The sideways books are always going to be some of my favorites. The raw emotions that are put into the characters, especially Miles, are so relatable. His anxieties, dreams, hopes, failures have always struck a chord with me. It makes me feel less alone at times to know that others feel the same as I do. That is one of the magic things about books, feeling less alone and a bit validated in your own thoughts. 6 s1 comment Anne1,469 34

I really enjoyed the first book in this series (as well as the movie which was hilarious) but didn't love this one as much as it was just a little too silly for me. Miles and Jack meet up again and this time are traveling in a camper van promoting Miles's new book. But the encounters they have with the "book clubs," while funny enough, sink into way too many unbelievable escapades that just had me rolling my eyes. So after the first few I felt I could predict the catastrophe that would be the next! The end leaves us with a sequel so I won't give up on the series as Miles and Jack are funny by themselves, but this just wasn't favorite.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!3 s PJ27

I couldn’t finish it

I wasted my money with this book. Between the $100 words and the fantasy sex life, this author showed himself to be a true pig. 1 Jonathan Palo35

I enjoy the characters and will always be willing to read more entries in the series, but I didn’t enjoy this as much as the rest. 1 Jeff208 23

Rex Pickett's latest in the Sideways series is a fitting spiritual successor to the previous volume, which was somewhat of a departure from the first two books. As with book three, The Road Back takes the reader along as a passenger on a road trip with a cynical, vulnerable author in scenic wine country--this time in New Zealand.

The author's choice of setting is flawless, once again treating the reader to lush descriptions of the countryside and its viniculture. Pickett's signature sense of humor is intact in describing the characters’ drunken antics, as is his sense of artistic perspective, frequently balancing outrageous scenes with Miles’ genuinely profound observations. Unfortunately, he’s not the same character and this is not the same kind of the story that we read in the first two books.

By the time readers reunite with him in New Zealand, Miles Raymond's transformation between books two and three (from protagonist to fictional character written by the author-protagonist) is complete. No longer truly a romantic, The Road Back sees Raymond compromising every reliable part of his life for a chance at the fame and fortune he's apparently been seeking all along: his (recently restored) love life, his lifelong friendship with Jack, and even his artistic ambition.

In the obsessive quest for monetary compensation, the reader is presented with a protagonist who wanders blindly into obvious pitfalls, making him (in a clear change from the first two books) exactly the frustrating and pathetic figure he’s accused of being.
Miles alienates his love interest after getting shocking news about his past which he refuses to tell her. The news is so predictable that drawing out the secrecy until the end is pointless at best (and she probably would have figured it out), but the fact that Miles chooses to divulge the information almost immediately to Jack makes the relationship feel even more contrived. Pickett develops one new character to the point that you'll read more just to see the resolution, but in the end, he does her a disservice, as well, relegating her to an afterthought by the conclusion. As a result, none of the characters grows or changes very much except to disappoint the reader.

While The Road Back features brief glimmers of past glory, Miles Raymond is no longer the character we fell in love with back in California. Pour yourself a glass of merlot and set your expectations to [Reality TV] for this detour through a barren vineyard of ideas.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC. Dubi126 2

Everyone loved Sideways, certainly anyone who me has now gotten four volumes deep into Rex Pickett's Sideways series. Having gotten the rights to Sideways before the actual publication of the novel, Alexander Payne's masterful film adaptation would have already been seen by eventual readers of the print edition. me, readers would have first fallen in love with the movie, one of the great movies of all time, so great it elevated pinot noir to unforeseen heights and tanked the merlot market with a single punchline ("If anyone orders merlot, I'm leaving, I am not drinking any f-ing merlot").

I've read all four entries in the series. The original bachelor party road trip through California wine country was followed by Vertical, a road trip to Oregon's pinot noir region, Sideways Chile, a road trip to South America that didn't do for the big wine producing country's sauvignon blanc what Sideways did for pinot, and now a road trip through New Zealand in which Miles is once again joined by his Sideways sidekick Jack, reviving his TV career with a reality show in nearby Australia.

Although New Zealand is renowned for its wine and this story finds Miles at the start living on his own little patch of pinot noir on the South Island, it is more about writing and reading and books than wine. Miles has just published his latest book and is sent on a book tour through Kiwi country, harboring a secret that will probably force him back to California. In the meantime, having left his pinot patch and his latest love interest behind, Miles traverses NZ with Jack in a camper van visiting a series of book clubs, each one more bizarre than the previous one.

The results are, in a word, hilarious. The overall arc of the story may be somewhat rudderless, but the vignettes are a lot of fun to read. Pickett's chances of achieving success on the order of the original Sideways are probably hurt by these book clubs being Kiwi rather than American, but this reader appreciated them nevertheless. Clearly there will be more Sideways when Miles returns to his home state, and I for one will be looking forward to it.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for this honest review. Joy Murphy288 10

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