In a motel with a bouquet in the ice pail: OFF THE MAP.

Off the Map by Trish Doller
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Carla spends most of her time traveling the world--something her dad taught her at a young age. Eamon works in IT and can only dream of a life like Carla leads; he feels obligated to be the dutiful son for his mother since his younger brother already struck off for a life of wanderlust. Eamon is tasked to pick up Carla when she arrives in Dublin to attend the marriage of her best friend to his brother and the two feel an instant spark. Can the pair reconcile their different lives?

This was a really quick read that started off with a major insta-attraction: Eamon and Carla fall for each other basically the moment they see each other in a Dublin bar. Because of this, I sometimes felt as if there wasn't a ton of character development or buildup in their relationship. Still, we learned that Carla is wary of getting attached to anyone or anything due to her mom leaving when she was a child. Her father taught her to avoid emotion by traveling and only enforced that fear by encouraging her to take off and travel when he was diagnosed with dementia. Eamon, meanwhile, feels forced to be the stable son thanks to his brother, despite his desire for more. He lives and even dates safely. Sadly, we did not learn much more in-depth about Eamon, and I really liked his character. We only hear things from Carla's perspective.

Like the first two books in this series (don't worry, though, this one can be read on its own without any issue), it can be sad at times, especially when focusing on Carla's dad's illness. Her father was a dynamic character, along with his second wife. The book focuses a ton on traveling, of course, and off-roading--you will learn a lot about these topics! There's an appearance by a very cute cat to break things up!

Overall, I liked this one about as much as THE FLOAT PLAN but not as much as THE SUITE SPOT, which I really loved. I think I like the books with the stable characters staying in one spot more versus the traveling ones, which probably says a lot about my own personality! Still, this is a sweet, cute book and it's a fast read, even if I wished there was a little more to it at times. 3.5 stars.

I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review. Look for it on 03/07/2023!

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