Lana is excited to embark on an eight-day road trip around California with Grandpa Howe, his new wife, Grandma Tess, and her granddaughter, Cassie. The girls are the same age and have only met once before, a few weeks prior at the wedding. They are not on the road long before it is clear that Cassie and Lana are very different. Lana is earnest, chatty, excitable, and a little young for her age. Cassie is judgmental, exasperated to be on the trip, mean, and obsessed with what is cool with her popular friends. As Lana tries to have fun and get to know her new step-cousin, Cassie just grows more annoyed. Both girls harbor secrets. Lana is worried about her mother's health, and she fears she has been sent away to be kept in the dark. Cassie is worried about what being gone will do to her social status and what is really going on with her alleged friends. A major detour from the plan leaves the foursome driving across the country, giving the girls ample time to work through their issues and see the possibility for true friendship in each other.McVoy weaves the girls' backstories into the present narrative, helping readers understand them fully. The relationship each girl has with her own grandparent is lovely and captures a family bond not often depicted in fiction. Told in alternate narration, Cassie and Lana realistically work through the many complications that come with both family and friendship in this fun and untraditional road-trip story.Amanda MacGregor.

Lana is excited to start a road trip with her grandpa and his new wife, especially since it means spending time with her new cousin, Cassie. However, Cassie does not want to leave her friends to sit in a car with nerdy Lana for a week. But both girls need this vacation: Lana to forget about her mom's illness, and Cassie to learn the real meaning of friendship. Lana's problem is a big one, compounded by the fear that her parents are keeping her "in the dark" about how sick her mother is feeling some readers will understand. Comparatively, Cassie's problem might seem small, but her desire to fit in with the popular crowd will speak to readers as well. Two very different girls in a car together with show tunes and wacky pit stops plus lots of desert make for a pretty sweet friendship story. Steer this toward fans of Lisa Graff's Umbrella Summer (2009) and those drawn to books with plenty of heart.

Gr 6-8 Two months ago, Lana's Grandpa Howie married Cassie's Grandma Tess (Nono). The girls didn't quite hit it off, but as they're accompanying their grandparents on their California road trip honeymoon, Lana hopes that they'll soon be great friends. Cassie, on the other hand, just wants to get through the trip as best as possible. She quickly realizes that maybe Lana isn't so bad, and they begin a tentative friendship. Both girls are struggling emotionally: Lana is pretending that her mother's recent health issues are not bothering her, and Cassie is obsessed with keeping the popular kids as her friends. Eventually, the girls have to face their own truths: Cassie's friends are not really her friends, and Lana's mother is seriously ill. A spur of the moment trip to Maine to catch a Magic Moment finally allows the protagonists to understand what each is dealing with and solidify their friendship. Problems are relatively easily dealt with, and the messages of true friendship and communication will resonate with many readers. VERDICT Despite some heavy topics, this is a lighthearted road trip story with a lot of middle school appeal. Kefira Phillipe, Nichols Middle School, Evanston, IL