2022: I overall would not recommend this book.

I saw this book in a Little Free Library and I immediately wanted to read it, as I have also broken a bone by having a piano fall while moving it. Not something that everyone can say about themselves! If you do not share this unique quality with this book, I'm not sure it something you need to go out of your way to try and find a copy of. The storyline had a promising premise, but it did not live up to the summary on the back of the cover.

I started this book thinking that our narrator Clara was actually the annoying, callous one (which she is) and I ended this book wondering how on earth Greg managed to make enough bad choices to somehow end up even WORSE than Clara. When Clara first arrives at Death Valley, I was totally #TeamGreg. Clara stole his camera and was messing up his whole shoot! She was reneging on every single promise she had made and was being overall super annoying. Objectively, following someone for a 5 hour drive and then messing up what they are doing is crazy behavior.

Then, Greg goes and takes the cake by making very forward moves towards Clara, saying that they need to bone because they are bonded by tragedy. Really? THEN, they both jump into bed with each other, and when I say bed, I mean a pile of blankets in the back of a moving van in the middle of the desert at dawn. I wish I was kidding. I did not believe ANY of the attraction that these characters were meant to have for each other. Essentially, Greg was like "Oh hi, let me tell you about how your father was actually having an affair with my mother. Yes, it did break up your parents' marriage, but I think what the universe is trying to tell us is that we need to fuck right now." And you're telling me that WORKED for Clara?!

There were a number of things that were also factually suspicious - for example, when Greg is driving into Death Valley and the question is asked, "How did Greg know where he was going?" .... there is like one main road in Death Valley. I'm sure he was just following that one? Also, according to the NPS website, you need a permit to do photography at this level. ALSO, you cannot just leave a piano in a National Park! It is considered litter! This is why you can't have drones at NPs, because if they crash and break, they hurt all of the habitats!

PS: if you're looking to check off a non-human narrator on your reading challenge this year, the piano also narrates the story at the end. Really the cherry on top of the whole book.