I had to dock Borden some stars for being a Tarheel fan, as I was raised staunchly ABC. ABC meaning, for the uninitiated, Anybody But Carolina.

When I saw on the book cover that Borden also hails from North Carolina, I expected to have some serious regional connections with her book. However, it quickly became clear that she and I were raised in very different Souths, despite our hometowns being less than 2 hours apart, and being relatively close in age. Borden grew up in the gentile, moneyed South. The South that wears pearls and hats to church.

I definitely did not. Although our grandmother tried desperately to turn my sister and I into Southern belles, she also didn't send us etiquette books in the mail. She eventually gave up on the idea that we would be proper ladies, though she still shakes her head at us from time to time.

Despite the differences in our upbringings, Borden and I agree on a few things: Don't mess with James Taylor. Southerners are inherently, and sometimes ostentatiously, friendly. And, NC is home.

But this isn't a book about being Southern, or about moving from NC to NYC and back. It is truly a journey of self discovery. It is a constant asking of questions like, Where do I belong? Am I making the right choices? Am I in the right place? Questions I am still, always, asking myself.

I have never been an adventure seeker, but Borden makes the prospect shine. Maybe it is not so out of reach for me. It may not mean NYC, but everyone's adventure story is different.

On second thought, maybe I will give Borden one more star.