★★★★☆ — When Maddie and her whole family are called to their Gram’s house, they have no idea what is going to happen. It turns out that Astrid North O’Neill, a.k.a. Gram, is dying from pancreatic cancer and she has planned one last family trip to celebrate her life.
She books them a 2-month trip on a cruise ship called the Wishwell, which is a ship on which sickly people “die with dignity” and get gently shipped off into the ocean. Sounds pretty morbid, huh?
But this book manages to be sweet, quirky, funny, and touching. Maddie and her family go around the world, fulfilling Gram’s last wishes and going on crazy adventures to tie up her “loose ends.”
While light-hearted and fun, this book touches on some serious issues — alcoholism, death, and relationships. It manages to make them an important storyline, but not to make the book seem “heavy.”
THE LOOSE ENDS LIST was a breeze to read and would be especially great to read on a cruise this summer! Everyone else will have major cover envy — isn’t it preeetttyyy? I truly enjoyed this book and will for sure be picking up Carrie Firestone’s next novel.
I was given an ARC of this book at BEA in exchange for my honest opinion.
