Girls' road trip takes some surprising twists

Road to Paradise, by Paullina Simons (HarperCollins, $34.99). Reviewed by Rebecca Harper.

Engaging characters and a plot that surprises are hallmarks of a Paullina Simons novel, and her latest offering is no different.

The story of three young girls on a road trip across America is a good read, but unfortunately not the page turner of her previous efforts, like Tully, The Bronze Horseman series and The Girl in Times Square.

Shelby and Gina used to be best friends.

The pair have just finished high school, and when Shelby gets a bright yellow Mustang as a graduation present she decides to undertake a road trip to find her missing mother, who walked out years before.

Gina invites herself along for the ride, in a hurry to get to her unfaithful boyfriend Eddie before he marries someone else.

Despite making a pact not to pick up hitch-hikers, somehow they end up with Candy, a young girl with a dark past.

The trio are at first uneasy and unlikely companions, but slowly come to trust each other as they drive America's loneliest roads.

For some inexplicable reason they are drawn together and, as the miles mount up, their lives become so intertwined that there is no going back.

I got bogged down in some of the dialogue, which seemed to drag at times. The repeated religious debates also got old quickly. To be fair, religion was an important theme and was vital to the storyline, but it was a bit of overkill.

The great redeeming feature was it did keep me guessing until the very end, and I like that in a book. Rebecca Harper is a Times journalist.

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