Review Detail

The Last Thing You Said by Sara Biren is a story about love and loss.
Ben and Lucy are trying to put the pieces of themselves back together after the tragic death of Ben’s sister and Lucy’s best friend, Trixie. The story begins when Ben takes his grief out on Lucy and the two, who were so close before, are set on separate paths that will eventually lead them back to each other and to a place of healing.

What I loved:
The author does a brilliant job of putting the reader into the idyllic setting of summer among the lakes of Minnesota. One can see the author’s love for this part of the country in every single page.
Lucy is a heartbreaking, brave young woman who fights her way back from losing her best friend, attempting to move on in healthy ways (mostly). She is easy to love and endearing the way she shares stories of her best friend with Trixie’s young cousin, Emily to help her remember the girl she admired.

What left me wanting more:
Where Lucy is an admirable character, Ben is the opposite. He rarely handles his grief in positive ways, seeking instead to bury himself in booze and girls rather than face anything resembling an emotion. While the two characters show two different sides to the grieving process, Ben fell into this cycle of lashing out, feeling bad, vowing to change, attempting to change and then lashing out again. This cycle carried on a bit too long to be realistic. And while Lucy was my favorite character, there was one decision she made that was so far out of character it just didn’t make sense.

Final verdict:
A compelling story that will have readers feeling every emotion of pain and loss right along with Lucy and Ben, rooting for them right up until the last page to find their way back to each other again.