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On The Road To Mr Right
‘If adventures do not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.’
—Jane Austen
Get your motor running and head out on the highway for love!
Belinda loves America. Her best friend Emily loves men. So when they decide it’s time to shake up their lives, they combine their two greatest passions in a fantastic road trip taking them from Eden to Valentine — via Climax — in pursuit of the American Dream Guy.
There’s no shortage of men — a Casanova from Cazenovia, a tattooed trucker form Kissimmee, a Princeton-educated skipper from Weddington. But is romance really the answer to their problems? And is two women in search of the perfect man such a great idea anyway?
Theirs is a journey of revelations and surprises, of cactus kisses and errant snowploughs, but above all it’s a journey in search of love.
—Jane Austen
Get your motor running and head out on the highway for love!
Belinda loves America. Her best friend Emily loves men. So when they decide it’s time to shake up their lives, they combine their two greatest passions in a fantastic road trip taking them from Eden to Valentine — via Climax — in pursuit of the American Dream Guy.
There’s no shortage of men — a Casanova from Cazenovia, a tattooed trucker form Kissimmee, a Princeton-educated skipper from Weddington. But is romance really the answer to their problems? And is two women in search of the perfect man such a great idea anyway?
Theirs is a journey of revelations and surprises, of cactus kisses and errant snowploughs, but above all it’s a journey in search of love.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
12 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Belinda Jones
34 books351 followersBelinda Jones was born in Turnbridge Wells, Kent England. At the age of 19 she moved to London, where she resided for the next ten years before moving to California. She now lives in Los Angeles.
Belinda Jones writes books for women which focus around travel and womens issues, particularly relationships. Her books tend to fall into the romance, chick lit and women's fiction categories
Belinda Jones writes books for women which focus around travel and womens issues, particularly relationships. Her books tend to fall into the romance, chick lit and women's fiction categories
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 11, 2021
1,5 Stars
This is not a novel but rather a travel journal mixed with a love quest. I realized that after reading about 50 pages. The story was just too unbelievable to be fictitious!
Belinda (and a friend) want to travel around the USA, specifically to places with funny (love-related) names, and hope that in one of them they will find their Mr. Right! Which means that they must believe in Love-at-first-sight, and need lots of luck.
Amazingly, Belinda meets at least one guy in every destination and tells us about her encounters. Which are all a bit weird, I have to say. I also quickly lost interest in Belindas search for true love and was only interested which places she would visit. Incidentally, I have been to some of them myself. But even that was not enough to let me give this book more than 1,5 stars. I've enjoyed "real novels" by Belinda Jones a lot more in the past.
This is not a novel but rather a travel journal mixed with a love quest. I realized that after reading about 50 pages. The story was just too unbelievable to be fictitious!
Belinda (and a friend) want to travel around the USA, specifically to places with funny (love-related) names, and hope that in one of them they will find their Mr. Right! Which means that they must believe in Love-at-first-sight, and need lots of luck.
Amazingly, Belinda meets at least one guy in every destination and tells us about her encounters. Which are all a bit weird, I have to say. I also quickly lost interest in Belindas search for true love and was only interested which places she would visit. Incidentally, I have been to some of them myself. But even that was not enough to let me give this book more than 1,5 stars. I've enjoyed "real novels" by Belinda Jones a lot more in the past.
August 26, 2017
Eh...
First off, it's just weird when the MC shares a name with the author. Made me wonder if it was autobiographical. Could be, might not be... I'm not sure I really want to know the answer to that considering how thrilled I was by this book. Not really.
I liked the idea, very much so even. As far as road trips go, why not go for places with odd names or following a particular theme! I didn't even know most of these places existed, so that definitely produced a good laugh every now and then.
The execution of the road trip, and as such the story/plot, wasn't all that great. Man-hunting is one thing, but being so ridiculously desperate as the MC presents herself to be (unknowingly so, of course), it was painful to read sometimes.
The self-revelations announced in the synopsis were very few and far in between all the rest. Most of them weren't even properly discussed but merely mentioned in passing as though it was an afterthought to add something slightly more substantial to the story than a desperate 30-something trying to land 20-something boys. Besides, all this initial whining about lack of money and working freelance, and then going off to spend crazy amounts on expensive hotels and weird man-quests. No, I didn't buy it. Either, or.
It was all a bit... meh.
I've read later books by Belinda Jones before ever picking up this one and I enjoyed those far more. The descriptions of the places were better and gave the reader a more tangible feeling of actually travelling with the main character. Besides, there usually was an actual story involved. As in story. Not just one short story after another, trying to make it fit into a whole. And not really getting there.
First off, it's just weird when the MC shares a name with the author. Made me wonder if it was autobiographical. Could be, might not be... I'm not sure I really want to know the answer to that considering how thrilled I was by this book. Not really.
I liked the idea, very much so even. As far as road trips go, why not go for places with odd names or following a particular theme! I didn't even know most of these places existed, so that definitely produced a good laugh every now and then.
The execution of the road trip, and as such the story/plot, wasn't all that great. Man-hunting is one thing, but being so ridiculously desperate as the MC presents herself to be (unknowingly so, of course), it was painful to read sometimes.
The self-revelations announced in the synopsis were very few and far in between all the rest. Most of them weren't even properly discussed but merely mentioned in passing as though it was an afterthought to add something slightly more substantial to the story than a desperate 30-something trying to land 20-something boys. Besides, all this initial whining about lack of money and working freelance, and then going off to spend crazy amounts on expensive hotels and weird man-quests. No, I didn't buy it. Either, or.
It was all a bit... meh.
I've read later books by Belinda Jones before ever picking up this one and I enjoyed those far more. The descriptions of the places were better and gave the reader a more tangible feeling of actually travelling with the main character. Besides, there usually was an actual story involved. As in story. Not just one short story after another, trying to make it fit into a whole. And not really getting there.
July 15, 2013
This must be my third or forth time reading this book. And I don't doubt I will read it again one day. I love Belinda Jones books. They are always funny and light hearted. All the way through this book I pictured myself driving cross country with my best friend, oh what an adventure we would have. 5 well deserved stars for On the Road to Mr Right :)
May 31, 2017
This book was great--it was a fun-loving adventure, with an interesting twist at the end. It was a little cheesy, but what paperback of this variety isn't? Loved it.
December 8, 2024
I was really excited to read this book, and the first 100 pages were great. I really liked the friend dynamic between Belinda and Emily, and when she started to travel with other people in stead of Emily it was a lot less fun for me. I also liked Nina, but it felt like there was still something missing with her chapters. I still had fun reading it, it's a really interesting idea for a book, but it got a little repetitive the longer it went on. I did wish we got to read about Belinda meeting up with Troy at the end, there was so much build-up but we never got to read about what happened with them.
January 31, 2022
Ik werd niet gepakt door het verhaal. Na een aantal hoofdstukken kwam ik erachter dat de schrijver de hoofdpersoon is, waarschijnlijk is dat de reden. Er gebeurt heel erg veel, alleen de reisgenoten wisselen al elke keer, laat staan nog alle mensen die ze tegenkomt.
Ik ben normaal dol op Belinda Jones dus ik hoop dat dit een eenmalige domper was.
Ik ben normaal dol op Belinda Jones dus ik hoop dat dit een eenmalige domper was.
August 4, 2023
Het had een leuk verhaal kunnen zijn. Maar door het hele verheel heen waren er steeds dezelfde teleurstellingen. Hierdoor werd het verhaal erg voorspelbaar en saai. Ook het einde vond ik zelf een beetje jammer. Normaal wel fan van belinda jones maar dit boek is het niet voor mij
April 19, 2021
Very funny roadmap would read from this author again
August 30, 2024
I loved it, would read it again
February 2, 2015
I've read several books of Belinda Jones, which was the reason I picked up this one. But this book wasn't what I expected. It took me a few pages to figure out that this book is non-fiction. It is presented exactly the same way as her other books, which are fiction. Because it did not meet my expectations, I only give this book two stars.
From an autobiographical point of view I can understand why the inevitable disappointment Belinda experiences during her adventure is written about with such thoughtful and careful wording. But this makes me feel less involved as a reader. Like I am allowed to experience the highlights, but not the downsides, which would have made the book feel more real, and the distinction between fiction and non-fiction more clear.
I understand the ending from a biographical point of view, but I was looking for chick-lit, and wanted a happy ending. I'm happy that she discovered she didn't need a man to make her happy, but she could have gotten that message across with a happy ending as an added bonus.
Also, in the edition that I had, there were quite a lot of spelling/translation mistakes, which isn't the fault of the author, but which did annoy me to such an extend that it limited my enjoyment of the book.
From an autobiographical point of view I can understand why the inevitable disappointment Belinda experiences during her adventure is written about with such thoughtful and careful wording. But this makes me feel less involved as a reader. Like I am allowed to experience the highlights, but not the downsides, which would have made the book feel more real, and the distinction between fiction and non-fiction more clear.
I understand the ending from a biographical point of view, but I was looking for chick-lit, and wanted a happy ending. I'm happy that she discovered she didn't need a man to make her happy, but she could have gotten that message across with a happy ending as an added bonus.
Also, in the edition that I had, there were quite a lot of spelling/translation mistakes, which isn't the fault of the author, but which did annoy me to such an extend that it limited my enjoyment of the book.
June 4, 2013
A nonfiction work by Belinda Jones; the story of her and her best friend Emily journeying across America to see if the perfect man really is out there. And where better to look than places with names like Kissimee, Weddington and Valentine?
Because this isn't a work of fiction, obviously there isn't a happy ending, all loose ends tied up perfectly, etc etc. Nevertheless, Belinda Jones knows how to tell an entertaining story! I loved reading about her and Emily's exploits; if I wasn't a mother I would be taking my own road trip across America! Only complaint is that there wasn't much of a storyline, it was just pretty much jumping from town to town. Still an enjoyable read.
Because this isn't a work of fiction, obviously there isn't a happy ending, all loose ends tied up perfectly, etc etc. Nevertheless, Belinda Jones knows how to tell an entertaining story! I loved reading about her and Emily's exploits; if I wasn't a mother I would be taking my own road trip across America! Only complaint is that there wasn't much of a storyline, it was just pretty much jumping from town to town. Still an enjoyable read.
October 14, 2021
I remember picking this up in a bookstore near Trafalgar Square. I was looking for a book about adventure & travel, and found this! Well, it was between this book & Paulo Caulo. If I knew that Paulo Caulo would become so famous, then.. who knows!
This felt like a Thelma & Louise book, and I loved that they decided to travel to places with funny names, that were not as romantic in person, as the name suggests.
The fact that I remember this book is a good sign, but I also remember that I struggled to finish this. I wasn't a big reader back then. I only stuck to what I knew. But now that I'm appreciating other authors, I might try this again? Maybe.
This felt like a Thelma & Louise book, and I loved that they decided to travel to places with funny names, that were not as romantic in person, as the name suggests.
The fact that I remember this book is a good sign, but I also remember that I struggled to finish this. I wasn't a big reader back then. I only stuck to what I knew. But now that I'm appreciating other authors, I might try this again? Maybe.
Currently reading
July 8, 2008An airport purchase. So far slightly witty but not sure I'll make it through. Especially since I'm not out in the guy field it's charm may be limited.
Want to read
September 5, 200809/05/08 rec via bookmooch
October 21, 2008
So entertaining!
December 12, 2009
This book journals Belinda Jones's travels with her best friend across America in pursuit of Mr. Right. It's a fun book but not as good as her previous ones.
March 28, 2011
A wise and witty read about the secret desires deep within us.
December 28, 2011
It did'nt really grip me because it lacked a main storyline, so you don't really know when its going to kick off or somethings going to happen.
June 13, 2015
I normally enjoy Belinda Jones books this was really hard going and I only finished it through stubbornness of finishing a book rather than wanting to.
July 3, 2016
A bit desperate,awkward and funny, but didn't keep me interested.
June 12, 2016
Still one of the most peppy feel-good books I've read!
July 9, 2008
I want to do this, it sounds like lots of fun!!
March 31, 2017
I took a long while to finish this one, probably because there was no compelling continuity. Liked Belinda's idea of travelling to places with weird names ;) sorry she did not meet her Mr. Right till the end. But as she rightly understood, it was not her calling after all. Each person is unique and cut out for different things in life.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews