Cynthia Hand

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand comes a gorgeous and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and letting go. Since her brother, Tyler, committed suicide, Lex has been trying to keep her grief locked away, and to forget about what happened that night. But as she starts putting her life, her family, and her friendships back together, Lex is haunted by a secret she hasn't told anyone—a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything. In the tradition of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, Gayle Forman's If I Stay, and Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a thoughtful and deeply affecting novel that will change the way you look at life and death.

The Last Time We Say Goodbye

this was a good story in showing the grief of losing a close loved one as well as the anxiety that can sometimes go with that. 

Hannah Williams

Melissa Palmer

Book #90 Read in 2015
The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand (YA) 

This is an incredible read. Lexie is a high school student whose younger brother, Ty--a sophomore, commits suicide in the family's garage. Lexie feels guilty for not being there for her brother and angry at any number of people who could be to blame: her father, her mother, her brother's ex-girlfriend, his friends. While in therapy, Lexie is asked to write about her feelings and her brother. This book shows that the healing process is not quick and is not without pain. As one who has lost two family members to suicide, this book is realistic; the author experienced losing her brother to suicide so that helped the credibility of this book. A must read for high school students and parents.

I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a review.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Natalie 

I literally just read this book in one sitting and it was amazing. It deals with anxiety, grief, and other heavy mental health topics, but it was so good even though it was a really sad read.

It was a valuable read, I related to the character in different ways. 

Lulu Evensen

THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is a poignant, layered and compelling novel about a teenage girl grappling with the suicide of her younger brother Ages: 13+ the last time Lex was happy was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment. Now she's the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be. As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone - a text tyler sent, that could have changed everything. Lex's brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that the past doesn't have to define the present. From New York times bestselling author Cynthia Hand comes a story of love, loss and learning how to let go. Ages: 13+

Rachel Evans

(3.75/5) Audiobook - 5 hours 18 minutes - I thought this was a good representation of teen suicide - it wasn't oversensationalised, and I liked how it wasn't caused by a simplistic list of reasons, like in other media I could name. The perspective of an older sister was interesting to read from, the way she blamed it on herself even though she didn't know the reason why her brother took his own life. However, there were some parts that fell a little flat to me - I wasn't too keen on the subplot with Sadie talking about ghosts. I was scared that the book would lean into this too much, bordering on paranormal, which impacted my enjoyment of the book somewhat, but I am glad that that wasn't the way it was written.

Gisela Ayala 

This was the most heartbreakingly lovely book that I have read since The Fault In Our Stars. By the last couple of chapters I could not keep my eyes dry one second. The circumstances are never the best when you lose someone voluntarily, but there is always hope and there will always be a way to show the ones you love that life is worth living no matter how dark the clouds may seem. I can't say too much without giving it away, but Cynthia Hand knows what she is talking about first hand and the book will tug at your heart strings as you see Lexi, her mom, and her friends move on after the death of her brother.

Sarahi Flores

This novel became my all time favorite. It will be one of those books you will never forget. It became too real for me. Highly recommend it!

Meg Cornhill

Taylor Losey

One of the books I read this year that I could never possibly forget. So impactful.

Eloise Lignos

Read this book back in 2016 and I absolutely loved it! Such a beautiful way to describe grief especially to a YA audience. This book has stuck with me throughout the years and really did leave a deep imapct.

4.5

The story of Lexie and how she has to go through life after her brother k*lled himself was one of the most heartbreaking stuffs I have ever read. And when I found out that the author had a brother who k*lled himself too,,, yeah you can say I’m openly sobbing now. 

Death is so unforgiving. One day that person is right there and then the next day the space where they used to be is empty. And you’re always reminded that the hole where your heart is will never be full again. Death might be the easy way out but it will never be easy for the people around us because they will be swimming in guilt and grief. Lots of it. I loved Ty and I just wish things would’ve been different for him. I hurt for Lexie who felt like it was her fault for not answering that text. 

This book talked about slowly coming in terms with the grief and slowly trying to heal that hole in your heart and I loved every moment of it.

Tia Pickering 

This story had me crying my eyes out. It was amazing.

Ella Zegarra

Original de: El Blog del Gato - El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Yo recuerdo que durante un tiempo, huí de este libro como si fuera veneno, y no recuerdo bien porqué, creo que por ahí leí una reseña media rara sobre este libro y me sugestioné. Luego de haberlo leído estoy satisfecha, confundida, pero satisfecha. 


  


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María Belén

Actual rating 2.5

I expected more. I thought it was going to be deeper and more emotional. 
The characters are okay but I didn't really care much for them. And I think Patrick's character was there just so Damien's character and his interactions with Lex made sense. Mostly for the sake of the plot so Lex could finally understand how to deal with her feelings over her brother's dead. 
There were moments where I thought there was going to be a twist or something to make the story a little more interesting but it just kept going about the same things. 
One thing I highlight about this book is its accuracy—the emotions the characters feel, the social conventions, the idea people have about depression and suicide and the concept of selfishness, are all very well portrait. 
All in all, not a bad book. In my opinion it could have been better but, still, not bad.

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand comes a gorgeous, heart-wrenching novel of love and loss, which ALA Booklist called "both shatteringly painful and bright with life and hope" in a starred review. Since her brother, Tyler, committed suicide, Lex has been trying to keep her grief locked away, and to forget about what happened that night. But as she starts putting her life, her family, and her friendships back together, Lex is haunted by a secret she hasn't told anyone—a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything. In the tradition of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, Gayle Forman's If I Stay, and Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a thoughtful and deeply affecting novel that will change the way you look at life and death.

Zoey 

This book is the only book that made me cry. It's a touching story on losing someone you love 

Ruth Parker 

Heartbreaking, raw, beautiful. This book took my breath away and I love it.

I’m emotionally destroyed. Beautifully written. Definitely heavy. But damn good. An amazing look on death and grief and how one even begins to process it. Speechless.

Nadia Leontescu

If I could give this book 1000 stars I definitely would. This book is heartbreaking, but very eye-opening to the impacts of suicide and death on family and even others around them. I found that there was a lot of intrigue and a sense of mystery for me as to what the text that her brother sent her was, I really wanted to know!

Caity Himes

WOW. I finished this book and I was completely speechless. The ending was so perfect, the plot was so good, and it was just overall really amazing. I really liked that it gave me so many feelings. I also loved the mystery aspect of wondering what the text was (which had me completely bawling when I found out). I LOVED this book!

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

4.5 stars!

“Everything changes. That’s the only constant.”

I read The Last Time I Said Goodbye over the summer and immediately fell in love with it. It’s such a heartfelt, emotional and touching story. So many feels surrounding Lex, who’s suffering the loss of her brother who was taken from the earth far too soon.

“Time passes. That’s the rule. No matter what happens, no matter how much it might feel like everything in your life has been frozen around one particular moment, time marches on.”

Be sure to have tissues available. This incredibly touching story will bring you to tears, but will also leave you feeling hopeful and strong, ready to face the day. I know a lot of teens, especially those who have experienced a loss like this, will really relate to Lex and what she went through in this story. I wish there had been more books like this around when I was younger, but I’m definitely to see they exist nowadays. I have so much love for this book!

(Thanks to Harper Audio for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

Sara 

This book was just something I picked up off of the shelf of a library to be honest. But when I started reading it, it was REALLY good. Lex was an amazing character, and totally realistic. Her brother, Tyler, had committed suicide at the very beginning of the book, and Lex was wondering what she could have done to prevent his death. 
I highly recommend this book if you're one of those people who hates putting books down. This one will keep you reading!!!!!

Laura

I don't know why I decided to read this book now, except I was looking for something to read at the library and finally bit the bullet and added All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven to the stack of books I was going to check out. So I got this one, too, because I have a tendency to read multiple books surrounding the same theme/subject at the same time, probably because I like to compartmentalize things like books so much.

Interestingly, I thought I would like this book more than All the Bright Places, given that it seemed to be a more serious/less fluffy attempt at tackling the heavy suicide/grief narrative. I mean, I started reading All the Bright Places, and I'm not a fan so far, but I didn't like this one nearly as much as I thought I would.

For starters, I hated Lex. She is the type of main character I can't stand- an overly rational, math and universe obsessed girl who constantly spouts off about the universe and how perfect numbers are and blah blah blah. I just can't relate to characters like that at all. Also, I'm just really sick of all these extremely intelligent main characters. Like, it seems like every main character in every YA novel I've read in recent memory is a genius who of course is going to every smart school know to man and gets into all of them.

Also, did you notice that all these mental illness/death books are the same, in recent memory at least? They all follow these ultra rational teens with strong pretentious streaks who go on and on about the universe and believe they're philosophers because they can recycle some canned quotes by astronomers. Is that really what teens want nowadays? 

But one of the reasons why I even thought this book would be better than All the Bright Places was because I noticed the author had a deep connection to suicide- the death of her brother, to be exact. Which was why I was so disappointed that this book seemed like every other YA grief book I ever read. The family dynamics were typical- cheating dad the scumbag who left the family for a woman half his age, mom the wonderful human being he left behind, and then a fairly typical (for YA novels, at least) sibling relationship with the brother and sister. Just an aside, why do divorced couples in YA novels always have to do with one partner (usually always the father) cheating? And why is the father always the one demonized? I feel bad for YA fathers. If they aren't assholes then they're dead; it's like the reverse of the Disney tendency to kill off mothers. I wonder if a lot of authors must suffer from daddy issues on pare with Sylvia Plath's. And the mother is always the wonderful saint who is a victim of the father's actions, of course. Please tell me someone else is as frustrated by this as I am.

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

Yeldah Yousfi

“Time passes. That's the rule. No matter what happens, no matter how much it might feel like everything in your life has been frozen around one particular moment, time marches on.”
The last time we say goodbye is my first Cynthia Hand novel and I can say it made an okay impression. I listened to the audio book for this novel and it was good but it didn’t leave me in tears as I expected it to. It was beautifully written, don’t get me wrong but it didn’t feel real enough for me. It didn’t leaving me aching or grieving and the plot line was kinda slow at times. 
The story is narrated in two ways, Lexie's (the MC) everyday life, and a journal that she has to write in. I think this is an interesting way to tell the story and it gives us a bit more emotion but not enough. I don’t even think she cried in the book, except for the last few chapters. I liked how her mom’s emotions were shown more than hers, that how I wanted her to be like. I needed more round, in-depth main characters and supporting characters, rather than the basic stereotypes to give this book a 4 star rating. 
“Brave isn't something you are. It's something you do.”
Overall:I would still recommend this book because it wasn’t necessarily bad, but I just didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. 
Rating:

The Last Time We Say Goodbye

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