Review: The Road to You by Marilyn Brant

Posted November 30, 2013 by bookstobreathe in Book Review / 2 Comments

Title: The Road to You
Author: Marilyn Brant
Publisher: Twelfth Night Books
Release Date: September 29, 2013
Genre: Mystery, New Adult
More Info: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon US
Purchase: Barnes & Noble

Sometimes the only road to the truth...is one you’ve never taken.

Until I found Gideon’s journal in the tool shed — locked in the cedar box where I’d once hidden my old diary — I’d been led to believe my brother was dead. But the contents of his journal changed all that.

The Road to Discovery...
Two years ago, Aurora Gray’s world turned upside down when her big brother Gideon and his best friend Jeremy disappeared. Now, during the summer of her 18th birthday, she unexpectedly finds her brother’s journal and sees that it’s been written in again. Recently. By him.

The Road to Danger...
There are secret messages coded within the journal’s pages. Aurora, who’s unusually perceptive and a natural puzzle solver, is hell bent on following where they lead, no matter what the cost. She confides in the only person she feels can help her interpret the clues: Donovan McCafferty, Jeremy’s older brother and a guy she’s always been drawn to — even against her better judgment.

The Road to You...
Reluctantly, Donovan agrees to go with her and, together, they set out on a road trip of discovery and danger, hoping to find their lost brothers and the answers to questions they’ve never dared to ask aloud.

In that expectant space between silence and melody, our trip began...

My Review:

But it was too late. My world had already tilted and, suddenly, I knew I was playing a very different game.

The Road to You was my first experience with this author and let me tell you, it kept me riveted from the very first page until the last. If you came hoping for romance, you will get a taste, but it most certainly isn’t in the forefront, and you won’t see it until the end. This is a story of right and wrong, of friendship, of loyalty. Get ready to take a trip down memory lane, to a time long forgotten, yet still in the hearts of many.

The problem was my overwhelming helplessness in facing my true self. I didn’t know how to stop myself from understanding too much. From perceiving too many signals. From being so aware that it hurt.

Aurora’s brother Gideon and Donovan’s brother Jeremy disappeared without a trace almost two years ago. No one saw this coming, and for both families, life has ceased to exist. In the summer of ’78 Aurora randomly finds a key to a box that had long since disappeared, leading her to her brothers’ journal. Aurora, already suspicious that the journal would show up after all this time, notices that there are new entries. Holding onto the hope that their brothers could still be alive, she and Donovan take off for parts unknown.

But I never felt any such fear within these four walls. In a library, there was always hope, a sense of fresh discovery and the comfort or being surrounded by the wisdom of the world’s brightest minds.

Even with the absence of heavy romance and sex, I found myself not even missing it! The depths and layers this story takes you to will have you guessing the outcome until the very end. I loved that I wasn’t able to guess from the beginning how it would all end. There was nothing predictable about The Road to You at all! 4.5 star read for me!

I chose you a long time ago. I’m not going to regret anything, no matter what happens after we leave here.”

“I’m putting my heart in your hands tonight,” he whispered. “Be gentle with it.”

About Marilyn Brant

Marilyn Brant has been told she writes with honesty, liveliness and wit (descriptors she’s grown terribly fond of) about complex, intelligent women — like her friends — and their significant personal relationships. Although her favorite pursuits undoubtedly involve books, she proves she’s not just a literary snob by confessing her lifelong fascination (read: obsession) with popular music, especially from the ’70s & ’80s, most flavors of ice cream and a variety of sensuous body lotions/oils.

Marilyn is a USA Today bestselling author. In the genre of women’s fiction, she’s written ACCORDING TO JANE (2009), FRIDAY MORNINGS AT NINE (2010) and A SUMMER IN EUROPE (2011), all from Kensington Books. She’s also a #1 Kindle and #1 Nook bestseller and has written a series of fun and flirty contemporary romantic comedies, available exclusively as original ebooks. Two of these, ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAE (2011) and PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND THE PERFECT MATCH (2013) have hit both Barnes & Noble’s and Amazon’s Top 100 Bestseller Lists. DOUBLE DIPPING (2011) was an International Digital Awards Finalist for “Best Contemporary Romance” and HOLIDAY MAN (2012) was a RONE Award Contestant. Her coming-of-age romantic mystery, THE ROAD TO YOU, will be available in October 2013.

As a former teacher, library staff member, freelance magazine writer and national book reviewer, Marilyn has spent much of her life lost in literature. She’s been told — and not always with the intent to flatter — that she’s “insatiably curious” and “a travel addict.” She admits to combining these two passions by taking classes in foreign countries whenever possible and, consequently, she’s been able to learn lots of fascinating things in Australia, in England, in Italy and in universities across the United States.

She received her M.A. in educational psychology from Loyola University Chicago, dabbled in both fiction and art at Northwestern University, studied the works of Austen at Oxford University and is a Life Member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Her debut novel featuring “Jane” won the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart® Award. Her second novel was a Doubleday Book Club and Book-of-the-Month Club Featured Alternate Selection. And her third women’s fiction book was featured by the Literary Guild and the BOMC2, as well as by the Rhapsody Book Club, where it was a Top 20 bestselling title in “Fiction & Literature.” She’s a founding member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and is also part of RWA and the International Thriller Writers. She was recently named the 2013 Illinois Author of the Year by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English.

Marilyn has traveled to 46 states and over 30 countries (so far — she’s not done yet!), but she now lives in the Chicago suburbs with her family. When she isn’t rereading Jane’s books or enjoying the latest releases by her writer friends, she’s working on her next novel, eating chocolate indiscriminately and hiding from the laundry.