There are some books you expect to love and some that totally surprise you. The Last Love Note was the second for me.
This book sounds and looks like a predictable serendipity-style romance, (not my usual choice) but it’s so much more than a romcom.
I picked up this book purely because Emma is one of the guest authors at the upcoming Riverina Readers Festival on July 13. But I smashed it because the writing is sharp and strong, the main character Kate is believable and likeable and the observational humour really hit the spot.
When the book opens, single parent Kate Whittaker is consumed by grief after her husband passed away two years earlier. After multiple losses, she’s been in survival mode, not really living. The central question of the book is: can she find a way to fully live, and possibly even love, again? See, when I put it like that it sounds corny, so you’re just going to have to trust me – it’s not.
Grey is clearly writing this book from personal experience, which ratchets up the heartbreak. At times, I found myself weeping when the book hit certain close-to-home truths, but it’s totally worth it because between the tears there is warmth, humour and light that makes you feel grateful to be alive.
-Katrina Roe, RRL Administration Centre
