Mrs. Nash’s Ashes is a fun, quick little comedy of romantic error about an ex-child star who heads to the Florida Keys to do her beloved landlady one more favor – only to find true love along the way.

Rose McIntyre Nash passed away at the age of ninety-eight, but her full life is about to collide with an active afterlife. Millicent Watts-Cohen – who had been Mrs. Nash’s caretaker, lived in her home and was her close friend – is given permission by her son to take a few tablespoons of her ashes with her when she departs on her travels. It turns out Millicent has been tasked with a very important thing – she is to take this small portion of Rose to the Florida Keys and deliver them to Elise, the love of Rose’s life.

Former child star Millicent – who portrayed time-traveling Penelope Stuart in the Disney-esque Penelope to the Past, has settled into adulthood by avoiding her past and the awkwardness it surrounds her with – such as creepy guys her own age blatantly telling her – in public – about how she provided them with their sexual awakening. Millicent, meanwhile, just hopes that the journey will help renew her belief in love. Rose’s story of falling in love with Elsie during World War II – only for them to be separated by the Korean War – has long been a romantic touchstone for Millicent. Her recent discovery that Elsie didn’t die in the war but is still alive did not reach Rose before she passed, making reuniting the lovers, however she can, a major mission for her.

But more awkwardness arrives in the form of Hollis Hollenbeck, who was in the same MA program as Millicent and whom she despised – and who despised her in return. Hollis is headed to Florida for a sex-date he hopes will break him out of his writer’s block. Millicent and Hollis got on like oil and water back then, and she doesn’t anticipate anything changing during their flight to the Keys. Unfortunately a glitch grounds their flight, so they become temporary reluctant travel buddies.

Interspersed with Millicent and Hollis’ love story is that of Elsie and Rose. While Rose and Elsie’s connection is more dramatic and told with a tear in the eye, Millicent and Hollis’ connection combines humor with flashes of drama. I’m a sucker for road trips, and between broccoli festivals and meals and walks on the beach, they unpeel their armor and manage to find middle ground. It’s a rewarding journey.

There’s a lot of heat between the two of them, even though Hollis absolutely starts the book as a shallow, sex-obsessed type who has to evolve toward opening himself to love. And hoo, the book earns that hot rating!

I liked Millicent immediately, and I really sympathized with both her need to find something real and her attempt at trying to find something important in life.

This is both a very human book with a very touching narrative and a comedy of errors. There’s a wonderful, cinematic tone to Adler’s writing that keeps the reader engaged and flipping the pages. Her style is calm and assured beyond her experience – this happens to be her first novel. Hopefully Mrs. Nash’s Ashes signals that she will write many more.