From the author of My Kind of Crazy comes an uplifting YA contemporary about two teens on an unexpected journey to forge their own paths.
WHERE THE ROAD LEADS US
by Robin Reul
Sourcebooks, April 2021
Jack has always known what he wanted: to follow in his father’s footsteps to Columbia University and become a doctor. But when his father unexpectedly dies, Jack’s careful plans start to unravel. Then, on the eve of leaving for college, he discovers a letter his father wrote to his estranged brother, Alex, stamped and unsent. Jack sees an opportunity: if he goes to San Francisco and finds his brother, he might be able to heal the past and truly move forward.
Hallie is sitting on huge news that she isn’t ready to share with anyone. And she doesn’t want to think about it, either; she’s just learned that her closest friend from her online cancer support group has taken a turn for the worst. There’s a small window to travel to Oregon to see him and say goodbye, but she knows her protective parents would never let her go. Hallie’s life suddenly feels like it’s spinning out of control, so she does the only thing she can think of: she buys a bus ticket to Oregon, and tells her parents she’s going to a friend’s for the weekend.
Jack and Hallie had a class together years ago, but haven’t seen each other since. But fate puts them into the same rideshare to the bus terminal, setting off a whirlwind road trip that may lead them to their own true selves…and maybe to each other.
Robin Reul has been writing since she was in early elementary school, when she used to make her own book club flyers for her classmates and then pen them original stories. Though she grew up on movie sets and worked for many years in the film and television industry both as an actress and in motion picture development, she ultimately decided to focus her attention on writing young adult novels. She lives in Los Angeles suburbia.