I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

For Hunter Cady, his wife Kait was always going to be the rest of his life. She was his everything. So when she dies suddenly, hunter is at a loss. In the midst of his grief, Hunter takes off for a road trip with Kait’s ashes, determined to have one last trip with her before he says goodbye forever.

I really wanted to like this book as it sounded like it was going to be a bittersweet, emotional read but unfortunately I just really didn’t. By the time I was 60% through I just wanted it to be over and read it really fast just so I could be finished with it. From the get go there was a styling of chapters I really didn’t like, every few chapters the narrative would change to second person and i really hated it. It completely drew me out of the story.

Unfortunately I also couldn’t stand the main character Hunter. I felt for him and for his grief - not to mention his completely awful in laws - but god he was so…pretentious and annoying. He was one of these guys who wanted to be an intellectual so badly, he sucked at all other kinds of jobs and could’t even hold one for an inordinate amount of time. He likes to say he was a writer even though he didn’t actually write anything. i don’t know how Kait could stand him to be honest.

I though Hunter’s journey was going to be one that showed his connection with Kait and his healing and learning how to live without her but the whole thing was more like a very prolonged mental breakdown and was very scattered. It actually made me feel uncomfortable at times because Hunter was so obviously not coping with his grief and seemed be started to suffer from mental illness. Yet no-one seemed to care that much about him. His wife was only dead a little less than eight weeks but his family treated him like crap, except his mom. His dad literally made it out like his road trip was a ‘whim’ rather than a sign of help.

“I have a job, Hunter. I can’t just disappear whenever life becomes inconvenient for me.”

Yes, a father actually said this to his grieving son. WTF? i don’t think him helping with the house near the end absolved him of being an awful dad either.

I just didn’t connect with this book and didn’t like the main character. I don’t think he’s someone i could deal with in real life, so could not deal with him in the pages either. There were some nice things in this book such as the real descriptions of Kait. I liked how Hunter acknowledged her anxiety and her bouts of depression, and didn’t hide them away but let them add to the ways he thought she was perfect. I also like how some of the things he missed about her were some realistic things, not just ‘the way the sun made her eyes glow’ or something poetic like that but the way she always missed a spot when she was shaving, or always saved him a bit of food left in any package she was eating. I liked that.

While this book did’t connect with me, I’m pretty sure others will get on with it better.