Shannon Miz's Reviews > Four for the Road

4.5*

“Life is basically a miserable black hole and we’re only here for the cookies.”

This lovely story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, and I absolutely enjoyed the ride (road trip pun mildly intended). We're introduced to Asher, who has lost in mom in a pretty horrific car accident about a year ago. He has now fully devoted his existence to A) trying to keep his existing family alive, no matter how many of his sister's bikes he must destroy, and B) plotting to literally murder the drunk driver who killed his mom. He is... well look, he isn't doing well. He goes to grief support groups, but mostly to be snarky, until he meets a few people who may just understand what he is dealing with.

First he encounters Henry, an elderly fellow who has lost his wife Evelyn. Asher befriends Henry, but also finds some friends of his own generation at a bereavement group for young people. Sloan has lost her father, and Will who lost his little brother. Henry mentions that Evelyn has always wanted to go to Graceland, and since Asher's revenge victim (and also his date to prom, but that is another story altogether) are in Memphis, he decides to get the whole band together for a road trip!

"En route I fell in love with a car full of strangers. And half of them were dead."

So, as you can imagine, this book is going to be full of the feels. Each character, and their deceased love one, frankly, is incredibly well developed. I fell in love with each of them- perhaps even before I fell in love with Asher- and their stories wormed their way into my heart. They were all in very different places with their grief, but the bottom line was that they all really needed each other, to have that support from someone who could understand what they are going through. They had finally found people who didn't try to force them to tamp down their grief, or shy away from the hard topics. Here, on this unsanctioned road trip, they were able to share their loved ones' stories, and in many cases, favorite meals. They didn't have to tiptoe around the non-grievers, to hide their pain and put on false fronts.

I don't want to give away too much of this emotional journey, so I will just say that the book is full of amazing characters, a lot of friendship, and was hugely therapy positive. The characters undergo a ton of growth during their trip, but they are in no way done grieving. The author does a great job of making this trip life changing, but not in any way a fix-all, and it was truly the perfect balance.

Bottom Line: This book broke my heart, and then put it back together again mile by mile.

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight