Reviews

The Last Love Song by Kalie Holford

libraryofthieves's review

DNF @46%

This book had potential but unfortunately had so many things that could have been better.

Firstly, the entire plot was just so contrived. The town is basically a memorial to Mia’s mother and yet nobody can, or will, tell her anything of substance about her mother. Instead her mother leaves her a scavenger hunt to find pages of her old diary when she graduates high school. Why her grandmothers would refuse to tell her anything about her mother, who knows.

The emotional turmoil of Mia’s relationship to music and performing also felt very artificial. At almost halfway through the book, I still have no idea what was holding her back aside from some mysterious incident the last time she performed.

The entire book just lacked emotional depth. I couldn’t connect to any of the characters because everything was just so overdramatic and unrealistic. The plot of discovering who her mother was on a personal level should have been really heartfelt and instead I was just frustrated the entire time by how little sense anything made. Oh, she also doesn’t know who her dad is for some reason.

Aside from the plot, the writing was just bad. Repetitive descriptions, overly dramatic dialogue and purple prose really pulled me out of the story. And if I have to read about ‘the music’ one more time…

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

a_pocalypse's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bernluvsbooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

murchison's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

alysenann's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mellamaron's review against another edition

DNF at about one hour on the audiobook.

This one isn’t for me. I was distracted by the gorgeous cover but it’s basically a letter-based “learning more about your dead parent” plot and that’s kind of boring to me. I listened to one of the past chapters and even that was not super interesting.

So I’m out.

_travelingpages's review

inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kentuckybooklover's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

bookheathens's review

3.5

3.5 because the ending saved it...
I was bored for at least the first 50-60%, but it could be a target audience problem. 
Either way, it's all about the ending and Mia's hunt for her mom, her dad and her plan for her future. 

lunarmelodie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I'd like to preface my review by saying that I rate books more based on my enjoyment than trying to be objective. So, for me, the 4.25 star rating is higher than I would give this novel purely objectively and I think about 3.5 would be closer to what I'd rate the writing and other more objective elements but of course, no rating can be completely objective and thus I view rating books based on my enjoyment as the best way to review them.

I waited a long time for this book, from ever since its release was first announced. Thus, I had a lot of expectations for it and while I cannot say it was exactly what I expected, in many ways my expectations not being met made it even more enjoyable for me. For me, Mia was an extremely relatable character, from her personality to her romance. (not finished at all, to be continued)