Thank you to Netgalley for the free e-arc.

This book was not what I expected. In the best way possible. Like seriously I somehow did not read closely enough and thought this was just going to be a silly, sweet love story (which I love too) but this book is so special to me. To explain why, I need to explain to y'all how hard it is to make me cry. The last book I seriously cried, it was the last one of a series I'd been reading for more than half my life and one of my favourite characters had died. This book made me cry not once, not twice, but three times. Some of them tears of sadness, some of relief and happiness because I felt for Mia so, so much. Now I try to keep these as spoiler free as possible, but this is such a beautiful story of grief and growth and exploring not just who you are but who the people around you are. From pretty much the beginning on, the book just hits you with one beautiful, devastating lyrical blow after the other. I usually hate when authors write lyrics for their books because often times they just fall flat for me or don't fit, but god seriously Kalie put these in an album. These lyrics are so beautiful, and I just kept wishing I could actually listen to them (and probably cry even more). I'm seriously so happy I pre-ordered this book, and I urge everyone to do the same before it publishes next week!

THE LAST LOVE SONG kicks into gear quickly and moves through its ~230 pages at an equal pace. The story follows Mia Peters as she graduates from high school and struggles to figure out what her next step in life is. Helping her on her journey is a scavenger hunt set up for her by her mother, a country singer who died tragically when Mia was only a year old. Through her life, she's struggled with her identity as they daughter of her small town's most famous resident, especially since no one, including her grandmothers, can bring themselves to talk about her mother with her. During her journey to learn more about her mother (and her own past) she carves out a path for her own future.

This story punched me in the feelings in a big way. Debut writer Kalie Holford gets the emotions -- of abandonment, yearning, that summer after graduation when everything feels that it's changing -- all so right and so truthful that you can't help but be brought along the journey with Mia. A standout element of the writing is the song lyrics; it's incredibly difficult to write song lyrics for songs that within their universe are smash hits, but these lyrics sing right off the page (pun absolutely intended).

THE LAST LOVE SONG might be for you if you love:
- Taylor Swift, Mamma Mia, I KISSED SHARA WHEELER, Almost Famous
- Queer representation all over the place
- Complex mother/daughter dynamics
- Girl bands

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing an advanced review copy.

*Thank you to Netgalley, Blackstone Publishing, and libro.fm ALC for copies in exchange for an honest review*

LOL so at first I had just an arc through Netgalley, then Kalie Holford reached out to me to see if I wanted a physical arc (YES), and THEN I saw libro.fm had this in their April ALCs, and I grabbed it because I’ve been in the mood for audiobooks recently. I sort of did a tandem read going between the audio and ebook or physical book.

But anyway…THIS WAS EVERYTHING I WAS HOPING FORRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

When I first heard the news that this book was being released, I KNEW I had to follow along to know when it was being released. And oh man I’m SO glad I did. This was a 5 star read. I loved everything in it. I loved everything about it. I loved the characters. I loved the plot. I loved the sapphic representation. I loved the music aspect. I loved evERYTHING.

Oh my god. PLEASE this is amazing and everyone should read

Why did this book almost bring me to tears!! TEARS!!!! Every chapter!!!! UGH! I never wanted this book to end!!!

We meet Mia, who graduated high school and she she got the ultimate gift, her late mother’s journal. Mia’s mom is Tori Rose and she was a famous singer, who died at a young age and Mia was still a baby, and no one talks about her mom, even though the town is literally making money off of her fame.

Tori has her on a scavenger hunt of sorts and she is to complete the missing pages of her journal. This was a way for Mia to get to know her mom, FINALLY!!! But omg the journey was an emotional one, and one of self discovery as well especially for Mia. She doesn’t want to fall into her mom’s footsteps because she fears she might lose it all like her mom, but if only she knew….

I don’t know how I am going to recover from this book.

The writing is very…simple? It’s wordy and overly descriptive at times. It reads very YA, which obviously it is and that’s not a bad thing I do love the genre, but it’s telling-over-showing-and-lacking-depth YA writing, if that makes sense?

You have to suspend your belief throughout-Mia is in a small town and knows nothing about her mom, Tori Rose. So no one in this small town can tell Mia anything about her mom, a town DEDICATED to the legend and life of Tori Rose?! Also her mom died in 2006, if she was this great celebrity it would’ve been all over the internet how she died! Also I found it incredibly cruel and unbelievable that Mia’s grandmothers wouldn’t share ANYTHING about Tori. I know grief is different for everyone but withholding information about a girls mother- That’s fucked up and could’ve prevented Mia’s major anxieties/fears/commitment issues.

The only thing about this that is mamma Mia is that there’s music and an absent father whom Mia doesn’t know who it is otherwise it’s more Daisy Jones meets I Kissed Shara Wheeler.

The characters are all so flat and underdeveloped-I don’t know anything about them aside from Mia’s repetitive inner turmoil about leaving vs staying in her hometown. There’s not enough excitement or intrigue for it to hold my interest, I kept putting it down after only 5 minutes of reading, so I DNFd after 15%

The romance Mia is involved in (trying to avoid spoilers) already happened a few times but it’s briefly mentioned as not turning out well. So it felt almost forced to have them going back and forth with this crush if they tried several times without it working out. I wanted the bi rep and was so excited about it but this romance had zero chemistry because we are being TOLD everything without depth, or even simple actions.

The Last Love Song begs the question: what if Mamma Mia was mediocre at best? The story follows our main character, Mia, as she tries to track down the last remaining memories of her late mother and her unknown father. The plot is convoluted and hard to follow, although it seems promising on the surface level. This book wants to be Looking for Alaska, but missed the mark.

4.5 stars
The Last Love Song is a story about a daughter trying to find the courage to follow her dreams.

Mia is the daughter of country star Tori Rose, who passed away before Mia could even remember her. Now 18 and facing the rest of her life, Mia struggles with going after the music like her mom did and fears hurting the girl Mia loves in the process. But Tori Rose left a special gift for her daughter: a journal and a scavenger hunt to find one last love song.

First of all, this book needs a soundtrack immediately. The way lyrics were woven into the story was so beautiful. Second, I cried, which is always an indicator to me of a good story. This book takes place over the course of a week (aside from glimpses into Tori Rose's past), but there is actually quite a lot of character development for such short a time. The pacing was a little bit weird overall, but I definitely enjoyed this story about a woman's love for music and the daughter she left behind.

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

The Last Love Song by @kalieholford was such a joy to read, it feels like a love song to music with so many wonderful lyrics! throughout the book, I really felt the need for a playlist! Somebody should create real songs with these lyrics, please!!

Mia and Tori are both wonderful, messy teenagers. I think the author did a great job at encapsulating that feeling of being torn between choices when you are barely an adult and the fear of making the wrong ones. This is a story all about following your dreams while staying true to yourself. How one person’s story doesn’t define how you should write your own. How two journeys can be opposite yet still have the same underlying path.

More than anything I loved Mia and Britt´s story, the whole back and forth and the fear of ruining their friendship by pursuing their feeling felt really well done, it didn´t end up feeling rushed due to all the throwbacks at their other slip-ups! 😉

To convince you to pick up this amazing coming-of-age sapphic book, here is my favorite quote:

"We burst and we break. We are dichotomies and paradoxes and lies and happily never afters. We are an ending that wants to be a beginning and a beginning that never got to start quite right. We are everything and she is everything and only I know that I truly wish I could go with her."

My God, I could not stop crying near the end. I guess Kalie Holford must have written this book with an onion. I was on and off crying the whole book.

This book is only about 250 something pages and the way it made me that emotional in such a short book is a good sign!

Not everyone may cry, but if you cry over baby elephants sucking on their nose as a pacifier, like me, then you'll cry.

Imagine a book that has Mamma Mia and Daisy Jones & the Six inspirations, toss is a dash of inspo from Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, that's this book.

I loved the song lyrics typed out in the book, and to show how it was in relation to Tori's past that Mia was digging up.

Mind you being, this is a young adult book. So it does have the whiny 18 year old problems, which doesn't float everyone's boat. I'm still somehow fine reading young adult books like this, as a 32 year old woman.

I want someone else to read this book and cry over it with me.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.

I really wanted to love this book but it was just ok. There were some really sweet moments and tear jerker scenes but over all some of the characters were really unlikeable. It did make me want to know how it ends and that’s what kept pushing me to read and for that alone I gave it three stars.

COULDN'T CONNECT TO ANY PART OF THIS STORY

I am clearly in the minority with this book, but I just couldn't get into it at all...

What I disliked

👎Writing: Normally I don't get too hung up on writing, but when pretty much the entire story is written as an angsty teenagers inner dialogue, the writing bothers me...

👎Characters: There really wasn't any one character that I could connect to, they felt flat and boring - especially Mia didn't do anything for me

👎Pacing: The book is quite short, which makes the pacing quite fast - too fast for me to get emotionally connected to anything

👎Scavenger hunt: Mia is following clues left by her dead mother in order to learn more about her, but the scavenger hunt just didn't feel involved to me, it seemed more lackadaisical

👎Premise: The entire premise of Mia living in a town that is clearly very devoted to her mother (!), and yet no one will or can tell Mia anything about said mother just seems super weird and odd to me

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

A love letter to Mama Mia and a beautiful coming of age story. The cover pulls you in right away! Full of heart, queer rep, and friends to lovers. How you live up to your legacies while also being yourself and following your own dreams. This is a beautiful story and I can’t wait to read lore from this author!!

I loved the idea of this book, the comparisons with Mamma Mia, and the use of the flashbacks were so fun. I love dual timeline/flashbacks in books, and loved getting the learn about Mia's mother's past and everything with her. I did want to shake the main character and her on off love interest, the back and forth and the way they talked about their "slip ups" got a little much, but I am happy with how their story ended. I don't think Mia really develops much over the whole book, and don't understand her decision almost solely dependant on what she learnt about her mother but I'm not surprised by this either. The song lyrics were a fun addition, I wish I knew more about Mia and the bands music styles so I could maybe imagine them more, everything in my head felt country because of Tori but I don't know how accurate that was. I loved the queer rep, the wlw main couple, and her grandmothers and side characters too.

3.5 stars rounded up. This book was a case of awesome premise, so-so execution for me. It sounded like a warm, comforting, potentially sob-worthy tale. And it was, except for the sobbing part. I definitely didn't do that.

I liked the format and lyrics. I felt like there were some gaps though, parts where I would've liked to know more of the backstory. I also thought the characters were a bit flat. They were likable enough, I guess. I just didn't really connect with them. Same with the main relationship. It was a cute but kind of bland friends to lovers one.

All in all, I'd say this is worth picking up if you're in the mood for a quick summer read that's light on the plot and heavy on the vibes.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I loved the poetic writing style. I highlighted so many lines throughout this book that were beautiful. And while I appreciated this, I felt there were some things I wanted to see more of. For example, we were told Mia and Britt’s romantic history but I never felt their connection. I had trouble picturing what Britt looked like in scenes. I would have also liked to see a little more into her feelings towards Mia. I know Britt said she loved her and wanted their story to continue but I missed the depth of these emotions.

Also I feel so bad for Mia that her grandmas literally told her nothing about her mom or who her dad is—like not even his name. She was so in the dark. I can’t imagine. But I am shocked with how famous Tori Rose was alleged to be that the news never slipped out. I know 2006 was a different time than 2024 but still.

I loved the characters of the story and really enjoy the whole “treasure hunt” kind of vibes- it gave the book a really lovely feel. I’m super grateful to have been able to read this book in advance and thank you for the opportunity. The reasoning for rating the book 3⭐️ is that at times I did find parts of the storyline quite repetitive as well as the timeline changes being confusing. However the storyline was still great and I really enjoyed this book ☺️

Many of us know how it feels to be compared to our parents, but nothing could compare to the weight on Mia Peters felt standing in the shadow of her mother, Tori Rose. Born Tori Peters, she was a country music star who died too soon and left a legacy and Mia behind in a small town.

This story has a fantastic journey for Mia to find herself while finding clues about her mother. Along the way, Mia realizes that she is letting her mother's past dictate her future. Add in some fantastic song lyrics and amazing friendships and relationships, this book is fantastic a ride.

Such a great debut book from Kalie Holford. 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a really cute read, all about following your dreams while staying true to yourself. How one person’s story doesn’t define how you should write your own. How two journeys can be completely opposite yet still have the same underlying path.

I will admit I did cry through the last, like, three chapters of the book. I love stories about messy characters, especially ones like Mia, and I think the characters were all super distinct and deep. I especially love all the queer sapphic rep and the three generations of sapphic women within the same family. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that in any piece of media before and I appreciated it very much.

The only thing I’ll say is that the pacing felt a little off for me. It felt like things were going too fast at times, but everything evened out in the end. Overall, I think this is a quick, easy read for anyone looking for a mother-daughter story, and for anyone too scared to chase a dream.

The Last Love Song is a coming-of-age book focused on Mia, who is trying to make sense of what she knows about her dead mom and where her own life should go. It is an emotional story and I badly wanted to like The Last Love Song, but the plot never hooked me. While I liked a lot of aspects of this book, I think it tried to take on too much, so I never really settled into the story or the pacing.

THE LAST LOVE SONG is a sapphic YA story about mia, the daughter of a late country music singer, who receives letters from her mother that lead her on a journey through her mom's hidden past. i really wanted to love this book and there were a lot of aspects that i really enjoyed, like mia's grandmas or the town of sunset cove or the cast of characters in mia's story. unfortunately, a lot of the book is weighed down by mia's baggage—she wants to leave her town, but she's scared that she'll suffer the same fate as her mother. for a lot of the story, the way mia's mom passed away is a mystery, fueling mia's fears. but then you find out she died because she was sick and it just felt so unrealistic that her grandmothers wouldn't have told her that at any point throughout her life? not to mention that mia wanted to know her mom so bad, but apparently her grandmas withheld all that information from her as well.

there was a lot of going back and forth between mia wanting to leave, wanting to stay, deciding to leave, changing her mind, etc., that by the end of the book i just wanted to shake the girl and tell her to please go to therapy. i know part of the YA reading experience is dealing with characters who still have a lot of growing to do, but in this case, her stunted growth just felt excessive, like the grownups in her life should've been helping her deal with her grief in most productive ways.

along with all of that, the back and forth with mia and her best friend/love interest britt felt excessive, especially because of the way it was built up. we meet britt as mia's best friend but then mentions of their "slip ups" start being peppered in. and i get that mia didn't want to start a relationship while knowing britt would be leaving eventually and she felt obligated to stay in her hometown forever, scared that if she were to leave she would follow in her mother's footsteps (like getting sick and dying i guess? this is why the grandmas should've told mia how her mom died!!), but also, it's 2024, technology has come pretty far and it's not difficult to get on a flight to go see your best friend/girlfriend in nashville (not to mention that britt's parents live in sunset cove so i'd imagine she would be coming back to see them anyway).

there were parts of the book that i really enjoyed, like the whole concept of mia following the clues her mom left her, how she found her mom's iconic pink guitar, or how the trail led her to a voice mail where her mom left her a message with a song she had written for her. the concept of the book had a lot of potential and the writing was good (if at times excessively wordy, but nothing that a good editor can't help with), but overall, i was disappointed because the book did not meet my expectations.