Two strangers facing heartbreak discover that an extremely ill-advised road trip can put the past in the rearview mirror in a funny and uplifting novel about second chances by the bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners.

After ditching her cheating husband, Tasha Jensen packs her bags, cleans out their joint account, and heads for Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to catch the next flight to LA. There, falling apart and with the airport grounded by an ice storm, Tasha meets the annoyingly optimistic Carter McGee, who’s traveling to stop his ex-wife’s wedding. With time running out, they hit the road in a sketchy rental van for a chaotic seventeen-hundred-mile road trip.

Two heartbroken strangers rushing together toward the unknown—what could go wrong? Maybe everything. Between breakdowns, both automotive and emotional, arguments, and sleeplessness, they find an unlikely connection—as well as the floofiest Pomeranian puppy. Cheering them on is Carter’s matchmaking grandmother Bootsie, whose California beachfront motel is a nurturing haven for feisty, colorful, and opinionated women of a certain age.

It’s the perfect place for Tasha and Carter to take a breather and perhaps let go of the past—but can they learn to trust themselves again?

© 2026 by Maddie Dawson. ℗ 2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.