Review: Laura, you did all of that? What an adventure!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 27, 2012
A backpacking story based in the land down under seemed to be a fascinating concept, and in that author L.K. Watts does not disappoint with her debut novelSecret Confessions of a Backpacker: My Adventure Down Under. This one starts off with a young woman who was facing a flat and mundane life, so she set out to do something about it. She had gone to Ireland for a bit, but the hunger for more, for a higher level of excitement and adventure, took her to a year in Australia and New Zealand.The author has written a very candid and often fairly explicit memoir of her travels, and yet there's always an upbeat tone to everything.  She shares her experiences of the jobs that she took while traveling, and of her experiences when meeting a variety of people, including sharing some sleeping space with some questionable people, and even criminals. This is not your typical backpacking story, the kind you would find in "Outdoor Life" or "Backpacker" magazine, and it does have its twists and turns within.  And just when things seem to settle down, there's the occasional intimate encounter that adds a bit of spice to the storyline.Can you imagine Chelsea Handler'sMy Horizontal Lifewith a backpack, wandering around Down Under?  Maybe not quite, but it does have its moments in that there are parallels.I do suspect that the author might embellish her journal, her "secret confessions" a bit, but that's what often makes a good read. It's a fast 4-star read that misses things in places, but because it's unique and that I couldn't put it down, I'll raise it to a 4.5-star overall.  And I'll be looking forward to more from author L.K. Watts, especially with her forthcoming book about her visits to Canada.