‘A feelgood read that reminds us it’s never too late to live the life you want’ SUN
When her walk up the aisle leads to disaster Maya Thomas must forge a new path… control.
Now, as Maya travels a path she never expected to take, setting off on the mystery honeymoon her fiancé had planned for them, she finds that there is life after loss, that fate has its own way of helping you heal and that those with the courage to grasp love will never go lonely…
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For some reason, I’ve never had much desire to visit Asia. I’m not sure why, because I love traveling. But that has now changed, since I’ve read Janice Horton’s “The Backpacking Bride.”
The story is about Maya, a 50-something financial planner who figured she had passed the age where she could still meet the man of her dreams and live happily ever after. Then one day a handsome, worldly and sophisticated 60-year-old man named Jon walks into her office. He had recently retired and moved back to England from Asia, where he had lived for many years. He wanted advice on how to best manage his investment portfolio. The two of them hit it off immediately, even joking about the actual shock (of the static electricity kind) they gave each other when they shook hands for the first time. After a six month whirlwind courtship Jon proposes and they plan the perfect wedding in a romantic little chapel in Tuscany, Italy, after which Jon has planned a “magical mystery tour” of a honeymoon to all the places he would like to show Maya. They are just ready to say their vows, when suddenly Jon collapses of a brain aneurysm.
Maya is devastated and shocked. Then those feelings progress to anger, and she asks the universe what she did wrong to deserve such a fate–that her only true love was taken from her before they could enjoy life as a husband and wife.
Maya knows she needs to get away for a while, so she can come to grips with the sorrow of losing Jon, and try to think about how she will live the rest of her life without him. When Jon’s brother gives her a portfolio filled with the tickets and itinerary for they honeymoon, Maya decides to take the honeymoon herself, hoping it will help her feel closer to Jon as she explores all the places he planned to show her, and checks off the little Post-it note activities in Jon’s travel portfolio.
The first leg of the adventure takes her to a ashram in India, where she learns more about herself and the universe through yoga, meditation, and wisdom of an Hindu guru. What happens there sets up divine providence (or karma, or fate), which follows her as she continues the next leg of her trip to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, she coincidentally meets one of Jon’s oldest friends, an attractive 50-something man named Henri.
I will stop telling the story because some surprising things happen once she meets Henri, and I don’t want to spoil the whole story. But — hint — it definitely has a happy ending!
I really enjoyed the story and going along on Maya’s journey of self discovery. I definitely shed a couple of tears over Maya’s terrible luck in losing her fiance in such a tragic way. I felt her sadness through the pages of the book.
My favorite part of the book was the way the author described Maya’s adventures in India, Hong Kong and Singapore. I now want to visit these places and experience an ashram, the outdoor Symphony of Lights in the Hong Kong harbor and enjoy a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel, where that drink originated.
If you like books where you follow along with the heroine’s growth and discovery of herself, check out this book!
Thank you to Netgalley and One More Chapter for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.