Wanderlove - Kirsten Hubbard

Hey everyone, I've been wanting to post this review for a couple of days now, but my internet has been spotty at best.  We were having issues because of a tiny power outage we had after Sandy, but they should be rectified now.  We were very lucky and only lost power for a few minutes and all it really did was knock out our internet for a day.  Now I'm just waiting to be able to go back to work.  I hope everyone is doing okay where ever you all are.



Title: Wanderlove
Author: Kirsten Hubbard
Pages: 338
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

From goodreads.com: It all begins with a stupid question:

Are you a Global Vagabond?

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.

This book flat out made me want to be an adventurer.  It made me want to be able to hop on a plane and go to some far off place with nothing but a backpack on my back.  To not mind being hot and dirty and just take in the world around me.  Unfortunately that is so far away from who I actually am.  I love travelling, but it makes me anxious, I am a huge over-packer, and I really dislike bugs.  Especially giant ones.  So for this book to make me want these things was awesome.

I loved Bria and was so curious about how she got to the place we met her in, how she became so far from her art.  Rowan was another mystery I was dying to unravel.  Starling is that new friend that pushes you to do all these things you never even thought were possible.  I also so loved the sketches that were included in the book, like this one...

This book makes you feel like anything is possible.  You can go anywhere and do anything even if it's not the norm - even if everyone in your life thinks that you're nuts.  It was an awesome summer book and will make you wish you were reading it in a tropical locale.  I'm definitely going to be checking out more from Kirsten Hubbard.