Hooked on Books

Why is the book even called Ashes? Does anyone know? When I read a book I always try to relate the title to the story and when I can't it bugs the shit out of me. The only thing I can think of is it refers to the ashes Alex carries around of her parents. She is suppose to be letting go of their ashes and the past. Maybe that's it- that makes sense I guess but the face on the cover is creepy not sure how that ties in and relates to ashes. Sorry I'm rambling...: ) 

Anyways, I don't really know what I think about this book. I have mixed feelings about it. Ellie, the 8 year old that travels with Alex at the beginning of the journey after the EMP event is just a complete a brat. If you listen to the audio book like I did you will get the full effect of her whining and bitching and crying which makes it even harder to listen to. I fast forwarded through a lot of her tantrums. Once she was out of the picture I started enjoying it more. Then the story really takes a huge turn. The first half of the book and the second half are really different. The second half isn't bad, I liked it probably more then the first but I just never got this "omg this is a wonderful book" feeling. I'm going to start listening to the next audio book in the series out of sheer curiosity but at this point I don't know if I'll finish it. It depends on what crazy turn the author has in store next I suppose.