Amy & Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson

... versus A Small Free Kiss in the Dark.
Joanne and I picked Amy & Roger's Epic Detour as the clear winner. This is a story about Amy, a high school girl, who has to move from California to Connecticut and has to get there by car with the help of Roger. He is the son of her mom's friend and a college student. The plan is that he, with his own reasons for traveling cross country, will drive Amy to Connecticut on a four-day route predetermined by mom. Of course, the two adventurers, right off the bat, take a different course.
Morgan Matson does a great job of weaving humour in with mystery, romance, and angst to create a really fun, fast, touching read. It's like a "Sleepless in Seattle" with a big bowl of popcorn and a Snuggie on a couch and no one to judge you 'cause you're a teary-eyed guy. There are plenty of elements that keep resurfacing to the reader's amusement and well-placed flashbacks fill in blanks along the way. Varied text presentation - pictures, journal entries, receipts - makes it feel all the more real. The characters are believable and fallible and you can't help but hope that everything will turn out okay in the end. Definitely a read for mature kids, and since it takes place across the States, some knowledge of U.S. geography, landmarks, and the interstate highway system would help kids to visualize and make connections.