Poor Hunter Cady. His wife died way too soon and he just wasn't ready. When he got Kait's ashes the only thing he could think of was the trips and vacations that they dreamed about and that had never happened. So, a day or two after he received her ashes he spun the globe that she had bought him before he died. A present which he had found gift wrapped for an occasion three months away. He spun it 5 times and all 5 times it landed on the United States. That made up his mind. You can't really see the world until you really know your home country. He loaded up his car, put Kait's ashes in the passenger seat next to him and headed west.

Meanwhile his in-laws are leaving messages on his phone that they want their daughter/sister back and are threatening to go to the police. Never mind that Kait and her mother didn't really have a great relationship.

The people and activities that happen on this journey are absolutely hilarious and outlandish. He is still receiving threatening phone calls from his in-laws (one that shows his house where they have broke in and trashed the place). His parents are giving him grief and at one time his dad even flies out to bring him home. At one point, he even loses Kait.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, while parts of it were sad, the journey Hunter took was a testament of a great love. Remembering bits and pieces of their lives together showing how hard it was for him to let her go. Truly a love for the ages, an enjoyable read which I am so glad I got the chance.

Huge thanks to Algonquin Books for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Kait was exactly what the hapless, unmotivated, and perhaps just a wee bit (or more) lazy Hunter Cady needed in his life. She pushed him to be more, she encouraged him to move out of his comfort zone, and she truly loved him. Until she died, suddenly and without fanfare. After she's gone, the relatives have been in and out, and the funeral is over, Hunter finds himself a very young widower. Still in his twenties. Still with a lifetime of unknowns ahead of him. Only Hunter really isn't interested in any of that. He misses Kait. She was his anchor, and now he is fetter-less, drifting, and terribly lost. So he does the only thing he can think of. He takes Kait's ashes and heads out on a cross-country trip to visit all the places they dreamed of but never saw. It is this journey that will, perhaps, help Hunter become the man Kait saw. Or, it is perhaps, all the evidence his parents and in-laws need to have him committed to an asylum. Tom McAllister clearly portrays the raw grief Hunter and anyone who has lost a spouse or life partner would feel, with moments of desolation mixed with exulting promise of an as yet created but hopeful future. Hunter's experiences with the people he meets along his journey and his responses to the texts, phone calls, and e-mails, and social media comments from friends all build a multidimensional character that readers can both identify with and cringe over. Although this is not my usual genre, I thank NetGalley and Tom McAllister for permitting me to travel with Hunter and Kait on what was truly an unforgettable adventure.

Young Hunter Cady, at age 29, thought that he had finally found a place for himself in this world. He loved and adored his wife Kait, whom he never felt he was good enough for. The unthinkable happens, the young Kait dies, and Hunter is left floundering.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. There were some very moving passages as Hunter is musing over his dead wife and all that she meant to him. At his wife’s wake he is having a hard time relating to his mother in law and brothers in law who never liked him from the beginning. Hunter feels unmoored and doesn’t know how to move forward.

There is some beautiful writing in this book. “He plays Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” on a loop and sings along with it, telling Kait she made him forget himself, made him think he was someone else, someone good.” “When he opens his eyes he sees thousands of ghosts in his home, each one a vision of Kait at a different stage of their shared life; they crowd into the house, some are cooking and some are sleeping and some are dancing and some are hanging pictures and everywhere around him there are Kaits.” Beautiful prose.

Hunter knows that it’s not true and yet he feels guilt about Kait’s death. He feels that everyone is judging him and wondering “exactly what you did to deserve losing your wife in this way. But what sort of transgressions can one commit for which the fair and reasonable punishment is the immediate death of one’s wife?

When he remembers that he has some insurance money to fall back on he decides to go on a road trip, one that he and Kait had planned to take, cross country. Kait has already been reduced to ashes and there is an argument as to who gets to keep the ashes, Hunter or her family when he just decides to clear out.

I really enjoyed some of the people that he met on his road trip from the extremely passionate and obsessive Renaissance Faire attendees who try to claim Hunter as one of their own to the unlikely trio of Austin, Amber and Amber’s grandfather Paul. Hunter makes up a story that he is going to meet up with his wife who has started a new job.

I laughed while reading some of this novel and felt a really dull sad ache in my heart for Hunter in other parts. I enjoyed the first half of the book immensely but then it became a little repetitive and I yearned for Hunter to grow as a person, but that didn’t happen.

Will also post to Amazon upon publication

Beautifully written meditation on love and loss. Even though I'm closer in age to Willow than to Kait and Hunter, this spoke to me in a way I did not expect. McAllister has captured emotion wonderfully. Loved the road trip- completely understood the impulse that led him to do this. Loved the stops they made along the way and how Hunter posted photos on Facebook. The bridal shower and its aftermath, the Grand Canyon walk, all of it rang true. This one will stick with me for a while as there's a lot to think about. I read this as an ARC and thank the publisher immensely. I hope to see more from McAllister in the future- he's one to watch.