cover image Carrie Goes Off the Map

Carrie Goes Off the Map

Phillipa Ashley. Sourcebooks Landmark, $9.99 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-4022-4145-1

Characters try to come to terms with heartache in Ashley’s engaging and very English contemporary romance. Carrie Brownhill is stunned when her fiancé dumps her and marries another woman a few months later. Carrie decides to join a friend on a European road trip, but things don’t go as planned, and she winds up driving a camper van through the English countryside with Dr. Matt Landor, who has his own secrets about an accident he was involved in. Their bickering slowly evolves into a simmering attraction, but Carrie is wary of risking her heart again so soon, especially since Matt is supposed to go overseas. The predictable, well-worn plot dead-ends in a rushed conclusion, but Ashley’s charming prose makes the journey enjoyable. (Dec.)