Book Review: The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Fiction + Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Emma Grey
Publisher: Zibby Books
Release Date: November 28th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

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 ball—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 listeners laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart—and in love itself.

Thank you to LibroFM for the audiobook and Ro Romanello PR for the gifted copy.

THIS HURT.

I’ve gotta admit, I’m actually not one to pick up a widow based book because it sends my own anxiety through the roof. BUT, I had heard great things about this and still wanted to give it a try and I honestly enjoyed this so much. This was EMOTIONAL and heartbreaking and slowly but surely watching hope and time win out in the battle against losing your spouse way too soon.

I liked that Kate was a mess. I felt it was accurate to the story being portrayed. Grief is an up and down, absolutely non-linear battle and we saw many facets of that fact. The flashbacks only increased the emotional turmoil and showed how deep and raw this journey has been.

If I was being a little nitpicky I do wish there had been a touch more romance (because my initial interpretation of the book was that it was a romance first). But, upon finishing I saw the plot as a whole and feel like it went where it needed to in order to allow Kate to find some solid ground for herself.

If you’re in need of a good cry book, this is it.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Fiction + Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: closed door
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: losing a husband to early onset Alzheimer’s, miscarriage, grief depiction, mentions of losing a partner (briefly recounted, cancer)