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Title: Burning the Map
Author: Laura Caldwell
Narrator: Piper Goodeve
Format: Unabridged
Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
Language: English
Release date: 01-14-14
Publisher: Story Ave.
Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 6 votes
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
The choices Casey Evers has made in her 26 years aren't exactly making her happy. In fact, her life is so on course - college, law school, boyfriend, job offer - that it's actually off. So, before she slides into 14-hour days at a Chicago law firm, she heads to Rome and Greece with her two best friends for one last hurrah.
The thing is, her best friends haven't really been all that close to her since she started seeing John two years ago, she hasn't been all that close to John lately, and she's awfully partial to Mediterranean men...
I rest my head against his shoulder. The scooter starts to fly again, and Rome whizzes by - a myriad of fountains, marble statues, larger-than-life doors with gigantic handles, streets that look like alleys...
The rigidity that has settled in my bones and head over the past year seems to thaw a bit. Yet with the thaw comes an army of questions from some unused corner of my brain. What about John? Will you tell him about this little excursion, this man you are hugging? What happens when you get back, when you have to start work, when you can no longer escape the world? I lift my head and let the wind snarl my hair around my face, trying to forget these questions, the ones with rifles in hand that are waiting to fire holes in my flimsy curtain of contentment.
Set against the backdrop of sparkling beaches and old-world villages, Burning the Map ignites the fire within us all, to shine in unexpected ways...
Members Reviews:
Living on the Fringe
"Burning the Map" had so much potential to be a great summer-type read, but I felt short changed in the end. Laura Caldwell has a very pleasant writing style-filled with great imagery and clever conversations.
Overall, this book was fun to read, but after pages and pages of character and scenery development, the ending felt like it was on fast-forward play. It was almost as though the author was very excited about the plotline, but then just fizzled out when we finally get to the meat of the main character's epiphany.
The story of the three young women's trip to Rome and Greece is told by Casey-a young woman who has just now realized that she has been isolating herself from her friends, family, boyfriend and even her true self for nearly two years. I found it difficult to empathize with Casey and her struggles with her two best friends. It isn't until the very end of the story that she seems to really make any effort to `reconnect' with her friends and reacquaint herself with who she really is.
I admit, I was very pleased with the deviance from the standard chick book wrap-up, but I wasn't terribly surprised. My only real complaint about the plot is that it all seems rushed in the end; the characters all very promptly (seemingly out of nowhere) `figure it all out' and then poof, the book has ended. This was a fun but not fabulous read.
Loved
Total coming of age for the 20something ! A perfect quarter life crisis glossed in a European vacation in paradise
Five Stars
Loved it! It was such an easy/fun read that I read it in 2 days!
An overall fun reading experience
One of the best things about Burning the Map is that it surprised me. I was expecting something that fell neatly into the standard run-of-the-mill Chicklit genre, and instead I found a story about real friendship, self-identity, and travel.
Casey Evans is a refreshing protagonist.