The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros

Title: The Last Letter
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Entangled: Amara (February 26, 2019)
Audio version Published: Audible Studios (April 23, 2019)
Source: Audible Escape
Rating: ☕☕☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Beckett,

If you’re reading this, well, you know the last-letter drill. You made it. I didn’t. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have.

I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride.

My little sister Ella’s raising the twins alone. She’s too independent and won’t accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It’s too much for anyone to endure. It’s not fair.

And here’s the kicker: there’s something else you don’t know that’s tearing her family apart. She’s going to need help.

So if I’m gone, that means I can’t be there for Ella. I can’t help them through this. But you can. So I’m begging you, as my best friend, go take care of my sister, my family.

Please don’t make her go through it alone.

Ryan

My Thoughts: Did I love this book? Maybe. Did ugly cry during it? Absolutely.

The Good, The Bad, and Whatever Else I Want to Say: The longer I listened to this book the longer it felt. The longer it felt the more I was irritated by, Ella, the heroine. So, why was I going back and forth between rating this book 4 Stars or 5? Because it had two adorable kids, a dog, a military man, and it made me cry...more than once.

First off, Ella...she has major trust issues and it really started to get on my nerves because she couldn't trust Beckett because she just knew he'd be like all the other men in her life and leave. Through the whole book she was just waiting for Beckett to prove he wasn't trustworthy so she could say "I knew it." Yet I didn't hate her. I actually liked her a lot. She was actually a really great character and Yarros did an amazing job of fleshing her (and the other characters) out.

Colt and Maisy, Ella's twins, are adorable. I think they stole the scenes they were in every time. They acted and talked more like little adults rather than the 6 year old's they were but I still liked them a lot anyway. Beckett Gentry was also fleshed out well and despite his keeping part of his identity a secret from Ella he was very upfront with his intentions and thoughts. I liked him a lot. Are you seeing a pattern here?

The supporting characters are just background noise and not that remarkable but with everything going on with the storyline their additional input wasn't necessary. Speaking of the storyline...how much should one person have to go through? Honestly it was too much. Bad things happen to good people. It's a fact. Also, just because a person goes through one really bad thing doesn't mean they are exempt from more bad things from happening in their life. This sucks but true as well. With that said, I've decided this book is a standalone because everything that could have possibly taken place in a sequel took place in this book. There is nothing left that could happen to these characters but good gravy WHY? Because Rebecca Yarros wanted to make us cry. It's the only thing that makes sense in my mind. She wanted to make her readers sob to the point of red puffy eyes and lots of snot....AKA ugly cry. Yet I still liked this book a lot.

The Audible experience was a good one. Teddy Hamilton (who I've listened to before) and Jennifer Stark dual narrate which is always a great way to listen to dual POVs within a book. Teddy's voice is great for Beckett and Ok for Ella....this is pretty typical in audiobooks. Men are great narrators but when it comes to their women voices they all come out a bit weird to me. Jennifer's voice was new to me but I thought she did a good job. I was able to listen to the book at 2X the speed easily and would pick up another book narrated by her.

In a Nutshell: I picked up this book because it fit into a reading challenge I'm doing. I've never read a book by Rebecca Yarros before and even though I overall really really liked this book I'm not sure if I'd pick up another book by her any time soon. I love a book that can run my feelings from warm and tingly to sad and crying and back again but this book was just too much. I don't like to ugly cry.