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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This was such a sweet book and I love the ending. The time skips were kind of off putting, wish there was more detail but overall a lovely book
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.
After loving Emily Stone’s debut novel, I was so excited when I saw she had a new book coming out. ONE LAST GIFT didn’t disappoint.
Cassie, her brother, Tom, and his best friend, Sam, have been practically inseparable since Cassie and Tom’s parents died when they were kids. The guys have always pushed Cassie to be brave and to step outside her comfort zone during everyday life and the annual Christmas vacations they go on. Years later, after an incident during one such vacation, Cassie and Sam are no longer close and now they have to deal with the death of Tom. Wrestling with guilt, blame, anger, and anguish, Cassie and Sam drift apart, only brought back together when Cassie learns she has one more Christmas treasure hunt, an annual tradition since they were kids, that ultimately leads to Tom’s one last gift.
I loved ONE LAST GIFT just as much (if not more!) than ALWAYS, IN DECEMBER. Stone has a gift for taking emotional, heartbreaking incidents, like the death of a loved one, that so many end up experiencing, and uses those incidents to illustrate how time keep passing, losses getting easier as it does, but life has also been made richer for having known those who passed. Stone’s writing is absolutely beautiful and her stories have a way of using those painful moments and turning them into something meaningful.
Getting to tag along on this meaningful final treasure hunt, while also seeing how Cassie and Sam find their way back to each other was incredible. It pointed out just how much people—in this case, Tom—can affect individual lives and bring strangers together.
ONE LAST GIFT (a truly multifaceted title) is already a book I haven’t able to stop thinking about and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
After loving Emily Stone’s debut novel, I was so excited when I saw she had a new book coming out. ONE LAST GIFT didn’t disappoint.
Cassie, her brother, Tom, and his best friend, Sam, have been practically inseparable since Cassie and Tom’s parents died when they were kids. The guys have always pushed Cassie to be brave and to step outside her comfort zone during everyday life and the annual Christmas vacations they go on. Years later, after an incident during one such vacation, Cassie and Sam are no longer close and now they have to deal with the death of Tom. Wrestling with guilt, blame, anger, and anguish, Cassie and Sam drift apart, only brought back together when Cassie learns she has one more Christmas treasure hunt, an annual tradition since they were kids, that ultimately leads to Tom’s one last gift.
I loved ONE LAST GIFT just as much (if not more!) than ALWAYS, IN DECEMBER. Stone has a gift for taking emotional, heartbreaking incidents, like the death of a loved one, that so many end up experiencing, and uses those incidents to illustrate how time keep passing, losses getting easier as it does, but life has also been made richer for having known those who passed. Stone’s writing is absolutely beautiful and her stories have a way of using those painful moments and turning them into something meaningful.
Getting to tag along on this meaningful final treasure hunt, while also seeing how Cassie and Sam find their way back to each other was incredible. It pointed out just how much people—in this case, Tom—can affect individual lives and bring strangers together.
ONE LAST GIFT (a truly multifaceted title) is already a book I haven’t able to stop thinking about and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
A gripping and emotional rollercoaster of a book.
Emily Stone books are always packed with complex and well-structured characters and this one doesn't disappoint. Although based loosely around Christmas themed, it plots through several months and years as three people grow from teenagers in to adults, carrying all the baggage from their complex childhoods and dreams, navigating difficult waters that leads to a tragedy.
Despite the gritty themes, this is an uplifting and inspiring story that lifts from the ashes of grief, anger and broken dreams, offering second chances and a final, enduring gift.
Emily Stone books are always packed with complex and well-structured characters and this one doesn't disappoint. Although based loosely around Christmas themed, it plots through several months and years as three people grow from teenagers in to adults, carrying all the baggage from their complex childhoods and dreams, navigating difficult waters that leads to a tragedy.
Despite the gritty themes, this is an uplifting and inspiring story that lifts from the ashes of grief, anger and broken dreams, offering second chances and a final, enduring gift.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5/5 stars! (Writing for the second time as GoodReads always decides to crash when I’m writing reviews! When will this app be updated!)
Last year Always In December by Emily Stone broke me. I actually stopped reading Christmas books last year because of it I didn’t want to read anything romantic or even remotely emotional. It actually scard me so ‘One Last Gift’ reading that this year I was hesitant. I was in the mood to read something a little bit tearjerking so I thought why not?
I do have some issues with the book as I don’t think it does what it says on the tin. You think this book is going to be a journey between Cassie and Sam it is but their journeys are done very separately. You think they’re going to be going on Cassie’s brothers treasure hunt, but they don’t only really for the treasure hunt towards the end. Sam and Cassie are hardly together in the book more, so in the beginning in retrospect, and obviously at the end, but you do you think you’re going to go on a wild journey it’s a London, France, New York! When in reality, it’s just that they come from London Sam works in New York, which you hardly see the book and France is in it for about a couple of pages. You don’t go on a massive journey. It’s pretty much all done in England so it isn’t a journey like it isn’t some sort of holiday trip book you expect.
I also didn’t really like Cassie that much. Very rarely do I find that I dislike the main character. Sorry especially a female one I always root for the female main character but I thought sometimes she pushed it way too far. She treated Sam like shit. I understand Sam, what he did at the beginning, wasn’t very good, but I wouldn’t be surprised what she said to him at a certain point in the book if he didn’t try to take his own life. She was just so rude I just kind of hated her personality and the way she spoke to people. I felt sorry for Sam throughout the novel.
The book also hints (I don’t know if that was just me picking up a vibe,) but it did feel like there was a big surprise about what this gift was going to be from her brother. I personally thought he had some skeletons in the closet. I thought at first, he was literally in the closet and another point I thought he’s got to be terminally ill at some points, not trying to give away any spoilers, but some of the so-called twist in this book were extremely underwhelming. I understand the ending was still really good, like I actually loved the ending I thought it was super romantic, super wholesome, but I have to admit I thought the twists in my head were better than the ones that are actually in the book.
It’s sort of sounds like I’m really going hard in on the book but I actually did enjoy it. I thought it was wholesome a really good journey. If maybe yourself you are bereaved and you’re struggling with bereavement, especially if it is a close relative like a brother or a sister. I think it could be really helpful. I would say this book isn’t again massively Christmassy I think if you’re looking for a full blown Christmas novel this probably isn’t the one, but I have to admit I am not always super keen on the super Christmassy ones so that does sort of suit me. but it is a good book! It is difficult to put down. I enjoyed the journey, but I have to admit it wasn’t as romantic as I thought.
The ending was super romantic, but I have to admit I thought that Cassie spoke to Sam really badly and I felt myself feeling extremely sorry for him throughout the book. Thought it was stretched out a lot and the fact that Sam and Cassie were hardly together did sort of ruin the chemistry of the book as well like I don’t know If the romance was that good in the book if I have to be honest.I think if you’re looking for a super romantic Christmas book, this isn’t the one. It’s definitely more about Cassies personal journey, and I guess Sams as well and going through personal bereavement, but that is honestly about it. I would say this more a bereavement book than it is a romance. And that is also totally fine! I just wish the romance was better!
I do enjoy a slow paced, second chance, (sort of friends, lovers, enemies to lovers), emotionally wholesome novels so I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it! But at the same time I didn’t 100% love it either.
Last year Always In December by Emily Stone broke me. I actually stopped reading Christmas books last year because of it I didn’t want to read anything romantic or even remotely emotional. It actually scard me so ‘One Last Gift’ reading that this year I was hesitant. I was in the mood to read something a little bit tearjerking so I thought why not?
I do have some issues with the book as I don’t think it does what it says on the tin. You think this book is going to be a journey between Cassie and Sam it is but their journeys are done very separately. You think they’re going to be going on Cassie’s brothers treasure hunt, but they don’t only really for the treasure hunt towards the end. Sam and Cassie are hardly together in the book more, so in the beginning in retrospect, and obviously at the end, but you do you think you’re going to go on a wild journey it’s a London, France, New York! When in reality, it’s just that they come from London Sam works in New York, which you hardly see the book and France is in it for about a couple of pages. You don’t go on a massive journey. It’s pretty much all done in England so it isn’t a journey like it isn’t some sort of holiday trip book you expect.
I also didn’t really like Cassie that much. Very rarely do I find that I dislike the main character. Sorry especially a female one I always root for the female main character but I thought sometimes she pushed it way too far. She treated Sam like shit. I understand Sam, what he did at the beginning, wasn’t very good, but I wouldn’t be surprised what she said to him at a certain point in the book if he didn’t try to take his own life. She was just so rude I just kind of hated her personality and the way she spoke to people. I felt sorry for Sam throughout the novel.
The book also hints (I don’t know if that was just me picking up a vibe,) but it did feel like there was a big surprise about what this gift was going to be from her brother. I personally thought he had some skeletons in the closet. I thought at first, he was literally in the closet and another point I thought he’s got to be terminally ill at some points, not trying to give away any spoilers, but some of the so-called twist in this book were extremely underwhelming. I understand the ending was still really good, like I actually loved the ending I thought it was super romantic, super wholesome, but I have to admit I thought the twists in my head were better than the ones that are actually in the book.
It’s sort of sounds like I’m really going hard in on the book but I actually did enjoy it. I thought it was wholesome a really good journey. If maybe yourself you are bereaved and you’re struggling with bereavement, especially if it is a close relative like a brother or a sister. I think it could be really helpful. I would say this book isn’t again massively Christmassy I think if you’re looking for a full blown Christmas novel this probably isn’t the one, but I have to admit I am not always super keen on the super Christmassy ones so that does sort of suit me. but it is a good book! It is difficult to put down. I enjoyed the journey, but I have to admit it wasn’t as romantic as I thought.
The ending was super romantic, but I have to admit I thought that Cassie spoke to Sam really badly and I felt myself feeling extremely sorry for him throughout the book. Thought it was stretched out a lot and the fact that Sam and Cassie were hardly together did sort of ruin the chemistry of the book as well like I don’t know If the romance was that good in the book if I have to be honest.I think if you’re looking for a super romantic Christmas book, this isn’t the one. It’s definitely more about Cassies personal journey, and I guess Sams as well and going through personal bereavement, but that is honestly about it. I would say this more a bereavement book than it is a romance. And that is also totally fine! I just wish the romance was better!
I do enjoy a slow paced, second chance, (sort of friends, lovers, enemies to lovers), emotionally wholesome novels so I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it! But at the same time I didn’t 100% love it either.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes