Two for the Road: About the Book
Sometimes there are detours on the road to love . . .
Beyond the walls of her romance bookstore, Gigi Rutherford is out of stock when it comes to her own love interests. And instead of enduring one bad date after another, these days she’d rather curl up at home with her favorite audiobook and the only man who makes her heart skip a beat: Zane Wilkenson, the smooth-voiced narrator Gigi is convinced is her soulmate.
Then, she’s presented with the chance of a lifetime: a ten-day bus tour through the hilly English countryside, taking in the sights and sounds of a world an ocean away from her bookstore–all in the presence of the man of her dreams, Zane, as he leads the tour . . . in person.
But things don’t go as planned. When Gigi arrives at the bus terminal in London, Zane is nowhere to be found. Until he shows up, she’s stuck with an eclectic group of fellow travelers she’d rather not be with on a long road trip, including the brooding bus driver, Taj, who Gigi finds infuriating but also incredibly alluring.
Will Gigi find a happy ending with Zane? Or will each stop on the tour bring her closer to a completely different destination?
The Review
Two for the Road written by Toronto-based author Chantel Guertin is a great book to get you in the mood for summer reading and summer travel. The novel is more than traditional contemporary female fiction, it has heart and warmth. Gigi’s purpose for the trip is to meet Zane, but Two for the Road becomes more of a journey of self-discovery than she had planned.
The supporting characters are well-developed. They include Charlotte who Gigi immediately bonds with; Sindhi and Roshi, who are married but you fear that their marriage won’t survive the tour; Violet and Nelle, a same-sex couple who are devoted to one another but as different as they can be; Jenny, a true-crime-makeup YouTuber whose attitude covers up some deep hurt; Francis, who records every detail of the trip into a tape recorder and is an encyclopedia of facts about EVERYTHING; and finally, Taj, the bus driver who Gigi finds annoying, but attractive at the same time. Will he throw a wrench into Gigi’s plans for Zane? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Two for the Road is charming and enjoyable. If you are a book-lover (and travel-lover) who also loves romance, there are references to other novels peppered throughout that you can add to your reading list. You will root for Gigi, but I defy you to not love Francis the most by the end of the story. This book has everything – humour, heart and a few surprises along the way. Pick it up for your own bus tour – you never know who you will meet.
Two for the Road is available in bookstores and online now.
