October 1, 2021
Indie musician Greta James has made her mark despite her father's insistence that she choose a more practical career. But after her devoted mother dies, Greta suffers a calamitous breakdown onstage and stops performing altogether. Accompanying her father on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked for their 40th wedding anniversary might help her find a way back to music, as might her meeting with historian Ben Wilder, who is facing down his own demons. From top YA author Smith.
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January 15, 2022
A 36-year-old indie rock star goes on a weeklong cruise with her father after her mother unexpectedly dies. Greta James is struggling. She hasn't played a concert in months, her new album is delayed, and she's broken up with her boyfriend. All this pales in comparison to the spark that set off these events: Her mother suffered a brain aneurism and died before Greta could get to her. Now, the Alaskan cruise that her parents had been looking forward to taking for their 40th anniversary is here, and her mother is not. Greta's brother, Asher, convinces Greta to go on the cruise with their father, and she decides to do it for her mother even though she and her father have not gotten along since her career started to take off. While on the cruise, Greta meets Ben Wilder, an academic who's there to lecture about his new novel based on the work of Jack London's The Call of the Wild. Sparks fly. The cruise is hard, emotionally complicated, stressful, and a balm, both for Greta and her father. Author Smith has crafted a story about mothers and daughters, fathers and children, grief, happiness, and healing--and also about the music industry, hard work, dreams, and relationships both old and new. The power of the Alaskan scenery breathes through the pages, and Greta's grief about her mother's death is palpable. But sometimes the best way to handle grief is to move through it, as someone tells Greta on the ship, even though the route might be hard. Readers of Evvie Drake Starts Over will enjoy this book. A well-told story with evocative prose that bares--and bears--the ragged emotions that accompany a journey to healing.
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January 24, 2022
Smith delivers a story of love and grief with her satisfactory adult debut (after the YA novel Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between). Greta James, a beleaguered rock star in her 30s grieving the sudden loss of her mother, Helen, sets off on an eight-day Alaskan cruise with her father, Conrad. The trip, which Helen had organized prior to her death, was supposed to be a wedding anniversary celebration. Greta, meanwhile, hasn’t performed since an onstage meltdown went viral, and Greta and Conrad have an uneasy rapport because Conrad never supported Greta’s career. Early on in the cruise, Greta meets Ben Wilder, an author and Columbia professor there to give lectures for the guests. The unlikely pair form an instant bond, and this romance, along with Greta’s potential reconciliation with her father, propel a plot buoyed by majestic descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness. Hints of a disastrous development on the voyage never come to fruition, though Smith does a great job with her characters, particularly Greta, eliciting her charms and flaws in equal measure. There’s not a whole lot to write home about with this, but it gets the job done.
February 1, 2022
When Greta James' mother dies of a sudden blood clot in her brain, Greta, a rising rock star, is shocked. Her mother was the guiding light in her life, coming to all Greta's shows and steadfastly supporting her. Greta flies home from a show in Berlin immediately, but it's not enough for her father, who is resentful of Greta's career and absence. In an effort to reconcile, Greta agrees to accompany her father on an Alaskan cruise, which was supposed to be a celebration of her parents' anniversary. While there, Greta dissociates herself from her famous persona and learns about her own humanity through a whirlwind relationship and a return to the music that has propelled her through her life. Smith's first book for adults after eight successful young adult novels is a page-turner, smoothly written and engaging. Exploring themes of grief similar to Rebecca Serle's One Italian Summer (2021), but through the wholly different and beautiful setting of Alaska, Smith delivers a satisfying read for book clubs, adventure lovers, and musicians.
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