The Loose Ends List - Carrie Firestone

[goodreads]

Title: The Loose Ends List
Author: Carrie Firestone
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 400
Date read: April, 2018

Seventeen-year-old Maddie O'Neill Levine's grandmother is a young-at-heart socialite who has always been Maddie's go-to confidante. Although Maddie and the rest of her family have learned to expect the unexpected from their matriarch, Gram still manages to shock them all when she announces that she has booked the O'Neill clan on a secret death-with-dignity ship called the Wishwell; Gram has terminal cancer and is determined to leave the world in her own way--and give her family an unforgettable summer of dreams-come-true in the process.

Soon, Maddie is on the trip of a lifetime with her wacky family. Aboard the ship, Maddie bonds with other Wishwellians and falls for Enzo, the son of the ship's owner, as they travel the globe. But despite the copious laugher, headiness of first love, and wonder of the glamorous destinations, Maddie knows she is on the brink of losing Gram, and she struggles to find the strength to let go in a whirlwind summer shaped by love, grief, and the power of forgiveness.


One of the best YA novels I've read in years. From the back blurb I expected "fluff with a substance" and that was definitely also what I got. It was funny, it was heartbreaking, it was life-affirming, it was poignant, it was beautiful, it made me sob my way through most of the last 100 pages (but in a good way).

I loved the relationship between Maggie and her Gram, and though the idea of a "death with dignity" cruise seemed more than a little morbid, once I accepted that premise I liked reading about the other passengers on the ship, and how they all ended up interacting in one way or another, and because an automatic support group. I've always been fascinated with cruises, and loved reading about both life on the ship and at the different ports they got off at.

I can easily see this book as not being for everybody, but it totally worked for me.