Off the Map by Trish Doller on March 7, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 272
Format: ARC, Audiobook
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Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Off The Map by Trish Doller is book 3 in her series, but you don’t have to read the previous books to read this one. Carla Black’s life motto is “here for a good time, not for a long time.” She’s been travelling the world on her own in her vintage Jeep Wrangler for nearly a decade, stopping only long enough to replenish her adventure fund. She doesn’t do love and she doesn’t ever go home. Of course, anyone with a Jeep Wrangler has got to be a great character, right?
Carla and Eaman meet in Dublin to drive to a wedding together in Tralee. She is the Maid of honor and he is the best man. They meet in a pub where they then shortly end up at Eaman’s place, doing the mattress mambo. (Trigger warning.. there are open door scenes in this one) She tells him that she doesn’t do relationships. Then they get in Eaman’s SUV and start the drive to the wedding, only to realize Eaman was secretly wanting adventures like Carla has had. So they make a detour, and of course, they can’t keep their hands off each other the whole journey. I feel like it was Insta-lust at first site with those two. I didn’t feel like there was a build up in their relationship. The “spark” just wasn’t there. They end up stuck for a night at some farm and eventually make it to the wedding. There were a few funny, adventurous parts (like the bull), and they did have some good banter occasionally. I kept reading in hopes it would pick up or something big would happen. I really wanted to like this because I connected with Carla at first. She drives a cool Jeep Wrangler, she loves adventure, and she didn’t seem to need a man. But then we basically get beat over the head with her thoughts on how she can’t have a relationship and it got a bit repetitive.
Carla didn’t want a relationship because of her father. She called her dad Big E. He had dementia and didn’t want her to see him that way so she stayed away for years. He played a large part in her thoughts on relationships. I feel like it came together too late. I enjoyed the last few chapters. The characters really developed in the end, but were almost annoying up until the end.
This might not have been the book for me. I don’t enjoy when couples fall into insta-lust and every other scene is a sex scene with little build up into a relationship. I like a little drama to keep me engaged, but the bull (even though it was funny) and rescuing a kitten just didn’t do it for me. This did touch on the topic of dementia, but only in broad terms. This just isn’t my type of romance. But I listened on audio and did enjoy the accents. I haven’t read her two previous books, but I had heard they were well liked. If you are a fan of open door romance and a little insta-lust, this might be for you.