Review: Traveling For Love

Hello fellow readers!

Welcome to my stop on the Traveling For Love blog tour. Read on to learn more about the book, and my thoughts on the story.

Title: Traveling For Love: Searching For Self, Hoping For Love

Author: Becky Due

Publisher: Telemachus Press

Published: December 2011

Pages: 178

Format: Paperback

Source: Received in exchange for an honest review

My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis: 

When her husband tells her, he wants a divorce, Amanda realizes she no longer knows who she is-her life revolved around her husband. At forty, she finds herself divorced, childless, living in an apartment with a roommate, with little education and no career path. Amanda starts dating, finds employment as a travel agent, and begins the search of finding herself and-with a little luck-the right man

Melissa's Musings:

This pulled me in from the start. The writing flows well, and it's easy to feel for Amanda as she has to figure out who she is and what she wants after her divorce.

The romance between her and Sam is quick and intense. Sometimes in stories when the romance happens quickly it can be bothersome, but that isn't the case here. Sam and Amanda's relationship is not very deep, although Amanda feels like it is. Sam just doesn't give her much, and through him she realizes she deserves better. 

I really liked the idea of Amanda picking out a new necklace for herself with each trip she takes, to represent where she is in her life and the what the trip means to her. That's something I'd like to do sometime, although I'm really picky about jewelery and symbolism, so it would probably take me forever to find the right thing. For Amanda they just seem to fall into her hands almost instantly. It would be nice to have pieces in my own collection that mean as much as the ones in the story do to Amanda.

Amanda's fling with John is quick, but still nice. He whines and dines her and treats her like she deserves. I rooted for John because he seems like such a nice guy. After her fling with John, Amanda questions whether or not she is  a "vacation whore" I laughed when I read it because it seemed so silly, but there was a seed of truth to it, so the term works well.

And then there's Grant. He seems to good to be true. I liked the initial wall between them that eventually gets broken down. Amanda and Grant work really well together. They laugh, they have fun, they share interests, they connect.

Throughout the story there's a lot of growth on Amanda's part, which is great. It's nice as the reader to see a woman sticking up for herself and not being afraid to be alone and figure out what she really wants out of life.

 The only cautionary note I have is one for people who are hesitant about intimate scenes. There are some semi graphic sex scenes in this novel, so be warned if those make you uncomfortable. The romance is fast, and the ending wraps up neatly, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Have you read Traveling For Love? If you could go on a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?