The route Lottie and Tina took is almost exactly the same as the road trip Madeleine Reiss and her sister once took and was faithfully documented in Madeleine’s journal. She found it stored in a cupboard and read over her lyrical descriptions of their trip and there she had the embryo of this novel about sisters, love and forgiveness. The characters are not based on her or her two sisters and this novel is pure, unadulterated fiction. It took me a while to get into the story but once I was on board I couldn’t wait to read what happened next. The descriptions were absolutely stunning and I could easily visualise Lottie and Tina in the various locations. I loved the theme because I always wanted a sister myself and if I had a sister I would love her and cherish her, even though she may be annoying and totally different from me. I liked the idea of the challenges Tina set for Lottie to encourage her to live a little more but thought at times Tina was controlling and manipulative. I did not like the ‘What would you be if you were a ….’ repartee that was an often used as a conversation starter.