The Unsinkable Greta James | Review

The Unsinkable Greta James Published by Ballantine Books by Jennifer E. Smith
on March 1, 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Family & Relationships, Music, Romance, Travel, Women's Fiction, Chick-Lit
Pages: 320
Source: Borrowed, Library
Format: Hardcover
Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

ISBN: 0593358279
Rating:

Greta James's meteoric rise to indie stardom was hard-won. Before she graced magazine covers and sold out venues, she spent her girlhood strumming her guitar in the family garage. Her first fan was her mother, Helen, whose face shone bright in the dusty downtown bars where she got her start—but not everyone encouraged Greta to follow her dreams. While many daydream about a crowd chanting their name, her father, Conrad, saw only a precarious life ahead for his daughter.
Greta has spent her life trying to prove him wrong, but three months after Helen's sudden death, and weeks before the launch of her high-stakes sophomore album, Greta has an onstage meltdown that goes viral. Attempting to outrun the humiliation and heartbreak, she reluctantly agrees to accompany her father on a week-long Alaskan cruise, the very one that her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary.
This could be the James family's last chance to heal old wounds and will prove to be a voyage of discovery for them, as well as for Ben Wilder, a historian also struggling with a major upheaval in his life. Ben is on board to lecture about Jack London's The Call of the Wild, the adventure story Greta's mother adored, and he captures Greta's attention after her streak of dating hanger-ons. As Greta works to build up her confidence and heal, and Ben confronts his uncertain future, they must rely on one another to make sense of life’s difficult choices. In the end, Greta must make the most challenging decision of all: to listen to the song within her or make peace with those who love her.
An indie musician reeling from tragedy reconnects with her estranged father on a week-long cruise in this tale of grief, fame, and love from bestselling author Jennifer E. Smith.

 

This book was an impulse borrow from the library for me. I was perusing, saw it, and having heard of it, knew I needed to grab it.

I devoured it in just a few days.

Greta James is a guitarist. Like, an excellent guitarist. She’s been playing since she was a girl and is now pretty darn spectacular. While not the most famous, she does have a following.

And that following got to see Greta fall apart–on stage. To be fair, Greta is having to deal with the death of her beloved mother. And for the bulk of this book, that’s really what Greta is having to overcome: her mother’s death and the fact that she’s afraid to perform after that disaster.

Oh, and there’s also the fact that she’s on an Alaskan cruise with her father–who she doesn’t entirely get on with.

Greta and her father’s relationship is what made this book shine for me. Only because, more than the love story involved, I felt that there was just so much more at stake for Greta with her dad. A dad that’s never really supported her in her dreams. And a dad who has never really understood her.

There were some pretty deep moments in this where I was trying to fall apart. Seeing the grief of Greta’s mom through her father’s eyes was really difficult. Seeing them deal with it together and bond over it–was excruciating.

This book was absolutely beautiful in the fact that it showed how even strong characters can be weak. And it’s really never too late to understand someone.

 

 

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