Sammy Espinoza is a music critic who, after attempting to win back her girlfriend, is walking a thin line at work. So, she comes up with a plan to get exclusive access to a rockstar rumored to be making a comeback, whom she has a history with. In addition to that, Sammy has to deal with her family history/issues as she finds herself back in the same town as her family. This is such a well written and heartfelt story and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the digital ARC that I received in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was full of lies and terrible choices and refusals to communicate, and also characters who you want really good things for (i would like a prequel with her best friends, please!). If you, like me, read quickly and thought this would be a queer relationship at the center of the book, know that there is plenty of queerness but the LI is a heterosexual.

I am giving this 3.5 stars rounded up mostly bc i would really have liked more emotional growth between age 18 and the adulthood in the book--therapy! relationships that changed the characters! personal reflection!--rather than all happening in the course of the story, but it was a fun read with some emotional parts.

I really liked this. It had a lot of things I really enjoy - actual friendships, rebuilding family trust, not allowing other family to topple your spirit, found family - and I really liked the relationship in it. Was it a bit contrite? Sure but I don't read romance so I can read about a woman who swiped on social media and it didn't work.

But GOD I'm knocking a half a star off for the fucking conflict.

We all know it's going to be a problem throughout the book. The characters know - they have discussions about it. And then she still decides that it's going to be ~fine. And so when it happens, we, the characters, everyone is pissed about the conflict because it's obvious it's going to happen. I almost wish that aspect had just gotten over with quickly because for the book I felt like it was hanging over mine head and it was just like GET IT OVER WITH ALREADY.

Ah well. Lovely book otherwise. So I'm rating it a 3.5 for that, but I'll bump it to 4 because overall, I did enjoy the book. It had lovely vibes.

Thank you to Random House//Dell and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received an email from Penguin Random House with the ARC of Sammy Espinoza's Last Review. I did enjoy the book. This is Tehlor Kay Meja's debut adult novel. It was a great venture.

Sammy has taken a risk with her job while trying to get her ex-girlfriend back. She has a plan to get in good standing with her job. It will just take exclusive access to the new music of Max Ryan who has not recorded anything in years. Sammy has an in with him as she hooked up with him years ago before he became famous. A major downside is returning to the hometown she does not like.

I did not mind the characters. I did find Sammy to be sort of immature for the age of 29. I felt like the other characters were not as interesting as some do not really stick out in my mind.

I enjoy romance but was not rooting for the main couple in the book to end up together. This was not my favorite book but it was enjoyable. I really liked the found family that Sammy had which helped build her up. It was nice to see more emphasis on the fact that you do not always need to be with your family if they do not support you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin, and Tehlor Kay Mejia for the ARC of this book. This review is my own opinion.

This was so fun, some plot points like her former relationship or Max’s former band. I could’ve used some more explanation on, but I loved found family, a really cute relationship, the music element of it, and a beautiful friendship and grandmother throughout at all.

Thanks to Net Galley. the publisher, and the author for the ARC!
4.75stars

A very charming adult debut from YA author Tehlor Key Mejia. I really enjoyed the characterization for the main character and her friends and family, and joining then on her journey of self-discovery as she returns to the only home she knows. I appreciated the dimension that Mejia tries to add to her main character's love interest, but his arc felt a bit forced and an afterthought. The relationships between the main character, her best friend, and her grandmother were the strongest in the book — I really enjoyed the themes of both found family and finding connections with the family you're born into.

Thank you so much to Penguin Random House for providing me an ARC of this book for review!

I enjoyed this so so so much.

I'm so excited for this to officially release later in the year, but I'll also be bracing a bit - part of what makes Tehlor Kay Mejia's adult debut (!!!) so impressive is the depth of the characters' struggles and trauma, including a myriad of unhealthy coping mechanisms and incredibly frustrating reactions to obstacles.

Our lead, Sammy, was raised by a single mother who frequently left her with friends for weeks, or even months, at a time. We have Max Ryan, our love interest, who also has a host of his own baggage after reaching fame as a musician at a young age. They're extremely imperfect characters who will frustrate you, but Tehlor Kay Mejia keeps them remarkably likable, in my opinion. Even at my most exasperated, I never stopped rooting for Sammy to heal and be happy no matter what happened in a way that I don't think you typically see in a book marketed as a romance. That depth made the final act of the book feel like such a triumph, when you really got to see character growth. Also, without giving anything away (I promise!) I really love how the end isn't completely and fully tied up neatly with a bow. It ends on a note of promise, without necessarily making everything perfect.

The cast of additional characters was truly so well done, I have to mention it. Sammy's grandma, Paloma, her best friend Willa and her wife, Willa's parents, and basically everyone else we come into contact with has their own, distinct personality. I felt so invested in every side character, I would happily read a spinoff in any way, shape, or form just to visit them all again.

My only real complaint, honestly is that I think Max Ryan should've had to grovel more. Take that with a grain of salt, since I notoriously want every man in every book to be forced to grovel, but in this scenario, I don't think I ever reached a point where I felt he'd adequately apologized in proportion to his side of things. I still really liked him when it came down to it, but throwing that out there for my fellow middle children who need complete fairness in all things at all times.

Regardless, this is such an impressive adult debut, I hope people are willing to empathize with Sammy and show her some patience, the story makes it so worth it. I love a slightly problematic female lead and I always will!!!!

If ever there was a romance book where I did not want the traditional HEA, it was this one.

The story, itself, was decently written, and there were times when I really enjoyed it...but there were also times when I wanted to throw this book across the room.

Sammy and Max, as individuals, were decent characters, but they were the epitome of dysfunction as a pair. I really wanted to root for them, but their interactions and communication did not make me believe either was ready for a serious relationship, and definitely not with each other. Normally I love a good second chance romance, but this was not it for me. It doesn't help that the miscommunication trope runs rampant in this book, and it's one of my least favorite romance tropes.

Honestly, the best part of this book was Sammy's self-discovery through her journey back to the only town that ever felt like home to her. I loved the storyline of finding herself by uncovering things from her family and her past.

Overall, I'd give this one three stars since I had a love/hate relationship with it. I loved Sammy finding herself but hated her finding Max.

Read if you enjoy:
✔️ Second chance romance
✔️ Overcoming miscommunication
✔️ Stories of self-discovery
✔️ LGBTQ representation
✔️ Musical references

3.5 ⭐ Fans of romance with a little bit of family dysfunction will love this new title from Tehlor Kay Mejia. (I would definitely read her next book!)

For a debut adult novel, I felt like it had some YA tendencies, but I enjoyed the characters and the plot. It definitely reads more fiction with some romance, and I think I would have liked it even more with less romance!

Sammy is a writer and a music critic, and after dating a musician who she also wrote beefed up reviews about, her career is on edge. She has one last chance to keep her job, and writing a review on Max is her last hope.

Max is a musician that has been out of the spotlight for a while, he had a huge career and just disappeared. Rumor has it, he's working on a solo album. The last time he saw Sammy, he promised her he would bring her on tour and then never called her again.

When Sammy runs into Max and he doesn't recognize her, she decides to just see where things go. Maybe try to get close to him and then come clean about her true intentions. When things start to heat up between them, she knows it's too late and can't make herself tell him.

At the same time, Sammy has also come back to town to confront her estranged grandmother. Her dad died before she was born and her grandparents have never been in her life. She has always wondered why they didn't want to know.her and has finally decided to confront her.

Sammy's mom had her when she was 16 and Sammy has always felt a little alone in the world. There is always "a man" in her mom's life and if Sammy doesn't fit, her mom has left her with friends or just completely ignored her. Their relationship is sad and her mom seems like she never progressed past 16.

I loved meeting Sammy's grandmother, Willa, Larry, and Maeve. I wish we could have focused more on those relationships and less on the romance.

I gave it 3.5 ⭐ because I didn't think there was really a HEA. The characters weren't convincingly good for each other and I didn't love either of their actions.

Thanks to netgalley for an eARC to review.

There were times I really enjoyed this book and times I didn't. I think having Sammy lie about her intentions was a big roadblock in me liking her character when it came to her relationship with Max. I thoroughly enjoyed Paloma and her taking charge of teaching Sammy and helping Sammy while knowing she had little time left. I am a sucker for a band boy story, so that was fun for me

I requested to read “Sammy Espinoza's Last Review” as I was intrigued by both the title and the novel’s premise.

Sammy’s personal and professional lives are in competition for “hot mess of the year.” But if she returns to her hometown and scores an interview with a rock star (Max) she knew from her younger days, she might get the break she needs. Naturally, the main focus of the story is on Sammy and Max—their past and what their future might entail, but the author takes the time to share Sammy’s struggles to find out more about where she came from. You have to appreciate Sammy’s growth as she reconnects with her mother and paternal grandmother. I probably liked the family stuff a lot more than the relationship arc, which was maybe why I wasn’t too sold on the ending. But if you’re looking for a new writer who can shape a protagonist into someone you want to care about, give this novel a try.

Three and a half stars

Many thanks to Tehlor Kay Mejia, NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Tehlor Kay Mejia may be new to the adult fiction scene but they are coming in SWINGING! This book had so many of my favorite elements, found family, rock stars, second chances, and feisty women. I enjoyed that this was a love story which focused just as much on our main character falling in love with herself as it did with her main love interest.

Sammie’s journey in this book was not easy, she makes petty mistakes and caves into her personal demons but ultimately chooses to fight for herself and her own happiness. Her story wasn’t perfect but it’s hers.

Special shout-out to Paloma, Willa and Brook for being the REALEST of the real, holding Sammie accountable throughout this novel and for forcing her to become the best iteration of herself.

I really enjoyed this novel and will 100% pick up another of Tehlor’s books the millisecond it drops. Verdad.

Rating: 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC 🖤

When I read the final sentence of this book I gratefully received as an ARC, my first thought was “late bloomer comes of age”. At first, I was slightly annoyed with Sammy Espinoza– in her thirties, learning lessons she should have learned in her earlier years– and as the story progressed, I realized I couldn’t be more wrong about her.

Sammy, raised by a young and immature woman whose narcissism kept her from being the mother Sammy needed, spent her childhood putting on layers of tough skin to take the punches life threw at her. Consistently made to play second fiddle in her mother’s life, she bounced around her mother’s friend’s homes and elsewhere while her mom prioritized the men of the moment. She hardened and fell into her safe space, which was music.

As an adult, Sammy makes a number of excuses for her mother’s absences that come to a head towards the end of the book. Before we get to that particular moment, however, there are plenty of gooey, romantic scenes between her and old flame Max, a familial reconciliation with her birth father’s mother Paloma, and growth with her closest friend, Willa. That’s all to say that this is a book that’s as full of life being lived with a soundtrack attached to it that screams coming-of-age.

Ultimately, this story is really for the people who spent their childhood having to be the adults in their own lives while the adults who were supposed to be raising them spent their time growing up. What I loved most about it was that it was masked as this cute romance book, but it ended up being so much more than that. Tehlor Kay Mejia knocked it out of the park with her creation of Sammy and giving a voice to people like her. I hope that Sammy’s story resonates with late bloomers everywhere when they read this fresh and moving book.

Honestly, for a lot of this book I was just really frustrated by the main character's decisions, and how long she let the lies go on. I knew it would all get resolved at the end, and I understood why she was doing it, but I just couldn't fall for the romance or enjoy the book until she came clean. I didn't see how what she was doing was forgivable, and I knew she'd be forgiven, so I was just frustrated.

In the end I do think it all made sense and the ending was satisfying, but I can't say I loved the book or anything because it didn't really feel that way until the very end. I did like a lot of the other plot lines, with her family and friends, and I think it all turned out better than expected for everyone involved. But--yeah, I can't wholeheartedly recommend a book that was so frustrating for so much of it. Maybe someone who empathizes more with the bad decisions wouldn't have an issue with it, but I found myself yelling at her more often than siding with her, even if I could see where she was coming from.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Fun rom-com. A teetering music journalist travels to the small town where she spent time as a child to soothe her wounds after a breakup.. While there she hopes to rejuvenate her career by interviewing a reclusive singer rumored to have moved there...

Thanks NetGalley & Random House for the ARC!!!

I’ll be honest. This title landed in my inbox as a link, and I thought I was getting scammed, so I almost didn’t click it. After stalking the sender to confirm they, in fact, did work for the publishing company, I YOLOed it.

And I’m so glad I did! Sammy went on a real self-revelation tour and it was a beautiful story that unfolded. I LOVED the storyline involving the grandmother. I liked the love interest, but thought their story was lacking. Or maybe I just loved the grandmother more. Who knows?

3.5 from me rounded up :)

I was contacted by the publisher to review this book, and I can say I’m glad I did.

Sammy is a music critic whose life has fallen apart recently. She decides to head back to a town where she spent a short amount of time in years ago to write an article about a musician that she crossed paths with for one heck of a night. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to remember her like she does him.

For the most part, I enjoyed the story. Besides the romance, Sammy dealt with a best friend who could be a bit judgmental in how Sammy did things, a mom who never quite grew up, and a grandmother who she never had an opportunity to know until now. The only thing I didn’t like about the story was that it did seem to drag a little by the end.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review.

This book is one of the best adult debuts I have ever read! Full of with emotions, meomories, acceptance, new beginnings - it was just SO SO SO good!!

We follow Sammy on her journey of getting to knew her past: her mom was a teen mom, her father tragically passed away, her grandparents seemingly have never wanted to get to know Sammy, plus her love and professional life is in crumbles - her girlfriend just broke up with her, she is fired from her columnist job UNLESS...

unless she can execute an interview and album review with Max Ryan, former member of a rock band and rumoured to be releasing a solo album. Luckily Sammy's road leads to the exact town where Max is, moreover the key to her past lies too. Her grandma, her best friends live there too.

I loved the emotional roller-coaster vibe of the book, and how much Sammy has grown as a person, how she learned about her cultural heritage, her worth, her dreams and how she accepted that she deserves love just like anyone else.

Everything was about seconds chances (in general and in romantic ways too), found family, the importance of music. Loved that all of the characters has some kind of carried baggage that got opened up here and there in the story. Sammy and Max's relationship was so cute, funny at times, mostly raw with emotions and explored being hurt by the one you love so well, gave so many beautiful conclusion to these feelings.

The whole story felt nostalgic, warm-hearted and very hopeful - spiced with wholesome humour, amazing characters, swoony romance and delicious meals! Seriously, I am IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK!!!

Go preorder it today, because if you love music, tangled destinies or just looking for an overall touching, full of love, self-discovery, clever story...this will be so easy to get lost in!

Thank you so much for Penguin Random House for providing me an ARC and letting me read this amazing book early on!

This wasn't a terrible book by any means, but it definitely wasn't for me. In fact, I think my biggest problem with SAMMY ESPINOZA'S LAST REVIEW is more my problem with romance books in general: they expect me to root for couples who are almost always objectively terrible together. Like... I'm sorry, but Sammy and Max had absolutely no business ending up together (which is barely even a spoiler, let's be real); when your main premise is flawed right off the jump, it's hard to fight your way back from it. The domestic drama surrounding Sammy's complicated relationships with her mother and grandparents was by far the more compelling and emotive plot thread, but it too felt a little half-baked and underdeveloped. And where was all the friggin' music?

I was contacted by Penguin Random House with an ARC of Sammy Espinoza's Last Review and am very glad I had the opportunity to read this one early. This was my first time reading Tehlor Kay Mejia as this is her first adult novel, and I'm anxious to see more from her in the future.

Sammy Espinoza's Last Review is a second chance romance about a music writer and the rock star she met long ago, when he was on the precipice of becoming famous. Now, 10 years later, Sammy's job is precarious and Max hasn't performed live for seven years, but she's hoping to reconnect with him in the town where they met and guilt him into letting her review his new music to repent for the way he ghosted her.

Second chance romances are a favorite of mine, so this story was easy to sink into. On top of the love story, Sammy is also learning more about her deceased dad's side of the family and connects with her grandmother while realizing all that she missed out on because of their estrangement. This book has a lot of heart and humor, making it easy to sink into on a cold night in (like I've been experiencing lately).

Thank you to Penguin Random House for this ARC!