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Sweet Water High #10

Road Trip with the Enemy

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I made two promises after my brother died: to run a charity marathon in his place and to avoid Jeremiah Dermot at all costs.

So when my car’s broken down on the side of the road while my parents are at a retreat to save their crumbling marriage, of course Jeremiah’s the one who pulls up and offers to give me a ride. 

I don’t care how handsome he is when he looks at me with those adventure eyes or that any other girl would give everything to drive across the country with him. No, I’m thinking about my brother and the little boy in hospice he wanted to run this race for.

Now I have two choices: break a promise to my brother, or take a road trip with my enemy.

Get lost in this story that makes you feel in ways you've never felt before. Road Trip with the Enemy will leave you breathless, restless, smiling, and believing enemies can have a happily ever after.

Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2023

550 people are currently reading
896 people want to read

About the author

Kelsie Stelting

48 books1,705 followers
Kelsie Stelting is a body positive romance author who writes love stories with strong characters, deep feelings, and happy endings.

She currently lives in Colorado. You can often find her writing, spending time with family, and soaking up too much sun wherever she can find it.

Visit www.kelsiestelting.com to get a free story and sign up for her readers' group!

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5 stars
238 (43%)
4 stars
165 (30%)
3 stars
108 (19%)
2 stars
25 (4%)
1 star
5 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
Profile Image for Candyce Kirk.
1,352 reviews52 followers
September 15, 2019
Once again, this author gave us a book that sucked me in from the start and just wouldn't let me go. I just couldn't stop reading. Not only because of the amazing characters and storyline, but her writing flows so well. Every time I read one of her books I say it's my favorite, but Road Trip with the Money definitely jumoed to the top of the list of her books!

Road Trip with the Enemy deals with grief and I'm sure that's not an easy thing to write. To tell a story about loss and make it feel genuine doesn't seem to be easy, but my heart really hurt for these characters. I think this is the first time this author has made me cry while reading one of her stories. I think it says something about an author when they can make emotions seem so genuine and to connect you enough that you feel for these characters.

Sydney is living her nightmare, losing her twin brother. To make it even harder, she blames herself. So instead of going on her senior trip, she decides to run the marathon in New York, because that's what he was going to do. Things don't go as planned and to acheive her goal, she gets stuck on a road trip with her enemy, Jeremiah.

What I loved most about this story is that we don't know everything that happened from the start. As the story continues, bits and pieces of the story are revealed. At a certain point I was getting frustrated with Sydney, because Jeremiah was doing his best. Getting more information made me understand her feelings so much more.

Sydney is a sensitive one. Losing her brother really hit her hard and now that her parents don't seem to be getting along, she's blaming herself for everything. You can feel her sadness and Sydney is just trying to get by. I think she lets us see that grief is different for everyone and needs time.

Jeremiah hasn't had it easy either. Not only did he lose his best friend, but he also lost the girl he loves and someone who would understand everything. Add having different dreams than his parents have for him and things aren't easy. Jeremiah sees this road trip as a perfect chance to connect with Sydney again. I loved that spots he chose to show her from his childhood. These scenes felt so special.

Every step of this journey was so interesting to read about and it just felt right. Add some amazing side characters (Sydney's aunt and Jeremiah's grandparents) that just completed this story. It was nice to see them get support from some unexpected places. Even though this story doesn't leave us with questions, I would love to read more about these characters.

Kelsie Stelting did it again with this story! Once again, I can't wait to see what she writes next!
Profile Image for Pascale’s*ARC,Unwind,Read,Review.
2,359 reviews31 followers
September 6, 2019
-‘He was my enemy. For as long as I lived, I would never forgive him for all he’d taken away from me.’-

This is one of those stories that unravels slowly, like a flower blooming. You get introduced to the characters very slowly and a story begins to unfold. I love this style of writing because it keeps you interested, keeps you reading to find out more. It moves at a fast enough pace that you don’t get bored, don’t give up on it. This author is so talented!

The loss of a loved one, a twin, a best friend, a son, tears everyone apart. Lives are changed forever. Love turns to hate. Can they ever forgive each other? Themselves?

Excellent story, very well told. Recommended.
Profile Image for SJ Garrison.
652 reviews
August 27, 2019
This book was so good and a very hard topic, grief. I did an all nighter to finished this book. I just couldn't not know how it would end. Would Sydney get to do the race? Would Jeremiah and Sydney find room in their grief to be friends again? Would Sydney's parents be able to save their marriage? I could go on with more questions, but Kelsie Stelting didn't leave any question unanswered and dealt with the pain beautifully. I highly recommend Road Trip with the enemy if you like clean stories with purpose.
Profile Image for Stefanie Jenkins.
Author 16 books404 followers
January 30, 2020
Learn to live for those who can’t

This story is very sweet and a quick read. But don’t get me wrong there are some emotional moments of dealing with real grief and loss. One of my favorite parts about this book is that it made me feel at home - taking part in NC off the Cape Fear River (where I live) and part in Ocean City MD which is close to where I’m from so it was so easy to picture these scenes. Jeremiah is pretty swoony too!
Profile Image for Texas.
1,685 reviews394 followers
September 4, 2019
Road Trip with the Enemy - I am not a big fan of age group but I love this story! The characters, although high school age, are not stupid, but show maturity. The support characters are wonderful in their roles, especially his grandparents and her aunt. The pages flew by with the storylines keeping me mesmerized; I couldn't put the book down. This story bumps first place with the Skye Series making it difficult to pick my favorite. I contacted the author to review her delightful books. 5*

Dear Adam – I am not a big fan of this age group, High School, but when Ms. Stelting writes another story, I want to read her wonderful prose. I like that her characters are not the usual stupid, foul mouthed, dimwits that are so common nowadays, but young people with a bit of maturity and brains to them. Yes, they are still youngsters but they chose a better path to travel.

This is a lovely, heartwarming story of opposites learning about each other through emails. Ms. Stelting has a value system that I can agree with and accept with open arms, and she writes in a positive style. Here books are usually full of things that make me want to post those quotes to share with others. This is another well-written fabric of life that shines brightly on the positive, similar to her other books. There is infrequent use of vulgar language and some cussing; not a common thing with this author. 4*

Abi and the Boy Next Door - Loving Skye is my favorite, but Abi is a close second. Another clean, heartwarming story about a high school girl with a troubled background. She has her loving grandmother to show her a different life. The neighbors and some classmates open their hearts to her and show her more of a loving, accepting world. Of course, there's her new best friend, the neighbor's son. The storylines are interesting, the characters lovable and the growth the young woman experiences in her life are intriguing. Skye appears several times since Abi goes to school with Andrew, so it was fun to see Loving Skye from a different angle.

Ms. Stelting does a wonderful job with her young characters giving them a maturity level and dignity that are often missing in today's repeatedly used stupid formula plots. With each book, the author shows her growth with her craft and each new book is a joy to read. YA is not my typical genre, too much stupidity and drama, but I will read every book Ms. Stelting writes. Well written and edited, this is a good read for all ages, especially YA. I contacted the author to review her books. 5*

Lonesome Skye #1 - I usually don't read much about this age group, but this is an excellent story about a high school junior and her trials. This is a well written, intriguing story filled with a gamut of emotions that keeps the reader rooting for the main character. All the characters are developing through out the story and I find their dialog realistic and mature instead of moronic. I didn't like the way the book ended, but I assume there's more to the story coming. It's not a cliffhanger, but I did want to keep following her story. I'm interested in reading more by this writer; plus she understands and practices proper editing. I do wish I had read this book before All The Things He Left Behind, since one is past and the other future in some of these characters' lives. 5*

Becoming Skye #2 - Starts right after Skye gets out of the hospital and she's in her junior year of high school. Again, I don't care too much for this age group, but I love what Ms. Stelting can do with the written word. Her vivid descriptions, her characters and their dramas, and how things are handle with a bit of maturity, instead of the usual stupidity so common today for characters of many ages. This story is clean and with no sexual misbehavior, just young soon-to-be adults trying to make the best of their situations and lives. Skye is determined to succeed and even when the cards are stacked against her, she doesn't fold and give in. She suffers the blow but comes back more determined and with new plans that she puts into action. Ms. Stelting also manages to edit her books with only a few errors, in this case, three words that should have been uppercase. 5*

Loving Skye #3 - This is my favorite of the Skye series. Well written and clean, full of fun and drama but still heartwarming for a person this young to continue on when things are bad. Skye is an interesting character and she does handle things better than her age group usually does. She makes mistakes and sometimes doing the right thing slaps her upside the head. She has a good supporting friend, actually more than one, and the rest of characters are human, too. Ms. Stelting does a good job with all her books. 5*
Profile Image for Rmsooon.
1,143 reviews16 followers
March 6, 2020
Hmmmm the idea was nice but so much drama at the ending ,, i gave it 2.75 out of 5
Profile Image for Anjie.
862 reviews42 followers
October 26, 2019
Ugh my heart is heavy. I just wanted to read a cute book, not one about grieving all kinds of loss. I'm over here crying over the death of a best friend, a brother, a son, a failed marriage, a crumbling relationship, and about a kid in hospice care?!?! Come on give me something happy here. I understand that grief takes on different forms for different people and I like how this book showcases very realistic forms of dealing with grief. I loved most of everything about it this book and my main issue was just with Sydney, she really started to annoy the hell out of me with her thinking that she's the only one hurting and lost something or thinking everything is her fault. I just hate that way of thinking. Jeremiah was fantastic and deserved better. I love Krazy Aunt Karen!

**spoilers**
I just hated how Sydney blamed herself and more specifically Jeremiah for her brother's death. I'd understand that anger if they had forced Greg to drink shots and forced him to drive while drunk. But they just stepped away and kissed. But of course this is the real reason why Greg died (sarcasm). I understand survivor's guilt and I felt for her in the beginning but then she got annoying and nasty about it. And I'm sitting here thinking, where's your common sense and your rationality. Probably insensitive for me to say but I hated how she had such self importance to think she was the cause of Greg's death and she was the cause of her parent's divorce. I'm surprised she didn't blame herself for Liam's death.

That's really all that bugged me in the book. My heart goes out of Jeremiah because he was there for her all this time and she basically spit on him and his efforts. He took the brunt of her frustrations and guilt and anger and it was so undeserved. I think she needed to beg for his forgiveness for being such a bitch. But I digress.

I wish we knew more about Jeremiah and his parents, the conclusion for all that. I wish we had a better ending for Sydney's dad, who is clearly still going through his grief from what Sydney says. However, I hate how she brings it up and makes it sound like she's admonishing him for still grieving in the same way she did. It's okay for her to act that way but nooooo not her father! Not a father who lost his own son! Who does he think he is?!?
Profile Image for Cait Marie.
Author 30 books361 followers
September 27, 2019
*I received a free advanced copy of this book from the author for my honest review.*

This book was so full of emotion! It’s definitely going on my “This book made me cry. You should read it.” list. I’ve lived through losing my best friend, so this book really hit home. I was a little nervous to read it, but it’s written in such a way that’s full of grief while still showing bits of hope throughout. Sydney’s world is crumbling around her. Everything that can go wrong, does. And boy is that relatable!

Sydney and Jeremiah being together felt very natural. I felt so bad for Jeremiah because he just wants to try to move forward with her, but I also understand how difficult that can be, and Kelsie did a great job balancing this out. I also loved how significant the parents’ roles were in this story. I feel like that’s often missing in this genre, and that relationship is an important part in many teenagers’ lives.

This was my first book by Kelsie Stelting, but I will definitely be reading more. I really enjoyed her easy flow of words and quick pace. Nothing was rushed, the story just kept moving without dragging as some tend to do. While this book was very sad, it was also a beautiful story with a lot of meaning. It had its sweet YA romance moments throughout, too. I would absolutely recommend this book if you’re look for something quick to read with a lot of heart.

*Original review on Functionally Fictional.
Profile Image for Grace O'Neal.
208 reviews1 follower
December 25, 2019
A must read

This book tugged at my heart strings. So much tragedy and sadness, but it was overcome by love and forgiveness of letting go and moving on. A must read for sure!
Profile Image for Lindsy.
696 reviews16 followers
August 30, 2019
I’m never disappointed with anything Kelsie writes! This book was great and very well written. I loved this story.
The characters are great or at least have good character development at the end. I liked Sydney and felt that people could definitely relate to her and what she’s going through. This story has a few hard topics in it, such as grief and divorce. I think it was well written though and everything flowed. I like this style of writing because you learn the story as you go and have little moments of the past.
No questions were left unanswered which is also great.
I wondered what would happen at the end and if Sydney would be able to run the marathon or not. I also wondered how everything would end with the two main characters and her parents. This story was a little depressing though and definitely a tearjerker/heart wrenching. Poor Sydney; nothing seemed to be going right but everything works out in the end.
Excited to see what comes next from Kelsie!
Profile Image for Alisa.
793 reviews44 followers
October 10, 2019
Sydney has lost her twin brother and she blames herself - and his best friend, Jeremiah. She can't stand to even look at Jeremiah any more. But with her parents' crumbling marriage, she doesn't have many people she can turn to (besides a semi-crazy aunt). As the story progresses, we learn more about what caused her twin's death and why she blames herself and Jeremiah.
Profile Image for Jamie Lee Zonneveld.
1,682 reviews51 followers
September 27, 2019
Road Trip with the Enemy was my second book by Kelsie Stelting and I really liked it. Although at some moments I really didn't like Sydney. But I loved Jeremiah trough the whole book.
Profile Image for abi.
95 reviews4 followers
August 6, 2022
26.2🤍2.62

(if you’ve read the book you’ll get it)
Profile Image for Lexee Toste.
2,822 reviews19 followers
July 2, 2023
Emotional story

This story was really good. It pulled me in from beginning to end and had me engaged with the characters. This story will definitely pull on your heartstrings as well with the fact that Sydney has recently lost her twin brother and is dealing the fall out of that of the fact that she feels guilty and completely pulled away from Jeremiah (brothers best friend) that she was close to as well and things were starting to happen there. She is trying to run a race in New York her brother was supposed to run for a terminally I’ll child, Liam, that he became friends with and volunteered time to hang out. This story deals with the grief that they are going through and trying to find a way to move forward and handle it but not really knowing how. This story definitely had my emotions involved by the end. It was really good and I really enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Khadejah R..
174 reviews2 followers
May 30, 2021
ALL OF THE FEELS…

This book. Seriously, though all I can say is…OH MY!

I went into this one totally blind, which is completely against my nature. I am all about the synapses. I usually want to know what I’m getting into before dedicating the time to reading or listening to a book. As this was a Kelsie Stelting book, I just went with it.

Woah boy! It gave me EVERY.SINGLE.FEEL. The story line is well developed and the characters well written. Ms. Stelting has a way with a story, people.

Liam is seriously the absolute best.

While the book deals with really heavy issues of death, grief, divorce, and cancer, it also contains levity, sweetness, and the undeniable chemistry that is a first love.

I have the biggest book hangover now.
5 reviews
July 18, 2024
This book is one that will stay in you forever, after i finished this book, i just sat for a few minutes, book in my hand, just having so many thoughts in my head just like sydney does, i never experienced such a heartbreacking loss to someone i was so close to, and my grief will never match up to how others have it, but just thinking of losing somebody i love makes me think that i rather die than live without them, and all these thoughts running my head just proves how deep and hearflet this book is, please read it if you have a chance to. thanks
Profile Image for Alana  Bue.
537 reviews
August 12, 2022
This was my favorite book in the sweet water series.

I think it is because it focuses a little less on the teenage drama and has some life drama in it also.

I enjoyed Sydney character and journey through grief and loss.

This love story isn’t your typical loves story and yet it is. I enjoyed this book greatly and wished it would have have a little more before it started and after it ended this could have been it’s own series.
Profile Image for Fera Gilroy.
13 reviews
January 1, 2021
This book is probably one of my favorites, in the beginning it was very slow, and lost my interest at some points. Once I really got into it it was actually very inspiring, and it showed how hard losing a loved one could be and how much it could impact somebody's life. Road trip with the enemy is definitely worthy of 5 stars
1,246 reviews10 followers
February 8, 2020
Road Trip

Sydney had one promise to complete, one goal. All that planning out the window when she has to rely on the guy she considered a friend who is now the enemy. Can she push aside her feelings of dislike for the guy to reach her goal? Can they become friends again?
Profile Image for Natalie - FerryGoodBooks.
830 reviews19 followers
February 11, 2020
This was a sweet book and just the right about of ya. I was surprised about the situation and emotions that went on with the story and characters. It kept me entertained and the writing wasn’t written to bad where I was thinking was was “too old” to relate.
Profile Image for Our Book Confessions.
643 reviews16 followers
March 22, 2020
The author handled grief really well, such good emotion.  There were a few things that Sydney's character did that I wouldn't want my teenager to think was an okay way of grieving, but the author did a really good job of showing how people cope and grieve differently and the ramifications of that. 
Profile Image for Courtney.
4,298 reviews
April 27, 2020
Excellent, Wonderful and truly awe-inspring!

This novel came at the exact time when I needed it. God is so faithful! He always knows what we need, even before we know that we need it. 💙
Profile Image for katie.
366 reviews
January 5, 2021
while this book is a bit of a love story, it is much more than that. this book doesn’t seem as though it fits as much into this series, a series of cute little novella rom-coms. it had so much more depth and some very sad parts. just warning anyone, this is a short yet quite serious novella.
Profile Image for Emily.
5 reviews2 followers
April 13, 2020
I CRIED SO MUCH READING THIS BOOK!! WHEN SHE CAN'T RUN THE RACE FOR GREG AND THEN ISSAC DIES IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOO SAD!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
2 reviews
April 18, 2020
Outstanding book.

Loved this book so much. At first I was worried I wouldn't like it it, but it eventually caught my attentio.
9 reviews
October 14, 2020
I literally couldn't put it down, I read it in less then 8 hours, it had me in all my feels the whole time, it took me on an incredible journey over just a weeks time! Definitely recommend!
Profile Image for Skye.
256 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2021
Not my favorite, simply because the story included a lot of very deep and important themes that I felt weren't delved into enough. But still a cute read.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
4,046 reviews
April 7, 2021
Good read

This book was absolutely amazing and so good and real. This book had my emotions all over the place . This story felt to real.
Profile Image for Cassie.
286 reviews
October 9, 2021
ok

I enjoyed the concept of this book, but found it difficult to read as I’m still grieving a loss. I did like Syd and Jeremiah characters a lot.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews

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