Reading Off the Map is a bit like an erratic road trip, darting from one destination to another too quickly without enjoying the scenery. Carla and Eamon, lovers at first sight who end up on a spontaneous road trip on their way to a wedding, cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time—but there’s something that just falls flat for me in this romance road-trip read. I really, really wanted to like this one because the first one in this series, Float Plan, was a favorite of 2021 and one I still think about years later.

In this story, though, there are some definite things that work, like the Ireland setting, an emotional dad-daughter relationship, and a wanderlust motif. But because a big part of this story is a dad with early-onset Alzheimer’s, and since my dad passed away from the same disease, reading about fictional characters with dementia usually ends up making me angry (probably a big reason this book is about 3-stars for me). Often in books and movies, most forms of dementia are usually portrayed as this soft fading of memory, and I have a hard time not projecting my own experience. To me, dementia is not quiet; it’s not soft; it’s not fading into the shadows of your own mind. To me, it’s violent, sharp edges that cut deeply and unexpectedly—full of sun-downers and hallucinations and losing much more than just memory.

I do love the way Doller mixes sensitive and humorous issues in her books, and I think this could be a book that’s right for readers who enjoy instant connection romance (there’s no slow-burn here) where the characters are focused on forging their own path—off-road detours and all. ( )

Although this is the third book of the Beck Sisters series, it can be read alone. The previous two books add background and history to the plot.

Carla Black goes to Ireland to be maid of honor at her friend Anna’s wedding to Keane Sullivan. She meets Eamon Sullivan, the best man, at a pub where he is tasked with picking her up at the airport. Instead of them going to help Keane and Anna with wedding plans they go rouge. The two hit it off immediately and literally “go off the map” on their own adventures.

They eventually meet up with Anna and Keane for a mini adventure before joining the anxious family ready for a wedding! Will single girl, fly by the seat of her pants, Carla be wooed into reconsidering her thoughts in marriage? Does Carla and Eamon’s relationship end in Ireland?

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for allowing me to read and review this complimentary digital copy. All comments are expressly my own honest and unbiased opinions. ( )

Though not a Beck sister, Carla is Beck-adjacent, working with Anna at the pirate-themed bar in Florida that Anna skipped out of to sail the world in her dead fiance’s boat in Float Plan. Now Anna is getting married to Keane in Ireland, and Carla is going to be the maid of honor. Eamon, Keane’s brother, has been tasked with picking her up from the airport, but instead, invites her to meet him at the Confession Box, a tiny hole in the wall bar. She taps Eamon as her fake boyfriend the moment he walks in, kissing him to deflect unwanted advances from another barfly, and drinks turn into dinner, which leads into making love at his apartment.

A world traveler, Carla regales Eamon with stories of her single dad, a history teacher with summers off who took his little girl to nearly every state park in the country to stave off loneliness. Eamon has always longed to backpack but feels obligated to do what his family expects of him. With several days before the wedding, Carla talks Eamon into a little car camping and sightseeing. There’s a deadline to their fling, and the best man/maid of honor hookup is totally cliche, but this story works.

Like other novels in the series, this is highly character driven, and the journey motif is physical and geographical as well as internal. Carla’s dad is suffering from dementia, and she hasn’t been home to see him in six years–at his encouragement. She lives her life by a traveler’s code he ingrained in her from a young age, like “if it doesn’t fit in your backpack, you don’t need it,” and there is no such thing as being lost. After meeting Eamon, though, she begins to question her rolling stone gathers no moss philosophy and mourns that she met The One at a time in her life when she still doesn’t want to settle down. She also recognizes she might not want to be a seasonal bartender at retirement age. She breaks it off with Eamon… and goes home to see her dad, where his second wife and caretaker is all too happy to get a break for a few days. Details about caring for someone in mental decline are sensitive and authentic. Fans of the series may find this is little lighter and a little faster paced, but very satisfying nonetheless. Making a choice to forge a new path might be the plan, after all, and Carla may not be as off the map as she thinks.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #OffTheMap from #NetGalley.

https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/2023/01/15/off-the-map-by-trish-doller/ ( )

I really wanted to like this book since I've heard a lot of good things about the series. Not sure if it was I needed to read the first two in the series or what plus I don't read a lot of romcom but wanted to try it.

This was my second attempt to read it and didn't get much farther either. ( )

I loved reading about the last Beck Sister in this series and the ending really took me out... ( )