Last year, Always in December ripped my heart out and stomped it into tiny pieces - I half expected the same from One Last Gift, but this one didn't hit (me) quite so hard. That said, it was still a beautiful book, full of loss, heartache, learning and discovery. Cassie's journey is lovely, but Sam's holds a special place in my heart on this one. So many sweet feels, I loved it!

This is my second book by this author and I think it’ll likely be my last. We just aren’t compatible, and that’s okay!

In this book Cassie and her brother Tom lose their parents at a young age and are raised by a rather gruff aunt. They form their own family with friends, Hazel and Sam, and some locals in their town. Tom has given Cassie scavenger hunts for years around Christmas that can last well past new years, but one year he tragically dies and Cassie is left with a broken heart and a scavenger hunt she can’t bring herself to start.

This book takes place over a year as Cassie’s learns to be brave in the face of grief and move on.

For me this book was very surface level. The emotions never dug as deep as I wanted them to, it didn’t feel light or hopeful enough, and the romance was very much something that was being told to me but I just couldn’t believe it. Cassie’s character felt very immature and in the end I just really wanted to wrap up the story and move on.

3⭐️ because I did finish it and I enjoyed the premise, but I think I’ll be parting ways with this author from here!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC!

SYNOPSIS: 
Cassie and Tom are siblings who lost their parents at a young age. Living with their aunt, they found family in the friends they grew up with. Tom would always send his little sister on a scavenger hunt to find her yearly Christmas gift and this year is no exception. One Last Gift is Cassie’s journey to find the gift Tom left. On this journey we watch Cassie grieve and navigate life. What will this gift be? And will Cassie be able to find it?

Thought:
-Family oriented which I loved
-Frustrating characters that you want to just scream at, but it is their journey not yours so leave them alone!
-Christmasy vibes but the story takes place over a few months and not all during Christmas
-I definitely felt more for this book. While for it was not tissue worthy for me, it did pull on my stone heart strings.

Four solid stars for One Last Gift by Emily Stone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, if you are looking for a warm and fuzzy holiday romance read, I don't recommend this one for you.

While there was a romance between Cassie and Sam, I think this story was meant to focus on Cassie and Tom. And Emily did a fantastic job with helping the readers feel Tom all throughout the story.

It was a beautiful and healing story.

3.5⭐ rounded to 4.

The most beautiful story about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister and a journey to find love and happiness along the way. Although a bit heartbreaking, this story has so many moments of joy. Highly recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
Cassie and Tom lost their parents at a young age and Tom the older brother ensured every Christmas would be a great Christmas. Cassie follows clues to find her Christmas present. As adults Tom goes on a climbing holiday and does not return, but he already set the clues for what would be the last Christmas hunt. Cassie follows the clues and it’s as if her brother is still here, she finds herself and grows and mourns along the way.
I enjoyed seeing Cassie grow and develop and find herself in the time since Toms death. I loved “Always in December” and enjoyed this book as well.

I haven’t read a book like this in a long time. It’s more than a romance, I’d say at the core it’s a book dissecting various types of grief. I’ve avoided books like this for awhile as I’ve trudged through my own grief journey but I’m so grateful I decided to give this book a try. The pacing and story progression felt so real and authentic. I’ve never read a book where I saw grief so beautifully depicted - there’s sorrow, but it isn’t sad. I should add, you don’t need to be grieving to enjoy the story, it just hit differently because of where I am in life. I’m curious to read other reviews to see if others had similar experiences. All in all, I loved it and am already looking forward to rereading it!

What a beautiful, emotional book about a sister and best friend grieving their loss. Holidays are hard to get through when you are missing a loved one and this book expands beyond that to include moving on and forgiveness.

Beware this is not a light, Christmas romance comedy. You will not be laughing throughout this book. It leans more towards women's fiction with heavier topics, so you may want tissues close by instead.

I absolutely loved the idea of an annual Christmas scavenger hunt, even if it did take much longer to solve. The time and thought put into her gift was priceless and one of the best gifts a person can give to another. The measures he took for Cassie definitely wins him the best brother award in my mind. (Note, I do not have a brother, so I realistically do not know what brothers do and do not do.)

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Randomhouse Publishing Group Ballantine for my copy of One Last Gift by Emily Stone in exchange for an honest review. It published October 11, 2022.
Can I just say, I love Emily Stone's Christmas books? I loved Always In December, and now I love One Last Gift! I love how this novel breaks out of the very common Hallmark-style, no real issue formula, and deals with truly hard topics. It makes this book so much more real.
I also love that it's Christmas adjacent, and takes place throughout the years as well, so you don't have to read at Christmastime, although it definitely is a perk!
The only downside to this book, in my opinion, is a lot of R-rated language that is personally offensive to me, but I know for others it isn't a problem. That does not affect my overall rating.

One Last Gift by Emily Stone 🎁💌❄️☃️

🎁 genre: women’s fiction & romance
💌 fav tropes: xmas vibes, travel, quest

🎧 song pairing: Christmas Song by Phoebe Bridget’s
🤩 star rating: ⭐️⭐️💫

Beware: This is not your classic Christmas romance! Your heart will be broken and many tears will be shed. 😢

Unfortunately, this was not my favorite read. Although I was so captivated by the premise — a childhood best friends to lovers/enemies to lovers romance brought together by a mutual connection and love of a recently deceased character — I really didn’t find the book delivered! 😬

For me, I think that the biggest failures of the book were its many, often confusing timelines. With another edit and a refresh of POV or perspective, I think that this would bump up to a three or four star read! ⭐️

I was also really taken back by the romance. They got back together in one chapter after being enemies for the whole book. It was one of those ~fated from the start~ types of romances. Major eye roll there. 🙄

Would I recommend this book? Not really…

[Thank you to @netgalley for sending me an eBook ARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Another gem by Emily Stone. & another reason she’s becoming an auto buy author for me. This was such a sweet and emotional story. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Reading her books can always be an emotional journey, but there are also small life lessons intertwined into her writing which I love. One Last Gift is no exception as we read about these character’s lives and the difficult life moments they go through. Some decisions made by these characters were frustrating for me, but I think that’s just a part of their past life experiences. Overall, I think this is a sweet read for the season. Bring tissues!

This was a great holiday read. Though it didn’t quite have the magic of AID it’s still well written and thoughtful.

One Last Gift by Emily Stone is a heartwarming tale about grief and surviving the holidays. It's a romance, but not a romcom...so more serious than I typically read. Still really liked it. Perfect for those who love watching those Hallmark channel shows.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars!!

This story had so many elements that I liked. Although it was sad that Cassie and Tom grew up without their parents, they had each other and a relative as well as family friends that made their life fuller. I really adored how Tom was there for Cassie, his friendship with Sam and how he always followed his dreams as well as pushing others to do the same. I couldn't
I liked how Cassie knew what she loved but like many people in reality, she stayed at a job that she enjoyed but in the end realized she was holding herself back and Tom helped her pursue what she always wished for as well as gifting her. I have mixed feelings about Sam, he pursued a career he didn't want for money and ended up miserable and lost. His choice of career was surprising but I did love that he worked with kids.

I know the story had to be over a course of time, I love the build ups, however I didn't like the time jumps that were made and I felt like if it wasn't for this or that happening the characters were too stubborn or set in their ways to at least be there for one another. I have mixed feelings about Cassie, Sam, Claire and Linda. I love the other side characters, Cassie's best friend and co-worker but I don't know why I couldn't connect to certain things.

Overall I enjoyed the story and the character development of all the characters. It was deeply moving, hopeful and sweet. Look forward to reading more of Emily's work.

You would think the biggest literary crime this book commits is yet another Christmas death, especially one that happens in the middle of the narrative when the blurb makes it seem like it's a before book events kind of death. Or maybe it's the surprise secret baby fathered by the dead guy! Or wait maybe the crime is neither main character being willing to listen or talk to the other one and instead choosing to be angry at each other all the time (very romantic).

While all of those are bad, the real crime is that at the end of the book the dead guy - who was into sustainability and the environment - is celebrated by his sister and his best friend (the two main characters) with littering. These two British people climb a mountain in Argentina where the dude died and put photos on the ground and leave them there. Litter! For the environmentalist!! What ever happened to leave no trace. The dead guy would NOT approve of this nonsense.

Anyway, if you ignore all the many book crimes and know going in there will be very little Christmas fluff, yet another Christmas death, a prolonged funeral, and the subsequent grieving process on page, it's a competenly written and bittersweet book.

One Last Gift by Emily Stone is tearful and joyful. It was written with a deep understanding of sibling love.

💭Thoughts:
This was much more emotional of a read then I was expecting for a holiday romance. It definitely had me ugly faced crying a few times.

The book is told from the POVs of Cassie and Sam, her brother Tom’s best friend. The first third of the book moved a bit slowly for me as the characters and setting are introduced. Then a tragic event happens and it really moves the story along.

The scavenger hunt that Cassie’s brother sends her on each year to find her Christmas gift was my favorite part of the story. Each note she found had me feeling more and more invested in her and her story. I found myself really rooting for Cassie and her character growth throughout the book.

I loved how the author ended the book. I don’t want to give to much away because I feel like this is a great story to go into a bit blind. Highly recommend if you are like me and you enjoy an emotional read!

This was a middle of the road just okay book for me. I loved the first 30% and then felt like there were too many things happening while simultaneously moving really slow for the meat of the story. It picks up again for the last 30%, but then skips large chunks of time with very little explanation of those missing months. I felt like everyone was floundering in the story and would have liked to see MORE detail of the resolution in the end instead of having those big gaps. Overall I would say I was super invested in the book from the beginning but the middle and end left me wishing for more.

Emily Stone is the queen of taking stories laced with sadness and turning them into holiday novels filled with hope. One Last Gift is no different. It doesn’t shy away from grief, but shows how we can still find love and happiness!

Cassie’s only true family is her brother, Tom, so when he dies in a tragic accident it sets her adrift. The only piece of him left behind is the first clue for his annual Christmas treasure hunt. When she finally takes the leap, she finds he’s given her exactly what she needs.

Truly a standout Christmas novel. Cassie and Tom lost their parents rather young. Tom remembers them because he was a bit older and through life helps Cassie with their shared pain. Their best friends Hazel and Sam all grew up together doing almost everything together. This story follows Cassie’s grief as an adult and is truly unlike any other Christmas novel. You’ll feel their pain and truly be touched by this story. This story has a beautiful flow along timelines and between the romance sparking with Sam and Cassie and Hazels whit it’s truly a great well written book. Thank you NetGalley for the copy!