Road Signs

Mar 11, 2011 Maldivianbookreviewer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-j-fredrick, contemporary-romance, friends-to-lovers, netgalley-reads, arcs, brooding-hero, commitment-phobic-heroine, endearing-hero, good-for-nothing-ex-boyfriend, haunted-by-the-past-hero, haunted-by-the-past-heroine, hero-in-love-with-heroine, neighbor-hottie, road-trip-romance, sizzling-sexual-tension, stalker-ex, tortured-hero, unforgettable-hero

3.75 stars friends-to-lovers contemporary romance

I found M. J. Fredrick’s latest book Road Signs which is to be released on the 14th of this month up for grabs at Netgalley to my ever loving delightful surprise. I was glad for a chance to receive an ARC because after my first encounter with M. J. Fredrick’s writing style when I read and reviewed her romantic suspense novel Breaking Daylight, she has landed on my list of authors to look out for. Road Signs being a book of my favorite friends-to...more 3.75 stars friends-to-lovers contemporary romance

I found M. J. Fredrick’s latest book Road Signs which is to be released on the 14th of this month up for grabs at Netgalley to my ever loving delightful surprise. I was glad for a chance to receive an ARC because after my first encounter with M. J. Fredrick’s writing style when I read and reviewed her romantic suspense novel Breaking Daylight, she has landed on my list of authors to look out for. Road Signs being a book of my favorite friends-to-lovers trope was just the icing on the cake for me when I picked up this read.

27 year old Cameron Trask has being in love with his best friend Willow Hawkins since high school. Willow, an only child whose mother had worked two jobs to keep a roof over their heads, had basked in the warmth that had been offered up by Cameron’s family who had welcomed Willow with open arms. Willow’s beautiful mother’s tendency to stray towards the wrong kind of man for all the wrong reasons has left its emotional scars on Willow who shies away from commitment and works hard towards building a life for herself just so that she can stand on her own two feet and would never have to rely on a man for security.

But a moment of lapse in judgement has Willow regretting her impulsive decision to visit her latest boyfriend’s parents for Thanksgiving and before she knows it she calls up the one person whom she trusts more than anyone else in her life to come and get her. Cameron drops everything that he has lined up, adjusts his plans on travelling to Seattle for a job interview and drives down to collect the one woman who matters more to him in life than anyone else. Though Cameron has never had the guts to come outright and confess how he feels to Willow, it doesn’t make his plans of severing ties with her and moving away so that he can finally, hopefully get on with his life any easier.

When Willow finds out how she might have screwed up Cameron’s chance of getting a job that would finally mean something to him, Willow convinces Cameron to set out on a road trip that would take them to Cameron’s destination. From the moment they set out, one thing after another goes wrong, bringing out opportunities for Willow to see how her best friend whom she has seen very little of for the past couple of weeks has changed so much, looks more appealing and has her thinking wild thoughts of them entwined together doing the very thing that she has sworn she wouldn’t subject their friendship to.

Cameron knows that this road trip would be the last chance he would ever have of making a move and coming out with how he feels about Willow. For someone like Cameron who has the term cautious engraved onto his forehead, this is easier said than done. However, the close proximity that the trip places them together with feelings that they have both long kept under the rug sweep onto the surface gaining momentum until they both ultimately surrender to each other. Even then, Willow’s insecurities when it comes to love and commitment rises to the surface which she has to deal with before these two finally find their happily ever after.

I liked the premise of the story, a road trip embarked upon by best friends, both of whom who want what’s best for the other. Willow turned out to be a heroine I would have liked to hit on the head a couple of times because of her obstinate nature that kept her from what turns out to be the best thing in her life. Cameron is such a sweet hero, who won my heart simply because his love for Willow shines through each and every action of his from the way he rides to her rescue to the way he just simply wants her to be happy with life. Cameron makes for such an endearing hero with an abundant reserve of patience which he really has to call on when dealing with someone as skittish as Willow when it comes to love, commitment and happily ever afters.

Though at times there was a disjointed feel to the story, in the end it proved to be an enjoyable contemporary romance that takes the reader on a journey of discovery of how the feelings between Willow and Cameron finally meet on the same level giving them both a taste of a well deserved happily ever after. Recommended for fans of contemporary romances that would make for a light quick read with a hero you would immediately fall in love with, fans of M. J. Fredrick and for fans of romances of the friends-to-lovers trope.(less)

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Mar 17, 2011 Barbara ~*Lindt Ninja*~ rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, arc

Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Press for the eGalley!

At loose ends for Thanksgiving since she and her best friend Cam decided not to go to his sister's house like they always do, Willow made the impulsive decision to go to her new boyfriend's parents' home instead. Big Mistake. Her first clue was when her boyfriend's mother started showing her the house next door - the house that Willow was going to live in after she married her son. Then the previously-normal boyfriend started going frat-boy/ca...more Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Press for the eGalley!

At loose ends for Thanksgiving since she and her best friend Cam decided not to go to his sister's house like they always do, Willow made the impulsive decision to go to her new boyfriend's parents' home instead. Big Mistake. Her first clue was when her boyfriend's mother started showing her the house next door - the house that Willow was going to live in after she married her son. Then the previously-normal boyfriend started going frat-boy/caveman on her in front of his friends and getting angry with her when she tried to remind him that they were only dating casually. In a panic, she grabbed her luggage and made a break for it, calling Cam, begging him to rescue her and bring her home.

Willow's call put Cam in a bind for more than one reason. He'd been trying to distance himself from her for a while, stretching their contact out to just some phone calls a few times a month now. He's been sick in love with her for years and it's just time to move on. He's got his dream job interview lined up halfway across the country in a few days and if he gets it, he won't even need to be anywhere close to her anymore. He doesn't have a car either, so he has no idea how he's supposed to pick Willow up anyway. Hearing the panic in her voice though, he can't say no and when he gets to her, rather than tell her about the job interview and that he needs to get to Seattle, he takes her where she wants to go, to his sister's place for Thanksgiving.

Cam comes clean about his job interview the next morning, when he plans to send Willow back to her place with his brother while he continues on by himself. When his plans get screwed up, she decides since she's the one who interfered in the first place, it's her job to get him to the interview, but the train and flights are all booked so they'll have to drive the entire way there. Cam can't decide if it's going to be torture to be with her, a chance to get her out of his system or a chance to finally make her notice him. For her part, Willow feels something different for Cam but she doesn't know what it is or if she's even interested in finding out.

I love, love, love the friends to lovers trope. I'm even capable of being happy with a healthy dash of unrequited love mixed in, as long as it doesn't involve anyone who's TSTL. I really wanted to like this because there were things about it that were lovely to read, but there were too many times that I just didn't think Willow was likeable or that the situations she and Cam found themselves in were close to believable, even for Romancelandia.

Willow was completely a Type-A personality, career-driven woman to Cam's more tentative, almost beta guy. This job interview was more than just a meeting to Cam, it represented a clean break from everything Willow. Yet when she called him to come get her, he was reluctant for about a minute before he caved. At nearly every obstacle the two encountered on their trip west to the interview - and there were many, this was a long, long trip and whatever could go wrong, did - he kept taking it as a sign that maybe he wasn't meant to take this job. Cam constantly searched for reasons to keep waiting for Willow and she kept giving them to him without ever really promising him everything.

Willow has a mother who only depends on other men for money and as a result, resolved never to be without a career or her own income. It made her totally focused on her job to the exclusion of a romantic life with any meaning. She never even paid that much attention when Cam started drifting away, except in retrospect. When he came to pick her up, she noticed he'd made some physical changes and she felt odd about it. When she found out about his job interview, she felt odd and sad about it. When he needed help getting west to his interview she felt responsible for it. As their interminable drive continued, she felt attracted to Cam, but she didn't want a relationship with him really, and she didn't admit that she loved him. She knew how he felt - he never hid it and even told her about it - but she didn't reciprocate, even after they were together. Her lack of any real emotional investment in his feelings, whatever her reasons, made her very hard to like. Worse, the longer the trip dragged on and the less likely it looked that she'd ever figure out what she felt for Cam, the sadder he looked for waiting for her at all.

While this had some funny moments and elements that were road-trip funny (like rooms with heaters that worked at one stop and wouldn't turn off at the next), this isn't a romantic comedy. In the case of the heaters for example, the hot room was used so they could be tortured by each other wearing next to nothing. The erotic elements were nicely done and the one area where Willow and Cam could come together perfectly without any imbalance. I liked them there - they ought to have gotten there earlier.

I turned this story over in my head a lot after I read it and I wondered if part of the problem I had with Willow was that for a friends to lovers trope, there just wasn't a lot of back story to show why Cam loved her in the first place, so all I had to go on was what I saw of her here and I didn't like much of it. In this day and age of planes and trains getting you anywhere (even the weekend of Thanksgiving), a long, necessary road trip plagued with every mishap you can think of probably wasn't the most plausible plot choice but it was still a unique way to throw Cam and Willow together, even if I thought he deserved better.
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Nov 20, 2011 Ellen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: surprised-me, novellas

Really loved this book. Read it in Bluefire Reader so not really sure how long it is in a traditional sense. Seemed short. Showed 133 units, whatever that equals. Got on the treadmill and started walking and finished my walk 8 miles "away" at the same time I finished the book and realized I had no feeling in my legs.
The premise seemed weak and silly (blurbs often do), but the story flowed and it just made sense. Okay, some of it seemed a little hard to believe, but the way it was framed, it made...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Cleffairy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed at: Over A Cuppa Tea

Date reviewed: 27th Feb 2011

Review link: http://cleffairy.com/?p=4860

This book, Road Signs, more or less reminds me of the song ‘God Blessed The Broken Road’ by Rascal Flatts.

Each and every one of us may have take a few wrong turns in life and ended up with the person that’s not right for us, but that doesn’t mean that it’s end of the road. It simply means that your true love is still out there, and all you need to do is gather up courage to do the right thing and pu...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Judy & Marianne from Long and Short Reviews rated it 4 of 5 stars

For its sheer volume of sexual tension and wonderfully colorful descriptions alone, Road Signs is worth reading.

Friends-to-lovers is always a tough row to hoe – best friends never want to screw things up and the fact that they’re both still single proves that relationships don’t always last. So, what’s to make theirs any different?

Cameron Trask is absolutely the most perfect man a person could want. Maybe he’s not hugely into taking risks, and a little too conservative environmentally (he does...more For its sheer volume of sexual tension and wonderfully colorful descriptions alone, Road Signs is worth reading.

Friends-to-lovers is always a tough row to hoe – best friends never want to screw things up and the fact that they’re both still single proves that relationships don’t always last. So, what’s to make theirs any different?

Cameron Trask is absolutely the most perfect man a person could want. Maybe he’s not hugely into taking risks, and a little too conservative environmentally (he doesn’t own a car, for instance, and won’t accept his take-out in Styrofoam ever), but he’s thoughtful, loving and incredibly selfless. Anyone but his best friend (and girl he’s loved forever) Willow would jump at the chance to be with him.

Willow is the product of being raised by a single mother who constantly looked for a man to take care of her. As a result, Willow’s overly independent and a bit gun-shy about relationships. So, why she’d go to her newest beau’s family’s place for Thanksgiving when they’d only been dating a short time was a bit suspect. She blamed it on the romance of a wedding she’d attended, but I admit to being a little surprised by her actions. Still, the story hinged on them and really it wasn’t that hard to suspend my belief.

I enjoyed Ms. Fredrick’s vivid characterizations and wonderfully detailed writing. In places, it might have been a little too detailed – for instance, I finally found a book with a dog I truly disliked and who had a strong character all her own – but it really plopped me right into the story. She finds the little things to describe and add to make the scenes as clear as though I were watching pictures on a screen instead of reading plain old black and white type.

The tension she builds between our protagonists as the traveled cross country together, sharing hotel rooms and close quarters and becoming more and more aware of little frissions of attraction between them. I nearly broke a sweat waiting for that first kiss... but the wait was well worth it.

This was a story that’s just pure fun and romance. A story that makes you smile (when you don’t want to smack the dog) and makes your heart beat a little faster every time the hero looks at the heroine. It has a solid plot, and a happy ending with a man who every woman should want to take home. A winner!

Originally posted at http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.c...(less)

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Mar 14, 2011 chanceofbooks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-read, netgalley

Of late, novellas seem to come in only three flavors: super hot, paranormal, and superhot swirled with paranormal. For fans of classic screwball romantic comedy shorts, this has to be beyond frustrating. Luckily, MJ Fredricks steps into the void and offers up a cute tale that will remind readers of early Lori Foster, Jennifer Crusie, Erin McCarthy, and Vicky Lewis Thompson. Back when the Grand Dames of Romantic Comedy were just getting started, they wrote a lot of really cute, funny shorts for H...more Of late, novellas seem to come in only three flavors: super hot, paranormal, and superhot swirled with paranormal. For fans of classic screwball romantic comedy shorts, this has to be beyond frustrating. Luckily, MJ Fredricks steps into the void and offers up a cute tale that will remind readers of early Lori Foster, Jennifer Crusie, Erin McCarthy, and Vicky Lewis Thompson. Back when the Grand Dames of Romantic Comedy were just getting started, they wrote a lot of really cute, funny shorts for Harlequin. Road Signs would fit right into that group.

Cam and Willow have been best friends since high school, but neither has acted on their feelings, in large part due to the fact that Willow is an honorary member of his large, loving family. Having only a distant, self-occupied single mother, Willow needs Cam and his family a lot more than she needs a boyfriend. Or so she thinks. Cam has been carrying his one-sided torch for her quietly since high school, but has recently decided to move on--literally. He's got a job interview in Seattle that would take him far away from his Midwest home. His big interview is scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, but he doesn't tell Willow about it. Thus, when Willow gets trapped in the Thanksgiving visit from hell, she calls Cam, who drops everything, including his his train ride to Seattle, to rescue her. And thus, one of my very favorite tropes is deployed: The Roadtrip with No Money and a Tight Deadline.

Like with all screwball romantic comedies, you have to check your disbelief at the door. Crazy things happen. One right after the other. Every possible roadtrip disaster befalls our hapless duo. However, having done the midwest-to-west coast road trip a half a dozen times, I can testify that all of these things are totally possible, especially for an unprepared duo. In one single road trip? Perhaps not, but it's the thank-the-goddess-that's-not-me factor that makes Romantic Comedy so much fun.

And in classic Romantic Comedy formula, Cam is a lovable Beta hero and the sexual tension slowly builds through subtle cues, rather than lots of X-rated speculating about body parts and blatant innuendo. If you need a lot of Alpha Man hoo-rah-rah, this probably isn't the story for you. But if you miss the sweet-yet-subtly sexy novellas and short romances from the late 90s/early 2000s, you will love the slow build and Cam's I-know-a-great-guy-like-that factor. He reminds me of a young Tom Hanks or Matthew Perry--cute, sexy, goofy, and endearingly self-effacing. Willow shares her mother's tendency towards self-absorption--she's the Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Anniston type heroine who must slowly come to see what has been right in front of her and take a risk to get it. And when she finally takes that risk, the payoff is all the much sweeter.

MJ Fredricks is perfect Spring Break reading for Romantic Comedy readers, and with its Chick-flick premise and sweet rather than graphic love scenes, it should have very broad appeal. Since I have long ago exhausted the backlists of my favorite Romantic Comedy authors, I'll be eagerly anticipating her next release. This is one road trip with a very happy ending! (less)

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Mar 22, 2011 Mary Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jeremy Taylor once said, “Love is friendship set on fire.” Nothing exemplifies this particular quote more than the characters of MJ Fredrick’s ROAD SIGNS – Willow and Cameron. Best friends for years, each harbors the same secret – the feeling they have for each other goes beyond friendship. Obstacles litter their path to each other, not the least of which include fear, uncertainty, and significant others who aren’t always what they seem.

Going into ROAD SIGNS, I wasn’t sure what to expect. A roma...more Jeremy Taylor once said, “Love is friendship set on fire.” Nothing exemplifies this particular quote more than the characters of MJ Fredrick’s ROAD SIGNS – Willow and Cameron. Best friends for years, each harbors the same secret – the feeling they have for each other goes beyond friendship. Obstacles litter their path to each other, not the least of which include fear, uncertainty, and significant others who aren’t always what they seem.

Going into ROAD SIGNS, I wasn’t sure what to expect. A romance, of course, but what about it? The description of the novel makes it clear that there are complications along the road to love but would the destination be worth the journey?

In short, yes.

In a novel such as this – a best friends to lovers type of romance – it’s easy for the characters to become annoying, for the reader to sigh and question, “Can they get together already?” Fredrick’s writing, however, gives new meaning to the term a slow burn. That’s what this novel is – a love that lights slowly and earnestly from both sides and it shows in the writing. Willow, normally a “think it out” type of girl suddenly finds herself making rash decisions, and it all boils down to the fact that she’d do anything for Cam, anything to make him happy. Though I felt a bit frustrated with her line of thinking a few times, I chalked it up more to the fact that I understood what she was feeling and I practically put myself in her shoes. In that case, I was more upset because why couldn’t I have known better? Cam, stuck in a cautious life with a job he dislikes, has the opportunity of a lifetime but doesn’t know if it’s right. His uncertainty is a nice change from the men who always know what they want and who take what they want without consequences. What I truly loved about both characters was their realism. They are the people I know, my friends, the coworkers I see on a daily basis. They each have fears and dreams and it’s not always easy to see the correct path.

Is the story perfect? Well, it has a few clichés here and there, but I think everything works well in its place in the plot. From the beginning, I felt myself hoping Fredrick would allow the characters to come together. Throughout the road trip, there is one problem after another, so much so that it seems unbelievable – but what is a work of fiction if not for the ability to lose parts of reality. I know, I know – I just said I loved the realism of the characters but that doesn’t mean I would love to see everything go wrong to find out what else may happen.

The thing is – it’s a fun, breezy, and sexy novel. The love scenes aren’t pure erotica and there are moments of silliness to balance the angst that comes along with (potentially) unrequited love. While not perfect – one of the problems I had was the sudden shifting of perspective from Willow to Cam without preamble (though the entire novel is in third person POV) – ROAD SIGNS is a sweet romance that will have readers on one of two sides: the side where I’m happily placed hoping they’ll get together and the side where there’s no way these two should ever get together.

In either case, the road trip will be worth the destination.

Is it too soon to ask for a sequel?
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Mar 10, 2011 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011, kindle, contemporary-romance, friends-to-lovers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Willow Hawkins is a successful career woman. She has a job she loves as but after attending a wedding she starts to feel like she's missing something and goes looking for a little romance. Rather than spend Thanksgiving alone, she opts to travel to Wisconsin to meet her potential boyfriend's family. The trip is a disaster. His mother assumes that because she is coming home with her son for a holiday they are steps away from the alter. Her eyes are opened up to how he behaves in public and she di...more Willow Hawkins is a successful career woman. She has a job she loves as but after attending a wedding she starts to feel like she's missing something and goes looking for a little romance. Rather than spend Thanksgiving alone, she opts to travel to Wisconsin to meet her potential boyfriend's family. The trip is a disaster. His mother assumes that because she is coming home with her son for a holiday they are steps away from the alter. Her eyes are opened up to how he behaves in public and she discovers that she's just not that in to him.

So what's a girl stranded in Wisconsin to do? She call's her trusty best friend Cameron Trask to come rescue her. Cam has a big interview for his dream job in Seattle on Monday. He's planning on taking a train and needs to leave soon to allow plenty of time. But when Willow calls he is unable to say no despite the fact that he no longer owns a car. So he takes his brother's car and the adventure begins.

Will is grateful to Cam for picking her up and somehow convinces him to drive to Minnesota to spend Thanksgiving with his family instead of driving back to Chicago where he can get ready to leave for Seattle. This is the first of many instances when Cam caves instead of confessing the whole truth to Willow. When he finally confesses, Willow makes her mission to get him to Seattle. A mishap with a train ticket leads them to set off on the road trip of a lifetime staying in crappy motels, driving in treacherous conditions, and singing in a karaoke bar.

I found the dance between Willow and Cam to be very frustrating. I could understand the first couple of hesitations but I got irritated and just wanted to smack them both upside the head. The situations were getting more unbelievable as the story went on and I couldn't picture all of that happening to these two people in the span of six days. I also couldn't stop from thinking about another book from Carina Press, The Kiss Test, which employed a similar plot line.

I did like Cam's family. Brian tries to tell Willow that she shouldn't wait and that she's in love with Cam. Cam's mother worries that Willow isn't right for him though she does care for her. When something happens to Willows home, it's Cam's family that takes care of things for her.

Ultimately I think I wanted to like this book more than I actually did.(less)

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May 13, 2011 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, romance-general

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. http://obsessionwithbooks.blogspot.com

REVIEW: 3 out of 5 stars

When Willow agrees to spend Thanksgiving with her new boyfriend and his family, she doesn’t realize what a mistake she has made until she arrives, her bf starts acting strangely and his parents assume more of their relationship than what it is. Seeing herself stuck in a predicament of not being able to get home, she calls her best friend Cameron Trask.

It wasn’t a hard decision for Cam, he packed up his parent’s dog Libby, borrowed his...more http://obsessionwithbooks.blogspot.com

REVIEW: 3 out of 5 stars

When Willow agrees to spend Thanksgiving with her new boyfriend and his family, she doesn’t realize what a mistake she has made until she arrives, her bf starts acting strangely and his parents assume more of their relationship than what it is. Seeing herself stuck in a predicament of not being able to get home, she calls her best friend Cameron Trask.

It wasn’t a hard decision for Cam, he packed up his parent’s dog Libby, borrowed his brother Brian’s much loved car and set off on the 3 hour trip to pick Willow up, no questions asked.

When Cam arrived, Willow noticed some sexy physical changes about him which she hadn’t taken notice of before and when she finds out the potential job he would be interviewing for would take him thousands of miles away; she was actually quite disappointed. It was really a time for her to start re-assessing her feelings toward her best-friend.

Cam is conservative environmentally, doesn’t appear to like change and is not into taking risks, he has loved Willow for a long time, having known her since they were 8 years old but never acting on his feelings out of fear of ruining their friendship. He had been trying to distance himself from her for sometime so the call definitely put a dampener on these plans.

Willow is fiercely independent, having being raised by a single mother who always felt it necessary to have a man in her life to take care of her; Willow didn’t want to follow in her footsteps so everything she did had purpose and was well thought out.

Everything that could go wrong on a road trip did go wrong for Cam & Willow; they had the worst luck some of it quite far-fetched but they persisted despite the set-backs and remained focused on getting Cam to Seattle in time for his interview.

I absolutely love the friends to lovers trope! I enjoyed the tension and sensual build-up to the first kiss & eventual bed scenes between them; it seemed to be a relationship that should have happened a lot sooner than what it did.

The sub-plot of Willow’s boyfriend/work colleague fit the storyline well although her reasoning behind the trip was a bit suspect and seemed to go against everything else we learn about her.

I loved M.J. Fredricks writing style, she held my interest from the first to the last page. I look forward to reading more by this author.
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Dec 20, 2011 Mer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-f, a-cr

My first read by M J Frederick. It was interesting and intriguing reading. The flow was pretty good, I did enjoy it immensely. If not, I wouldn't really that eager turning the page.

The story's about two best friends, Cam and Willow, who fell in love with each other but they afraid to express their feelings for each other because they worried they might severe the friendship ties between them. So, they both needed to decide paths in their lives. Which wouldn't be that easy. There were some obstac...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Habrewer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Road Signs by MJ Fredrick
* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Willow had no idea what she was getting herself into when she accepted an invitation from a coworker to go home with him for the holidays. His mother has them as good as married and he is slightly delusional. Stranded three hours from home, Willow turns to the one person she can trust, Cam. She never dreamed it would turn into the adventure of a lifetime.

Cam has been in love with Willow but...more Road Signs by MJ Fredrick
* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Willow had no idea what she was getting herself into when she accepted an invitation from a coworker to go home with him for the holidays. His mother has them as good as married and he is slightly delusional. Stranded three hours from home, Willow turns to the one person she can trust, Cam. She never dreamed it would turn into the adventure of a lifetime.

Cam has been in love with Willow but she has never seen him as anything but her best friend. They text daily and talk on a weekly basis but he hasn’t seen her in a while. He can no longer stand their relationship as it is and he hates his job so he has decided to do something about it. Even though he has an interview for his dream job, he can’t say no when Willow needs his help.

This was a fun story to read. The road trip that Willow convinces Cam to make turns into a real adventure. Everything that could possibly go wrong for them does, including Willow’s clothes being shredded by a cantankerous dog and their car breaking down in the middle of a blizzard. Through it all, Willow is determined to make sure Cam arrives on time for his interview.

The trip is also a time for Willow to reevaluate her relationship with Cam and her life in general. She hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to men and Cam has always been there for her. She now has to convince him that he is the one for her before it’s too late. She loves her job and hates that he is so unhappy in his; she would do anything to make sure that he gets to his job interview.

I love Cam; he is one of those sexy geeks (like I have at home). He wants Willow to be happy, even if it’s with someone else. He doesn’t really want to move that far away from his friends and family but he has to do something because he is miserable in his current job. He tries to be a gentleman with Willow on their trip but there is only so much a man can take before he gives in.

This was such a fun adventure the author took us on. I loved the main characters and was glad when they finally realized they were meant to be together. Overall I give Road Trip 4 Flaming Hearts.

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Jul 10, 2011 I ♥ Bookie Nookie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: z-netgalley, z-freebie, content-friends-turned-lovers, sexual-mix-mf, zz-reviewed, 2011-read-in

Cam and Willow have been best friends since they were children. They have involved in every aspect of each others lives, except for the intimate aspects. Now, after all these years, they begin to see the other in a new light. Repressed feelings and emotions surface forcing the to face the reality of their fate.

I thought the story started off a little slow, in fact it was so slow that I put it down for about a month before going back to it. After they reached Cam's parents home is really when the...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Christy Olesen rated it 4 of 5 stars

When Willow agrees to go home with her boyfrined for Thanksgiving, she panics that his mother is already planning the wedding and what home they’ll buy. Willow calls her good friend, Cameron, to come get her. They end up driving cross country so he won’t miss the job interview he had to reschedule to come to her rescue. I enjoyed this story.

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Feb 27, 2011 I heart MOLDY APPLES rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lately, Ive been shifting from urban fantasy to plain old romance novels. This one was really good, kept my attention all the way through!

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May 02, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Check out my review at: Escape by Fiction

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Jul 24, 2011 Rachael Johns rated it 5 of 5 stars

Love this read! I'm a HUGE fan of friends to lovers and this book didn't disappoint. I absolutely LOVED Cam the hero!! And was mighty jealous of Willow at the end.

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Jun 16, 2011 Deborah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I must admit that I am highly biased. After reading M.J. Fredrick's last book, Sunrise Over Texas, I have become a huge fan! That being said, I really enjoyed this story. At roughly 133 pages, it was a relatively quick read. I think I read it in one sitting. What is there not to love about this story? A road trip, a crazy dog, mayhem, and two best friends falling in love. I love this author's writing style. I want to read everything that she writes!!

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May 17, 2013 Rhaldi Snyders marked it as to-read

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Mar 24, 2013 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Feb 18, 2013 Patty Maximini rated it 4 of 5 stars

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title link	preview: Road Signs
avg rating	preview: Road Signs Goodreads rating: 3.83 (59 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10456203-road-signs?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1297994171l/10456203.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10456203-road-signs?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Road Signs by M.J. Fredrick[/url]

Road Signs

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