For my first book review this year, I read The Last True Love Story by Brendan Kiely who will be attending TBF for the first time in 2018! This is the first book by Kiely I’ve ever read, and it’s safe to say I’ll definitely read another, and that’s because of his writing. It was emotional and hopeful and felt real as if I actually knew these characters and they were simply telling me this story themself.
The point of living is learning how to love.
That’s what Gpa says. To Hendrix and Corrina, both seventeen but otherwise alike only in their loneliness, that sounds like another line from a pop song that tries to promise kids that life doesn’t actually suck. Okay, so: love. Sure.
The thing about Corrina—her adoptive parents are suffocating, trying to mold her into someone acceptable, predictable, like them. She’s a musician, itching for any chance to escape, become the person she really wants to be. Whoever that is.
And Hendrix, he’s cool. Kind of a poet. But also kind of lost. His dad is dead and his mom is married to her job. Gpa is his only real family, but he’s fading fast from Alzheimer’s. Looking for any way to help the man who raised him, Hendrix has made Gpa an impossible promise—that he’ll get him back east to the hill where he first kissed his wife, before his illness wipes away all memory of her.
One hot July night, Hendrix and Corrina decide to risk everything. They steal a car, spring Gpa from his assisted living facility, stuff Old Humper the dog into the back seat, and take off on a cross-country odyssey from LA to NY. With their parents, Gpa’s doctors, and the police all hot on their heels, Hendrix and Corrina set off to discover for themselves if what Gpa says is true—that the only stories that last are love stories.
To say it simply this is a story about love. From Gpa and his lost love to Corrina and her music, this book to me is about different kinds of love, and how if you really love something then it will stay with you forever. This book took on the road trip trope and spun it around completely which I loved. While the trip consisted of several normal road trip necessities from a great playlist with music for everyone to a sense of camaraderie among the passengers, it also was different. Kiely didn’t just skim over the places where they stopped to eat or rest, instead creating smaller characters and places that help the reader place themself in the story. But my favorite part of this book was the music and how big a part it played in this story. Corrina and Gpa bond over their shared love of classic rock while sharing stories of what these songs mean to them. I’d recommend this book to fans of John Green as well as any who are looking for a good book about family, love, and rock n’ roll.
-Claire
more about the book here:
amazon
barnes and noble
goodreads
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