Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

It all begins with a stupid question: 

Are you a Global Vagabond? 

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path. 

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward. 

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back. 

Kirsten Hubbard lends her artistry into this ultimate backpacker novel, weaving her drawings into the text. Her career as a travel writer and her experiences as a real-life vagabond backpacking Central America are deeply seeded in this inspiring story.




Gorgeously written and completely authentic (it comes as no surprise to me that Hubbard is a travel writer and backpacker herself) Wanderlove is a book that took me by surprise. 

I have to confess, I got off to a rocky start with Wanderlove. From the beginning, I liked the prose (loved the cadence of certain lines). Hubbard writes fantastically, she gets right in under Bria’s skin, perhaps painfully so: Bria felt so inferior, so uncertain, at the beginning and the feeling was so perfectly conveyed that I felt awkward. It made me uneasy, watching her lie to impress, stumbling her way along. Enter Rowan, he had his instant charms, sure, but he irked me as well: that kind of suave confidence that comes from knowing you’re hot, being young and invincible and over-all knowing everything. It also did not sit well with me when Hubbard portrayed middle-aged (often overweight) tourists as inferior, ridiculous and people to be sneered down upon (from the backpackers perspective). Then again, perhaps this is how teens/young adults view regular tourists? It did not endear the backpacking culture to me. 

Despite my initial reservations, there was a certain authenticity about the writing that drew me in and I decided to make it to 50% and see if it grew on me. MY GOSH ~ I am so glad I did not abandon this book. In fact, the second half so enthralled me that I ended up staying up past midnight to finish it off and I read the last page with a happy sigh ~ I really, really liked it. 

Here’s what I loved (in the end): 

The way Hubbard evoked all five senses, casting a kind of spell over the reader so I felt as if I were travelling (it gave me itchy feet) 

The way Hubbard showed (expert) restraint in crafting the romantic subplot. It was the perfect amount of sexual tension, ambiguity and genuine connection between Bria and Rowan. 

The crafting of the plot: it snuck up on me, all the little threads and foreshadowing which gave it a constant momentum. Even as I could see where many of the character arcs were headed, I was alongside them, hanging out to get there. 

The illustrations. GUYS, they are gorgeous, evocative and stunning. It added so much to the experience, I looked forward to each picture. I can still conjure up the pictures even now, in my minds eye. LOVE. 

Overall: okay, I know the beginning of my review sounded harsh, but don’t let it put you off reading this book. It is a stand-out of the year (read in 2011) and I am so glad Kirsten Hubbard is writing for teens as I feel they will connect so well to her characters. I am really hanging out to see what she writes next. What a talented author, hey :) 


Wanderlove will be out March 13, 2012
Wanderlove @ goodreads

Thanks to Random House Children's Books and Netgalley


FYI: I attempted to read Kirtsen Hubbards debut, Like Mandarin, and it wasn't for me (thematically, topically and I found the prose overbearingly pretty at times), so if you had a similar experience with Like Mandarin, I urge you to give Hubbard another go, Wanderlove truly is fantastic.