Roastbeef's Promise by David Jerome

Roastbeef's Promise by David Jerome

Summary (from amazon.com because the one on the back of the book is really long): When Jim "Roastbeef" Hume embarks on a quest to sprinkle his father's ashes in each of the forty-eight contiguous states, he has no idea that a series of bizarre and ridiculous adventures await. But nothing will deter him from fulfilling the promise he made to his dying father--not a brief incarceration in Iowa or a punctured lung in South Dakota. As he travels across the country, he picks up numerous new friends, presides over the ultimate party, poses as a lesbian's boyfriend, and gives away a very pregnant bride in a Las Vegas wedding. And who could have dreamed that somewhere amidst the craziness of dropping ashes from a crop duster and finding Elvis's toenail, Roastbeef would stumble upon a lucrative new career?

My review: This one actually surprised me a bit in how much I actually liked it, because I honestly wasn't expecting to. The title is a little bit different, after all, and this isn't the usual thing I read. Usually I'm a YA and tacky romance reader, and that can be unfortunate, because if I hadn't taken a chance with this one, I would have missed a very, very good book.

I loved it. It was just so good. Now, I have to admit I have a bit of a soft spot for books about road trips, because that's one of the things I really want to do myself. But as we all know, no matter how much you like an idea, that doesn't mean you'll love a book about it, and the fact that I did tells you how good it was, how well written it was, and how interesting and just plain cool the characters were.

As for plot, some of the most outrageous things happened to Roastbeef. At one point, he was being paid to drive a pink Cadillac from Illinois to Utah, and it was stolen by bikers. Later, he might have accidentally killed a pig with an oxygen tank (he couldn't check, he didn't want to be attacked by the other pigs). Roastbeef's Promise made me laugh so much, but also at times nearly made me cry, which is one of the marks of a great book, in my opinion.

Conclusion: This was a great read, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good book. Oh, and on a side note, this wasn't a YA book, but it was clean and definitely appropriate for teen readers, which I think is very cool, and endears it to me even more. Four out of five roses.

Oh, and this isn't part of the review, but there's this thing at the back of the book that if you blog about the book and send them the link, they'll send you a free Roastbeef's Promise T-shirt, and you know I'm doing it!!