RoadTripping with Romance: Why Road Trip Romances Are So Appealing by Samantha Chase

[Note from Frolic: We’re so excited to welcome author Samantha Chase to the site today. She’s talking all about road trip romances!]

Open road.

Picking out snacks, setting up a playlist, packing up the car with everything you could possibly need to get you from Point A to Point B, and picking some cool places to stop along the way. Sounds fun, right?

If someone were to invite me on a road trip right now, I’d definitely find an excuse not to go. I’m old, I’m set in my ways, my kids and husband hate all of my playlists, and the thought of being stuck in a car for an extended period of time has lost its appeal. Although, there was a time when it was our primary way of vacationing and we had a blast. So do I tend to plan our trips and immediately book our airfare? Heck yeah! However, putting a fictional couple in a car together and sending them to parts unknown fills me with instant giddiness and has my brain swirling with possibilities!

Welcome to my world.

My newest series, RoadTripping, features three couples who – for various reasons – end up taking unplanned road trips together.

And I couldn’t be happier!

As a romance writer, this is one of the greatest ways to bring a couple together. You’ve got forced proximity – the smaller the vehicle the better – and a whole lot of time with nothing else to do but get to know each other. They don’t even have to know one another before you put them in the vehicle! That is the premise for the first book, Drive Me Crazy. A cross-country road trip will certainly give you enough time to thoroughly get to know someone.

But honestly, whether the characters already know one another and are friends or enemies, there is something almost magical about the endless possibilities the road trip can provide. I am a firm believer that you can learn more on a three-day road trip with someone than you would in an entire month of dating. You can learn what kind of driver they are – patient? Impatient? Speed demon? Slowpoke? After that, you will find out their taste in music, food, drinks, what kind of snacker they are – sweet or salty – you know, the basics.

And the biggie that tends to come out on a road trip, is the family history. Did they go on vacations? What were they like? Did they get along with their siblings? Their parents? The first road trip my husband and I took, for example, he learned how my only experience with long-distance road trips was where we drove for 24 hours straight without stopping for the night and my parents were terrible communicators so there was a LOT of yelling and it was all-around miserable.

I still have a little PTSD from that one.

You see what I’m saying, though, right?

In romance, it’s all about getting our couple from their meet cute to their HEA. And as a reader, how fun is it to be learning all these little tid-bits about our characters when there are no outward distractions other than the road? You get to almost hyper-focus on building the relationship within the confines of the car and yet we end up learning so much! And the longer the trip, the better.

With hours up on hours and days upon days to fill, what will our hero and heroine do? Well, with my sense of direction, the answer is to fall in love!

So not only do I LOVE to write romances that involve road trips, I adore reading them as well. And it doesn’t matter if the whole book focuses on the trip or if it’s really just part of the story, it still adds a fun and fascinating dynamic that I simply adore.

Looking to read one yourself? Here are my top five picks!

Perfect for You by Candis Terry

The premise for this book is – literally – perfect. The sexy boss and his assistant hitting the road together. Lots of alone time where they battle the attraction that’s been there all along!

Just One Look by Melanie Shawn

So picture this – a heroine who’s decided she isn’t dating anyone she’s attracted to. And a hero who pretty much feels the same way. If he felt something for a woman, it meant there was something seriously wrong with her. But put them in a car together to return a rescue dog to an abused wife who escaped her hellish marriage with her sick child? All. The. Feels!!

My One and Only by Kristan Higgins

What happens when two exes end up forced to make a cross-country trip together? Sparks fly! This was my first Kristan Higgins book I ever read and I never forgot it. If you’re a fan of second-chance romances, be sure to check this one out!

The Mother Road by Meghan Quinn

What happens when you’re stuck in an outdated RV with your family AND your childhood crush and the man who broke your heart several years ago? Well, a whole lot of craziness and laugh out loud moments. Add this one to your road trip must reads for sure!

Night Driving by Lori Wilde

This one’s an older book from Lori, but still one of my favorites. An injured hero is needs to stop his sister from marrying a guy she barely knows and needs his sassy and free-spirited neighbor to drive him there. Lots of sexy fun in this one!

Happy Reading, Friends!!

xoxo

About the Author:

Samantha Chase is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of contemporary romance. She released her debut novel in 2011 and currently has more than forty titles under her belt! When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook, wearing a tiara while playing with her sassy pug Maylene…oh, and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.