The Road to You by Alecia Whitaker

Title: The Road to You (Wildflower #2)

Author: Alecia Whitaker

Publisher: Poppy

Release Date: July 14, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

The second book in the Wildflower series—full of drama, heart, and that country music spirit.

Bright lights…Screaming fans…Cute roadies…Country music sensation Bird Barrett is officially on tour. The months flash by in an exciting whirlwind, due—in no small part—to a certain dreamy lighting tech named Kai.

After the tour wraps up, Bird makes the move to LA, finding herself at the center of a trumped-up rivalry with another country music starlet she barely knows. Meanwhile, Kai’s out on tour again with an indie rock band and growing distant, and Bird has the label breathing down her neck for a new hit song. Finding true love is supposed to be inspiring, so why does penning the next great country pop ballad suddenly feel so hard?

After reading Alecia Whitaker’s Wildlfower last summer, I was surprised to hear that it was the first in a series but I was also curious to see where the story would go. And being the sucker for contemporary stories and country music that I am, I really enjoyed reading The Road to You.

Bird Barrett is getting use to life in the spotlight. After the success of her first album, Bird is getting ready to head out on the road, joining the tour of a country music legend. She couldn’t be any more excited about it. To make things even better, there’s Kai, the cute roadie who seems to want to spend just as much time with her as she does with him. It’s the perfect summer. But once the tour is over, Bird struggles with writing for her next album, constantly fighting writer’s block. And it doesn’t help that Kai is across the country on another tour. What had felt so easy when they were on the road together now becomes a struggle. Falling in love should be inspiring Bird, but she just can’t seem to pour her heart out in a song the way she wants to.

As much as I enjoyed the story when I read Wildflower last year, I couldn’t help but think that parts of the story fell a little flat for me. So I was a little apprehensive going into The Road to You but I was curious to see where the story would go. And I was curious to see how the romance would play out since that was one of my main disappointments with the first book. Where, for me, the romance fell flat in Wildflower, I was satisfied with it in The Road to You. Though I didn’t always think that Bird was in the best relationship, I bought into the romance and it was fully fleshed out. Outside the romance, I loved getting to explore the country music world some more though Bird’s experience. Seeing her figure out the ins and outs of being a celebrity made for a story that was both fun and touching. Of course, that had a lot to do with Bird and everything she went through over the course of the story.

Bird was just as likeable in The Road to You as she was in Wildflower. She was still working on adjusting to her success and fame but she still felt like the same Bird that I met at the beginning of the first book. Granted, there were moments when, much like her parents, I kinda wanted to yell at her because some of her decisions were kind of questionable. But she’s still learning, and she seemed to have it more or less figured out by the end of the book. And then there was Kai, who I wasn’t sure whether or not he would end up being one of those questionable decisions. At first, I was all for Kai and Bird together, but then I wasn’t sure he was the best person for her. It always felt like Bird could never really be herself around him. So even though he wasn’t in this story quite as much, I’m still rooting for Adam if Bird has to be with someone. Everything just seemed easy when she was with him and he seems to really care about her. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that something may happen with them in the next book in the series.

I really enjoyed Alecia Whitaker’s The Road to You, even more so than I did Wildflower. I look forward to seeing what the story will bring in the final book in this series.