Title: My Journey to the Ocean
Author: Lena Mikado
Genre: Romance / Chicklit
Age Group: Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is a memoir. Memoir gone chick lit (a bit twisted, perhaps at times too philosophical chick lit), yet still a memoir. It is a story about coming out of age, about what is happening on one’s mind when they are falling out of love and about trying to live in the present moment. All wrapped up in the sugar cone of that elusive humor of our everyday lives.
Elena knows what she wants from life. Her whole picture-perfect existence is planned out and allows for no deviation. She is engaged to be married and intends to be happy. Along with three of her girlfriends, she takes a summer trip across the ocean, to St. Simons Island, Georgia, United States. Pool parties, vodka watermelons and the eternal question – to shag or not to shag. Her whole world is about to be rock-n-rolled, and she will have to face a pretty hard choice. It all sounds like a setup for a summer-fling novel, but is it really like that in actuality, or does Miss Real Life have something more conniving under her sleeve? Are there happy endings in real life?
In My Journey to the Ocean, Elena loves travelling, and she also loves her Russian fiance. But when a journey to the other end of the world brings her to St. Simons Island, Georgia, she falls in love with pretty much everything around her – and maybe another guy too. While Elena discovers a new part of the world, a part filled with pool parties and vodka watermelons and some of the hottest guys she’s ever seen ) she also discovers a new part of herself, a part that wants more, that craves more. And it turns out her picture perfect life back in Russia may not have been so perfect after all, and that the guy who seems wrong in just about every way, may turn out to be the right guy for her.
I loved the sense of humor the author brings to the table. Right from the start, the book is caked in a layer of humor, and the protagonist doesn’t hesitate from making fun of herself too, often laughing at her own expense. All characters have realistic personalities, and most of them have some background story too, making them feel real, and easy to relate to, especially the protagonist and the love interest.
Although mostly light-hearted, the book offers some more philisophical insights too, without straying too far though. A fun summer read with a bit more to it.
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