The Last to Let Go by Amber Smith

The Last to Let Go by Amber Smith
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: 6th February
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:

How do you let go of something you’ve never had?

Junior year for Brooke Winters is supposed to be about change. She’s transferring schools, starting fresh, and making plans for college so she can finally leave her hometown, her family, and her past behind.

But all of her dreams are shattered one hot summer afternoon when her mother is arrested for killing Brooke’s abusive father. No one really knows what happened that day, if it was premeditated or self-defense, whether it was right or wrong. And now Brooke and her siblings are on their own.

In a year of firsts—the first year without parents, first love, first heartbreak, and her first taste of freedom—Brooke must confront the shadow of her family’s violence and dysfunction, as she struggles to embrace her identity, finds her true place in the world, and learns how to let go.

The Last to Let Go was so. good. I was drawn in by the premise, as I’m always curious to see how authors portray domestic abuse, and I was certainly not disappointed by how this book turned out.

Amber Smith did an amazing job with this one and the portrayal of domestic abuse and how it affects the children. In this book, Brooke’s father is abusive towards his wife and his children. You can tell that Smith has done her research, and some scenes were incredibly hard hitting and difficult to read, making this a fantastic book to read if you’re interested in the subject matter.

I really liked all of the characters in this one. Not just Brooke, but her brother and her sister as well. I liked how they all reacted to the abuse differently, and how they all had different feelings towards their mother killing their father.

Brooke is also dealing with her feelings towards a girl at school. She’s not openly gay (yet), so she has that to deal with as well. Their relationship was adorable, and while seeing Brooke struggle to balance her home life (or lack thereof) and these feelings was difficult, but so worth it.

Reading this has made me want to get Smith’s debut, The Way I Used to Be, which deals with assault. I’m excited to see how she deals with another difficult subject matter.