The first thing that attracted me to Open Road Summer was the gorgeously designed cover. Then I read the synopsis for the book, and I just knew that it was going to be a must read for me. After reading so many great reviews for the book, I couldn't wait to get started on it. Let me tell you this, the book definitely does not disappoint!
The story revolves around Reagan, who sets out with her best friend on a summer music tour, in attempt to give up her rebellious ways and become a better person. Reagan has definitely not had the best childhood/young adulthood, and as a result she has been in some situations that she's not exactly proud of. She jumps on the opportunity to go on the summer tour with Dee, what better way to leave the past behind and start over fresh. Reagan was a really great character. She was snarky and hilarious, and she did not let what happened in her past define her, and I found that to be very admirable. I found her to be a great young lady.
Reagan and Dee have been friends for FOREVER, and what a wonderful friendship they have. They have always been there for each other, through thick and thin, and nothing was going to change that. Even though Dee was a country music superstar, she was still really down to earth and just such a sweet person. I found her to be an extremely likeable character. Their friendship is the type that every girl dreams of.
Matt Finch is the love interest of Reagan's in the story, and is also a singer on tour with Dee. I love that Matt makes Reagan want to be better; he brings out the best in her. Though their relationship did not get off to the best start, his charm finally wore her down and she saw the good in him as well. They were so insanely sweet together.
The storyline for the book was very cute, and makes for a really great summer read. The writing style flows gracefully, which also makes this a very quick read. I flew through the pages a lot faster than I expected to.
Overall, I really, really enjoyed reading this book! It definitely makes for not only a great summer read, but a great anytime read! I'm really looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.
I'm already lusting for summer so a book like this...yes. Now, please. Plus, I like that there's a strong female friendship in it. We need more of those.


The Ministry of Health has reportedly suspended the much-talked-about Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) vaccines trial.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) had sanctioned that Ghanaians should be used for the controversial and dangerous trial but it appears public pressure had compelled the government to put the whole exercise on hold.
and all was set for the take-off until the announcement came in.
Interestingly, the FDA's news release had said Ghana was doing the trial alongside seven other countries but failed to mention the countries involved.
However, it was able to conveniently mention the names of the western partners and companies who they claimed were collaborating with the Ghanaian health authorities in the exercise.
The FDA said international pharmaceutical companies: Johnson & Johnson, Bavarian Nordic, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) were the firms to commence the trial in the country.
Tony Goodman, Public Relations Officer for Ministry of Health said on radio yesterday that sector Minister Alex Segbefia who is outside Ghana currently, suspended the exercise before embarking on his journey.
He said the suspension was as a result of widespread criticism by of the public particularly civil society organizations and some political party groupings.
"The Minister for Health is not in town. This whole thing is being done by FDA together with the Ghana Health Service. The Minister has got a lot of calls from numerous Ghanaians saying that they are not interested in any trial. So he said that since he's not in Ghana, the trial should be suspended until he returns to look at the issues. " the PRO said.
According to Mr. Goodman, the Minister was also suspending the exercise because he (Minister) believed Ghanaians were not ready 'psychologically' with vaccine trial.
"The minister understands that the FDA have the mandate to do this (trial) but psychological health is very important. Psychologically Ghanaians are not ready for the trials," adding "If a vaccine has been developed in Mali, will you expect that Ghanaians will benefit from it? You will say so because we will go for it. What is wrong if Ghana also allows itself to be used? The most important thing is to establish whether the vaccine is safe and that has been established. It's also been established that this vaccine is not going to cause any Ebola diseases. There is no way we are going to get Ebola because of the trial," he added.


Lunca-Popa, P, Brand, JI, Balaz, S, Rosa, LG, Boag, NM, Bai, M, Robertson, BW and Dowben, PA 2005, 'Evidence for multiple polytypes of semiconducting boron carbide (C2B10) from electronic structure' , Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 38 (8) , pp. 1248-1252.
Boron carbides fabricated via plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from different isomeric source compounds with the same C2B10H12 closo-icosahedral structure result in materials with very different direct (optical) band gaps. This provides compelling evidence for the existence of multiple polytypes of C2B10 boron carbide and is consistent with electron diffraction results.