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bookishmillennial's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This fits more into coming-of-age fiction with a romantic subplot rather than a capital R romance. I love either! I just want to help level others’ expectations.
This book is told in first-person, present-tense POV of Sammy Espinoza, who was almost let go from her music writing job and was just publicly dumped by her musician ex-girlfriend. She is returning to the one place she ever felt she could call “home,” a small town in the Pacific North West, Ridley Falls. With her mom constantly traveling the world and following her next love interest, Sammy has learned to expect abandonment from everyone who claims to care about her.
She had stayed in Ridley Falls for one year with her friend Willa and Willa’s parents, and heard that a former one-night-stand (from 11 years ago), Max Ryan is returning to Ridley Falls to record his first ever solo album at his home studio. Sammy hopes to write a review on him that will save her job, but things get complicated when she starts developing feelings for him again. You could call this a bit of a second-chance romance, but I think it focuses a lot more on Sammy’s growth, as far as the way she views love and connections, especially with her neglectful mom, her friends Willa and Brook, and her estranged grandmother Paloma (who lives in Ridley Falls too👀)
There is a lot of miscommunication and “ghosting” in this (not just romantic ghosting!) so be prepared! I think it all felt quite authentic though, and I really appreciated the representation of:
This fits more into coming-of-age fiction with a romantic subplot rather than a capital R romance. I love either! I just want to help level others’ expectations.
This book is told in first-person, present-tense POV of Sammy Espinoza, who was almost let go from her music writing job and was just publicly dumped by her musician ex-girlfriend. She is returning to the one place she ever felt she could call “home,” a small town in the Pacific North West, Ridley Falls. With her mom constantly traveling the world and following her next love interest, Sammy has learned to expect abandonment from everyone who claims to care about her.
She had stayed in Ridley Falls for one year with her friend Willa and Willa’s parents, and heard that a former one-night-stand (from 11 years ago), Max Ryan is returning to Ridley Falls to record his first ever solo album at his home studio. Sammy hopes to write a review on him that will save her job, but things get complicated when she starts developing feelings for him again. You could call this a bit of a second-chance romance, but I think it focuses a lot more on Sammy’s growth, as far as the way she views love and connections, especially with her neglectful mom, her friends Willa and Brook, and her estranged grandmother Paloma (who lives in Ridley Falls too👀)
There is a lot of miscommunication and “ghosting” in this (not just romantic ghosting!) so be prepared! I think it all felt quite authentic though, and I really appreciated the representation of:
- single parent/child dynamic
- teen parent/child dynamic
- losing a parent before you were even born!
- alcoholism/addiction/sobriety
- found family
- sensitive, messy bisexuals
- 29-year-olds at a crossroads in life & having their own midlife crises
steam rating: 2/5
cw: child abuse, death/death of a parent, grief, sexual context, abandonment, toxic mother-daughter relationship, gaslighting, addiction, alcoholism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
alyssajp's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Pregnancy and Medical content
caseythereader's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thanks to Penguin Press for the free copy of this book.
- SAMMY ESPINOZA'S LAST REVIEW is for all the former emo girls out there.
- There is so much going on in this book - second chances, friend fights, flighty mom, long lost family and more - and it all works. It all serves to make Sammy and everyone in Ridley Falls feel like real, whole humans even with a complicated romcom plot.
- It's a thoughtful, loving exploration of how emotional traumas linger and affect your actions years later, even when you know what's happening and why. I just love a romance novel that's both swoony and rooted in reality.
- SAMMY ESPINOZA'S LAST REVIEW is for all the former emo girls out there.
- There is so much going on in this book - second chances, friend fights, flighty mom, long lost family and more - and it all works. It all serves to make Sammy and everyone in Ridley Falls feel like real, whole humans even with a complicated romcom plot.
- It's a thoughtful, loving exploration of how emotional traumas linger and affect your actions years later, even when you know what's happening and why. I just love a romance novel that's both swoony and rooted in reality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Cursing, and Medical content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Car accident, and Sexual content
Minor: Racism
moonjelifish's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Sammy Espinoza’s Last Review is a second chance romance within the story of family, friendship, and the way a person can be shaped by abandonment and the simultaneous absence and presence of the people who we think we should love and those whom we allow to love us. Sammy Espinoza is returning to the small town of Ridley Falls, where she spent the largest part of her tumultuous and transient childhood. Here, she runs into Max Ryan, her teenage crush/former rockstar who ghosted her but now has no memory of having met her— he is also the very person Sammy is pinning her hopes onto for saving her career as a music critic. Additionally, Ridley Falls is the place that Sammy has spent most of her adult life avoiding despite it being home to most of the handful of people she loves, for it is also the place of the family who abandoned her before she was born.
Sammy is messy. And honestly, that’s relatable. She’s made mistakes and keeps making mistakes, but her journey of self-discovery helps her understand the traumatic roots of why she’s kept making those same mistakes. While her deception had me /stressed/ from the inevitable way it would blow up, I ultimately really felt for her. (Her simultaneous fear and expectation of abandonment, same.)
And Max. He holds my heart. The way his story unfolds, and his reactions felt real to me. Healing in not linear, and that shows in Max.
Sammy’s story is steeped in grief, love, loss, the family she inherited, the family she chose, and the family whose very absence shaped her life. I will be the first to admit that I don’t always remember everything I’ve read, but Sammy’s journey and relationship to multiple definitions of family struck me and has stuck with me long since I read the last page of her story.
Thank you Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Grief
Moderate: Medical trauma, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Minor: Abortion, Body shaming, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
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