Loved this from the start. Maya takes off on an adventure after her husband to be dies unexpectedly.. he's left  details of a wonderful honeymoon trip and Maya heads off. Having been to India I loved the colourful descriptions of India and the fact that you just have to 'feel' India..her travels take her to other exotic locations.  Life gives her the unexpected, which she embraces...and somehow things are just meant to 'be' for Maya. a great read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book for an honest review.   Maya's is set to marry and her husband to be drops dead! She decides to go on the honeymoon that he planned and you think oh my gosh this is going to be a sad book! I loved Maya's attitude, how she forged ahead and the people she met along the way, I loved this book. Very good.

I absolutely loved this read! As an avid traveller, I really felt all the places that were described in the book as if I was there. I especially related to India and the practise of Yoga - so much so I have since started to learn! 
This book is so easy to read and a real emotional roller-coaster too - there's plenty of humour and good moments but you also feel so much pain for her too. 
All in all I would highly recommend as an easy to follow, chick lit novel.

A quick, enjoyable and easy read that takes you on a journey through India, Hong Kong and Singapore as Maya finds herself embarking on her honeymoon without her husband. Well written and with a great main character, I would rate this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, One More Chapter and the author for the chance to review.

Janice Horton's The Backpacking Bride is a book in the tradition of Eat, Pray, Love. When Maya's husband-to-be dies unexpectedly on the day of their wedding, Maya is left unmoored. Without a home or a plan, she takes her surprise honeymoon solo to India, Hong Kong, and Singapore. This book has all of the ingredients of what would be a favorite of mine, but the pace was a bit too slow for me. 

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Thank You NetGalley, One More Chapter and Janice Horton for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! 
	If you felt enlightened reading Eat, Love, Pray and felt the love in P.S. I Love You, then The Backpacking Bride needs to be your next book! I fully expected a light and fluffy romance read but instead we got so much more. First of all, a middle aged character is a breath of fresh air. Her age meant she was more mature and had already made some of the more cliche romance book mistakes. This book takes readers through Asian countries discovering the food, the sights and what it means to find yourself. A must read!

I sadly DNF'ed this book at 10%

I was just so, so bored. I think I went into this book thinking it was going to be a lot different than what it actually was.

I mean, I love travelling but the first 10% was dragging on about how she was on her way to India and how she is doing everything her deceased husband would have wanted. It's very descriptive, with not a lot of action and I don't like the writing style. I understand that it's great to have a lot of description, especially when you are talking about other countries and landmarks, but this was too descriptive. I learned nothing about the main character in the first 10% (3 chapters) aside from the fact that her husband dropped dead at the altar. I have a feeling that the rest of the book is going to be just as slow, and I would rather read another book on my TBR that is fast-paced.

The cover and the premise of The Backpacking Bride by Janice Horton caught my eye. Overall, there were enjoyable elements in this book, and the locations, traditions, and detailed descriptions felt like I was transported to the destinations mentioned. 

The story is about Maya, whose soon-to-be husband passes away on the day of their wedding. She decides to go on their honeymoon that Jon had planned for them so she can feel closer to him as she also mourns his death. She travels to India, Singapore, and Hong Kong. While she is traveling to these places, she is forced to face things that she would rather avoid, so I liked this part of the story as it shows how vulnerable we can all be in difficult times and how we have to find within ourselves the strength and courage to keep moving forward.

However, I did have difficulty getting through this book as it felt like the story was plodding along and felt a bit flat with the character’s interactions and conversations. I found myself skimming over several pages. The last third of the book does pick up and get very exciting with the storm and the ships being in danger. The part was my favorite part of the book.

If I could change any part of the book, it would be to develop Maya more surrounding her emotional reactions to the places she travels. Being in a new place and having to deal with immigration, transportation, a different culture can be overwhelming, and I felt Maya was a bit flat in how she experienced this part of her journey.

Overall, an okay read for someone wanting to read women’s fiction that is a bit predictable.

I think the writing style just wasn't for me on this one. I couldn't connect with the main character and found myself forcing myself to pick it back up.
While the genre is usually fairly predictable anyway, this book kept in theme with that so i'm not too surprised but because I just didn't like the character or feel for her journey - I just didn't enjoy that element of it either.

Perhaps it's aimed at a more mature audience.

Maya is due to marry Jon when he literally drops dead when they are the altar. She is left homeless so when she is given all the details and tickets for the surprise honeymoon that he had arranged she decides to go on her own. 
With a mixture of a spiritual discovery in India to a luxurious stay in Hong Kong and Singapore the author really managed to bring these destinations to life for me. I can relate to how difficult it is to travel on your own when you're not used to this,especially in crowded train stations etc. I found her journey, both spiritual and physical, engaging. Not the type of book to keep you on the edge of your seat or chuckling to yourself but heartwarming following Maya's voyage of discovery both geographical and emotional.

This read had everything I wanted in it. It made me smile, laugh, and cry. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I requested it, but I was wrong. Take the time to discover the adventure of a lifetime and feel yourself heal along with the main character. I didn't know I needed this book, but I did.  It will stick with me for a while and I'm sure I will come back to it again later in life and get something totally different from it. It reminds me of the journey from The Alchemist. You could read it every year and take something different from it.

I loved the set up and premise of this story. A few points fell flat to me: like having travelled around the world, I know what that confusion of immigration/luggage/busses and where to go feels like. I needed more emotion from Maya. I needed some tears of overwhelming frustration. 

The beginning was a little slow, but then it began to pick up and I’m glad I stuck with it! 

👏🏼👏🏼For Maya being middle aged. Move over 20 somethings!👏🏼👏🏼

Even though the book is part of a series, it is fine as a stand alone!

Tragedy hits on the day of Mayas wedding when her husband passes away. She decides to go on the secret honeymoon that Jon had been planning for them to try and feel closer to him while mourning his death. She travels to Hong Kong, India and Singapore.

I loved that this book had so much attention to details when it came to the traveling. It made me want to hop on a plane and visit these places myself. But since I can’t it was a nice escape reading Hortons descriptions. 

I also loved how Maya took what could have been the most tragic, depressing and awful time of her life and put on a brave face and went and did the trip anyway. And grew and became stronger because of it.

Maya's dream wedding to the love of her life ends when her fiancé drops dead just before they take their vows. Grief-stricken, angry and homeless as a result she doesn't know how to pick up the pieces and start again. Instead she decides to go on the magical mystery honeymoon her fiancé planned for them, using his own post-it notes as guidance. This trip takes her from an ashram in India to the luxury of Hong Kong and Singapore. Will this be enough not only to find peace again but also find a new path?
I liked Maya and could relate to her utter devastation and anger at the way things turned out. I could also relate to her desperation to find answers in the ashram and her need to get a 'magic' wand but not really embrace the life of meditation and clean living she finds there. There were times when her behaviour angered me a little (e.g. her behaviour towards Henri) but this contributed to the idea of someone who isn't thinking clearly after her world has disintegrated.
I loved the detailed descriptions of India, Hong Kong and Singapore and they fed my desire to travel to these places. Yes there are massive coincidences and a little bit of unrealism to some of the events but these just contributed to the idea of the magical and mystical journey that she was on. I would have liked an epilogue though just to see how things would have worked out.

3.5-4.5 stars

This book is filled with heart, hope, and healing. It sucks the reader in from the start and is unrelenting in holding on.  Maya finds her soul-mate late in life. On their wedding day, but before they can say their wedding vows, her fiancé Jon drops dead of an unexpected aneurysm. This puts Maya in a tailspin of sadness, anger, and frustration. 

It’s heartbreaking to see how Maya is treated by Jon’s family, since the wedding didn’t actually occur. The only nice thing that his brother does is to drop off the tickets and itinerary for the ‘magical mystery tour’ honeymoon that Jon had planned for them to take together. So Maya decides to take the trip and follow his instructions and cryptic notes about the trip. This puts her in uncomfortable situations where she has to force herself to face things she’d rather avoid. She finds compassionate friends along the way, and teachers who guide her toward growth and healing. And finally, she finds the courage to risk her heart again. 

This is an ARC, and it may be still in work, so it’s not clear if it’s appropriate to take stars away if it is still being worked on. Please note:  There are a few frustrating things about this book.  It may be a quirk of the process of moving the manuscript from computer to e-reader, or it may be the lack of a proper proofreader, but there were dozens of words that ran together without spaces between them. There were some grammatical errors as well. This reader almost chose to leave it unfinished, but was so compelled by the story that it was no longer an option. The story itself deserves 4.5 stars, but the lack of proofreading and the multiple grammatical errors brings it down to 3.5 stars. Here are some examples cut and pasted directly from the book: untilwe’d, antic ipation (two words), Thathe’s, karmaI’ve...; it’s clear that it takes some deciphering to read some of these words. This can be an amazing book if a decent proofreader can correct the multiple errors within it.

Ugh, I thought this was going to be more light and Hallmark-y, vaguely feel-good but it's much drearier than I expected and honestly it I so much like Eat Pray Love that I had to do a double take sometimes. It's not that no one else can do a trip through Asia and Europe tale (Gilbert's wasn't even that good) but it has so much of the same feeling and the same reasons for going... Anyhow, not my cup of tea. Very stilted conversation and the cover made me expect something quite different.

This book is so sweet and easy to read. It fits in with my standard chick lit reads, but t features an older protagonist which isn’t something I normally read. Maya is crazy in love with Jon and they are going to have a wonderful life. Sadly, Jon passes away on the day of their wedding. But Maya decides to travel on their honeymoon alone and experience all the wonderful things Jon talked about in India, Singapore, and Hong Kong. She is taking the trip to feel close to his spirit and get closure after losing him so suddenly.

I really thought the details of the story were wonderful and brought it to life. I would love to travel to these places and experience the same things as Maya. Also, it was awesome to see how strong Maya becomes and her growth in the story. She has to deal with a major loss, and she’s facing it head on and doing her best to move on with her life. It made for a good story to see how much she was working to better herself. 

I just didn’t enjoy the romance. It just seemed rushed to have her fall in love so quickly again and decide to have a life with a friend of her dead fiancé’s. I just thought this part made the story a little blah to me, and I didn’t enjoy as much then. I could definitely have loved it more had it just been self discovery... but the whole thing was a little gross to me and seemed to diminish the love she had for Jon in my eyes.

Thank you to netgalley and one more chapter for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sun, sea, sand and cocktails. A great story that lifted you up and took you away from it all. Lovely story and great characters

I really liked this one. Such a fun and easy read, I will definitely recommend this book to some of my friends.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher.   I really enjoyed this fun, easy to read book, with great characters and bought a smile to my face.