



Two young adults meet on the road and find themselves with renewed purpose in this contemporary import. James is a student teacher traveling to his first assignment in a country town, but he puts his dreams (are they his dreams, he wonders, or his parents'?) on hold to give a beautiful hitchhiker a ride. Sophie, the hitchhiker, is returning home to her father and brothers after years of aimless wandering and missed connections, seeking closure, reconciliation, and a voice to express the secrets she has been carrying. James and Sophie bond through their shared uncertainty and begin a sweet and healing romance. James and Sophie narrate in honest, plain voices, but Herrick occasionally brings in the viewpoints of other characters; while this adds a deeper, though perhaps unnecessary, layer with James' parents, it distracts with one-off characters who exist only to provide backstory. This philosophical coming-of-age tale has a gentle message about making life meaningful by letting go of worries and regret, though it doesn't stand out too far from other similar tales. Krista Hutley. Booklist Online 06/11/2012