely at arms length. Chloe's plans for after high school graduation do not include friends of any kind so she chooses to keep herself to herself and not let people get used to her being around. She likes being alone, except for the times when she decides to 'lose herself' for a little bit. Then she tends to pick questionable companions at best.

Blake Hunter appears to have it all. He longs to live his basketball dreams, but his army father refuses to let his son throw his future away. Blake has a perfect girlfriend and a school full of 'friends', so why is he out running by himself at two o'clock in the morning?

This story starts out really strong. Blake and Chloe meet under unfortunate circumstances, but are instantly drawn to each other. However, Chloe has one rule; that Blake act like she doesn't exist when they are around other people. Blake doesn't agree with the rule, but when he sees the result of his ignoring it, he realizes that in order to have her in his life, he has to go along with it, for Chloe's sake.

Blake and Chloe slowly build a great relationship together. Blake works extra hard to woo Chloe and she fights, but finally succumbs to his advances. Blake is sweet and swoony and the things he does to prove his interest in Chloe are incredibly amazing.

I have to take a moment here to shout out to Josh. He was the perfect best friend for Blake. I love him so much and would love to read his story and see him get his HEA.

As I said, this story started out really strong, but when it came to time for the road trip, things fell a little flat. The road trip was to be the 'epic thing' in the story, but for some reason it just was boring and a bit repetitive for me. Without giving too much away, there were some things that came up on the road trip that Chloe and Blake had to deal with, but it seemed like they were just glossed over.

This was a good romance, just know that the more important issues in this book get brushed aside a bit to make room for the romantic gestures.

3 out of 5 Stars