Book Review: Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

 Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Hardcover, 352 pages

Expected publication: March 13th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

from Netgalley

read from Jan 25-27, 2012

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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. 


My THOUGHTS:


     What I think? I think it’s a very great read! I’ve read of books with roadtrips, soul-seeking journeys, and other kinds of travels. But not this kind of trip. Backpacking. I admit at first when I read the summary, I thought it was another type of “road-trip” kind of story, but then as I read on, it was different. In real life, I’ve seen a lot of backpackers here in our country (Philippines) and the way Kirsten Hubbard described the backpackers was exactly how backpackers dress like, and I’m just amazed at how accurate she is. She’s very detailed in describing the backpacker image and characters, not to mention how she seemed to know a lot of things about backpacking and the places in Central America that was mentioned. It’s like she experienced them herself. (I can’t help but think, though she did say something about that in her acknowledgements, anyway).

      The characters. My gosh, Bria Sandoval may not seem like much of a distinctive name, but her character is so free spoken, honest and funny. She values her virtues so much and she respects people’s privacy. There was a certain scene when another character described her as “secretive” and that’s the only time I saw that she really was being secretive. I noticed that that topic (secrets of the past) is being put importance in the story, and I like how it was presented and told. It’s like I’m very hungry and the only fruit is peeled strand by strand, and it just makes my mouth water and makes me want to know “What’s really up???”. Rowan is such a complex guy too, and I like it about him. He’s actually humble in a sense and he’s changed. Both of them had their own issues in life and later in the story, they’ll discover that they are each other’s answers.

      I love it when endings show how everything turned out well. Though a lot of things in their life were bitter and hard, but I just love the lesson we can pick up from here (how to get over someone and fully letting the past go and not influence you, to be open-minded, self-awareness,etc). Plus, Bria’s an artsy person and the metaphor used to present how she innately loved art and how she took it seriously and how she let it go and how she learned to pick it up again. The cycle was just brain-consuming.

      The humor, the depth, and the fun of learning new places really appealed me to the story. Not to mention the lessons in life we can pick up from here (depends on how you view and take it). Wanderlove is just full of wandering and love. :)

BTW, this is my 7TH NETGALLEY read for the month! :)





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