HIGHWAY TO HAPPY by Kelly Fletcher
Fiction, Contemporary Romance
5*****

BLURB: Sometimes you just need a road trip… I didn’t mean to stare at Adam Woodbury. And I definitely didn’t mean to assume he was homeless. But when you see a man in a small-town café eating like he hasn’t had a real meal in days, then sharing the last bite with his big golden retriever, it’s hard not to wonder. With his sun-streaked hair brushing his shoulders, scruffy face, flannel shirt torn at the elbows, faded jeans, and dusty boots, he looks like he stepped right out of one of those vagabond movies. The kind where the leading man carries secrets in his silence. Turns out, Adam isn’t lost. He’s searching—traveling the back roads of Georgia in a camper van, capturing the world through his camera lens while trying to outrun the ghosts of his past. I should’ve kept my distance. But somehow, this wandering soul with a love for the simple things in life has pulled me out of my comfort zone of real estate contracts and high heels, and into his world of open skies, campfires, and quiet mornings. And the more I learn about the pain he’s running from, the more I realize my heart aches with hope too. Because somewhere between the winding highways and the unexpected moments of shared joy, I’ve started to wonder if this road we ended up on together is leading us home. Highway to Happy is a tender, deeply emotional journey about love, loss, and rediscovering yourself when life takes an unexpected turn.

THOUGHTS: I love this author and there’s a good reason. She puts you right in the world with the characters, and makes them real. They have flaws. They have issues. They make mistakes. In this one, Keri lives in a small Georgia town trying to make a living at a dying real estate business that once belonged to her father. A former beauty queen, she had dreams once upon a time, but life stepped in with the deaths of her father and her beloved grandmother. Now, she’s just trying to do right by them. Then, while eating at the local cafe, she sees a man upside, with his dog. He’s scruffy, wearing torn clothes and driving a beat-up camper van. But he’s also incredibly handsome and something inside her clicks. Adam, a former high-end photographer, is trying to escape his past and the devastating memories that live there. When he meets Keri, a part of him that he thought was closed forever cracks open.

As the two of them get to know each other, they face their pasts. It’s not always easy or pretty, but their bond tightens and they both realize that maybe they can begin to live again – with each other. But as everyone who reads romances knows, the road to a HEA is often filled with potholes and detours and this story is no exception.

This story is full of emotional highs and lows and they feel real. It is written in first person from both Keri and Adam’s point of view, but the author is careful to title each chapter with who you’re with in that chapter. And a HEA that satisfies.

Definitely recommended.