[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Josie has been living with her grandfather since her mom died. But lately things have gotten… odd. Her grandfather has been stashing wads of cash in weird places around the house. And Josie’s found a bunch of past due notices on their bills. And her grandfather often blurts out nonsense words. She hopes others aren’t noticing.
Her teacher at school IS noticing some other things. Josie’s grades aren’t great. Neither is her hygiene. Her teacher is getting suspicious.
Worst of all is the overdue mortgage bill. Once Josie figures out what a mortgage is, she realizes if she can’t come up with the money, they could lose their house. What would happen to her and her grandfather then?
Review
There’s a LOT going on in this book. Josie is trying to be the responsible grown up in her home, but she doesn’t understand mortgages and checking accounts. She doesn’t know where her grandfather’s cash is coming from. And the two of them end up at cross purposes at times while each is following his/her own plan. Then Josie’s best friend, Winky, is a baseball fanatic who is going blind, so he can’t play the game he loves. His favorite player, Joe Viola, becomes a regular character in Josie’s life. And finally, Josie’s teachers are trying to help out where they can see there’s need, although none of them know the whole story.
It took me awhile to connect to the heart of this one. The different threads felt willy nilly, and I couldn’t lock in to the characters or where the story was going. The timing of the story wasn’t well anchored for me either; I thought this was a contemporary story until it suddenly wasn’t.
But when everything fell apart, and Josie acknowledges the relief of not having to shoulder these burdens on her own any more, I found my connection point. I enjoyed the satisfying conclusion to the story.