“Promise me you will laugh every day. Fight every day. Do you know how beautiful you look when you’re angry? Promise me you’ll learn to cuss, learn to love again. Live again. Promise me you won’t give up on each other.”Simi Desai is thirty years old and her husband is dying of cancer. He has two last wishes in his final months: first, that she’ll have his baby so that a piece of him lives on, and … a piece of him lives on, and second, that she’ll reconcile with her old flame, who just happens to be their mutual best friend. And so over the course of their last summer together, Simi’s husband plans a series of big and small adventures for this unlikely trio, designed to help them say goodbye to each other and prove to Simi that it’s okay to move on without him—and even find love again.
Beautiful and poignant, Falguni Kothari’s My Last Love Story will pull your heartstrings as only unforgettable love stories can.
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This book will have you crying and smiling at the same time. Beautifully written, with a loving, rollicking view of Indian and American cultures, and characters who stick in your heart. Be warned: the ending is bittersweet.
Also it will make you very hungry because the food is described so deliciously.
I read this book months ago but only recently remembered that I forgot to write a review. My family just spent a short time in Carmel-by-the-Sea, I remembered!
I’m one of those readers who really enjoys a love triangle, and this one is spectacular because it is so different from any other. No contrivances or cliches here. Simi and Narvaan are married, but he is dying of cancer. He wants his wife to have his child, and to reconnect with their old friend (and her former fiance), Zayaan. Wow, right? This is an imaginative, complicated, powerful storyline, especially when coupled with a secret Simi is keeping (a tragic event the made her run from Zayaan, but that neither her husband nor Zayaan know about).
This book is page after page of pure, heartfelt, open emotion among three friends during an extremely difficult, sad time. It is beautifully written and will make you think about love and marriage differently. It is also rich with detail that will immerse you into Indian-American culture and religions.
If you are looking for a true love story where there are no easy answers, this is the book for you!
This is My Last Love Story.
It is written by Falguni Kothari.
It is the story of Simi, Nirvaan & Zayaan.
It is not your typical love triangle. Simi has loved Nirvaan & Zayaan for pretty much her whole life. And they in return have loved her and each other. There has been more than friendship between the three of them growing up. She is first with Zayaan, but a terrible tragedy forces her to choose to marry Nirvaan. (later we find out that Zayaan’s brother, Rizvann, had raped her. telling about it at that time would have ruined the reputations of the families, so she kept it quiet).
When Nirvaan becomes sick for the second time with cancer, he makes a “Titanic wish list”. The list has a magnitude and scope of “Titanic” proportions. One of the things on Nirvaan’s list is that he wants his wife, Simi, to get pregnant and have a baby. He wants that so a piece of him will love on after he is gone. One of the other main wishes on his list is for Simi to reconcile with her old flame, who happens to be their mutual best friend, Zayaan. He has known all along they are meant to be together.
Zayaan comes to stay with them for this “last summer”. Nirvaan has planned some adventures for them all. He is hoping that Simi will understand that this is his way of saying good-bye and also that it is okay for her to move on without him. He understands her love for both of them.
The 3 of them have to work through a lot of things during this time. Nirvaan wants Simi and Zayaan to realize that relationships matter, especially that the special ones matter most. Simi has to come to the realization that she needs to quit being scared of love, no matter its risks. Zayaan needs to understand why Simi pushed him away, and come to terms with why she didn’t wait for him.
Nirvaan is not the only link Simi has to Zayaan. There was a history between them that had nothing to do with him. When the rape happened, Simi tore their history apart. Simi has to make him know that there is a love between them that is just for the two of them.
Things are worked through and a commitment is made. Nirvaan hadn’t been only trying to fix Simi, he had been trying to heal Zayaan. There was no right and no wrong, just what there was.
This is a very interesting book that I enjoyed. It is a love triangle that really isn’t your typical love triangle. It shows how they come together to be a unit.
When I signed up for an ARC of this book, this is not really what I was expecting. From the blurb, I thought this was going to be a touching love story of a husband who wants to make sure his wife continues to live and love after his death. I thought I was going to read about their final adventures and their love.
Blurb:
Simi Desai is thirty years old and her husband is dying of cancer. He has two last wishes in his final months: first, that she’ll have his baby so that a piece of him lives on, and second, that she’ll reconcile with her old flame, who just happens to be their mutual best friend. And so over the course of their last summer together, Simi’s husband plans a series of big and small adventures for this unlikely trio, designed to help them say goodbye to each other and prove to Simi that it’s okay to move on without him—and even find love again.
What I didn’t expect is for this book to revolve around the dreams of a failed menage years ago. I didn’t expect for it to attempt to tackle the struggles of cultural and religious differences in relationships.
I definitely give the author points for originality. The situation was unique, and I have never read anything like it. However, taking on so much in one book made it hard for me to connect with the characters on a personal level. I was intrigued, and I wanted to know how everything ended, but I didn’t feel passionate about the characters. They were going through multiple tragedies and I was left feeling disconnected from them. It felt like at times we had details that weren’t really pertinent to the story and other times things were glossed over or summarized when I would’ve liked more detail.
In addition to this, I didn’t really like any of the characters. This book was filled with unresolved fights and arguments as well as lies and deceit right up to the end. I wanted to see them really open up and set the record straight about so many things, but it never really happened. In the end, I was left interested, but emotionally disconnected.
I received a free copy of this book with no expectations or compensation.
I gave this book 3 stars since I think the author wrote a good story, it just wasn’t meant for me.
First, I know nothing about Indian culture, so the many words in the book that refer to Indian customs, gods, religions, etc were lost to me. I pushed through that. Secondly, I don’t agree with the relationship that was presented in this book and because of that, I never truly identified with any of the characters and honestly never got to a point that I cared about them.
I was just not the target audience for this book.