They told me I was an out-of-control train about to crash...
Everything changed when the police officer knocked on the door to tell me - a 16-year-old - that my older sister Kristen had died of a brain aneurysm. Cue the start of my parents neglecting me and my whole life spiraling out of control.
I decided now was the perfect time to skip town. It's the early 90's, Kurt Cobain runs the grunge music scene and I just experienced some serious trauma. What's a girl supposed to do? I didn't want to end up like Kristen, so I grabbed my bucket list, turned up my mixtape of the greatest 90's hits and fled L.A.. The goal was to end up at Kurt Cobain's house in Seattle, but I never could have guessed what would happen along the way.
At turns heartbreaking, inspiring, and laugh out loud funny, Runaway Train is a wild journey of a bygone era and a portrait of a one-of-a-kind teenage girl trying to find herself again the only way she knows how. ~taken from Amazon
I was emailed by author, Lee Matthew Goldberg, asking to read and review his latest novel. To be honest, I was on the fence at first. Not because it didn't sound intriguing but because I was busy in my personal life and just wasn't sure I could commit to reading it before publication. Well, a couple weeks later my life had an opening and time to read was abundant, so I decided to read and review. I was so glad I opened this epub file!
First, I want to point out that I was a teen in the 90s, so this brought back the nostalgia immediately. The complete immersion into the 90s grunge scene was something I didn't even know I needed. The fact that the main character is female and the author is male I an amazement I want to highlight. Lee Matthew Goldberg has done a FANTASTIC job building this main character. Every feeling I had as a teenage girl in the 90s was reflected in this story. I loved this book more than I thought I would.
Nico is a teenage girl surrounded by grief and confusion. Her older sister died suddenly of a brain aneurism and her parents are getting divorced. The friends she keeps aren't the best influences and Nico finds her life spiraling. Convinced she will meet the same horrible fate as her sister soon, she sets off on a solo road trip to check off items on her bucket list. Her adventures on the road from L.A. to Seattle fill the pages with witty humor, bad decisions and self discovery.
Character development throughout was superb and the scenes described were detailed. I had no issues immersing myself in Nico's journey. The 90s references were spot on!
I highly recommend this well written coming of age novel for anyone and want to thank author Lee Matthew Robert for the chance to read and give my honest review! It was a 5 star read for me!
I finished this book a couple weeks ago and segments of the story still pop into my head from time to time. It was that good. I see on Goodreads it is listed as the first in a series, so if that is true, I am excited to read the next instalment in Nico's life journey.
There is an estimated release date of April 29, 2021 so pre-order now!
Happy reading!
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