The unsinkable Greta James A novel

Review by Booklist Review

When Greta James' mother dies of a sudden blood clot in her brain, Greta, a rising rock star, is shocked. Her mother was the guiding light in her life, coming to all Greta's shows and steadfastly supporting her. Greta flies home from a show in Berlin immediately, but it's not enough for her father, who is resentful of Greta's career and absence. In an effort to reconcile, Greta agrees to accompany her father on an Alaskan cruise, which was supposed to be a celebration of her parents' anniversary. While there, Greta dissociates herself from her famous persona and learns about her own humanity through a whirlwind relationship and a return to the music that has propelled her through her life. Smith's first book for adults after eight successful young adult novels is a page-turner, smoothly written and engaging. Exploring themes of grief similar to Rebecca Serle's One Italian Summer (2021), but through the wholly different and beautiful setting of Alaska, Smith delivers a satisfying read for book clubs, adventure lovers, and musicians.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Smith delivers a story of love and grief with her satisfactory adult debut (after the YA novel Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between). Greta James, a beleaguered rock star in her 30s grieving the sudden loss of her mother, Helen, sets off on an eight-day Alaskan cruise with her father, Conrad. The trip, which Helen had organized prior to her death, was supposed to be a wedding anniversary celebration. Greta, meanwhile, hasn't performed since an onstage meltdown went viral, and Greta and Conrad have an uneasy rapport because Conrad never supported Greta's career. Early on in the cruise, Greta meets Ben Wilder, an author and Columbia professor there to give lectures for the guests. The unlikely pair form an instant bond, and this romance, along with Greta's potential reconciliation with her father, propel a plot buoyed by majestic descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness. Hints of a disastrous development on the voyage never come to fruition, though Smith does a great job with her characters, particularly Greta, eliciting her charms and flaws in equal measure. There's not a whole lot to write home about with this, but it gets the job done. (Mar.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

YA author Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight) enters the adult field with this uplifting novel. The last thing Greta James wants to do is spend a week on a cruise ship. The trip to Alaska, an event her parents had been planning for more than a year, was supposed to be their 40th anniversary celebration, but Greta's mother didn't live long enough to enjoy the trip she so meticulously planned. Greta and her father, Conrad, don't have the best relationship. She never fit his ideal--housewife, PTA, picket fence; instead she's a rock star, on tour all over the world. Greta fell apart on stage the day after her mother died and hasn't picked up her guitar since. Maybe the cruise will do her some good; maybe she can resurface and work on her second album. On board, history professor/best-selling author/cruise ship guest lecturer Ben Wilder catches Greta's eye, proving to be the best distraction. But with a concert on the horizon, Greta knows she'll have to face her fears and sorrow head-on. VERDICT Death can change so much for the living. Readers of Debbie Macomber and Robyn Carr will love how unsinkable Greta proves to be.--Jane Blue

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A 36-year-old indie rock star goes on a weeklong cruise with her father after her mother unexpectedly dies. Greta James is struggling. She hasn't played a concert in months, her new album is delayed, and she's broken up with her boyfriend. All this pales in comparison to the spark that set off these events: Her mother suffered a brain aneurism and died before Greta could get to her. Now, the Alaskan cruise that her parents had been looking forward to taking for their 40th anniversary is here, and her mother is not. Greta's brother, Asher, convinces Greta to go on the cruise with their father, and she decides to do it for her mother even though she and her father have not gotten along since her career started to take off. While on the cruise, Greta meets Ben Wilder, an academic who's there to lecture about his new novel based on the work of Jack London's The Call of the Wild. Sparks fly. The cruise is hard, emotionally complicated, stressful, and a balm, both for Greta and her father. Author Smith has crafted a story about mothers and daughters, fathers and children, grief, happiness, and healing--and also about the music industry, hard work, dreams, and relationships both old and new. The power of the Alaskan scenery breathes through the pages, and Greta's grief about her mother's death is palpable. But sometimes the best way to handle grief is to move through it, as someone tells Greta on the ship, even though the route might be hard. Readers of Evvie Drake Starts Over will enjoy this book. A well-told story with evocative prose that bares--and bears--the ragged emotions that accompany a journey to healing. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Chapter One Greta is standing at the window of a hotel in West Hollywood when her brother calls for the third time that day. Across the street, there's a billboard with a sleek white yacht surrounded by turquoise water, an ad for a new kind of beer, and something about it--­that feeling of being adrift--­makes it easier to say no when she finally picks up the phone. "Come on," Asher says. "It's only a week." "A week on a boat." "It's a ship," he corrects. "It's the last thing I need right now," Greta says, turning from the window, where the light outside is dreamy and pink. She's just come from a photo shoot for the cover of her second album, which has been pushed to July. If it were up to Greta, she would've moved it back even further, but apparently, that's no longer an option. Instead, she'd been summoned to Los Angeles to spend three days in a warehouse surrounded by flashing cameras and frowning studio execs in suits and sneakers, the pressure to get this right all over their faces. It's been two months since she last performed live--­not since the week after her mother died, when she fell apart onstage--­but everything else has continued to march ahead, the business part of things still grinding forward mostly without her. On the desk, next to the hotel stationery, there's a plate of chocolates with a note from the hotel manager that says, We're so happy you're with us . Automatically, Greta thinks of her mom, who no longer is, whose absence feels so breathtakingly final that even this is enough to make her heart drop. "Why don't you go?" she says to Asher, trying to imagine spending all that time on a boat with her dad. The Alaskan cruise had been her mother's idea. It was all she talked about for nearly a year, right up until March, when an artery ruptured in her head and the whole world seemed to stop. Now it's only a month away. And her dad is still planning to go. "We can't let him do this alone," Asher says, ignoring her question. "It's too sad." "He'll hardly be alone," Greta says as she wanders into the bathroom. "He'll have the Fosters and the Blooms. They'll take care of him." She stares at her reflection in the mirror, her face still made up from the shoot. Red lips, white skin, green eyes lined with charcoal. Her dark hair, usually so wild, is now sleek and tamed. She sets the phone down on the sink and switches to speaker, then twists the tap and begins to scrub it all off. "He'll be a fifth wheel," Asher insists, his voice bouncing around the bathroom. "It's depressing. One of us has to go with him." "Right," Greta says. "You." "I can't." She straightens again. Her skin is now pinkish, but she looks more like herself, which is always a relief. She grabs a towel and pats at her face. "The thing is," she says, picking up the phone again and walking back out into the room, where she flops onto the bed, "he actually likes you." "Greta," he says, impatient now. "You know I can't do it." She knows this, of course. Asher has a wife and three girls under the age of five. He has a job with a boss and a regular work week, an HR department, and a set number of vacation days, which mostly get used up when the kids are sick. He hasn't been on a plane in years. Greta's already been on three this week. She sighs. "What are the dates again?" "End of May, beginning of June." "I've got to be in the city for Gov Ball on the fifth," she says, almost indecently relieved to have a legitimate excuse, no matter how much she's dreading it. But this does nothing to deter Asher. "Lucky for you," he says, "it gets back on the fourth." "You know this isn't just any show. It's important." "More important than Dad?" "That's not fair." "It's not like I'm asking you to choose," he says. "You'll be back in New York in time to do your thing. And I've heard Alaska is beautiful this time of year. Still a little cold, maybe, but that was just Dad trying to save some money--­" "Asher?" "Yeah?" "I don't think I can do it." "Sure you can. You love the water. Remember that time we took the canoe out on--­" "You know what I mean." He goes silent for a moment, then says, "It wouldn't just be for him, you know." And that's what finally gets her. Excerpted from The Unsinkable Greta James: A Novel by Jennifer E. Smith All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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