Quirky Girls' Guide to Rest Stops and Road Trips

Emily Walters Gregor is a graduate student in 20th-century American
literature and an ESL writing tutor at the University of Minnesota.

Hayley Harmony has just finished high school and isn’t quite sure
what’s supposed to come next. One best friend is off to start a
modelling career in New York City; the other is packing for Harvard.
Hayley’s best prospect seems to be working at a greasy diner in the
mall in Victoria. But she does have one other option—the old VW van
that her father and stepmother gave to her as a graduation present.
Hayley knows just what she’ll do—take a road trip across North
America and, along the way, write a travel guide. This, she decides,
will simultaneously turn her into an interesting person and a famous
writer.

Needless to say, Hayley’s dreams don’t quite go according to plan.
A few minor mishaps—one that leaves her bald and another that finds
her locked in a washroom at a hockey arena—delay her departure. And
once she and her former nemesis Izzy Archimbaud finally get on the road,
things don’t get much better. But Hayley and Izzy—if not the
van—do make it to Los Angeles and back in one piece.

Written as a journal, the casual and confiding tone is appealing, as
are Hayley’s “quirks.” The book is a light, non-pedantic read.
Hayley’s challenges are primarily of the slapstick kind, although
darker troubles lurk below the surface.

This third book in the Hayley Harmony trilogy follows The Healing Time
of Hickeys and The Cure for Crushes (and Other Deadly Plagues).
Recommended.