Off The Map by Trish Doller

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?

Carla is flying to Ireland for Anna and Keane’s wedding (the couple from Float Plan). She’s supposed to meet Keane’s brother Eamon in Dublin so they can drive together to Tralee for the wedding. They meet at a pub and lose track of time talking and within a few hours they’ve started a vacation fling. When they start to drive the next morning, Carla is shocked that Eamon drives a Land Rover Defender but has never used it to travel or explore. This kicks off a several day detour for them as they explore some spots that Eamon has always wanted to see.

Carla got her wanderlust from her dad and essentially works half the year as a bartender just so she can spend the other half of the year traveling the world, frequently in her Jeep. Her dad is suffering with dementia and told her to keep traveling so she doesn’t have to witness his deterioration, so it’s now been several years since they’ve seen one another in person. This detour road trip, the wedding and meeting Eamon all lead to Carla missing her dad and feeling the call back home. These aspects of the story definitely brought it me to tears a few times!

I am not a fan of insta-lust/insta-love stories in general, and that’s really what kept this from being a 5-star read for me. I do think, however, that the nature of their relationship led them to being more open and honest with one another because it felt like there wasn’t much at stake beyond this single week. I enjoyed Carla’s relationship with her dad and how she slowly came to terms with the need to work through the grief of his disease with him in person.

While I wish there had been more build-up in their relationship, there were some very sweet and vulnerable moments between the main characters. This is a fairly short book (only 272 pages) so it’s a quick read and the travel storyline makes it fly by even quicker. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy for review.