Name: The Last Love Note
ISBN: 9781958506288

Emma Grey

You may never stop loving the one you lost. But you can still find love again. Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she's grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the balls--and yet clinging to her sense of humor. Lurching from one comedic crisis to the next, she also navigates an overbearing mom and a Tinder-obsessed best friend who's determined to matchmake Kate with her hot new neighbor. When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what's right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time? When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together. The first note captured her heart. Will the last note set it free? The Last Love Note will make readers laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart--and in love itself.

The Last Love Note

This is the kind of book that rips your heart about and puts it back together again. A dual timeline of losing a spouse and falling in love in the future. Beautifully done. 

         You want to know a secret about an Australian romance?  It’s pretty similar to an American romance (minus kangaroos?). 

            I frequently joke to my husband that I have early-onset dementia.  Reading this book made me feel horrible about making those jokes…because early-onset dementia is devastating.  Even regular-onset dementia is terrible.  Imagine slowing declining to a place where you no longer remember anything about your life.  Years, decades even, of memories made, people you’ve loved, things you’ve accomplished, simply fade away.  That is one of my biggest fears (which means I can also use this book for one of the prompts in the 52-Book Reading Club 2024 Reading Challenge!).  I can’t imagine forgetting my kids, or my husband, or the life I’ve built (then destroyed, then built again…the second time with literal blood and tears).  I might not be the most amazing person on the planet, but I’d at least like to make it to the grave with what I perceive to be my amazingness intact. 

            Grief is incredibly complex.  No two people are going to have the same journeys as they grapple with the death of a loved one, and I feel like the death of a partner is especially difficult.  Moms and dads, brothers and sisters, grandparents; those are people you didn’t get to pick.  You love them, but you didn’t get to consciously decide those are the people you want in your life.  A husband, a wife, a life partner, is a decision.  That person is the one you decided you want to talk about your poop with every day for the rest of your life.  Gray was able to deep dive into the mind of a woman devastated by loss yet trying to keep moving forward.  

            Hugh might be my favorite literary character thus far in 2024 (though it’s only February, clearly this is subject to change).  They had a meet-cute that wasn’t  really a meet-cute because she was happily married at the time.  He ended up being her boss, her friend, her cheerleader…he was the ideal man!  He supported her through the progression of her husband’s disease.  He was her husband’s friend and confidant.  It was clear where this book was going, yet nothing about this felt like it was a planned-out scenario. 

            I truly don’t feel like I’m doing this book justice with this review.  No, I didn’t give it five stars, but it was such a well-written story of a painful journey with a happy ending.  My words might be failing me today so don’t judge my review too harshly…but DO read this book. 

Kristen Claiborn

         You want to know a secret about an Australian romance?  It’s pretty similar to an American romance (minus kangaroos?). 

            I frequently joke to my husband that I have early-onset dementia.  Reading this book made me feel horrible about making those jokes…because early-onset dementia is devastating.  Even regular-onset dementia is terrible.  Imagine slowing declining to a place where you no longer remember anything about your life.  Years, decades even, of memories made, people you’ve loved, things you’ve accomplished, simply fade away.  That is one of my biggest fears (which means I can also use this book for one of the prompts in the 52-Book Reading Club 2024 Reading Challenge!).  I can’t imagine forgetting my kids, or my husband, or the life I’ve built (then destroyed, then built again…the second time with literal blood and tears).  I might not be the most amazing person on the planet, but I’d at least like to make it to the grave with what I perceive to be my amazingness intact. 

            Grief is incredibly complex.  No two people are going to have the same journeys as they grapple with the death of a loved one, and I feel like the death of a partner is especially difficult.  Moms and dads, brothers and sisters, grandparents; those are people you didn’t get to pick.  You love them, but you didn’t get to consciously decide those are the people you want in your life.  A husband, a wife, a life partner, is a decision.  That person is the one you decided you want to talk about your poop with every day for the rest of your life.  Gray was able to deep dive into the mind of a woman devastated by loss yet trying to keep moving forward.  

            Hugh might be my favorite literary character thus far in 2024 (though it’s only February, clearly this is subject to change).  They had a meet-cute that wasn’t  really a meet-cute because she was happily married at the time.  He ended up being her boss, her friend, her cheerleader…he was the ideal man!  He supported her through the progression of her husband’s disease.  He was her husband’s friend and confidant.  It was clear where this book was going, yet nothing about this felt like it was a planned-out scenario. 

            I truly don’t feel like I’m doing this book justice with this review.  No, I didn’t give it five stars, but it was such a well-written story of a painful journey with a happy ending.  My words might be failing me today so don’t judge my review too harshly…but DO read this book. 

The Last Love Note

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