Off the Map

A Novel

By: Trish Doller

Narrated by: Sarah Naughton

"Naughton delivers a delightful performance...listeners will enjoy this light yet heartfelt romance from start to finish."—AudioFile

Trish Doller's idyllic romance, Off the Map proves sometimes a wrong turn can lead to the exact right destination.

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 traveling 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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2023 Trish Doller (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Doller uses this fun, adventurous romance to explore big themes of home, family, and finding happiness and purpose in life. Readers won’t want to put this down."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)

Story with heart

A very sweet story that includes difficult life events. The characters have flaws but are all good at heart. Excellent.

I have found a new favorite author. Yay!

Off the Map is the story of Carla Black- a woman who works half the year then spends the rest of the year travelling the world. She inherited her adventurous spirit from her dad Biggie Black, who now has the early stages of dementia.
Carla does not want to be tied down. She rents cheap apartments when she is not travelling. She lives by the motto, if I can't carry it in my backpack, then it is not worth having. Her one prized possession is an old jeep, Valentina, which she inherited from her dad. And Carla keeps her love life simple: flings and one-night stands only.

Things get complicated when Carla goes to Ireland for a friend's wedding and meets Eamon, the older brother of her best friend's fiancé. Unlike Carla, Eamon has lived what many would regard as a "responsible" life, but he is unhappy. Carla inspires him to want to spread his wings and see the world, but he needs a guide with travelling experience and the ability to work on cars, since he does not have mechanical skills. Carla Black is such a person.

I really enjoyed Off the Map. You could break this novel down as such: 2/3 of the novel is Eamon and Carla travelling together and having lots of saucy times. The last 1/3 of the novel is Carla back home with her dad and his wife Stella. While I read Off the Map thinking that it would be a light romance set in Ireland, and I was here for it, I was not prepared for the last part of the book, and I mean that in the best way. If you have ever been a caregiver or a child watching a parent succumb to illness, those last few chapters might hit deep. The last chapter was absolutely beautiful and profound, to the point that I was moved to tears. Some readers will be cool with the transition from light romance to something more akin to contemporary fiction or literary fiction, others will not. My one problem with the dramatic shift in the novel to me is that I actually wound up enjoying the last part of the novel more than the first, and I wish we had spent more time with Biggie and Stella.

Trish Doller is a new-to-me author, and now she is a new favorite author. I can't wait to read more by her.

Perfect!

Seriously why didn’t I read Trish Dollar earlier. Each of these books in this series are incredible and provide such vivid stories. I haven’t been in a mood for heavy books but this story particularly was the perfect amount of emotional plot, humor, and spice.

Loved it!

I loved this book so much! Each book is better than the last. I highly recommend

Travelers with itchy feet... read it.

I'm a big fan of what I call "silly girl" books. But usually I don't read those about being abroad because it causes me heartache that it's not in my cards right now. However, this book called to me to listen to as a road trip through Slovenia. it was rainy and my 3 year old was watching super kitties so I went for it. it's a lovely story that has just the perfect amount of emotions (I did cry) but was needed in the story.

Awful narrator

The actress reading this sounds like a brat. I like to relate to the narrator in this smut books and she was an alien to me. Made all the romance seem wasted on her.

just parts. not a whole.

Instant love trope left me never rooting for the relationship in this one. it was too easy. flaws of the characters never played out in the development of the relationship.

So much of the character "development" was less development and more just handed to us as the reader.

the spice was thrown in and didn't add to the story or development of anything. just was.

a lot of this book felt disjointed. the biggest being the storyline of her father. while it was heartfelt, it just didn't fit the pacing of the book at all. it felt like a total hard stop to the book you thought you were reading to a very different vook. took us too far from the story that was unfolding. it took away from any opportunity for grand gesturing or moments where recouping happens and is enjoyed by the reader.

again, good parts, but nothing really came together for this one.