By Alison Fairbrother
Publication Date: June 21, 2022
288 Pages (Hardback version)
Ellie Adler is just starting out in life and, like many people her age, she’s trying to figure it all out. She’s a cub reporter at an online news magazine, has a boyfriend that no one approves of, and celebrates summer Christmas due to her father having children by multiple ex-wives (with discordant schedules). But when her father dies and leaves Ellie a random tie rack instead of the baseball that has emotional meaning for her and her father, she goes into a tailspin trying to make sense of it.
As she tracks down the intended recipient of the baseball, a person no one has ever heard of, she learns more about her father than she’d expected and, in the end, about herself.
I tend to steer clear of New Adult novels (although I’m not 100% sure if this is classified as New Adult) because I can never relate to the main character. Judging by a few reviews I read prior to requesting this book, I thought I’d be able to avoid that issue. I was wrong.
I’m not sure if I’m not in the right age cohort to appreciate the MC and her issues, but I was never emotionally invested in her journey and, in fact, I didn’t like her all that much (the fact she saw nothing wrong with dating a married man had a lot to do with that). I will admit that the author nailed the feeling of being 24 and just started out as an adult. Living with roommates, first big job, etc. came across as very real. But I never felt her emotion. This was a story about dealing with the loss of her father and the subsequent grief that needed to be worked through but Ellie’s emotions seemed to remain at surface level. I just couldn’t feel anything from her.
I didn’t dislike this book and judging by most of the reviews I’ve read, a lot of people loved it. But I don’t think it brought anything unique to the searching for identity story theme and overall, it left me a little flat.
In the end, I rated this book 2.75 stars. ⭐⭐+
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing the ARC copy of this book in return for my honest review.
Until next time, thank you for visiting.
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