If you’re reading this, well, you know the last-letter drill. You made it. I didn’t. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have.
I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride.
My little sister Ella’s raising the twins alone. She’s too independent and won’t accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It’s too much for anyone to endure. It’s not fair.
And here’s the kicker: there’s something else you don’t know that’s tearing her family apart. She’s going to need help.
So if I’m gone, that means I can’t be there for Ella. I can’t help them through this. But you can. So I’m begging you, as my best friend, go take care of my sister, my family.
Please don’t make her go through it alone.
Ryan
Kindle Edition, 432 pages
Expected publication:
February 26th 2019
by Entangled: Amara
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Kristine's Thoughts:
** I received an advanced readers copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!**
I'm just going to come right out and say it. THIS BOOK RUINED ME! I was not at all prepared for the emotional paces that this book put me through. It was marketed as contemporary romance so I expected a little conflict, some misunderstandings and a whole lot of sexual tension but I was not at all prepared for the number of tears that this book got from me. It was so much more and the story was so much bigger than a typical contemporary romance. Sigh...
The book starts with Ryan asking his sister to be a pen pal for his friend who didn't have anyone while they were away serving. Ella and Chaos start a beautiful friendship with pen and paper. When Ryan was killed in action, his last letter was delivered to his best friend asking him to go and help his sister because she needed it but would never ask for it. Due to circumstances surrounding Ryan's death, Chaos honoured his wishes but showed up in Telluride to help Ella, whom he had fallen in love with from her letters, with his real name and lying by omission that he was Chaos.
Sounds like the makings of an interesting love story right? That's what I thought too. However, it was so much more than that. There were six year old twins involved and a cancer diagnosis on top of it. The developing love story wasn't just between Beckett and Ella but also between Beckett and the twins. Cancer played a very big role in The Last Letter and the emotional ride was long and intense. At the heart of it, the story was about trust, love, loyalty and family but without all of the rainbows and unicorns to get them there. It was at times beautiful like reading the growing relationship between Beckett, Cole and Maisie and devastating at other times reading about the cancer treatments and insurance bills.
The story alternated between Beckett and Ella's point of view with each chapter starting with one of the letters that they wrote to each other while Beckett (Chaos) was deployed. I loved this because I was able to get a feel for the relationship they developed from pen alone and the emotional connection that Beckett already had to Ella when he arrived in Telluride as someone else.
WARNING... just when I thought the roller coaster was nearing the end and I was cozied up this morning to finish the last hour of the book, it got me again! It literally reached within my body cavity, grabbed my heart, ripped it out and threw it out the window. I kid you not! It is now hours later and I am still searching through the broken glass in an effort to find my heart and put it back where it belongs. I was completely blindsided and I have absolutely no words. Seriously! I can't say any more than that but I desperately want to. I need someone else to read this book so that I have someone to discuss it with. Like I mentioned before, I am ruined and heartbroken over this book. Maybe even a little bit mad.
This book was beautiful but not in the typical way and it wasn't the type of light and fluffy romance that you would think it would be from reading the synopsis. It was highly, highly emotional and incredibly sad at times. You really need to be prepared for it or you won't appreciate it to the degree that it should be appreciated. Grab the Kleenex and buckle yourself in and please, please come back and tell me what you thought. I really need to discuss this book with other people. I want to say that I loved it but I don't feel that is a proper descriptor for such an emotionally charged book that I hated a little at the same time.
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