The Road to Roswell

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Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I've read seven books by Connie Willis and have enjoyed almost all of them. When I saw The Road to Roswell come up on Netgalley, I clicked REQUEST without even reading the synopsis. I didn't need to. I'll read anything she writes. (Though to be honest, I had no idea she was still writing!) When I finally did get around to reading the synopsis I was a tiny bit unsure. I'm not huge on alien books, but I had enough trust in the author to give it a go. See the thing about Connie Willis books is that they have a lot of humor in them, but they're usually about huge big concepts too. My favorite books by her are about time travel. BUT THAT'S NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, WE'RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE ROAD TO ROSWELL.

All that I mentioned above is accurate for this book too — Our heroine, Francie, gets abducted by an alien the weekend of her best friend's wedding. She's not taken off planet. She's being forced to drive said alien to a undisclosed location. Undisclosed because neither one of them can understand each other. A lot more happens, but I don't want to spoil you! There's a small romance side-plot. A gambling card-shark granny. An older gentleman obsessed with Westerns. A great deal of it is quite funny, and there's some extremely frustrating parts, too. Basically, The Road to Roswell is about first contact and what can go so, so wrong. But I can promise you this — none of the aliens are evil.

The Road to Roswell is cute, but the ending leaves quite a lot to be desired. It sort of ends in the middle of a scene, and I was left feeling like I missed out on a paragraph or three. Despite that, I really did enjoy this book. Connie Willis's writing reminds me a lot of T. Kingfisher, if that gets any of your gears going, but Willis is much more sci-fi than fantasy. Either way, it's a funny book, and if you're looking for something lighthearted, I fully recommend The Road to Roswell.