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Euro Tripped
Who said coming out was easy? But for Freya, that was the understatement of her life. Her future was all planned out; graduate medical school, become a doctor and at some point get married. If she's to travel, it has to be now and so, together with Gabe, her long-term boyfriend, they take a camper to the continent for three months of bliss. One promise was made - That this would be the greatest summer of their lives. However, their plans are cast into disarray when Gabe receives an unexpected call from an old friend. He's loud, he's rude, he's close by, and he wants to join them. How will Freya cope now that her one chance for an intimate adventure's been hijacked by the most obnoxious man she's ever met and his slender, blonde and mystifying travelling companion? Freya had not bargained on meeting Arwen, a beautiful dancer from Australia and gradually, her orderly world turns to confusion as this exceptionally casual free spirit throws her entire life plan into doubt. Could this rigid Scottish trainee doctor seriously be attracted to a braided hippie woman who meditates? It was preposterous, yet... Suddenly, the relaxing European adventure she’d once craved is now life changing as Freya risks everything to discover who she really is. You'll adore this holiday romance because everyone loves a tale of sun and self-discovery. Get it now.
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 14, 2018
94 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Sally Bryan
7 books19 followersSally graduated in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge and now splits her time between that city and Florence, Italy, the country where many of her stories are set.
Sally writes lesbian romance books and in her spare time enjoys reading, playing tennis and visiting new and remote locations around Europe.
(source: Amazon.com)
Librarian note:
In 2018, Sally Bryan started publishing her books using this name. Before that, her books were published under the pen-name of Bella Donnis
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Sally writes lesbian romance books and in her spare time enjoys reading, playing tennis and visiting new and remote locations around Europe.
(source: Amazon.com)
Librarian note:
In 2018, Sally Bryan started publishing her books using this name. Before that, her books were published under the pen-name of Bella Donnis
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 9, 2019
2.5 stars
That cover! The blurb! Stunning. The execution, not so much. This reads like a het story with a little bit of lesbian action thrown in to titillate men.
Not only that, the story is all over the place, with severally underdeveloped charters. One of the other things that called to me about this book was the mention of an Aussie character, but Arwin could've been from anywhere in the world she was so one-dimensional.
And don't get me started on character names like Piston and Floor.
In short, this author's writing style is not for me.
That cover! The blurb! Stunning. The execution, not so much. This reads like a het story with a little bit of lesbian action thrown in to titillate men.
Not only that, the story is all over the place, with severally underdeveloped charters. One of the other things that called to me about this book was the mention of an Aussie character, but Arwin could've been from anywhere in the world she was so one-dimensional.
And don't get me started on character names like Piston and Floor.
In short, this author's writing style is not for me.
October 24, 2018
I had such a hard time with this book. I tried reading it a while back but put it aside because I couldn't seem to get into it. This time I got far enough into it that I really wanted to know the outcome for the MCs. It was shear determination that allowed me to finish it though. It's a good story but just seemed way too long. The author kept adding subplots that didn't belong and seemed to take away from the story. It honestly felt like this could have been at least 3 stand alone books or a sequel. By the middle of the book I was doing quite a bit of skimming because the storyline kept dragging along for me. I would have rated it lower but there were parts of the book I did actually enjoy and finally there was an HEA that was amazing.
January 4, 2024
4 Stars
Wow! What a roller coaster story this was! I think I’ve gone through all sorts of emotions reading Euro Tripped. It was obvious the author put a lot of effort in all the places mentioned in the book and it gave the characters’ trip an authentic feel to their experience. I also appreciated the growth and journey of each character written especially the mains.
The trip felt arduous in a good way. The book felt longer than usual but I appreciate the details included to cover plot points. I enjoyed reading this book and am excited to read the novella about two supporting characters in the story.
Wow! What a roller coaster story this was! I think I’ve gone through all sorts of emotions reading Euro Tripped. It was obvious the author put a lot of effort in all the places mentioned in the book and it gave the characters’ trip an authentic feel to their experience. I also appreciated the growth and journey of each character written especially the mains.
The trip felt arduous in a good way. The book felt longer than usual but I appreciate the details included to cover plot points. I enjoyed reading this book and am excited to read the novella about two supporting characters in the story.
December 8, 2018
I am really conflicted about this book..... I liked it but at the same time there are a lot of things I did not like...... I don't think I even liked Freya to be honest.... I guess it was okay
August 25, 2020
Don't know why - just didn't work for me - crossed too many genres so I was confused by what I was reading. Romance? Not really, but I guess it was, and somehow I couldn't make those story line leaps with the author. There are just too many What? Really?s.
February 23, 2019
Partners Gabe and Freya, ambitious medical students set for success, are going to take an epic Euro trip over the summer. While they both look forward to exploring vineyards, walking along cobblestone streets, and tasting new cuisines, they each have unique motivations for adventuring across the continent. Gabe, serious about Freya but concerned about how her wealthy family perceives him, has entered a deal with her father, promising to propose to her before the summer’s end. Meanwhile, Freya wants to prove that her relationship with Gabe can withstand the stress that comes with a long journey from home.
An early hurdle for the young couple comes when Gabe’s eager social media post about their trip attracts the attention of an old friend, Dan. While Freya is less than pleased at having to stop and see him, she is willing to put up with it for a night. But quickly, she realizes with horror that Dan will be joining them for the entire trip. This would be awful, if not for Dan’s fascinating friend, Arwen. The inimitable, adventurous Australian blonde is not who Freya expected as a travel companion. As the trip around Europe takes unexpected pauses and detours, Freya finds herself drawn to Arwen in a way that goes far beyond the bounds of friendship. As the summer goes on, Freya realizes that she must confront difficult, life-changing truths and decide if she wants to step out of the path that she has so carefully created.
——
I’m a sucker for a good romance, so I eagerly dove into Sally Bryan’s Euro Tripped. I was excited to see that it was an LGBTQ-positive read, since expanding representation in contemporary literature is something I strongly support. A quick skim of Bryan’s past writings showed that she focuses on writing lesbian romances, so she is well-versed in creating characters who can realistically engage with their sexualities.
Bryan thoughtfully notes at the start of the book that there is graphic language and sexual content. I agreed with this rating. The merrily coarse language was typical of what I would expect from boisterous twenty-somethings, and the curse words that Bryan chose were amusing to read as an American, since many of the expressions are unique to the United Kingdom. As for the sexual content, it definitely filled a fair number of pages. In novels, I frequently get impatient at overly long sex scenes that fail to drive the plot, but given that Euro Tripped was about a young woman exploring her sexuality, I felt that it was appropriate to include the explicit descriptions of Freya and Arwen’s encounters.
That being said, I did not quite fall for Arwen. At times, she felt a little too perfect. Quirky name, fun personality, pro drinker, great dancer, shapely figure, sensuous lover, and a car expert? Perhaps there exists such a woman in this world, but I have yet to meet her. An early scene where the two romantic leads kiss because of a drunken round of Truth or Dare also made me a little uncomfortable, since it was lesbian sexuality existing solely for the male gaze. Since Bryan shows in the rest of the novel that women can truly love each other and have healthy relationships, I would have rather avoided that tired trope altogether. As for Freya, I liked her well enough. Her journey towards self-discovery was paced well, and I felt sympathy for her difficult home life.
I enjoyed how the chapters were named after different places in Europe. At the beginning of each one, I would Google the location so that I could better imagine where the characters were fighting and falling in love. Because of this, I discovered places like Carcassonne, a town in southern France, and Catalonia, a northeastern region of Spain. I do wish that Bryan had spent more time describing the settings, as she devoted quite a bit of time to describing each character, no matter how minor.
Euro Tripped is a fun romp throughout Europe that readers interested in expanding their romance bookshelf will be eager to come along for the ride.
An early hurdle for the young couple comes when Gabe’s eager social media post about their trip attracts the attention of an old friend, Dan. While Freya is less than pleased at having to stop and see him, she is willing to put up with it for a night. But quickly, she realizes with horror that Dan will be joining them for the entire trip. This would be awful, if not for Dan’s fascinating friend, Arwen. The inimitable, adventurous Australian blonde is not who Freya expected as a travel companion. As the trip around Europe takes unexpected pauses and detours, Freya finds herself drawn to Arwen in a way that goes far beyond the bounds of friendship. As the summer goes on, Freya realizes that she must confront difficult, life-changing truths and decide if she wants to step out of the path that she has so carefully created.
——
I’m a sucker for a good romance, so I eagerly dove into Sally Bryan’s Euro Tripped. I was excited to see that it was an LGBTQ-positive read, since expanding representation in contemporary literature is something I strongly support. A quick skim of Bryan’s past writings showed that she focuses on writing lesbian romances, so she is well-versed in creating characters who can realistically engage with their sexualities.
Bryan thoughtfully notes at the start of the book that there is graphic language and sexual content. I agreed with this rating. The merrily coarse language was typical of what I would expect from boisterous twenty-somethings, and the curse words that Bryan chose were amusing to read as an American, since many of the expressions are unique to the United Kingdom. As for the sexual content, it definitely filled a fair number of pages. In novels, I frequently get impatient at overly long sex scenes that fail to drive the plot, but given that Euro Tripped was about a young woman exploring her sexuality, I felt that it was appropriate to include the explicit descriptions of Freya and Arwen’s encounters.
That being said, I did not quite fall for Arwen. At times, she felt a little too perfect. Quirky name, fun personality, pro drinker, great dancer, shapely figure, sensuous lover, and a car expert? Perhaps there exists such a woman in this world, but I have yet to meet her. An early scene where the two romantic leads kiss because of a drunken round of Truth or Dare also made me a little uncomfortable, since it was lesbian sexuality existing solely for the male gaze. Since Bryan shows in the rest of the novel that women can truly love each other and have healthy relationships, I would have rather avoided that tired trope altogether. As for Freya, I liked her well enough. Her journey towards self-discovery was paced well, and I felt sympathy for her difficult home life.
I enjoyed how the chapters were named after different places in Europe. At the beginning of each one, I would Google the location so that I could better imagine where the characters were fighting and falling in love. Because of this, I discovered places like Carcassonne, a town in southern France, and Catalonia, a northeastern region of Spain. I do wish that Bryan had spent more time describing the settings, as she devoted quite a bit of time to describing each character, no matter how minor.
Euro Tripped is a fun romp throughout Europe that readers interested in expanding their romance bookshelf will be eager to come along for the ride.
June 30, 2018
I don’t usually write reviews but after reading this I felt compelled. This book just gave me such good feelings that I couldn’t put it down.
An uptight, overworked Scottish trainee doctor, Freya, meets her opposite, a carefree, totally laid back Australian dancer, Arwen. What could possibly go wrong? Naturally, at first they get off on totally the wrong foot, with everything about Arwen grinding on Freya to the point of irritation. But bit by little bit, Freya finds herself increasingly drawn to Arwen, all whilst they travel around some of Europe’s most beautiful cities on a grand summer adventure.
Oh, just one thing, or should I say two things: Freya’s boyfriend Gabe is also travelling with them, as is his best friend, Dan, who has an obsession with Arwen.
So, what did I love about this book? Well, apart from the incredible storytelling and subplots, the characters were all so wonderful and believable. By the end, you truly feel like you know and love Freya and root for her all the way. The dialogue is scintillating and the entire book is so incredibly well written.
The only bad thing about this story is that, like Kristen Zimmer, Sally Bryan has too few books. Please write more. 5* and deserved.
An uptight, overworked Scottish trainee doctor, Freya, meets her opposite, a carefree, totally laid back Australian dancer, Arwen. What could possibly go wrong? Naturally, at first they get off on totally the wrong foot, with everything about Arwen grinding on Freya to the point of irritation. But bit by little bit, Freya finds herself increasingly drawn to Arwen, all whilst they travel around some of Europe’s most beautiful cities on a grand summer adventure.
Oh, just one thing, or should I say two things: Freya’s boyfriend Gabe is also travelling with them, as is his best friend, Dan, who has an obsession with Arwen.
So, what did I love about this book? Well, apart from the incredible storytelling and subplots, the characters were all so wonderful and believable. By the end, you truly feel like you know and love Freya and root for her all the way. The dialogue is scintillating and the entire book is so incredibly well written.
The only bad thing about this story is that, like Kristen Zimmer, Sally Bryan has too few books. Please write more. 5* and deserved.
April 8, 2018
This is one of those books that I read all the way through, and then realized at the end, that I didn't like it.
For one, I hate infidelity. I think there's very few circumstances where cheating is understandable, and the situation in this novel is definitely not one of them.
For another, the plot just kind of meanders and the characters are super inconsistent. It makes no sense that the het couple is together, and it makes no sense when they break up.
And there's this whole side plot about a winery that comes out of nowhere, and feels like this book is a sequel to that one. I feel like there's some other side plots that don't go anywhere too.
Oh, and don't even get me on the side couple with a 25 year age gap, and she loudly insists she wasn't groomed, because "groomed couples can't be happily married with children," when I can think of at least one Hollywood couple that fits that description.
So yeah, a terrible book about terrible and unlikable characters.
For one, I hate infidelity. I think there's very few circumstances where cheating is understandable, and the situation in this novel is definitely not one of them.
For another, the plot just kind of meanders and the characters are super inconsistent. It makes no sense that the het couple is together, and it makes no sense when they break up.
And there's this whole side plot about a winery that comes out of nowhere, and feels like this book is a sequel to that one. I feel like there's some other side plots that don't go anywhere too.
Oh, and don't even get me on the side couple with a 25 year age gap, and she loudly insists she wasn't groomed, because "groomed couples can't be happily married with children," when I can think of at least one Hollywood couple that fits that description.
So yeah, a terrible book about terrible and unlikable characters.
July 6, 2022
It's only the first week of January, but I already know this book will make it to my worst books of the year list. I didn't even have high expectations going into it, after having rated another book by the author two stars last year, but it was still so much worse than I could have anticipated. This review is probably going to be all over the place because I have three pages of notes and can't be bothered to structure them, especially since this book has wasted way too much of my time already.
Usually I would start saying something positive about the book, but there genuinly was nothing I liked. At first I was hoping the roadtrip aspect would be good, so it would give me the feeling of travelling around Europe, but it definitely didn't deliver on that. There were also a couple of pages where I thought the love interest was quite decent, but soon I ended up hating her too.
The prologue of this book was already extremely disgusting. Basically the father of our main character offers her boyfriend money, a house and a car if he marries her and has two children with her soon (while literally using the word "breed" to refer to humans having children). And Gabe (the boyfriend) agrees to that. So obviously I was expecting this to be the big thing that would make Freya break up with Gabe once she learns about it, but in the end it was barely even a part of the reason for their breakup, so them making decisions about Freyas future without her knowledge and going against the things they know she wants never really had any repercussions.
I don't think I've ever read a sapphic book that reads so heterosexual. What I mean by that is that there was this certain kind of judgemental tone with a lot of gender stereotyping and really weird views on relationships that I usually only see in books by straight authors about straight characters. And when I say a lot of gender stereotyping, I truly mean A LOT. It started with "she just wasn't prone to whimsy short-term thinking like most women" in the prologue and then went on to talk about how all women like to gossip or how all men are staring at the love interest or how men always make a woman the center of their life and that's why women have power over them or some shit like this. Like, how does that make sense in general, let alone in a sapphic story? Unsurprisinlg with quotes like this this book was also forcing the gender binary really hard.
Freya herself is the most judgemental person ever, and if that gets slightly better throughout the book then only because as the story went on her personality got flatter and flatter. She also has the worst jealousy issues, she keeps thinking about having to keep her boyfriend away from every beautiful girl she sees. Even knowing Gabe and Freya wouldn't end up together, I couldn't ship Freya with anyone after that, because how is she supposed to have a healthy relationship with any person when she clearly has some huge trust issues to work through first.
The way the love interest seemed to only be described in a sexual way was quite uncomfortable to me as well. The book spent so much time talking about her boobs or her ass, yet after having read all of it I still don't even know her eye color or what her face looks like or how her voice sounds. The book tried making Arwen seem sexy so desperately, it forgot making her seem like a person. And having her constantly described like that plus not being able to escape the mentions of how all men are into her, had the opposite of its intented effect for me, it made me picture Arwen as the most generic person ever, or more specifically as the most generic middle aged cishet dude's fantasy, which is especially weird since this book wasn't even witten by a middle aged cishet guy. All the references to guys staring at Arwen's boobs made me very uncomfortable too, because while men often are disgusting and so it's probably realistic, it was never painted as them being creepy, but only served to make Arwen seem attractive. There even was a line that said "credit to him though, he seized the chance to ogle her cleavage", which sounds like it should have been said in a sarcastic way to call out that guy, but it wasn't.
Of course the book also had to talk about Freya "never having lived" because she only dated one guy and never did drugs. There are few things I am as sick of as I am of the narrative that not dating or not having sex equals not living.
Another thing that just drove me nuts in this book were the nicknames. Gabe's friend keeps calling Gabe "Gay Boy", although Gabe clearly is the most heterosexual person you could imagine. Like, at least give us an explanation where that name came from so it makes some sense. Gabe and Freya call each other "doctor", because they both are, you guessed it, doctors. So creative. Again, didn't feel natural and I cringed a lot reading that. And then Arwen keeps calling Freya "Vanilla", which felt condescending and not cute at all (I assume it was intended to be cute, but I really don't know). Also, not to be that person, but calling a character vanilla in a way that clearly means the person who says that is not vanilla in a book where all the sex scenes are very vanilla doesn't add up in my head.
Talking about sex scenes, the wording in them was cringe-worthy as well. I generally didn't enjoy the writing style in this book, but it especially showed in the sex scenes. They were also quite boring, but maybe that was mainly due to the fact that I didn't feel any connection between the characters to start with. To be fair, it am not super comfortable reading non m/m sex to start with, but I feel like I still can tell the difference between a sex scene I didn't care for because everything sexual that includes vaginas makes me another level of uncomfortable, and one that's genuinely not good, and this book had those of the later kind.
Another plot point that made me want to burn the book (or the kindle I guess since I read this as an ebook) was when Dan and Gabe went to jail because Gabe literally attacked a romani child that stole his money or attempted to steal his money. A literal child! He keeps calling that child the g-word and is proud that he probably broke his fingers. And Freya doesn't find it disgusting in the slightest that he would say those things and not for one second does she worry about the child who literally GOT HIS HAND BROKEN BY AN ADULT MAN. To make it a million times worse when he comes back from jail and Freya hugs him enthusiastically he says: "I should start assaulting more children." Again Freya doesn't have a problem with him saying that, it's just passed off as a joke. Also, having only white characters except a romani guy who's stealing money? I know I might have already overused the word disgusting in this review, but that choice was probably the most disgusting one in the entire story.
Wait, I lied, there's actually a second character of color, who again doesn't even really appear on page, she's a Brazilian woman in a music video Freya watches. And then she proceeds to call her exotic and sexualize her. Honestly I don't even know how I managed to read this entire book without throwing up even once.
To prove the point I've made earlier about Freya not being ready for a relationship, after she had sex with Arwen (while still dating Gabe) she literally pretends it didn't even happen. She doesn't even say "let's pretend we didn't do that", she literally goes like "I don't know what you're talking about, we didn't do anything, no one would believe you if you told them we had sex". Most toddlers might be more mature than this women at that point.
The chapters in Portugal were especially painful to read and that was when I realized just how much the book failed in getting across the atmosphere of the places they were travelling to. I had been disappointed by the lack of good descriptions the entire time, but once they were at places I knew, it got really obvious how the descriptions couldn't be further from doing the places they visit justice. Also, if I never have to hear someone refer to a pastel the Belém as a custard tart again it'll still be too soon.
So since we now established that this book isn't worth reading for the road trip aspect, let's move on to why it isn't worth reading for the romance either. Apart from the fact that all characters suck and I never felt a real connection between Freya and Arwen, most of the book is actually spent with Gabe and Freya. Seriously, is there even one person out there who would want to pick up a f/f romance book just to spend more than half of it reading about a straight relationship, knowing those two characters won't end up together anyway?
While the book tries to pretend it's all woke and "sexuality is fluid" and so on, other than that quote the lesbian representation read similar to how I've seen it in books published in the 90s or early 2000s. The way other characters react to Freya being attracted to women, or lesbians in general, felt like they all had extremely outdated views on sexuality or even just on relationships. And why it's definitely realistic to have people who think that way, I didn't feel like there was any reason to have so many people say those disgusting and judgmental things, especially since close to the end of the story Freya herself still has rather negative feelings about being attracted to women. And while there's definitely nothing wrong with a character being insecure about their sexuality, I want to see them become more confident and truly embrace who they are at the end of the book, especially if it's a romance novel. And you could argue that Freya did that, but not enough for me, so that I left the book having gotten an overall vibe of "lesbians are so weird and I could never be one of them". In general this book, or at least Freya, seemed to see lesbians almost as some weird different species. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I promise that is 100% how her way of thinking came across to me.
This book has also never heard of relationship development, be that the romance or any other relationship between two characters. There were those weird jumps where suddenly people would completely change their opinion about one another without anything in the book that would have prompted that. Just in general this seemed to skip over a lot of scenes that would have been necessary for the book to make sense. There is a point while Arwen and Freya aren't together yet, were Freya says it almost feels like being in a lesbian relationship, and it confused me so much, because for me the last couple of pages had read like they were just constantly fighting and really not getting along well at all.
As if all of that hadn't been horrible enough, Freya's disabled brother dies in the epilogue. He never even played a role in the book before, and then he was suddenly killed off in order to make Freya come back to England and bring her father, sister and sister's husband back together and to make a few people change some of their views. Which, again, was just an entirely new level of disgusting.
Overall this was easily one of the worst books I've ever read and I wish I could erase every single word of it from my brain.
Usually I would start saying something positive about the book, but there genuinly was nothing I liked. At first I was hoping the roadtrip aspect would be good, so it would give me the feeling of travelling around Europe, but it definitely didn't deliver on that. There were also a couple of pages where I thought the love interest was quite decent, but soon I ended up hating her too.
The prologue of this book was already extremely disgusting. Basically the father of our main character offers her boyfriend money, a house and a car if he marries her and has two children with her soon (while literally using the word "breed" to refer to humans having children). And Gabe (the boyfriend) agrees to that. So obviously I was expecting this to be the big thing that would make Freya break up with Gabe once she learns about it, but in the end it was barely even a part of the reason for their breakup, so them making decisions about Freyas future without her knowledge and going against the things they know she wants never really had any repercussions.
I don't think I've ever read a sapphic book that reads so heterosexual. What I mean by that is that there was this certain kind of judgemental tone with a lot of gender stereotyping and really weird views on relationships that I usually only see in books by straight authors about straight characters. And when I say a lot of gender stereotyping, I truly mean A LOT. It started with "she just wasn't prone to whimsy short-term thinking like most women" in the prologue and then went on to talk about how all women like to gossip or how all men are staring at the love interest or how men always make a woman the center of their life and that's why women have power over them or some shit like this. Like, how does that make sense in general, let alone in a sapphic story? Unsurprisinlg with quotes like this this book was also forcing the gender binary really hard.
Freya herself is the most judgemental person ever, and if that gets slightly better throughout the book then only because as the story went on her personality got flatter and flatter. She also has the worst jealousy issues, she keeps thinking about having to keep her boyfriend away from every beautiful girl she sees. Even knowing Gabe and Freya wouldn't end up together, I couldn't ship Freya with anyone after that, because how is she supposed to have a healthy relationship with any person when she clearly has some huge trust issues to work through first.
The way the love interest seemed to only be described in a sexual way was quite uncomfortable to me as well. The book spent so much time talking about her boobs or her ass, yet after having read all of it I still don't even know her eye color or what her face looks like or how her voice sounds. The book tried making Arwen seem sexy so desperately, it forgot making her seem like a person. And having her constantly described like that plus not being able to escape the mentions of how all men are into her, had the opposite of its intented effect for me, it made me picture Arwen as the most generic person ever, or more specifically as the most generic middle aged cishet dude's fantasy, which is especially weird since this book wasn't even witten by a middle aged cishet guy. All the references to guys staring at Arwen's boobs made me very uncomfortable too, because while men often are disgusting and so it's probably realistic, it was never painted as them being creepy, but only served to make Arwen seem attractive. There even was a line that said "credit to him though, he seized the chance to ogle her cleavage", which sounds like it should have been said in a sarcastic way to call out that guy, but it wasn't.
Of course the book also had to talk about Freya "never having lived" because she only dated one guy and never did drugs. There are few things I am as sick of as I am of the narrative that not dating or not having sex equals not living.
Another thing that just drove me nuts in this book were the nicknames. Gabe's friend keeps calling Gabe "Gay Boy", although Gabe clearly is the most heterosexual person you could imagine. Like, at least give us an explanation where that name came from so it makes some sense. Gabe and Freya call each other "doctor", because they both are, you guessed it, doctors. So creative. Again, didn't feel natural and I cringed a lot reading that. And then Arwen keeps calling Freya "Vanilla", which felt condescending and not cute at all (I assume it was intended to be cute, but I really don't know). Also, not to be that person, but calling a character vanilla in a way that clearly means the person who says that is not vanilla in a book where all the sex scenes are very vanilla doesn't add up in my head.
Talking about sex scenes, the wording in them was cringe-worthy as well. I generally didn't enjoy the writing style in this book, but it especially showed in the sex scenes. They were also quite boring, but maybe that was mainly due to the fact that I didn't feel any connection between the characters to start with. To be fair, it am not super comfortable reading non m/m sex to start with, but I feel like I still can tell the difference between a sex scene I didn't care for because everything sexual that includes vaginas makes me another level of uncomfortable, and one that's genuinely not good, and this book had those of the later kind.
Another plot point that made me want to burn the book (or the kindle I guess since I read this as an ebook) was when Dan and Gabe went to jail because Gabe literally attacked a romani child that stole his money or attempted to steal his money. A literal child! He keeps calling that child the g-word and is proud that he probably broke his fingers. And Freya doesn't find it disgusting in the slightest that he would say those things and not for one second does she worry about the child who literally GOT HIS HAND BROKEN BY AN ADULT MAN. To make it a million times worse when he comes back from jail and Freya hugs him enthusiastically he says: "I should start assaulting more children." Again Freya doesn't have a problem with him saying that, it's just passed off as a joke. Also, having only white characters except a romani guy who's stealing money? I know I might have already overused the word disgusting in this review, but that choice was probably the most disgusting one in the entire story.
Wait, I lied, there's actually a second character of color, who again doesn't even really appear on page, she's a Brazilian woman in a music video Freya watches. And then she proceeds to call her exotic and sexualize her. Honestly I don't even know how I managed to read this entire book without throwing up even once.
To prove the point I've made earlier about Freya not being ready for a relationship, after she had sex with Arwen (while still dating Gabe) she literally pretends it didn't even happen. She doesn't even say "let's pretend we didn't do that", she literally goes like "I don't know what you're talking about, we didn't do anything, no one would believe you if you told them we had sex". Most toddlers might be more mature than this women at that point.
The chapters in Portugal were especially painful to read and that was when I realized just how much the book failed in getting across the atmosphere of the places they were travelling to. I had been disappointed by the lack of good descriptions the entire time, but once they were at places I knew, it got really obvious how the descriptions couldn't be further from doing the places they visit justice. Also, if I never have to hear someone refer to a pastel the Belém as a custard tart again it'll still be too soon.
So since we now established that this book isn't worth reading for the road trip aspect, let's move on to why it isn't worth reading for the romance either. Apart from the fact that all characters suck and I never felt a real connection between Freya and Arwen, most of the book is actually spent with Gabe and Freya. Seriously, is there even one person out there who would want to pick up a f/f romance book just to spend more than half of it reading about a straight relationship, knowing those two characters won't end up together anyway?
While the book tries to pretend it's all woke and "sexuality is fluid" and so on, other than that quote the lesbian representation read similar to how I've seen it in books published in the 90s or early 2000s. The way other characters react to Freya being attracted to women, or lesbians in general, felt like they all had extremely outdated views on sexuality or even just on relationships. And why it's definitely realistic to have people who think that way, I didn't feel like there was any reason to have so many people say those disgusting and judgmental things, especially since close to the end of the story Freya herself still has rather negative feelings about being attracted to women. And while there's definitely nothing wrong with a character being insecure about their sexuality, I want to see them become more confident and truly embrace who they are at the end of the book, especially if it's a romance novel. And you could argue that Freya did that, but not enough for me, so that I left the book having gotten an overall vibe of "lesbians are so weird and I could never be one of them". In general this book, or at least Freya, seemed to see lesbians almost as some weird different species. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I promise that is 100% how her way of thinking came across to me.
This book has also never heard of relationship development, be that the romance or any other relationship between two characters. There were those weird jumps where suddenly people would completely change their opinion about one another without anything in the book that would have prompted that. Just in general this seemed to skip over a lot of scenes that would have been necessary for the book to make sense. There is a point while Arwen and Freya aren't together yet, were Freya says it almost feels like being in a lesbian relationship, and it confused me so much, because for me the last couple of pages had read like they were just constantly fighting and really not getting along well at all.
As if all of that hadn't been horrible enough, Freya's disabled brother dies in the epilogue. He never even played a role in the book before, and then he was suddenly killed off in order to make Freya come back to England and bring her father, sister and sister's husband back together and to make a few people change some of their views. Which, again, was just an entirely new level of disgusting.
Overall this was easily one of the worst books I've ever read and I wish I could erase every single word of it from my brain.
October 18, 2019
Cracking European adventure romance that I just couldn’t put down. Brilliantly crafted and relevant with a range of loveable, awkward, zany, funny and detestable characters. A journey about young people messing up their lives and figuring things out, destroying and repairing relationships, making bad decisions and putting things right again. What was meant to be a relaxing vacation is anything but.
I would very much love an audiobook version, if the author is listening.
I would very much love an audiobook version, if the author is listening.
July 25, 2018
Five well deserved stars. Really builds up as it goes along. By the time I got to the end chapters I was speed reading as I really was hoping for Freya and Arwen to finally overcome all obstacles. I will give no spoilers as I want other readers to ride the roller-coaster as I did.
Highly recommended
Highly recommended
October 27, 2019
Mixed feelings about this book
There are things I really liked about this book, and others that I didn't like much at all. There are some beautiful scenes as the emotional intimacy develops between the two main characters, very well-written and powerful. And the overall story arc has a pleasing and satisfying ending.
But there is also a great deal of content that seems superfluous. Sometimes it feels like the story is going to go on forever, with tons of details that just aren't that important to the resolution of the dramatic tension.
I admire the patience that the author has brought to the storytelling process. More detail, more depth can add to the reader's emotional involvement and the impact when big things happen. But sometimes there can be just too much detail.
One last gripe: the misuse of punctuation, particularly commas, but also occasional misuse of apostraphes and many missing hyphens. The comma mistakes are the most common; it seems like there's at least one run-on sentence on every page, and sometimes several in one paragraph. Meanwhile, elsewhere essential commas are missing.
Still, I enjoyed this book. I liked the main characters and most of the supporting characters, although both Dan and Gabe tried my patience at times. The passion that developed between Freya and Arwen is captivating, particularly in the early stages. And I loved the way their story played out in the end. But I was left wondering about the fate of the poor little camper van...
There are things I really liked about this book, and others that I didn't like much at all. There are some beautiful scenes as the emotional intimacy develops between the two main characters, very well-written and powerful. And the overall story arc has a pleasing and satisfying ending.
But there is also a great deal of content that seems superfluous. Sometimes it feels like the story is going to go on forever, with tons of details that just aren't that important to the resolution of the dramatic tension.
I admire the patience that the author has brought to the storytelling process. More detail, more depth can add to the reader's emotional involvement and the impact when big things happen. But sometimes there can be just too much detail.
One last gripe: the misuse of punctuation, particularly commas, but also occasional misuse of apostraphes and many missing hyphens. The comma mistakes are the most common; it seems like there's at least one run-on sentence on every page, and sometimes several in one paragraph. Meanwhile, elsewhere essential commas are missing.
Still, I enjoyed this book. I liked the main characters and most of the supporting characters, although both Dan and Gabe tried my patience at times. The passion that developed between Freya and Arwen is captivating, particularly in the early stages. And I loved the way their story played out in the end. But I was left wondering about the fate of the poor little camper van...
February 23, 2018
An exceptionally enjoyable slow burn romance taking place throughout Europe over one special summer.
April 30, 2019
I loved a great deal of this book. It takes you all over the place. I am very much in need of a European trip.
April 15, 2020
Hard read
This book had too much surface information with little depth to the characters, most of whom are not very likable.
This book had too much surface information with little depth to the characters, most of whom are not very likable.
February 23, 2019
When her boyfriend of five years announces that they’re finally going on the trip to Europe they’ve always planned, Freya is overjoyed. She can’t wait to see all of Europe with the man she loves and is resolved not to let the stress of travelling strain their relationship, and potentially even break them apart. Gabe is just as excited, but he’s more concerned with planning the perfect proposal than taking in the amazing sights Europe has to offer. But neither of them could plan for the havoc Dan and Arwen, Gabe’s oldest friend and the girl he’s currently travelling with, will wreak on their lives. After a drunken game of truth-or-dare ends in a steamy kiss between Freya and Arwen, Freya can’t get Arwen out of her head, and she starts to wonder why Gabe has never made her feel that way. As the four of them travel through Spain, Gabe and Freya drift further apart while Arwen and Freya get steadily closer. Will Gabe’s perfect proposal be the start of a wonderful marriage with Arwen long forgotten? Or will Freya realize that Arwen is the love of her life and leave Gabe high and dry?
I had very mixed feelings about this book. I quite enjoyed following the characters’ antics as they wandered through Europe, but I had a hard time seeing Gabe and Freya as a couple from the beginning. Initially I also struggled to see how Arwen and Freya could be a couple seeing as they are very different people, but I liked that as the story progressed, they addressed their differences and didn’t try to change each other. Furthermore, I appreciated that the story showed the ups and downs of multiple couples, showing that no relationship is perfect, and you can’t expect one to be. Some of the scene changes were a little choppy and I wish there had been more interactions between Freya and her two potential partners to show them falling either in or out of love so that when Freya makes her final choice the reader understands why Freya feels the way she does. I thought the ending was very abrupt and didn’t fit the rest of the book, which was rather off-putting, but I do like the huge personal growth all the characters experience throughout the novel, and it makes me want to go on a Europe trip of my own.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes romance novels and LGBTQ+ stories.
I had very mixed feelings about this book. I quite enjoyed following the characters’ antics as they wandered through Europe, but I had a hard time seeing Gabe and Freya as a couple from the beginning. Initially I also struggled to see how Arwen and Freya could be a couple seeing as they are very different people, but I liked that as the story progressed, they addressed their differences and didn’t try to change each other. Furthermore, I appreciated that the story showed the ups and downs of multiple couples, showing that no relationship is perfect, and you can’t expect one to be. Some of the scene changes were a little choppy and I wish there had been more interactions between Freya and her two potential partners to show them falling either in or out of love so that when Freya makes her final choice the reader understands why Freya feels the way she does. I thought the ending was very abrupt and didn’t fit the rest of the book, which was rather off-putting, but I do like the huge personal growth all the characters experience throughout the novel, and it makes me want to go on a Europe trip of my own.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes romance novels and LGBTQ+ stories.
April 11, 2021
Creo que no he leído ningún les-mance en el que la(s) protagonista(s) sean más misóginas y superficiales que en este libro.
Es tan escandalosamente machista todo que hasta tiene gracia.
Me he pasado toda la lectura subrayando las frases gratuitamente sexistas y preguntándome si tener por lo menos una por página (y es larguito) estaba hecho aposta.
Los personajes son todos para darles de comer aparte, sus motivaciones, comportamiento y evolución son inconsistentes.
Freya solo quiere ser médico y lo deja todo sin más por un viñedo en el que cae por casualidad, para luego retomarlo sin mirar atrás.
El padre es el villano a ratos, con cambios de humor y opinión bipolares, y una novia que no se sabe por qué aparece ni desaparece de repente sin más explicación sobre su historia.
El novio y su colega... insoportables, machistas, racistas, borrachos y pendencieros.
Arwen claramente es el personaje más digestible, pero cansan las repeticiones sobre su aspecto físico y su carácter relajado, sigue siendo un personaje muy plano y no se entiende la atracción entre las dos protagonistas más allá de lo físico.
Es tan escandalosamente machista todo que hasta tiene gracia.
Me he pasado toda la lectura subrayando las frases gratuitamente sexistas y preguntándome si tener por lo menos una por página (y es larguito) estaba hecho aposta.
Los personajes son todos para darles de comer aparte, sus motivaciones, comportamiento y evolución son inconsistentes.
Freya solo quiere ser médico y lo deja todo sin más por un viñedo en el que cae por casualidad, para luego retomarlo sin mirar atrás.
El padre es el villano a ratos, con cambios de humor y opinión bipolares, y una novia que no se sabe por qué aparece ni desaparece de repente sin más explicación sobre su historia.
El novio y su colega... insoportables, machistas, racistas, borrachos y pendencieros.
Arwen claramente es el personaje más digestible, pero cansan las repeticiones sobre su aspecto físico y su carácter relajado, sigue siendo un personaje muy plano y no se entiende la atracción entre las dos protagonistas más allá de lo físico.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2020
Fascinating Story!
I want to give this book the justice I think it deserves in its review. First, it is really long. It definitely does have a lot of dialogue explaining each city, country and important monuments and touristy things one would want to know about. I have never been so it was fascinating to read about. But I understand some of the negative reviews. As for Arwen and Freya the chemistry was where it should be with a new and exciting attraction. Add Gabe and Dan and the others, this made for an interesting story of cross country travel. How the relationships between all the characters worked itself around was what kept me reading. This had laughs, love, hurt, and disappointment. I wanted to see Arwen and Freya together and I wanted to see how all the characters grew. This was a big learning curve for all and for me. I generally like this book but do agree some description dialogue could have been cut down, but still a must read.
I want to give this book the justice I think it deserves in its review. First, it is really long. It definitely does have a lot of dialogue explaining each city, country and important monuments and touristy things one would want to know about. I have never been so it was fascinating to read about. But I understand some of the negative reviews. As for Arwen and Freya the chemistry was where it should be with a new and exciting attraction. Add Gabe and Dan and the others, this made for an interesting story of cross country travel. How the relationships between all the characters worked itself around was what kept me reading. This had laughs, love, hurt, and disappointment. I wanted to see Arwen and Freya together and I wanted to see how all the characters grew. This was a big learning curve for all and for me. I generally like this book but do agree some description dialogue could have been cut down, but still a must read.
October 26, 2019
I would have been mad if not for the ending.
I just gotta say I would've been hella mad if not for the ending of this story. I would have given it 5 stars, but the traveling and envisioning places was a bit hard to do; I didn't want to waste too much time looking up each and every place that was traveled so I could get a feel for the multiple settings throughout the story. That aside, it was the romance story that kept me happily trudging along reading this...and it was absolutely great. That is all. Thank you, Sally.
I just gotta say I would've been hella mad if not for the ending of this story. I would have given it 5 stars, but the traveling and envisioning places was a bit hard to do; I didn't want to waste too much time looking up each and every place that was traveled so I could get a feel for the multiple settings throughout the story. That aside, it was the romance story that kept me happily trudging along reading this...and it was absolutely great. That is all. Thank you, Sally.
November 17, 2020
Can one trip & one woman change everything?
“The universe rewards us every single day. We’re here. We have free will to do whatever we want but only for a very short time. The biggest crime in existence is to waste it.”
+ • + • + • +
Can one trip & one woman manage to really change everything Freya ever wanted, believed & imagined her life would be? & if so, which will she have more regrets about— following the head or following the heart?
“The universe rewards us every single day. We’re here. We have free will to do whatever we want but only for a very short time. The biggest crime in existence is to waste it.”
+ • + • + • +
Can one trip & one woman manage to really change everything Freya ever wanted, believed & imagined her life would be? & if so, which will she have more regrets about— following the head or following the heart?
October 23, 2021
Loved it
Best book I ever read. When I first started reading it I didn't know what to think. Seeing the characters were straight I thought I was reading the wrong story , it held my attention so I kept on reading. I am so glad I did. Till the very end I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Turned out really good. Thank you for a wonderful read and I am looking forward to another . Thanks again.
Best book I ever read. When I first started reading it I didn't know what to think. Seeing the characters were straight I thought I was reading the wrong story , it held my attention so I kept on reading. I am so glad I did. Till the very end I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Turned out really good. Thank you for a wonderful read and I am looking forward to another . Thanks again.
October 31, 2023
This could have been a nice book if it weren't for the main character's spinelessness. Sure, she managed to stand up for herself eventually, but 90% of the book pretty much catered to her inability to be confident and voice out her discomfort.
Also it seems like the best parts of the book was the sexually charged atmosphere between the two girls. Those parts felt like they were written well compared to the rest of the book.
Also it seems like the best parts of the book was the sexually charged atmosphere between the two girls. Those parts felt like they were written well compared to the rest of the book.
October 31, 2019
I didn't like neither hero nor heroine. Why would they have a camper and stay in youth hostels rather than camping sites.She always complains about the dirty bathrooms, her camper would have been clean.
The heroine was a doormat, as adoctor-to-be I would expect more self-confidence.
I was skimming a lot just to learn about the ending, which was quite far-fetched.
The heroine was a doormat, as adoctor-to-be I would expect more self-confidence.
I was skimming a lot just to learn about the ending, which was quite far-fetched.
March 25, 2025
Had a hard time in the beginning and then mid book, where story went to another location and characters. Didn’t understand how it tied into the MCs storyline. Almost put it down but did get into the story and enjoyed following the up and downs.
March 24, 2019
A book that is sure to make you want to travel.
Read the full review @ https://www.bestlesficreviews.com/201...
Read the full review @ https://www.bestlesficreviews.com/201...
October 19, 2019
This is a very good book. The main characters and the choices they have to make will stick with you long after the last page. Read it, now!
November 14, 2019
Loved every single page of this book. Will definitely be reading more from this author.
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November 2, 2022See my last comment at 48%
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