The Backpacking Housewife, Janice Horton

The Backpacking Housewife,  Janice Horton

Genre: general Fiction (Adult)

A mixed read for me, there were parts I really loved, but others that didn’t sit quite right for me.

Its a read that starts off with a bang, poor Lori making a horrible discovery when returning home earlier than expected. She grabs her passport and bag and ….she’s off, to the destination furthest that’s available Right Now.

I would have liked to know a bit more about her home life, kids, mum etc, so I could see how much Lori had changed. I loved the traveling, loved the scenery, the people she met, the places she went and especially her time with the turtles. It made me feel part of her trip, as if I was there with her it was so well written.
It was quite hard though to separate it out into an actual fiction novel rather than a kind of travelogue….and it was fiction I wanted. I wanted Charles to get his comeuppance, to see what he’d thrown away in his arrogance, wanted the best friend to see what she’d lost in Lori, and I did find it a bit hard to believe that someone like Lori, devoted to her family could just up and leave them, with so little contact, so little worry. She seems to tell herself, boys grown up – they’ll be fine, mum’s got her friends…and doesn’t really worry about them or let them know where she is. It just didn’t feel quite real there, if it was just her and Charles yes, but she has her two (grown) boys who she loves, has her mum who she’s on good terms with and I didn’t feel she would have been happy to have just left them like that.
I loved Ethan, a true gentleman, loved how he was with Lori, loved his enthusiasm for life and everything in it. I was supposed though how abrupt the ending was, it seemed to be a little rushed, a bit brief when I expected more. Maybe that’s just me though and my romance/HEA addiction. There’s certainly promise of a HFN here.

Stars: Four, a wonderful read and escape, made me wish I was there with her, but which felt a little unreal in parts.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

 

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