This is a book about grief and its forms, but also it's a mystery book. Her father's death was so unexpected that Eddie feels she can't move on with her life unless she gets some answers. With the help of her father's student/apprentice person, she goes on a road trip trying to put together the clues her father has left behind.
***Spoiler Alert*** Ultimately, Eddie doesn't get any real answers. This has happened in other books by Courtney Summers that I've read and although it is an accurate reflection of real life, it makes for an unsatisfactory ending. If I wanted real life, I'd read a newspaper.
Again, Courtney Summers has written a book with a generally unlikable MC. Although I had huge sympathy in the way her life had been turned upside down, I couldn't really relate to Eddie. Her narration was too vague and dreamy, she was involved in a love triangle (!) and she got involved with a guy who might as well have had VILLAIN stencilled on his forehead (although I didn't predict the extent of his villainousness).
i really want to love Courtney Summers' books like other people do because I really feel like I'm missing out. But there's just something there - or not there - that doesn't sit right.
I think it's that her books have a complete lack of humour. I think that's it. I'm not saying that things like sexual assault or grief should be a laugh a minute, but I've seen other authors write about similar subjects with humour and compassion, neither of which I've ever seen in this author's books. I read Nina Is Not Okay eaarlier this year - a book that deals with sexual assault and addiction - and it had me rolling on the floor laughing and weeping in rapid succession. It's possible to write about serious subjects with humour. Courtney Summers always seems to have the writing style of an East German housing block. If her books were a colour, they'd be gunmetal grey.
I have another of this author's books waiting to be read, but i think i'm going to give it away and admit defeat. There are other authors I like better out there.
2.5 stars