WOW Blog Tour: Down a Bad Road by Regina Buttner

I did not see this book coming.

When I read, I expect to like the book. I expect to like and relate to the characters. I expect to learn from their lives so I can make better sense of my own.

But I did not expect the conflicted feelings I had toward these characters, feelings that demanded I devour the book in as little time as possible.

In Down a Bad Road by Regina Buettner, we meet Lavender and Burley. Lavender is an unhappily married woman and Burley is a single man wondering what’s next for his life. After a chance encounter on the soccer field, Lavender sets her sights on Burley to come to her rescue and sweep her into the romance she never had with her husband, something he is only at first hesitant to do.

Set in upstate New York, Lavender dazzles him with her provocative clothing, frosted pink lipstick and sequined Uggs and Burley caves, starting to imagine a new life for the two of them, a life that suddenly becomes complicated with the arrival of a long-lost classmate with a big secret.

But trust me, you don’t see that complication coming until your left gripping the last page of the book shouting “Nooooo!” as you realized the saga has ended.

These were characters I wanted to hate: a spiteful woman purposefully cheating on her husband and conniving her way to whatever she wants and a man who willingly accepts the challenge. But Buttner artfully develops these characters over time, revealing their inner struggles, regrets and pain and almost endearing them to me. Almost.

As a read who lives in upstate New York, I was transported to the book’s setting and could literally see the setting in my mind, something that added to my experience as a reader. These characters went down a bad road, both figuratively and literally and readers can feel both journeys.

If you want to read a book with characters you’ll love to hate, with a strong sense of place and with a gut-punch of an ending, then this book is for you.