Girls Who Travel was not quite what I was expecting from the title (there’s really only one girl who travels in the book) but I did end up quite enjoying this story. The main character is Kika Shores. She had been traveling the world and buying different items and selling them on her website which was doing pretty well but then her year tour was up so she came back to New York. In New York she is working in an office and finds her cubicle far too constricting. When she forgets to schedule a meeting for her boss with the head of a big company, she calls the assistant in hopes that “The Vile Bae” will bail her out. Bae agrees to as long as Kika runs some errands for her, but when Kika’s boss shows up Bae tells him that Kika dropped the ball, again.
Kika ends up losing her job and while her Mom seems to think everything happens for a reason, Kika isn’t so sure. She wants to get her website back up and running but in order to do that she has to save money to travel to pick out the items to sell!
Kika’s friend Elsbeth ends up calling her and asking if she wouldn’t mind coming to London to au pair for her daughters, Gwen and Mina. Kika agrees and is off to London with nothing but a backpack.
Meanwhile, she keeps reminiscing about her love Lochlon, an Irish man she met while traveling that she hasn’t seen in quite some time. But now that he is home in Ireland because his father is sick, maybe they can meet up since they aren’t that far apart anymore.
She also seems to have a love-hate relationship with the guy next door, Aston, who she ends up finding out is the heir to the big company that she messed up the meeting with. She might be interested in him, until she finds out that he doesn’t like to travel! Is that a deal breaker?
But she can’t worry about Aston yet, Lochlon is coming to visit! And… it’s all down hill from there. But with a couple of weeks without her cell phone due to a no-technology trip with the family she is the au pair for – will she be able to have her happily ever after?
As I said earlier, I think the title of this book was a bit deceiving, but I did enjoy it. I couldn’t help but relate to Kika – wants to travel but stuck in a cube just trying to save up enough money to travel. Then she is traveling with Lochlan who has some big secret – Kika thinks it means he was involved in porn but I could tell from the moment he starts telling his story – he was in a boyband! This was a quick read and very enjoyable.
I received an e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
A hilarious, deftly written debut novel about a woman whose wanderlust is about to show her that sometimes you don’t have to travel very far to become the person you want to be…
There are many reasons women shouldn’t travel alone. But as foul-mouthed, sweet-toothed Kika Shores knows, there are many more reasons why they should. After all, most women want a lot more out of life than just having fun. Kika, for one, wants to experience the world.
But ever since she returned from her yearlong backpacking tour, she’s been steeped in misery, battling rush hour with all the other suits. Getting back on the road is all she wants. So when she’s offered a nanny job in London – the land of Cadbury Cream Eggs – she’s happy at the prospect of going back overseas and getting paid for it. But as she’s about to discover, the most exhilarating adventures can happen when you stay in one place…
Wise, witty, and hilarious, Girls Who Travel is an unforgettable novel about the highs and lows of getting what you want—and how it’s the things you least expect that can change your life.