Fans of Sophie Kinsella and The Devil Wears Prada will love this smart, sexy debut novel of wanderlust. Objectively, Sophie is a success: she’s got a coveted job at a top consulting firm, a Manhattan apartment, and a passport full of stamps. It isn’t quite what she dreamed of when she was a teenager dog-earing pages in exotic travel guides, but it’s secure. Then her best friend bails just hours … Then her best friend bails just hours after they arrive in Hong Kong for a girls’ trip, and Sophie meets Carson, a free-spirited, globetrotting American artist.
In the midst of their whirlwind vacation romance, Carson invites Sophie to join him on his haphazard journey around the world. While the brief international jaunts she sneaks in between business trips don’t feel like enough, Sophie is far too practical to throw away her five-year plan on a whim. Yet Carson’s offer forces her to question whether the reliable life she’s chosen is really what she wants–and she soon discovers that his feelings for her run deeper than she realized.
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Are you looking for a great book to take you away while you’re sitting on the beach this summer working on your tan? Have I got the book for you! The Wild Woman’s Guide to Traveling the World by Kristin Rockaway is exacting what you need. I loved this book so much that I read it in a day.
Sophie seems to have it all – a loving grandmother, a best friend, and a job that pays well and allows her to travel all over the world. But, unfortunately, this isn’t the life that she saw for herself as a girl – her head always in a book planning another exotic trip that she’d take some day.
When her best friend unexpectedly leaves Sophie along for their girl’s trip to Hong Kong, she decides she’s going to have a great time on her own. While she’s sitting alone having a beer in a German pub Sophie meets Carson and their lives change in an instant.
To Sophie, Carson appears to have no drive, no ambition, and no means of support. But, he gets to do what she loves – travel. She learns that spending time with Carson means something and that together they explore new locations and each other.
But Sophie’s practical side takes over and she returns home realizing just how unhappy she is with her employment. She decides to make a change that will rock her whole world.
Will Sophie and Carson stay together? Will Sophie get off of “punishment” at work and start traveling again? You need to read The Wild Woman’s Guide to Traveling the World to find out the exciting conclusion.
As other comments have noted, The Wild Woman’s Guide to Traveling the World reminded me a lot of one of Sophie Kinsella’s novels. Sophie (the character, not the author) is a professional woman who travels a lot for work, but most of the other areas of her life are in a bit of a disarray. She isn’t completely content with her job, but it pays her bills, lets her travel, and fits into her neatly mapped out life-plan. Then she meets Carson and her plan gets turned upside down.
Eventually Sophie begins making changes in her life, but one thing I really appreciated about the book is that she doesn’t meet Carson and her life suddenly, and miraculously, turns in a new direction. In fact, Sophie and Carson end up having an impact on each other in various ways, and each learns more about themselves from being involved with the other. The book is romantic, funny, well-written, and gave me a serious case of wanderlust.
Favorite Quotes:
Elena rarely left the tri-state area; her idea of an exotic getaway involved tanning on the Jersey Shore.
But with my focus on the future, I rarely immersed myself in the right now. My life was reduced to a series of check marks, ticking off each goal I achieved without taking the time to revel in my accomplishments. As soon as I hit one target, I was already reaching for the next one and contemplating the one after that. I rushed full speed ahead, my sights pointed sharply forward, never stopping to take a look at what was around me.
I can sketch in Hong Kong, in Australia, in New York. I can find an adventure wherever I am. The only constant I need in my life is you. So wherever you go, I’ll follow.
My Review:
Sophie loved to travel and plan travel and dream up detailed imaginary itineraries, although she had unfortunately chosen the wrong travel partner in Elena who decided on their first night there that she just wasn’t feeling the Hong Kong vacation that Sophie had planned and paid for and after a tense dinner of informing Sophie of all her unlovable and miserable flaws, Elena flew back home the very next day. Wow, this was the opening scene of the story and although I flinched a few times, I was hooked. Poor Sophie, I felt for her and was exasperated by her and also wanted to kick her more than a few times as I saw far too much of my twenty and thirty-something self in this character; it was rather eerie and more than a bit painful. I truly adored the character of Carson who proved that opposites not only attract, they can bewitch and fascinate. Carson was an artistic dreamer going through a nomad stage while Sophie was a highly structured and over anxious planner.
I was stunned to realize this insightful and well-written book was the author’s first; every single character was colorfully described with vivid environmental details and interesting facts also tucked into the narrative. The premise was unique and entertaining while writing was cleverly observant, wryly amusing, and delightfully steamy. Ms. Rockaway has a bright future ahead of her.