This novel was heartwarming, interesting and engaging. Loved Sammy Espinoza's Last Review by Tehlor Kay Mejia, with its vulnerable characters, supportive friends, and love/family stories, overcoming enormous emotional obstacles. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the early review copy. All opinions are my own.

- 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.

Trigger Warnings: break-up, past death of a grandparent, absent parent, alcohol, past death of a parent, drunk driving death, pregnant out of wedlock/teenage pregnancy, injury, panic attack, hospital, sex, alcoholism, death of a grandmother on page, funeral

Representation: Pansexual, Lesbian, Mexican-American

Sammy Espinoza’s Last Review is a queer, contemporary romance about a music critic stuck in a spiral of epic proportions as she targets her teenage crush for a career comeback and a chance at revenge. What could possibly go wrong?

Sammy Espinoza’s life is a raging dumpster fire. Her desperate attempt to win back her singer ex-girlfriend has landed her in hot water at work and she has one last chance before her editor cuts her column. Luckily, Sammy has a plan to redeem herself, but it won’t be easy. Rumor has it that Max Ryan, the former rock god, is secretly recording his first-ever solo album years after he dramatically quit performing. And it just so happens that right before Max got his big break, he and Sammy spent an unforgettable night together.

Exclusive access to Max’s new music would guarantee Sammy’s professional comeback and, even better, give her the opportunity to serve some long-awaited revenge for his traumatic ghosting. Unfortunately Max lives in Ridley Falls, Washington; and Sammy has a history there, with a family that never wanted her and a million unanswered questions. Going back would mean confronting it all, but what else does she have to lose?

This is a very cute story! It also gets very steamy! The book has found family and small town vibes, but also touches on some deep themes. I thought the audiobook was quite enjoyable and the narrator does a great job bringing these characters to life. The interactions between characters includes a lot of wit and banter, making the storyline very funny. The characters are also flawed and relatable humans. I love a good cast of messy queers!

Thanks to Ballantine for the free book.
I absolutely love a good found family story, and there is plenty of that here. Sammy returns to her best friends/teen parent's hometown after going through a rough patch to stay with Willa and Brook. Will was such a caring friend, even when she came on a bit strong. Brook provided the perfect balancing between Sammy and Willa when things got complicated. I liked the former rockstar aspect - I will always fall for a story that has this plot. The author did just a great job of capturing Max as a person and not just his fame. There's a good exploration here about how the fame industry and really harm people. And I haven't forgotten about Sammy. She had so many struggles and I enjoyed the situations the author created to make this story feel so authentic and real. It was messy, complicated, and some hard lessons were learned. I also enjoyed the look into learning about Sammy's father's family that she knew nothing about. This took bravery and all of the complex emotions were worked through so well - it had me tearing up at times. I highly recommend this one.

I loved this book, and everything about it. I loved that Sammy had a lot of character development: she’s reeling from a public breakup and almost losing her job. She still had a lot of unresolved issues with her mother, who was constantly leaving her when she was growing up. She returns to the small town where her mom once left her for a year, and runs into the man who also left her when she was 18. The best part of this book is the friendship between Sammy and Willa. I love the way they work through what it means to be a good friend, and how messy it can be. Sammy’s relationship with Max is also beautifully done. It’s hard not to be impatient with them because they have a lot of chemistry, but it’s easy to understand how they mistrust each other at different points. If you have music, this is a wonderful book that talks about why and how music moves us, especially live performance. If you like A Star is Born, you’ll love this book.

thank you to netgalley and penguin random house for giving me this e-arc in exchange for my honest thoughts <3

sammy espinoza’s life is mess. her musician girlfriend dumped her, she’s basically been fired from her music journalist job, and she is in another fight with her mom. her only hope is in ridley falls, a small town in the pacific northwest and the only place she ever felt at home during her childhood. sammy has a plan, one that comes in the form of max ryan, the former front man for seven shades of monday, who appears to be releasing his first solo album since the band went sideways. the only problem is he is also the man who broke sammy’s heart after one magical night several years ago.

when news that tehlor kay mejia was writing an adult romance dropped i was thrilled!! their middle grade series paola santiago is a series that i hold so near and dear to my heart and to know that tehlor was going to set about writing in my favorite genre was an amazing moment. the only thing that competed with that level of excitement was when penguin random house set the arc my way. listen, i LOVED this book. it was like a hug on a bad day and coming home wrapped all in one. tehlor kay mejia has such a talent for weaving prose into their work and making all the little moments in a book so important. it’s more than just a romance. it’s an ode to music and the impact it has on us as an audience. it’s the story of a broken, messy girl coming into herself and falling in love and finding family during the roughest moments in one’s life. it’s finally realizing that you are worthy of love and that you deserve it without having to be something for somebody. i am so glad this book exists!!

A huge thank you to Tehlor Kay Mejia, Random House Publishing, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Sammy Espinoza’s Last Review is out and ready to enjoy!

Sammy Espinoza’s Last Review is a heartwarming story full of second chances, forgiveness, found family and romance. This is the first book I have read by this author and from now on she will be an automatic read for me. Even though Sammy’s life is kind of a huge dumpster fire I feel like she really learns how to grow and forgive even with all of the twists that come up. I thought Max was super sweet and yes kind of flawed, but I love how he was able to forgive and grow himself. I’m not going to lie this book broke my heart ( I might have cried a little), but Tehlor was able to beautifully put it back together. I would suggest this to any of my friends and family and I hope you give it a chance.

I LOVE Mejia's Paola Santiago books and was so excited to be able to read their first adult romance! Sammy is everything. Even when some of her decisions are stressing me tf out, I still love her and would lend her my car. There is a lot going on in this book--a job on the line, a second-chance romance, bio-parental stress, questions of what one really wants out of life, light friendship drama, literal found family...but it doesn't feel like too much when reading. It feels real and complex.

What I love about this book is that all of these characters feel so real and like people I know. Well, except for the rock star, but I would absolutely NOT complain if a Max Ryan walked into my life because damn. Yum. His and Sammy's connection is lovely. Sammy has a lot of growing to do, but she owns it and you get to see her actively working on processing and learning from her childhood traumas as you get through the book.

This all might seem like this book is consistently heavy, but it's not. There are sweet, funny, joyful, and swoon-worthy moments...as well as painful ones. See? Real. I was WEEPING at the end.

Anyway--read this if you want to read about characters who are messy and lovable and doing their best. The romance is great too.

I had a really hard time deciding if i liked this book or not.

One of my favorite parts was at the end when she structures her life as if it was an album, and describes the premise of each track. I wish that was something that happened more throughout the book, I think it would have been really interesting.

Overall I liked the story. I liked Sammy well enough, and Max, the found family trope, and the rediscovery after a break up. That kept me invested in the story.

I don't mind the bit of a storyline where a character is feeling alone, and feeling like they have no one. But its not one of my favorite tropes.. Where the character is always running away from all of their problems and running away from everyone in their lives. I am understanding of the why but it makes it hard to like the characters.

I also had a really hard time wrapping my head around the main conflict. I couldn't understand the pining for someone for like 10 years after hanging out with them for one night. I thought maybe there would have been a bit more of a relationship between them to create such a lasting effect on Sammy. That was the main part I really couldn't get past.

Reading Sammy Espinoza's Last Review by Tehlor Kay Mejia was such a fun experience. Honestly, I went into this thinking it was going to be okay, probably good but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was well written. I felt for the characters and had so much fun reading it. I didn't want the book to end. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone.

Music journalist Sammy is struggling with her career and makes a last ditch effort to save it by attempting to secure an interview with the rock star who broke her heart years ago. This also means going back to the only place that ever felt somewhat like home and facing the family that refused her from before her birth.

I went into this thinking it would be a lighter romcom. I didn’t expect it to be so emotional, but it was such a beautiful story of learning to let people love you even when life has taught you not to. All of the characters in this book felt so incredibly real and so relatable. I cried so much, for Sammy, for Max, and especially for Paloma.

This was easily a five star read for me and one that I won’t easily forget. I highly recommend it!

Thank you so much to Dell and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book felt like such a coming of age story even while being about a 29 year old. It is an important reminder that no matter how old you are there is no one that has it all figured out. Sammy trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life was so relatable.

I enjoyed the romance but to me the story was more about Sammy, her family, and her self discovery. I liked how Max helped her grow and see who she wanted to be. There were spicy scenes and they were really well written. Max’s character development is really great. He did a lot of growing in the book.

The third act break up was hard for me. The circumstances of it felt a little out of nowhere. It was also frustrating because there were chapters where you had no idea what was going on and the reunion was a little unsatisfying for me.

🎶 happy pub day 🎶

Book: Sammy Espinoza's Last Review

By: @tehlorkay

GOOD THINGS CHECKLIST:

✔️ music critic × musician second chance romance 🎵

✔️ very casual and well-written LGBTQIA+ rep that made my heart happy to read

✔️ small-town romance vibes in a cozy fictional PNW town

✔️ complex family and friendship dynamics, while finding all different kinds of love (found family vibes 🥺)

✔️ a pinch of spice, a dash of sweetness, and a whole heap of real, messy, beautiful characters

available TODAY!! 🥰 shout-out to @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! This book is a second chance romance (one of my favorite tropes) that is really a found and second chance family story - which had me SOBBING multiple times. I’m a sucker for a sweet story set in a small town, but this also had deeper themes of heritage, childhood trauma and loss, among many others. I really enjoyed this novel, tears and all!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to Penguin Random House/Ballentine for an advance copy of this book!

This book dug deeper into heavier topics than I was expected! Sammy Espinoza returns back home after she is hanging on a thread in hopes that she can convince her former crush Max Ryan to give her the scoop on his solo album that could save her job. But coming back to her hometown is with mixed emotions as she is scared to confront her family history and meet the grandparents who never wanted her.

I did end up really enjoy this book. When I was reading it, I was super into it but I wasn't finding myself itching to go back to it. Listening to the audio in tandem really helped push my reading along. The narration from Victoria Villarreal was excellent! I thought they did such a wonderful job with all the characters!

One relationship that so wonderful to see the journey that Sammy develops with her grandmother. I love how we had such a negative assumption about her based off what we knew from Sammy. But Sammy herself was wrong about her because of the lies her mother was telling her. It was beautiful to see how close they came in such a short time & Sammy was able to learn about her grandfather and more importantly her father.

The female main character frustrated me mostly because I wanted her to be honest about her intentions with Max Ryan right from the start. Whenever I think it was going to happen something got in the way. I would have been curious the direction the story would've gone in if she had confessed early.

The love interest Max Ryan, made me so mad!!! Moreso towards the last quarter of the book. One thing I do not tolerate when it comes to any sort of relationship is ghosting. I understood why he suddenly disappeared but still could've left a note, a text message, SOMETHING. Despite that I really did love his character and come on I'm a sucker for a musician.

It may seem like I did not like the book but I really did!!! I really love Sammy & Max together. They just connected in a way that felt genuine and at the root really connected by music. I think that is why I was so frustrated in why they harmed one another because they had such a good thing going when it all could've been avoided. Of course one of my favorite moments was when they were singing karaoke! You know I will always point that out in a review.

If you are a fan of music, queer representation, found family, second chances this is the book for you!!!

This was such an unusual premise. Sammy is a pansexual music critic on a downward spiral and Max is a former rockstar looking to make a comeback.

This has a lot of my favorite tropes: second chance, small town, and found family, but this books totally puts a spin on them. While this is a romance at heart, it tackles a lot of tough subjects. It really feels like a coming of age story for Sammy, albeit a little late in life.

Max has issues of his own and is surprisingly sweet for a rockstar. This feels a little more like Sammy’s story than Max’s though and I was hoping for more from the ending.

I think this was written well and showed promise but it’s not a sub genre I enjoy. The characters were easy to follow and understand. Lots of inner dialogue though and not much true interaction/dialogue

Sammy Espinoza ruins a great job to try save her relationship with her girlfriend. She's got one chance left to salvage her music column, but it will involve heading to her hometown, of sorts, in Washington, to track down an old flame, Max Ryan. A former and beloved rock star, Max has been in hiding, and rumor has it, he's recording a new album in their hometown. If Sammy can review it, she'll win back her job. But can she forgive her history with Max to do so?

I loved this book very much! It's such an ode to music, but also has great banter and romance. There's a lot of lies and miscommunication and family issues! Sammy's mom is a bit of a mess, always abandoning her daughter for her latest love (including leaving her in Washington for a year with a whole other family). But Sammy can't see that: she's constantly making excuses for her. So Sammy has a whole host of frustrating excuses for her mom--and life--due to these abandonment issues: shutting down, bailing, and just being a general doormat for her mother. Apply this to Max--and you can see a whole train wreck about to happen. Oh Sammy. Some of the miscommunication was a bit too much (just tell him what happened with your job, Sammy!).

But the rest of the story was really picture perfect. Max and Sammy have amazing banter and chemistry. The small town setting is just lovely while the theme of found family is so well-done. The book is filled with diverse characters, including pansexual and queer folks. Parts of Sammy's story truly made me cry. It's such a funny, sweet, and touching tale. The book deftly explores abandonment and anxiety as well as love and music. Overall, a truly lovely read.

Sammy Espinoza’s Last Review was a sweet, emotional and unexpected surprise for me. I expected a light and fluffy romcom and instead was delivered a book filled with emotion and heart, and an ending that had me in tears at times. The main character Sammy was definitely hilarious, I really loved all her witty lines- especially in her moments with Max. And Max, holy smokes. How do some fictional characters just come alive so vividly in your mind? Max was so well-written, and the author used such great writing in the physical descriptions of his body language, posture, facial expressions, everything. I fell head over heels for him from the very first page and found myself smiling at the book anytime the two of them were flirting. Both characters had great story arcs and I really enjoyed the way they found each other, had this second chance at love, and began to heal some of their broken parts together.

The family side of this book is what really took me by surprise- I expected it to be more of a background plot point, but it’s not. Sammy is desperate to learn more about where she came from and the family she never got to know, and it’s very emotional and heartwarming, as well as heartbreaking to read. I loved these scenes so, so much.

I will warn readers that there is miscommunication in the story- it’s pretty upfront the entire time as Sammy has a secret she harbors for most of the book. It was frustrating at times to read because we as readers just want to scream “tell the truth!!” I can, however, appreciate the way the author tied both Sammy’s and Max’s issues together by the end and represented both of their worst fears. While it wasn’t always fun to read miscommunication, there are times like this it does wind up helping the characters grow.

Read if you enjoy:
•found family
•second chance love
•LGBTQ+ rep (pan MC, queer side characters)
•family connections
•music (Sammy is a music critic and Max is a musician)

Sammy is in her late 20's and her life is a mess. She recently broke up with her music star girlfriend and she is at major risk of losing her job as a music critic. To try to save her career she returns to the only place that she can loosely claim as her hometown after being raised by a very flighty single mom. She hopes to find a reclusive rock star there who she had a one-night stand with many years ago in hopes of interviewing him to save her career. Although the plot might appear trite, this book had a bit of everything in it. I was cheering for Sammy every step of the way as she tried to figure out her life. This is solidly a romance book but the writing is excellent.