I loved Not a Drop to Drink, so I am not sure why it took me so long to read In A Handful of Dust. It was just as amazing and like the first book, I could not put it down. I listened to the audiobook, it was read by Allyson Ryan and was 9 hours, 12 minutes long.

Likes:
The story "kinda" picks up from where it left off, the same characters, just further into the future. Lucy is still living with Lynn and near Carter. Lucy and Carter are best friends, but there is that slow burn romance burning with age. They are helping Lynn, Vera and Stebbs when a polio virus breaks out and spreads quickly. Since no one has been vaccinated for years, it is spreading like a wildfire.
Lynn and Lucy, for reasons you will have to read to find out, decide to walk to California because they have heard that there are machines that can clean the salt out of water and make it drinkable.
Holy adventure batman. I cannot imagine walking all the way to California, especially with the way the world is at that time. People are awful, it is everyone for themselves and you cannot trust anyone. Lynn and Lucy need to stick together and share that tight mother / daughter bond even when they are not biologically related. They will do anything and everything for each other to keep each other going.
Carter, oh Carter. I don't want to spoil a single thing, but Carter was definitely swoon worthy.
Lynn has to make some tough choices and there were a couple times that I wanted to be upset with her. I had jaw dropping moment and almost started to tear up at my desk. I can understand her actions, but that doesn't mean they are easy to accept.
The craziest part of the book has to be Las Vegas. Once again, don't want to spoil anything, but seriously has to make you wonder what lengths people will go to survive and how easy it is to lose our humanity.

Gripes:
I really don't have a ton of gripes. There is a point in the book where Lynn and Lucy get separated and I found it almost unbelievable that they would even be able to find each other again.
The ending left me wanting more. I would have either liked an epilogue explaining how Lynn and Lucy were doing some time in the future or I would love for a third book to be written. I know that In A Handful of Dust is written as a companion novel, so I don't see that coming to fruition, but one can hope.

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