SWEET EVIL Read Along Week One: Road Trips
Sep 30
I am so unbelievably excited to be kicking off week one of the SWEET EVIL Read Along hosted by Mindy of Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and co-hosted by Jaime of Two Chicks On Books, Tara of Tater’s Tall Tails and Nancy of Ravenous Reader.
This week’s read along will be of Chapters One through Nine (pages 1-121) and the theme of this week’s post is ROAD TRIP to correspond to a certain adventure that Anna and Kaidan embark upon.
I have read and reviewed SWEET EVIL, so this is a re-read for me. Well, it’ll be my fourth or fifth read, actually. But since this kick-off post is prior to this week’s read, I won’t share my thoughts on the first nine chapters until next week. I will just warn that there will be lots and lots of sighing along the lines of – *sigh* Kaidan Rowe *sigh.*
But for now, just to tease, I will share one of my favorite passages from the first nine chapters…
Kaidan leaned over me. Oh, my gosh. A half-naked half demon was burying his face in my neck! His hot, smooth shoulder pressed against mine. A thrill of pleasure shot through my confusion and fear. I felt the heat of his mouth on my shoulder, and gripped the couch cushion with my hands to keep them from going where they wanted to be, which was anywhere on him.
Yeah… Definitely one of my favorites. But that’s not the only passage that’s awesome. Just one of them. So you will totally want to read those first nine chapters and see what other awesomeness they contain.
Anyway… road trips….
I’ve been on my share of road trips. From short day trips to long cross-country road trips. I’ve been on trips with my parents, with friends, with family friends, with extended family, with my Dude and with my pets. And all of them have had their ups and downs.
The downs….
No matter how awesome the person or people you’re traveling with, the longer the trip the more likely it will be that fights will break out – over when to stop, where to stop, who’s going to drive and for how long, what music to listen to, where to stay the night, when to wake up, what to eat. Yeah, it can be challenging.
There’s bound to be someone with no sense of direction, who can’t set the GPS, follow a map, or figure out how to use the maps app on their cell phone.
Bringing snacks along is great… until someone gets a sugar high and then crashes and gets moody. At which point there’s nowhere to hide.
But road trips are not all doom and gloom. Or else I wouldn’t have gone on so many of them and have so very many fond memories.
The ups….
Getting to see places you’ve never seen before. Traveling through towns, cities, states you’d never visit if you took a plane.
Getting the chance to get to know the person or persons you’re traveling with on a whole different level. If you can survive a long road trip with them, then chances are you can survive anything. I highly suggest taking a road trip with the one you love before making any serious commitments. It can be very telling.
Getting the chance to be totally silly – whether by singing aloud to cheesy songs, taking goofy pictures in front of tourist attractions or attempting to fit in with the locals when you so clearly couldn’t possibly fit in.
Some of my most memorable road trip moments included the time when my family camped their way across country and a bear rambled onto our campsite to sample the clams my brother caught as we cowered in our tent.
Then there was the time that my mom’s muffler died and we had to drive home from our Massachusetts vacation in the dead of winter with all the car windows open so we wouldn’t suffocate. No, we didn’t stop to get the muffler fixed. And yes, it was freezing cold.
My favorite, though, was the road trip I took cross-country with my Dude when I was supposed to be at college. Of course I didn’t tell my parents. Of course I should have been in school. But it was way more fun to spend a week driving across the country, staying in crappy motels, taking in the sights and marveling at just how different and beautiful and awful this country is depending upon just where you are.
While we’ve driven across the country twice since then, this first trip will always be my favorite and one I’ll never, ever forget.
Oh and I highly recommend taking the northern route (I80) versus the southern (US40). Though if you can do both that’s even better.
I also recommend taking lots and lots of pictures and videos. Sure, nobody but you will want to see those blurry pictures taken from your car window, those hundreds of highway signs announcing new states and cities you’ve arrived at or departed from, the mountains, trees, cows, horses and hay bales you see along the way. But you will.
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Anyway… as you prepare to read – or re-read – SWEET EVIL this week for the read along, think about your favorite – or most dreadful – road trip moments. Maybe they were more exciting than Anna and Kaidan’s trip. Maybe they were less exciting. But if you can still remember them clearly, they were definitely memorable moments.
And if you’d like to share what you love or hate most about road trips, some experience you’ve had or advice you’d like to share, I’d love to hear about it!
But if you’d like to join the read along and create your own post to talk about your road trip moments, it’s not too late. Just click the banner at the top of the post to sign up. If you’ve already signed up for the read along, be sure to submit your links for this week’s post on the SWEET EVIL Read Along page HERE.
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Oh and Mindy has offered up some SWEET prizes for giveaway. Be sure to check them out and enter here….
Love the post. I just read this amazing book and love it and you had a great post. Glad to co-host with you.
Thanks! I’m so glad you loved it! And nice to meet you through this event too! Can’t wait to check your post out later tonight!
^-^ thanks for this giveaway!! love the post!!
Awesome post. I love Sweet Evil.
Thanks for the giveaway!! Your road trips sounded like soo much fun! I can’t wait to read Sweet Evil too!!
I always end up in a fight over music on road trips
That muffler story is horrifying. On a silly note, once when our car was overheating my dad had us pee in a bottle and he put it in the car for “water”. LMAO
Oh no! LOL! Hope it helped with the overheating problem, LOL. And sorry you’re girls. He could have done way easier… Just sayin.
Road trips are certainly interesting.
I bet there are some downs as you say but hopefully the good things about it overcome the bad.
I so want to read this book. I wish I had it so I could do the read along with y’all. Since I don’t have the book though, I will just have to read all your chapter by chapter reviews.
As for a recent road trip, my last trip I made was to Decatur, GA for a book festival. I was stoked all the way down so I didn’t need caffeine…but on the way back I was worn out and never thought I would be able to walk again…we walked soooo much. I love road trips when I can take them…and I’m looking forward to my next road trip to Charleston, SC for the Y’allFest!
I like how you listed the pros and cons of going on a road trip. I agree that after being in close quarters for a long period of time arguments and disagreements tend to break out! I agree that the pros or ups do outweigh the downs. I just started Sweet Evil and am really enjoying it! Thanks for the giveaway!!!
There are definitely lots of downs to road trips. Fights were always crazy when we were kids. When we road tripped we didn’t have TVs and DVDs in the car and PSPs and ipods and gadets like that. My brother and I fought and that was the entertainment lol Lots of arguing about stops because my mom gets really car sick but we all just want to get there already. But I do love seeing new places! Also love the quote you shared! That was a hot one!
There are definitely lots of downs to road trips. Fights were always crazy when we were kids. When we road tripped we didn’t have TVs and DVDs in the car and PSPs and ipods and gadgets like that. My brother and I fought and that was the entertainment lol Lots of arguing about stops because my mom gets really car sick but we all just want to get there already. But I do love seeing new places! Also love the quote you shared! That was a hot one!
You are giving me road trip nostaliga! We haven’t taken one since July 2010. Right now I’m reading Ethereal, Celestra Series book 1, on loan on my kindle and loving it! Also just downloaded Free Four about Tobias by Veronica Roth . . . which I was soooo excited to discover. And I just got 3 books in the mail I ordered from Amazon. Then there’s also the 15 sunshine state books I need to get through and write q’s about for our book battle at school. Ahh–too many books to read and not enough time:-)I wish I had time to reread Sweet Evil. I devoured it in less than 24 hrs!
I haven’t read Sweet Evil yet but I have added it on my wish-list months ago. I hope that this semester break I may find time to read it. I was so busy in school (now that its barely two weeks away from Finals) that I can’t read any books…
Looking forward to this book! 
Agreed with the downs of road trip! There are always fights, and the worst part is that you can’t just walk off, you have got to sit in the box until the trip is over.
You make road-trips sound like the most fun thing in the world!!!
-_-
But I’ve never been on one! :’(
You’d laugh at the time it’d take me to travel MY country, my WHOLE country!
It’s just lol… too laughable! *-*
:O A Bear??????? We don’t have those but I think this is the first time I’m happy about it… And… yeap…
I can’t wait to start the reread!!!
Have fun!!!
#1stalker
I can relate to the muffler story. Seemed if we took a road trip as a family, something always broke on the car.
But road trips taken without my family were always a lot more fun. 
Love that quote, too!
I love road trips! Only about the first 4-5 hours of it though. After that I’m pretty much over it and I want to get where I’m going. On the way back I just want to get back home. Taking a road trip with a 5 and 2 year old makes it a little harder because of extra restroom stops. But once we get to our destination it’s all worth it!
Wish me luck, we are taking our girls on a 8 hour road trip to Disneyland this weekend
Even if I’m not a big fan of road trips (I always get car sick and end up green or pale and cranky) you made it sound like so much fun!! All the ups of course LoL. You’re so right about the part of getting to see places you’ve never seen before…and the contrast of different places, I love that.
I’m sure road trips in your country are so much better! I’d love to do one in the US but with friends only, no family. (I’ve had my share of those).
I love the story about the road trip with your Dude, that sounds perfect!! You were supposed to be at college hahaha!
I’m participating in the Read Along too! Sadly I’ve never been on any road trips :/
They sound like a lot of fun though
Awesome post! I’m enjoying Sweet Evil so far and I am so tempted to read more and find out about Kaidan.
Janhvi @ The Readdicts
Your trips sounds pretty awesome!
It always get sick, so, maybe that could be my first line of the ¨downs¨
I enjoy reading these chapters of the book, and I love love love that quote!!!
LOVED the quote!
I had a blast writing my Road Trip Post! 
You story was quite awesome 
Tabby @Insightful Minds
your road trips sounds much cooler than mine. Our country is not really road trips friendly I guess, since it is mainly composed of islands. I haven’t done road trips that took at least a week.
Anyway, I just love road trips or travels in general!
I couldn’t agree more with everything you’ve said. Road trips can be super, super fun, but can also end up in a huge disaster.
I can still remember how happy my mom and I were when my brother got his license because it meant he could drive us on road trips. My dad is awesome when driving in places he knows, but going somewhere new and then maybe taking the wrong turn somewhere, always got him upset. My brother, on the other hand, always stays cool and calm and just looks for the next best way.
I talked about my last road trip in my post, but two of my favorite road trips when I was a kid were to Sweden and the Czech Republic. Prague is such a beautiful city, and, OMG, Sweden’s countryside is absolutely stunning. I really, really want to go back there!
Anyway, enough with the rambling.
LOVE your post, Rachel!!! 
Oh the stresses of going somewhere new can be a nightmare for certain drivers. I know someone who always gets tense when driving somewhere they don’t know. My Dad is kind of fearless like that, though.
A road trip to Sweden and Prague sounds amazing. Sweden is a gorgeous country and I can only imagine the drive would have some breathtaking scenery. I envy you the ability to have gone there as a road trip.
I’ll be checking out your post today. And thanks!
Sweden is definitely one of my most favorite countries! Ever since I’ve been there, my dream spot for a house to live would be with mountains on one side and a lake on the other.
We stayed at a little cottage there right on top of a little mountain and when you looked down, there was a pretty lake. I LOVED it!!! 