I love a good road trip story, whether it’s with enemies shoved into a car together and destined to fall in love, or a bickering family learning what’s really important as they undertake a journey together. To celebrate National Road Trip day on May 23, we’ve put together a list of our favorite books featuring characters on a road trip – voyages that will change their life.
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
Four years ago, Dylan and Addie fell in love under the Provence sun, but their relationship ended two years later and they haven’t spoken since. Today, Dylan’s and Addie’s lives collide again as they crash their cars at the start of their journey to their friend’s wedding. Forced to share a car with three other people, Dylan and Addie are forced to confront the choices they made that tore them apart—and ask themselves whether that final decision was the right one after all.
Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
When the thirteen year old Jojo’s father is released from prison, his mom packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.
I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest
When Chloe Pierce’s mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles to the nearest audition. But Chloe hits her first speed bump when her annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, threatening to tell Chloe’s mom if she leaves him and his smelly dog, Geezer, behind. So now Chloe’s chasing her ballet dreams down the east coast—two unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat.
Oye by Melissa Mogollon
Structured as a series of one-sided phone calls from our spunky, sarcastic narrator, Luciana, to her older sister, Mari, this wildly inventive debut chronicles the events of her senior year after her grandmother receives a shocking medical diagnosis. When Abue moves into Luciana’s bedroom, she is forced to step into the role of caretaker, translator, and keeper of the devastating family secrets that Abue begins to share. Luciana suddenly finds herself center stage, facing down adulthood—and rising to the occasion.
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru’s longtime friends. Or so Nana is led to believe… With his crooked tail—a sign of good fortune—and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude, of loyalty and love.
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. But when PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes and he is joined by his daughter, his estranged brother’s grandchildren, and a former therapy cat. This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for—a fresh shot at love and parenting—but does he have the strength to do both those things again?
Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela
When Salma, Moni, and Iman–friends and active members of their local Muslim Women’s group–decide to take a road trip together to the Scottish Highlands, they leave behind lives often dominated by obligation, frustrated desire, and dull predictability. Each wants something more out of life, but fears the cost of taking it. When the women are visited by the Hoopoe, a sacred bird from Muslim and Celtic literature, they are compelled to question their relationships to faith and femininity, love, loyalty, and sacrifice.
Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
Curated by award-winning travel and lifestyle photographer Finn Beales, Let’s Get Lost offers pure visual escapism, with over 200 spectacular shots of remote and beautiful places. Chapters capturing off-grid coastal views, rugged mountain landscapes, majestic forests and expansive wildernesses are all featured. From the Pacific Northwest to Southeast Asia, New Zealand to Scandinavia, for the armchair traveller, this book represents a breathtaking visual compendium of how beautiful the world can be, with truly awe-inspiring full-page reproductions of some of Instagram’s most talented landscape photographers.
When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
The Fall kids’ lives are tipped over when an enigmatic rainbow-haired girl shows up and is vital to each of them. But before anyone can figure out who she is, catastrophe strikes, leaving the Falls more broken than ever. With road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories within love stories within love stories, and sorrows and joys passed from generation to generation, this is the intricate, luminous tale of a family’s complicated past and present. And only in telling their stories can they hope to rewrite their futures.
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour
Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev’s band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she’s abandoning their plans – and Colby – to start college in the fall. But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev’s already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what’s next?
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
When Millicent Watts-Cohen promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with eight years ago, she never imagined that it would mean travelling from DC to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack, especially with Hollis Hollenbeck, an acquaintance from her ex’s MFA program. But as they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s also about her own.
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters—Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina—were never close and barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. But on her deathbed, their mother voices one last wish: that her daughters will make a pilgrimage together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites. Arriving in India, these sisters will make unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and their lives—and learn the real story behind the trip Rajni took with their Mother long ago—a momentous journey that resulted in Mum never being able to return to India again.
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
Coyote and her dad have lived on the road in an old school bus since her mom and two sisters died five years ago. When she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days…without him realizing it. Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all…but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.”
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
A long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends, but now they’re in their thirties and trying hard to avoid each other. But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last wish: a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang
Charles Wang, a brash, lovable businessman who built a cosmetics empire and made a fortune, has just lost everything in the financial crisis. So he rounds up two of his children from schools that he can no longer afford and packs them into the only car that wasn’t repossessed. Together with their wealth-addicted stepmother, Barbra, they head on a cross-country journey from their foreclosed Bel-Air home to the Upstate New York retreat of the eldest Wang daughter, Saina.
Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren
A witty and deeply romantic modern reimagining of Disney’s Tangled follows Ren and Fitz as they’re thrown together on a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they’ve both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.
Off the Map by Trish Doller
On the road to love, you don’t need a GPS. Fate throws Carla and Eamon together when she arrives in Dublin for her best friend’s wedding and he is tasked with picking her up from the airport. But what should be a simple drive across Ireland quickly becomes complicated with chemistry-filled detours, unexpected feelings, and a chance at love – if only they choose it.
Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
Recent Dartmouth dropout Mei drives a limo to make ends meet, but her interest is soon piqued by handsome and reserved Henry. Toting an enormous black suitcase with him everywhere he goes, he’s more concerned with taking frequent breaks than making good time on the road. When Mei discovers Henry’s secret, she does away with her usual close-lipped demeanor and decides she has no choice but to confront him. What Henry reveals rocks her to her core and shifts this once casual, transactional road trip to one of moral stakes and dangerous consequences.
Ellen Whitfield is senior publicist at Books Forward, an author publicity and book marketing firm committed to promoting voices from a diverse variety of communities. From book reviews and author events, to social media and digital marketing, we help authors find success and connect with readers.
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Kendra Winchester writes about audiobooks and disability literature for Book Riot. She is also the Founder of 
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