Book Review: Off the Map(Beck Sisters #3) (ARC)

Author: Trish Doller

On the road to love, you don’t need a GPS…

Carla Black’s life motto is “here for a good time, not for a long time.” She’s been travelling the world on her own in her vintage Jeep Wrangler for nearly a decade, stopping only long enough to replenish her adventure fund. She doesn’t do love and she doesn’t ever go home.

Eamon Sullivan is a modern-day cartographer who creates digital maps. His work helps people find their way, but he’s the one who’s lost his sense of direction. He’s unhappy at work, recently dumped, and his one big dream is stalled out—literally.

Fate throws them together when Carla arrives in Dublin for her best friend’s wedding and Eamon is tasked with picking her up from the airport. But what should be a simple drive across Ireland quickly becomes complicated with chemistry-filled detours, unexpected feelings, and a chance at love – if only they choose it.

Off the Map is the third novel in the Beck Sisters series. After loving Float Plan, the first novel that follows Anna Beck, and its sequel, The Suite Spot, that follows Rachel Beck, my expectations were high for this one. The stories all tie together through Anna as Rachel is Anna’s sister and now Carla Black used to work with Anna in Florida before Anna took off on her sailing trip. Anna is now marrying Keane Sullivan in Ireland, so Carla is heading there for the wedding. She is picked up from the airport by Keane’s brother, Eamon, which brings our characters together.

When Carla and Eamon meet each other, there is definite insta-lust in the air. The two connect immediately and there is some on-page action between them. While I enjoy this usually, I feel this would have played out better for the reader off-page and then have on-page scenes once there is more connection to the potential couple. As Carla travels the world and Eamon dreams of doing something for himself, the two set off on an adventure before the wedding. I enjoyed the adventure although it was difficult to understand the timeline as the two take off soon before the wedding. This came across as a selfish decision for both as they put themselves over the bride and groom, so I think the novel needed a little more to acknowledge this as this element distracted me somewhat while reading.

Carla’s father suffers dementia and through an agreement between them, she has stayed away from seeing him for the past six years. He wanted her to live her best life and see the world, so Carla followed his wishes although she misses her father. While I could see the internal struggle with Carla, I think there needed to be more given to the reader. As it is written, it is difficult to fully connect with her reasons to not disobey his wishes and try and see him again. They do talk on occasion, but I feel this was a huge part of Carla’s being and it was not explored as much as I wished.

The way Carla and Eamon get together was a little too quick for my taste, but the author won me back with the two getting closer through their adventure. The story, like the first two in the series is highly character-driven. The two characters bring out another side of themselves and I love this type of relationship in stories. The pacing itself and timeline does leave me with some questions, as stated above, but the actual heart of the story was well-written. I think the concept was fantastic and just needed a bit more to feel complete. Overall, I still love Doller’s work and will easily read more from her in the future!

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Griffin, for the opportunity to read this novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**