Title: The Last To Let Go
Author: Amber Smith
Publication: February 6, 2018
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: Teens, Social & Family Issues
Pages: 384
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
How do you let go of something you’ve never had?
Junior year for Brooke Winters is supposed to be about change. She’s transferring schools, starting fresh, and making plans for college so she can finally leave her hometown, her family, and her past behind.
But all of her dreams are shattered one hot summer afternoon when her mother is arrested for killing Brooke’s abusive father. No one really knows what happened that day, if it was premeditated or self-defense, whether it was right or wrong. And now Brooke and her siblings are on their own.
In a year of firsts—the first year without parents, first love, first heartbreak, and her first taste of freedom—Brooke must confront the shadow of her family’s violence and dysfunction, as she struggles to embrace her identity, finds her true place in the world, and learns how to let go.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Covers are always the first thing to catch my eye on a book. I love ones that pop, and leave me guessing what I might find behind that cover. The Last To Let Go by Amber Smith popped at me. That coupled with the description of the book made me want to read it. I was not disappointed.
Amber Smith wrote a story about a young girl, Brooke, who is put into a situation she never could have imagined herself in and it has consequences to her life that ripple outward. For a teenager, Brooke handles her situation well, but has a lot of processing and growing to do. I love how Smith wrote Brooke trying to be strong for her family, but having breakdowns true to an adolescent over her head. I love how Brooke’s character is so deep and multi-layered like an onion. The entire story was broken into little tidbits about her personality and watching her grow as an individual.
Domestic abuse is not a topic a lot of people like to touch on and I love that Amber Smith approached it in the way she did, from the eyes of those that are helpless around it. It was heartbreaking, realistic, emotional, and draining. I could not imagine living through this situation.
Smith writes with the ease of someone who has been doing this for decades and knows how to bring the reader into the story and to keep them interested. I would highly recommend The Last To Let Go to anyone who loves a good read that will keep you interested from the very beginning to the very end, but be prepared for emotions and some hard hitting topics. A must read.
STAR RATING: 5/5
The Last to Let Go is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local bookstore. Add it to your To Reads list on Goodreads and leave feedback for the author when you are finished. Check out Smith’s other NY Times Best Seller The Way I Used To Be.
