Fern feels like the forgotten child, between her older siblings (Sara and Holden) and little brother Charlie, only brought out when her dad wants to use the family to advertise his restaurant, Harry's. One day she's worrying about crushing on her best friend Ran and how to escape the bullies on the bus, then the unspeakable happens and Fern knows it's all her fault. How can she ever go back to normal again?

I absolutely did not see the tragic accident at the heart of this novel coming and I was almost in shock, much like Fern. I'll hide it as a spoiler in the content advisory below. The story, which was in the vein of those chaotic large-family stories complete with all the humor, took a sudden turn. Definitely teared up a few times, because the grief depicted was so real.

Content advisory: <spoiler>death of a child</spoiler>