Title: My Last Kiss [Amazon]
Author: Bethany Neal [website]
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genre: Contemporary
Sources/Type: Borrowed/Paperback ARC
Stars: 3 of 5
Publisher’s Description:
What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?
Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss–the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died–is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn’t a suicide as everyone assumes. She can’t remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she’s worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend.
If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she’ll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made–good and bad–that led to her last kiss.
My Thoughts:
From the description I got a very Before I Fall vibe with a mix of The Catastrophic History of You and Me. That whole vibe of reliving moments and watching your life without you excited me so I was really looking forward to it. And although I liked it, there were parts I do wish were different. If just a few things had changed we are looking at a solid 4 star book.
My Last Kiss is about Cassidy, a high school junior with great friends and a boyfriend she is crazy about. On the night of her birthday party though something happens where secrets Cassidy has been keeping are spilled and she winds up dead. Now between worlds Cassidy has to unravel what happened that night and what lead up to everything falling apart. With everyone keeping secrets though she has no idea who to trust and what really went down.
What I really liked was two things. I loved the style the story was told in in ways of flashbacks and memories. It was very easy to follow along and understand when all was said and done how it all fit together and why Cassidy was remembering what she was when she was. I also really liked Cassidy as a main character. She knew she was wrong and she took responsibility for being wrong. She screwed up and made mistakes, but she knew she was perfect and neither was anyone else for that matter. These two things were what saved this book for me. I had trouble with one part of the book and the predictable ending, so without Cassidy and the flashbacks this would have been a rough experience.
I can’t really say more as I don’t want to give anything away. All I can say was that I did like this story. It wasn’t a favorite and didn’t measure up to Before I Fall, which I couldn’t help compare it to, but it was a good read. There are a few twists that you may or may not see coming, but that is what makes the book interesting. It may not be a favorite, but I’m glad I read it.
Hmmm. I’ve had this one on my shelf for quite a while now and I haven’t been able to decide if I actually want to read it or not. I’m definitely not going to be getting to it any time soon as it sounds like kind of a ‘meh’ book.
I can’t imagine a book living up to Before I Fall, but this seems like an interesting read. I’m glad Cassidy is a likable narrator. This is one read where I really want to be able to connect with the MC.
I had mixed thoughts on My Last Kiss. The way the flashbacks were incorporated was pretty solid! I just wish that I’d been able to connect more to the characters.