The Key to Everything by Valerie Fraser Luesse


The Key to Everything by Valerie Fraser Luesse was my first book by this author but it won't be my last. I truly enjoyed following Peyton's adventures.

Peyton Cabot is fifteen years old. Set in 1947, Peyton's father is a troubled vet who suffers a tragic accident. Peyton is a good kid but his school year is interrupted and his life is a bit off keel--especially with Lisa, the girl of his dreams. When his father was fifteen, he rode his bike from St. Augustine to Key West, Florida. Peyton decides to retrace his journey himself.

I enjoyed getting to know Peyton and following his adventures in The Key to Everything. He truly seems like a swoonworthy young man that would be pretty appealing to me if I were a young woman. He faces some hard things in this book. While I admired him for those things, I really admired him for how he lived his life and his basic principles. He truly seemed like a likable character. His dad was struggling quite a bit but the story explains so much of the challenges that he faced and I still found him likable in spite of his flaws. I also liked his mom and his Aunt Gert, as well as several of the other special people he met on his journey. He did seem to be searching spiritually and there were a few snippets into that journey but mostly this was just a good clean fiction read. I thought the pacing was quite good as I kept wanting to turn pages to see what would happen next on the journey. There is some romance but the journey was more of a focus then the romance until the last quarter of the book. Then, I liked that the young couple had respect for themselves and each other and wanted to work towards a strong future together. With so many negative things going on right now, one of the things I liked the best was how much Peyton did for others and how he tried to go the extra mile. I found The Key to Everything to be an inspiring read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.

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