I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book after reading the first few chapters - I felt the views the younger characters had about the older characters were stereotypical and vice versa. But as the story progressed and the characters grew to understand one another better these changed. If you feel the same after a few chapters, it is worth persevering. I liked the lead character, Emma, though she deserves a better friend than Mel. I’ve visited most of the places the coach trip went to and I felt that the author described them well. Overall, a heart-warming story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book.. It is perhaps not my usual choice, but after recently reading a few thrillers and suspense novels I welcomed something more light hearted. I admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the story and found it quite amusing at times. Emma and Mel are 2 women in their late twenties who accompany Emma's nan on a coach trip to Edinburgh. They had some preconceived ideas about what the other passengers would be like. As the journey progresses, some live up to their ideas and others make them rethink these ideas. I felt the author was very compassionate in her writing and many of the characters had hidden depths. Although I've never done a coach trip, i know others who have and many of these passengers were not dissimilar to some described to me.
I can recommend this book as a good light hearted story.

I dont really know what to think about this book. I'm a little prejudiced, being one of the oldies, but it did seem to me that the two girls were totally without understanding or interest in the fact that these 'oldies' had lived amazing lives. Emma and her friend came across as very judgmental and very quick to criticise. Thinking of my own grandchildren, about the same age as the two girls, they simply have never been like Emma and Mel. There are young people who are empathetic and understanding and I dont feel that was allowed here.
I enjoyed reading the story, but felt no great pull towards the characters or the plot.
Thank you for the chance to read this book and to review it.

A fun, heart-warming feel good book. The dynamic between all the characters was really fun although at times some of the characters were slightly annoying (however I think that may have been intended). I wasn't blown away by this but it does make a nice cosy and quick read.

A real laugh a minute story. All the characters are so real and the situations are totally believable.
Em is chaotic and has ruined her flat mate Mel’s Valentines fate night, now it is Mel’s irthday and she is hoping to redeem herself but nothing goes as she plans.
A coach trip with the old folk was not quite what she expected and it certainly turned out even better during their hilarious journey to Edinburgh.
I look forward to reading more by this very talented author.

The Coach Trip was a ‘read now’ offer from NetGalley. At first, I thought I’d made a mistake in accepting it and it was just silly chick-lit. Then I found half an hour had whizzed by while I was reading it and decided it couldn’t be that bad. Scatty Emma double books herself for a coach tour with her recently widowed Grandma and a weekend away with best friend and flatmate Mel. They decide to combine the trips and join a party of old people on a coach tour of northern cathedrals and castles. Really, what are these young women like? They’re in their late twenties yet totally prejudiced against the ‘old people’ (apart from Grandma) and so ignorant, they don’t even know that the country didn’t always use decimal currency.

Old people, they find, are rude, fussy and miserable. As the tour continues, they have a complete change of heart, finding (gosh!) that old people may have had interesting lives and are perhaps miserable because of tragedies and the annoying decrepitude that comes before they’re ready for it. So, the girls learn some life lessons as well as some interesting facts about old buildings.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and Izzy Bromley for this ARC, which I really enjoyed.

Chaotic mess Em has screwed up a Valentine's day suprise planned for best friend Mel by her boyfriend. To make it up to Mel, Em promises an unforgettable weekend in Edinburgh...only trouble is that Em has double-booked herself as she's already promised to accompany her grandmother on the epic-sounding 'Odyssey of the North'. She lures Mel into coming on the tour with her with the promise of hot guys on the coach. What they actually encounter is a motley group of seventy-somethings. Em and Mel resent the pensioners for their fussiness and lack of speed; the coach-trippers think young people are all 'selfish' and 'irresponsible'. What follows is a trip in which barriers break down, friendships are formed, and some lives change for the better.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book, but I found it a little slow to start and wasn't really invested until the tour kicked off in earnest. The characters were unique and vividly drawn, from self-effacing Cynthia, to bewildered Arthur, to the snobbish Vivienne and Ron (“We don't usually go on coach trips...we've always thought they were for poor people, or people with no imagination”).The way in which the characters gradually start to let their barriers down and to appreciate each other feels realistic, and I liked the warmth that develops in the relationships between Em and Mel and the retirees. It also felt accurate that the trip would result in changes and realisations for some of the characters, while leaving others unchanged.

The only drawback I could see is that the portrayal of people in their seventies as fussy, slow and indecisive doesn't really match the pensioners I know (who are all pretty dynamic and know what they want). I know that this is partly because Em is seeing them from a blinkered perspective at the start, and she does grow to appreciate them, but it still felt like the author was depicting characters who are much older than these characters are supposed to be. That's a fairly minor point though and overall, The Coach Trip is an engaging and warm novel. I will definitely be looking out for more of Izzy Bromley's work.

This is such a heartwarming, feel good, funny story.

Emma and Mel are best friends who are planning a trip to Edinburgh to celebrate Mel’s birthday. Emma’s grandparents have a coach trip planned to celebrate their wedding anniversary but her Grandpa dies before the trip. Emma and Mel accompany Grandma on the coach trip so that she can scatter Grandpa’s ashes along the way. The passengers are all elderly and are wonderful, quirky characters.

There were moments when I got annoyed with Mel and found her to be disrespectful, this meant that Emma focused more on Mel’s happiness than her Grandma’s as she wanted to keep the peace. I wish Emma had a bit more backbone and stood up to Mel. I understand why Mel was this way, it shows the prejudices elderly people can face and how they are often so incorrect. This book teaches the importance of not underestimating older people, they may have a few tricks up their sleeves! There are really funny moments but also terribly sad too. It is such a heartwarming read. I read this in a day and found myself smiling throughout. I absolutely loved it.

Well, a quick read, written in the first person with a narrator who was a little annoying, (but not as annoying as her best friend) but who seemed to become more sure of herself as the story progressed. As I expected full of ageist stereotypes throughout but of course through the experiences on the coach trip the ‘in group’ (Mel and Emma in their late twenties!) and the ‘out group’ (the older people passengers) learnt to understand, and even like each other. A little predictable but some emotional moments, for example when one passenger revealed his dementia diagnosis. A small point but needs some editing to correct the referral to hyperthermia when a passenger is nearly left behind without accommodation - surely this should be hypothermia?
I’m afraid that as an older reader, I couldn’t get passed the ageism and the negative portrayal of the older passengers even though this was moderated a little towards the end of the story.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an e-version of the book.

Now, this book was something else, it started off as a coach trip with a predictable outcome but as they all got to know one another the dynamic changed and it was all fabulous!

My favourite part about this entire book was the "He did Business at Keele" line, I literally screamed out "I went to Keele!" Which if you knew how small Keele is, the fact a book mentions it is pretty astounding.
Anyway.
This book was halting? Jerky? Awkward? The writing style comes off as having been written by a first time writer on their second draft, which isn't the case for Izzy, she has written many books under a pseudonym. " I checked the clock on the screen 35.16. We had just over half an hour" sooo repetitive. So many paragraphs about how Keith maybe isn't as much of a jerk as they think but then they don't really give him another chance for a hundred more pages even though Emma keeps thinking she needs to.
But honestly, Emma and Mel were awful. So entitled and bratty through most of this book. Mel especially was a complete bitch until they reached the last stop on the trip. The fact that Emma kept saying "I want to be more like Mel" was upsetting. And finally Emma goes on this trip to spend time with her grandmother and she barely spends time with her at all. Her grandma is the least involved character in the novel.

The overall moral of the story? Gasp! Old people are people who have lived lives?? I am shook who could have known it!

I will say though the different stops along the way were a lot of fun as I have taken several trips to many of these places. The Holy Island is top of my list next time I make it across the pond and I would love to go back to Durham.

Oh! I forgot....you want me to believe that 2 girls in their 20s don't know that numbers on phones are also correlated with letters? Did they not text at all before smart phones and blackberries?

Overall was it a cute story? Yes.
Was I pulled out of the enjoyment because the main character was a bint? Yes.

What a lovely sweet book this was to read. Great characters and a storyline that has you initially thinking the same as the main 2 characters but like them, totally has you changing your attitude the more you read on! A great book for sitting in the sun on a summer’s day.

This was cute, if a bit predictable. I liked the growth in the characters over time. I liked how it felt like I was travelling. Some of the generational frustrations felt a little overdone/ stereotypical but that might just be because I'm older than the protagonist and younger than the older characters on the bus. But there were plenty of heartwarming moments that I really enjoyed.

My biggest struggle with this book is that it REALLY REALLY built up a romantic relationship that felt like it had limited payoff. From the set up in the text I was waiting for *a moment* where the protagonist and the tour guide got together/ kissed. But there wasn't that moment. That left me feeling unsatisfied at the end. I know that the story was more about the friendships than the romance and while I'm totally fine with that, there was just a lot of build up on the romance side that didn't go anywhere. It knocked some points of an otherwise sweet story.

Classic forgetful Emma—she’s done it again, this time accidentally ruining a Valentine’s Day surprise for her best friend Mel. Desperate to make up for it, she promises Mel a birthday trip to Edinburgh—a girls’ weekend to end all girls’ weekends. There’s just one massive hitch…

Emma has already promised her grandma that she’ll go on a coach trip with her to scatter her grandad’s ashes…In Edinburgh. On Mel’s birthday weekend. Oh God.

That’s right, with one innocent but inevitable diary clash, two very different road trips are thrust together. Surrounded by a bunch of septuagenarians who seem to have forgotten how to have fun, can Emma support Grandma through her grief and give Mel a birthday to remember? Or is their friendship doomed to become roadkill? She’s about to find out…

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Great relationship between the characters. Will recommend to others.

I loved every single minute of this- read it in a day and wanted to be on that coach!
The characters, from Mel and Emma, still young enough to be loud and lairy, to Arthur (who I fell in love with) and the other "grey tops" the personalities were beautiful, the deeper backstories revealed in a perfect way and the overall ragtag-ness of the group coming together almost written for screen.

This was a really lovely book. Great cast of characters and you really felt like you are there with them. Recommended.

I really enjoyed this book. It was predictable but heart warming. I loved all of the characters in the coach and how they bonded together. I also like the way the epilogue was done. Felt more cohesive than just a summing up.
Really enjoyable summer read

Emma is a little disorganised. She tries to make things up to her flatmate by planning to take her to Edinburgh for her birthday. Unfortunately, for Emma, she also agrees to go on a coach trip with her grandmother at the same time, double booking herself. Mel decides that she’ll join Emma and her grandmother on the coach trip, it’ll be fun, what could go wrong?
I loved the book, I laughed, I cried. I was totally engrossed in it. The descriptions of the places visited were well written and having been to many I could imagine myself there.
It was just fun with a few lessons learnt on the way.

I wasn’t too sure about this book with it being quite a different genre for me.
However once I started it I fell in love with it. It’s a warm a gentle story of learning and understanding between the generations.
A relaxing and joyous read.
Thank you Netgalley.

This is such a fun read. I loved every page and couldn’t put it down. Often funny and sad at times reading the story of how young people can spend time with OAP’s with surprising consequences.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.