Review: How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

Title: How My Summer Went Up in Flames
Author: Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: May 7th 2013

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

First she lost her heart. Then she lost her mind. And now she’s on a road trip to win back her ex. This debut novel’s packed with drama and romance!

Rosie’s always been impulsive. She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.

To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…

How My Summer Went Up in Flames is a light and very funny read, I was laughing hysterically. The truth is I did not have any preconceptions about this book, I just read the synopsis and thought that the story sound good, but I did not expect to liked that much!

The story begins with Rosie, the protagonist receiving a temporary restraining order from her ex-boyfriend because she accidentally burned his car. So due to the restraining order, she should not call him, text him, go to his home or work, or contact through some social network .... and that is the first thing that Rosie try to do ... . she attempts to contact him to talk about it, so Matty, her next door neighbor, lifelong friend and is like a member of the family decides to invite her to a road trip that he is going to do with his best friend and his older brother. A trip that will last nine days and where they´ll visit all the museums, caves, Graceland, Dollywood and other tourist destinations as possible during the road trip.

The book is told from Rosie´s POV a girl of 17 year-old, she´s impulsive, a bit selfish and she definitely don´t want to go on a road trip with a group of nerds. Matty and Spencer are 16 years old and are super-mega-nerds (Rosie words) and Logan 18 year-old, he´s Spencer´s older brother.

And the trip that she was forced Rosie to take, ends up being an unforgettable journey where she makes new friends and discovering herself.

Overall, it's a hilarious book, with very lovable characters (even though at the beggining I wanted that Rosie stop obsessing about her ex-boyfriend). Also something that I liked was the reaction of Rosie´s parents when Matty proposes the trip .... which is a resounding NO! how their little girl was going to go on a trip with two strangers, even with Matty going, but they end up giving in because of  Rosie´s actions.