What a wonderful book! Amanda Radley is one of my favorite authors. Lilly is looking for love in Japan and goes on quite an adventure. and meets Celia. The plot is the adventure/course of finding love. It id definitely a detour to love. The characters are great and unique. Each one has their own baggage and need each other to be whole. This book is a great read about age gap lesbians and the trials of that love. I recommend this book to all who like lesbian romance and a tour around the world.

Two opposites sit by each other on a flight from London to Tokyo.  Celia is 51, successful in business, ending a 20 year marriage and jaded.  Children's illustrator Lily is 25, friendly, shy and is flying to meet her online crush.  They start off annoying each other but due to circumstances each is put in the position of helping the other over the next couple of days. 

I liked:
Easy conversations.  You could see friendship developing.
Helping and supporting someone in need.
Clean read for language and smut.

Disliked:
They travel to some of my favorite places but other than Tivoli and Edinburgh the locations were not highlighted and could have been any where or nowhere.
At 90 percent Lily still doesn't know if Celia is attracted to her or if she is straight.  This is too far into the book for there not to be an explanation is she is bi, pan or has been with women in the past.
The age difference is huge and did bother me.

The story is quick, easy to read but a little uneven in pacing.  It starts funny (circus clowns on a plane) then covers a couple of serious situations.  The book needs some heat and passion which can be done still keeping the story clean.  When I read a romance I want to see it, not have the author leap a month or six into the future leaving me to fill in the blanks.  Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: ⁣ ⁣
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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: ⁣𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘺⁣
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 ⁣
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⁣𝟹.𝟻 ⭐️ ⁣
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𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐬: ⁣⁣
•I think this was my first sapphic romance novel and it was so wholesome and enjoyable. 🥺 I love that the author decided to make this an age-gap romance too. ⁣
•I loved how this started as enemies to lovers into friendship into more. The progression of their relationship seemed realistic and was well written! The banter is also hilarious. I loved their relationship and how they’d joke around and tease each other all in good nature. ⁣
•I loved how the characters each had their own troubles to work through and how they were able to help each other through the hard times while still keeping the book lighthearted. This book has grief and heart ache but it also has hope and healing. ⁣
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𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬: ⁣⁣
•I would’ve loved some smut. Sorry, that’s just personally something that makes me enjoy a romance novel. 🤷🏼‍♀️ ⁣
•I felt the story was a little slow at times and it was hard for me to want to keep reading. ⁣
•The writing was a little choppy at times and it does have a few typos. It’s nothing that effects the way the story reads but it’s just one of my pet peeves! ⁣
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𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: ⁣⁣
This was a quick, adorable, and wholesome read and I’m glad I had the opportunity to pick it up! ⁣
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𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

Celia is on her way to Tokyo to receive a award for the hard work she done but she doesn’t want it but she going because it’s isn’t right not to accept something that’s given to you. 

Lily is going to Tokyo to meet the woman Asami she been talking to for awhile now. When Celia and Lily meet it’s not a great start but when there trouble with the plane and they have to land. This is sign for Celia that she can go home and doesn’t have take a the trip to Tokyo something she didn’t want to go in the first place but then circumstance have her asking Lily for help. 

Lily and Celia start to become friends and they both enjoy the banter between them. This was a great age gap romance between a young woman who sees the good in everyone despite what’s happen to her and the older woman who has emotional baggage that been consuming her. I love this author and I notice her themes are aged gap romance and she does it well that sometimes you don’t even know it until the character say how they are. 

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

I truly didn't want this book to end. I stayed up early hours of the morning to read it and I woke up with nothing but anticipation to finish it. 

I knew (hopefully) how it was going to end as it was just the path that the book seemed to take but I loved every single minute of it. The banter that flowed between the two characters was amazing. I felt all the emotions that the author was trying to portray and at times I felt like I was quite literally on the journey with the characters. Lily was carefree and charismatic and while Celia wasn't exactly the same way, I grew to love her just as much as I did Lily. You couldn't help but connect with the characters chapter after chapter and it just grew stronger as the book continued to progress further.

The writing in general was very well done. It was lighthearted but it managed to touch on certain emotional elements in a way that didn't come across forced but also in a way where it was necessary to the overall storyline. There wasn't a single time where I read this book and thought, "I don't like this." or "What is going on here?". Everything flowed. It was cohesive, fun, emotional, lighthearted and everything else in between and I wished I could reread it again for the first time.

I had never come across this author before this book but I'll most definitely be searching for more of their stories to read because if this book tells me anything, it's that I will very much enjoy whatever this author has to offer.

This book is an casual read type of book where you can read in between school work without getting lost within the plot. From a comedic flare to love able characters. I’ve never been a fan of age gaps above 15-20 years but still managed to ship and love the main pairing. Though while reading this book I couldn’t help but hope for more flirtatious or passionate encounters between said pairing nevertheless they were still cute. Also at times Celia was very unreadable as a character, for example in the first few chapters she was nothing but rude to ever so polite Lily. This book did have a lack of expression, I would have loved to see lily stand up for herself, to both Celia and her grandma..

 Then With a not so unexpected twist (Asami)  then an actual unexpected twist ( Celia’s sons truth) this book had a good mix of humor and reality. 

Yet, the book did have a good plot and interesting storyline so an overall recommended rate read.

Detour to Love by Amanda Radley was such a cute, fun read! 

I really liked the plot. The idea of two strangers meeting on a flight and growing closer as they deal with everything that goes wrong together seemed like such a sweet idea to me and I was not disappointed in the slightest. The execution was just as great as the concept. 

The characters were very well written. Lily is an open person that sees the best in everyone while Celia is a bit more jaded. Throughout the novel however, we see some of the cracks in her armor as she slowly begins to let Lily in. I loved the dynamic between these two women and the way in which they were both there for each other over and over again. It was lovely to watch as both of them developed feelings for each other. While I highly enjoyed their blossoming relationship, I also really adored these two characters as individuals. Lily and Celia are each dealing with their own troubles and you can’t help but empathize with them both. 

I enjoyed the writing a lot. The story flowed smoothly and I got through this book in a day. The banter between Lily and Celia was really fun and I adore the atmosphere that Radley created. 

This novel is just perfect to cozy up with on a weekend and block out the world. If you’re in the mood for a fun, adorable, sapphic rom-com then you should definitely check this one out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.