Publication Day Review: Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews
Road Trip
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Narrator: Kathleen McInerney
Published: TODAY, June 2, 2026
Audiobook: 14 hours 59 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: May 6-17, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Pack your bags for a summer journey shaped by family secrets, long-buried history, and charming men with Irish accents.
Maeve and Therese Dunigan haven’t spoken in years. Raised under the same roof in Savannah, the two sisters could not be more opposite—Maeve the rule follower, Therese the unapologetic rebel. But when their mother’s death pulls them back together, they inherit more than just grief: a mysterious painting that may be worth millions…if it’s real.
Determined to uncover the truth—and desperately in need of the money—the sisters set out on a journey to Ireland, tracing their family’s roots and the origins of the portrait. What begins as a search for answers soon becomes something deeper—a reckoning with the past, as they uncover secrets that span generations and reshape everything they thought they knew about their family.
With tensions simmering, the two hit the road and find themselves on twisty lanes, in colorful villages, at local pubs, and with handsome men whose gift of the gab is surpassed only by their charm.
Can Maeve and Therese actually survive the journey without killing each other? Join Mary Kay Andrews on a road trip that will entertain you for miles.
Jessica’s Review:
Mary Kay Andrews is back after two years with a new summer beach read, and I was beyond ready for it! Bonus points for having Kathleen McInerney narrate and most of the novel taking place in Ireland! Listening to this made me want to go revisit the Emerald Isle!
Now this is not your typical MKA beach read to start the summer. It’s a mystery with family history in it! It was intriguing to see what direction the story was going to go in. It was still very enjoyable!
We have sisters Maeve and Therese who are estranged, and total opposites! They come together after the death of their mother and discover that a painting they grew up looking at may just be worth millions! But to do that they must travel from Savannah to the other side of the world: Ireland. Along the way they learn more about their family history, each other, and some they have romance of course! The novel has a colorful cast of Irish characters, including an English Cocker Spaniel named Sinead O’Cocker.
Kathleen McInerney is always superb, but she even got the Irish accents as well. Whenever I see her name attached to a book, I have to listen to it. If McInerney narrates it, you know its going to improve on an already good novel!
Having been to Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2007, as I listened to the novel I had fond memories of my trip there with my aunt and of course Road Trip makes me want to go back. MKA’s novels always have so much fun in them and I was so happy to be able to listen to an advanced copy. MKA is a favorite and an auto read of mine.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Here are a few pictures from my Ireland Trip back in 2007:
At Blarney Castle
With my Aunt!
Having a pint of Guinness in an Irish pub! (and I did drink the whole thing!)
At the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland
ALC Review: The Shippers by Katherine Center
The Shippers
Author: Katherine Center
Narrator: Patti Murin
To Be Published: May 19, 2026
Audiobook: 11 hours 8 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: April 22-29, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
She wants him to help her woo someone else. Genius. Foolproof. Can’t go wrong.
After a lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton vows to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. Armed with pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest). Determined to woo him for closure, she ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, as her wingman. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but showed up anyway. Cooper: who moved to London without a word four years ago. Cooper: who broke her heart.
Shipboard antics abound in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance, as JoJo and Cooper team up, fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, get jealous, answer long-held questions, and finally, at last, discover truths about each other that will change everything.
Jessica’s Review:
Katherine Center has a new novel coming out and Patti Murin narrates it!?!? The Shippers equals a fun ‘beach read’ to start the summer off! Katherine Center books are almost always a ‘must listen to’ and they are just entertaining fun reads.
We have JoJo, our FMC who starts out the novel about to get married, but doesn’t. It’s a whole story on its own. Six weeks later JoJo’s sister Ashley is getting married on a cruise ship and the whole family is meeting up again. Joining this wedding after crashing JoJo’s is Cooper, JoJo’s longtime childhood friend and also Finn. Finn was JoJo’s first kiss as a child and is also newly divorced. The plan is to get JoJo and Finn together by the end of the wedding week/cruise.
There is a lot that goes on in the novel in addition to the romance. We have family coming together, and miscommunication galore! If the miscommunication trope is a negative foryou, then you might want to skip this one, but I loved it! We have a lot of fun side characters: JoJo’s parents (mainly dad), grandma, cousin Harmony, and ‘Bridesmaid 2’(Does she even have a name?). These characters were so much fun! I was fully involved in the novel from the beginning. We have JoJo who is ‘book smart’ (she’s really good at Math) but not ‘street smart’ in the slightest. She was just so entertaining for me. And she gets into so many over the top situations you can’t help but laugh at times.
Patti Murin is back narrating another Center novel. When I saw that I got excited! Murin always does a superb job and I have yet to feel like we need a separate male narrator for the male voices when she narrates. Murin is one of the narrators I always look out for.
This romcom is no spice, but there is chemistry and a little bit of steam. I knew the direction the novel was going to ultimately go (thanks to my love of thrillers!) but enjoyed the ride JoJo took me on.
Some people say romcoms are predictable but Center address that in her Author’s Note to the reader/listener. Center achieves what she meant to for me with this novel: A fun romcom. Romcoms are supposed to leave a reader with a HEA (Happy Ever After/ Happy Ending), even if you figure out the most of what is going to happen. The Shippers was a long time in coming (Thanks Covid) but it is finally being released for everyone to read and enjoy.
Many thanks to the publisher for approving me for this one, I really enjoyed it!
Pre-Order Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK I like this cover with the blue dress much better than the US cover!
Audiobook Review: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
What Alice Forgot
Author: Liane Moriarty
Narrator: Tamara Lovatt Smith
Published: May 1, 2010
Audiobook: 13 hours 32 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: March 15-23, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…
Jessica’s Review:
Imagine this: You wake up in the hospital. Other than being unsure why you are there, you are thinking you are 29, have a happy marriage, and newly expecting your first child. And it is 1998. Then you are told it is actually 2008, you are 39 (No Way!?!?! That’s middle age!!!) with three children (Wait a minute..not one but three kids!?!?!), estranged from your sister, and in the middle of a divorce (WHAT!?!?). That’s what happens to Alice after she has a fall in the gym.
This is the basic premise of What Alice Forgot. The reader/listener goes on the journey with Alice to try and figure out the who, what, when, and whys over the forgotten last ten years. There are many mini mysteries that Alice must figure out, or does she even want to? This is a book about family misunderstandings, forgiveness, second chances, and love.
Can you imagine missing the last ten years of your life?!?! This was a book club read and called for a lot of discussions. The ten years that Alice forgot a lot happened in the world: She doesn’t even remember 9/11. And then all of the technological changes over that time including Y2K! Even going back from now in 2026 to back to 2016, I have gone through so many changes! It’s scary to think about.
I did have some issued with the narration. At times it was hard to distinguish differences in characters journals/homework, etc. I had to go back in my audiobook at the beginning of most chapters to figure out who or when the chapter was occurring. Maybe a second narrator or even just a change in her tone would have been helpful.
Other than the narration issues, I did enjoy this one!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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