"The Key to Everything" by Valerie Fraser Luesse

The Key to Everything (Revell), by Valerie Fraser Luesse, is a coming of age story set post World War II.  Our main character is 15 year old Peyton Cabot who we are introduced do during some turbulent family events.  A tragic accident not only disrupts his entire family but also any chance he has to date the girl he is infatuated with.  To cope with what is going on around him Peyton decides  to retrace a journey his father took at his age-to ride his bicycle from St. Augustine, Florida to Key West.

I love the quick relationships Peyton makes along his journey, the adventures those relationships take him on, and the lessons he learns through them.  It touches on a way of the past that our busy world has forgotten, and it was truly beautiful to experience.  My only complaint about this book is at the beginning the story led you to believe that his parents relationship was possibly abusive then later remembered it as a relationship that had struggles because of WWII but the dream love story.  This sat funny for me, and I wish that the plot line in regards to that would have been more cohesive.

My Quarantine fun was that we bough new bicycles while I was reading this book.  It was fun to go on rides and have some of my thoughts lingering on a story that followed a bike ride.

Over all this story was very charming and a nice and easy summer read.

  A copy of this book was provided to me for review by the publisher in exchange for an honest review