Pedaling West

By: E. A. Coe

Narrated by: Sally Barron

It will be the adventure of a lifetime for Carrie Brinkley... if she makes it to the end alive.

• GOLD MEDAL: Readers’ Favorite Book Awards - 2023 - Fiction - Adventure
• OVERALL WINNER: Firebird Book Awards – Fiction
• WINNER: Literary Titan Book Awards – Gold Medal
• WINNER: Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Winter 2023 – Best Adventure Fiction

When Carrie loses her job and boyfriend during the opening weeks of the pandemic, she’s determined to reset her life in a positive direction. The answer? A solo, two-month, cross-country bicycle trip from Virginia Beach to Mendocino, California.

Yet dangers lurk that she’d never anticipated. During Carrie’s idyllic journey across the continent, her greatest danger comes not from her encounters with angry animals, road hazards, or the elements. Something much worse stalks her—something much too human.

EVOLVED PUBLISHING PRESENTS a novel that’s part literary suspense, part women’s fiction, part crime thriller, part travel fiction, and one hundred percent fun. A young woman’s journey of adventure becomes one of profound self-discovery.

©2023 Evolved Publishing LLC (P)2024 Evolved Publishing LLC

Critic reviews

“Thriller readers will appreciate the intrigue and suspense that follows Carrie into these milieus; travel or bicyclist enthusiasts who anticipate an encounter with ordinary Americans will appreciate the extraordinary circumstances that force Carrie to adopt surprising positions of strength; and fans of novels that pair disparate elements of intrigue and growth will find her story compelling, riveting, and hard to put down.” ~ Midwest Book Review, D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer

Fun thriller across US small towns

The main thing to take away from this review is once I started all my other stories I took a backseat.  the murder mystery has the right amount of conflict and the pacing was smooth. So with that combined with realistic characters and likable protagonist, I felt pretty good about this purchase. The bad guys are bad and believable so I felt like it was well rounded, which helped keep the tension and my interest to see what would happen all the way until the end. The author has a byline of stories with heart, and I would say that that fits with this book which has more than just a murder mystery, and I won’t spoil the details because I’d like you to discover it like I did.
As far as the narration, I did not like most of the male voices, and the pacing at times felt hesitant, which made some of it awkwardly read. Maybe there are areas where she wasn’t confident what to say, and maybe haven’t practiced prior to or given it another round, would’ve made it sound smoother , ultimately, I listened all the way to the end, but found parts of the story disengaging because I thought that doesn’t sound like a guy and where Romance was involved. It didn’t seem like the woman talking to the man were the right ages because most of her men just sound cranky, or like there’s rocks in her mouth or her teeth are sideways while she’s talking I don’t know but it just was rough around those places. Her tone does fit for the possibly mostly female audience of readers based on the cover being a woman on a bike. Maybe they’ll enjoy this more and not cringe at times.

I enjoyed the story ultimately and listened because it’s easier for me than reading a text so for that I’m glad to have been able to consume the story and would look forward to another EA Coe book though probably not by this narrator.

great story

the narrator took away from the story, it seemed clitchy and disjointed. the story, however, was fantastic, although the dialogue reminded me of a 60's sitcom it seemed fitting for the characters. wonderful book