by Emma Straub is a time-traveling adventure that discusses loss and regrets with humor and profundity. Alice Stern has always been slightly stuck in the past: she still works at the fancy private high school in New York City that she once attended and feels a little embarrassed that her single lifestyle doesn’t match the glittering careers or perfect families that her friends have created. Still, she’s always had a great relationship with her father, Leonard, a successful fantasy writer who raised her as a single parent with an unconventional style. But, Leonard’s health is now in steep, heartbreaking decline and Alice doesn’t know how to manage her grief. Then, on her 40^tbirthday, she wakes up to find herself in her childhood bedroom, reliving her 16^thbirthday. If she changes the events of this one day, in 1996, can she reorient the whole course of her life--and maybe save Leonard? Straub’s book has fun with the time travel elements, but its heart is the sweet, imperfectly perfect relationship between Alice and her dad.