Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry

Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry
Release date: January, 1997
Source: Bought

My name is Rosie Moon. I am nearly sixteen. I'm hungry for a juicy life. I lean out the window at night and I can taste it out there, waiting for me. 
Popular and smart, fifteen-year-old Rosie Moon is the quintessential good girl. She also wishes she could be someone else for a while, someone more interesting. Asher Fielding is the mysterious new boy at school who has dreadlocks and a love of Jim Morrison. On the first day of tenth grade, Rosie develops a crush on Asher, and when the two pair up for a poetry assignment they quickly form a bond. When Asher is falsely accused of stealing a wallet at school, he and Rosie decide to escape it all—their families, their school, their ordinary town—and hitchhike up the Australian coast. They know they shouldn't, and that is exactly why they do. Part road story, part love story, Guitar Highway Rose is a thrilling ride for anyone who has ever dreamed about escaping everyday life, even just for a little while.

My Review:

Favourite Quote:  Some ideas are not born of logic and good sense. They are made of clouds and cobwebs. They sprout from nowhere and feed on excitement, sprinkled with adventure juice and the sweet flavor of the forbidden. The psyche moves from the realms of the ordinary and takes a delicate step towards the unknown. We know we shouldn't and that is exactly why we do.

Guitar Rose Highway is a fun read. It is quirky, charming and vibrant story that captures the joy and angst of being a teen. 

Lowry's writing has a very lyrical feel and also a little bit different.   There is multiple points of views and no punctuation in parts, snapshots and poetry giving it a very unique format.  It kind of feel likes a happy place between a verse and prose novel.  Also this book is a little bit dated written in the late 90's and has a hippie-grunge kind of feel but I enjoyed it and the memories it brought back.  

The story and the characters really capture how it feels to be a teen with such raw honesty.  Focusing on how you feel your parents don't get you and the feeling of being restricted.  It also has the parents' points of views in a couple of parts showing their feelings. 

Rosie and Asher are amusing and heartwarming characters.   They are the kind of characters that grow on you more and more as the story goes on and in the end you don't won't to say goodbye.

The is a touch of romance that is sweet, tender and a little bit awkward like first relationships are.   It just brings a grin to your face.

"they do not kiss but they both want to instead their feet touch and so do their arms it is electric magic their tiny arm hairs tingling happily lying together the sun warming them watching sky through green-leafed gum branch close enough to hear each other breathe sweet togetherness
this lazy lying down dance of love"

Overall, Guitar Rose Highway was an enjoyable, slightly off beat read that I wish I had read as a teen.   I can't wait to read more from Lowry.

Overall Rating: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Romance: 3.5/5
Cover: 4/5

For more reviews:  Goodreads

This is an Aussie title that is available international for those participating in the Aussie YA Reading Challenge.