44th book of 2022
Greta James’s meteoric rise to indie stardom was hard-won. Before she graced magazine covers and sold out venues, she spent her girlhood strumming her guitar in the family garage. Her first fan was her mother, Helen, whose face shone bright in the dusty downtown bars where she got her start—but not everyone encouraged Greta to follow her dreams. While many daydream about a crowd chanting their name, her father, Conrad, saw only a precarious life ahead for his daughter.
Greta has spent her life trying to prove him wrong, but three months after Helen’s sudden death, and weeks before the launch of her high-stakes sophomore album, Greta has an onstage meltdown that goes viral. Attempting to outrun the humiliation and heartbreak, she reluctantly agrees to accompany her father on a week-long Alaskan cruise, the very one that her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary.
This could be the James family’s last chance to heal old wounds and will prove to be a voyage of discovery for them, as well as for Ben Wilder, a historian also struggling with a major upheaval in his life. Ben is on board to lecture about Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, the adventure story Greta’s mother adored, and he captures Greta’s attention after her streak of dating hanger-ons. As Greta works to build up her confidence and heal, and Ben confronts his uncertain future, they must rely on one another to make sense of life’s difficult choices. In the end, Greta must make the most challenging decision of all: to listen to the song within her or make peace with those who love her.
CW: Grief, death of a parent
Rating
Review
This book is a summer read, easy to read like a light breeze.
The book has a cast that I love. Each character is particular, and sometimes you ask yourself how they can be friends as they are so different. You can easily differentiate them, and they help Greta without pressuring her, and also us to imagine her deceased mother. Also, there is one character that I would love a book about, and I don’t know she was my favourite, the fan at the cruise. Maybe I liked her as it was like seeing a younger version of Greta.
I would have loved to have more interactions between Greta and her father. I’m aware that they have had a complicated relationship for a long time, and I understand why but as the book is short, I found the interactions long to come, but when they happened, it was too fast, like everything is resolved from that moment.
The summer romance is one element that put me off a little in the story. I liked it as they found themselves at a time when they needed to rediscover themselves, they felt like two teenagers, but at the same time, I think it stole the show a little. However, the ending of this romance is a chef kiss. I like how the author has done it, and it’s nearly your role to choose the conclusion you want.
This cruise feels like a real bubble for Greta at a point in her life where she needed it to be more carefree and this feeling stay from the beginning to the end.
Liz.
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