Burning the Map: Book Review

My friend and I went on an adventure over the summer - we walked to a local bookstore near her house. They were having a sale - buy one used book, get one free! If anyone knows us - they know that we not only love books, but we love books on sale too! So of course, after spending an hour or two searching - we found two books each! I picked up Burning the Map by Laura Caldwell and One Breath Away by Heath Gudenkauf - both of which I read rather quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed both; so let's start with Burning the Map!

Synopsis According to Barnes & Noble:

The choices Casey Evers has made in her twenty-six years aren't exactly making her happy. In fact, her life is so on course--college, law school, boyfriend, job offer--that it's actually off. So, before she slides into fourteen-hour days at a Chicago law firm, she heads to Rome and Greece with her two best friends for one last hurrah. The thing is, her best friends haven't really been all that close to her since she started seeing John two years ago, she hasn't been all that close to John lately, and she's awfully partial to Mediterranean men....

I rest my head against his shoulder. The scooter starts to fly again, and Rome whizzes by--a myriad of fountains, marble statues, larger-than-life doors with gigantic handles, streets that look like alleys....

The rigidity that has settled in my bones and head over the past year seems to thaw a bit.Yet with the thaw comes an army of questions from some unused corner of my brain. What about John? Will you tell him about this little excursion, this man you are hugging? What happens when you get back, when you have to start work, when you can no longer escape the world? I lift my head and let the wind snarl my hair around my face, trying to forget these questions, the ones with rifles in hand that are waiting to fire holes in my flimsy curtain of contentment.

Set against the backdrop of sparkling beaches and old-world villages, Burning the Map ignites the fire within us all, to shine in unexpected ways....

My Review:

Now if you know me, you know I love to travel - so this book was right up my alley (even my friend noticed)! Even if I haven't been to Rome or Greece, or anywhere international (aside from a few islands), after reading this book, I felt like I was there. Immediately, I was able to identify with Casey, feeling like an outsider with friends, in her case with Kat and Sin; fortunately for me, I never went on vacation with friends that made me feel like that. However, this book helped me see both sides, and helped me feel how my friends might've felt when I ditched them for a guy (yes, I'm sure we're all guilty of that). 

Their first stop was Italy, and the details Caldwell included made me want to go there... travel the world, taste different food, learn multiple languages. Next up was Greece, another country I've wanted to travel to - it was amazing how much I was able to identify with not only this book, but with Casey. She panics at the smallest of changes in their travel plans - like leaving Ios to go to Mykonos earlier. She likes the "ease of simplicity and repetition" (pg 180). However, as time passes, I've learned to welcome changes - as does Casey - eventually. 

As I flip page after page, I grow accustomed to Casey and her friends, and I even think that their vacation is becoming simple, too simple, until Caldwell throws a twist into the mix - and I am shocked, literally shocked. I hoped it would end in a certain way, and it did; while it was shocking to say the least, I half expected it, and I'm happy with Casey and the choices she made. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I hope that Caldwell writes more books filled with passion and traveling to find oneself. Now who wants to travel the world with me?

"While the possibilities may seem endless, the time sure isn't" (pg 273). 

My Rating: 5 Stars