PJ Halliday's life has been in a bit of a rut over the last decade. Sure, he won $1.5 million in scratch-off lottery tickets, but he also hasn't processed the grief of losing his eldest daughter 15 years ago or dealt with his wife leaving him for the birder next door, and he got enough DUIs to have his license revoked for 8 years. So when he learns that his high school crush is now a widow, he decides to take a cross-country road trip to try again to woo her. Complicating matters is the fact that he's suddenly become the guardian of his estranged brother's grandkids, but hey, why not take two newly orphaned fourth graders (both of whom are dealing with the shocking loss of their parents in wildly different ways) on a road trip to a the faraway Tender Hearts Retirement Community?
The description of this book sounds like a mess, and yeah, it kind of is, but in the best possible way. I love the way that Hartnett depicts grief at all ages and stages with kindness and occasional (but appropriate) humor, and I love the way this weird family grows both as a group and as individuals. And I think the fact the death-detecting cat doesn't top my list of why this book is fantastic is pretty telling, as in most books, that would be the best part. Highly recommended.
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