In this evocative and poignant novel from the USA TODAY bestselling author of Blind Kiss and Wish You Were Here, a young widow in the midst of grieving her late husband through Facebook posts learns to heal and fall in love again. “See you on the other side.” Laya Marston’s husband, Cameron, a daredevil enthusiast, always said this before heading off on his next adventure. He was the complete … before heading off on his next adventure. He was the complete opposite of her, ready and willing to dive off a cliff-face, or parachute across a canyon–and Laya loved him for it. But she was different: pragmatic, regimented, devoted to her career and to supporting Cameron from the sidelines of his death-defying feats.
Opposites attract, right?
But when Cameron dies suddenly and tragically, all the stages of grief go out the window. Laya becomes lost in denial, living in the delusion that Cameron will come back to her. She begins posting on his Facebook page, reminiscing about their life together, and imagining new adventures for the two of them.
Micah Evans, a young and handsome architect at Laya’s father’s firm, is also stuck–paralyzed by the banal details of his career, his friendships, and his love life. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for, only that there is someone out there who can bring energy and spirit to the humdrum of his life.
When Micah discovers Laya’s tragic and bizarre Facebook posts, he’s determined to show Laya her life is still worth living. Leaving her anonymous gifts and notes, trying to recreate the sense of adventure she once shared with her late husband, Micah finds a new passion watching Laya come out of the darkness. And Laya finds a new joy in the experiences Micah has created for her.
But for Laya, letting another man in still feels like a betrayal to her late husband. Even though Micah may be everything she could wish for, she wonders if she deserves to find happiness again.
Written with Renée Carlino’s signature “tender and satisfying” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Maybe in Another Life) prose, this warm and compassionate novel shows us how powerful the courage to love and live again truly is.
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I have been reading this author since she was an indie author. I have read all of her books. I have liked or loved pretty much all of them. I always go into her books with such high expectations.
I struggled with this book. At times I liked it, and at times I found myself disinterested in it. This book is such a slow moving and a mostly depressing story, it’s hard to stay focused on it.
I didn’t care for the characters in this one. I definitely didn’t like Laya. I was so-so with Micah. And I definitely didn’t feel the chemistry or connection with them. They were just two characters going about their days, sometimes interacting with one another.
This definitely didn’t feel like the author’s usual writing. It felt more lacking in emotion than all of her previous books. And this book should have been all about emotions. My overall impression of this book is blah. (And it kills me to say that.)
Renée Carlino is one of those authors that I can read with no idea what is in store and I devour every page. Right from the get go I’m always sucked in and The Last Post was no exception. The opening alone broke my heart. And the more I read, the more my chest ached.
I loved that both Laya and Micah were broken and lost and searching. Trying to get unstuck from the rut their life had become. While neither of their mechanisms were great, they worked. And it brought them into each other’s lives. While their chemistry was quite apparent, theirs wasn’t a whirlwind romance (much to Micah’s dismay).
While Micah and Laya’s journey was long and full of set backs, there was no denying that something great was coming. I could feel the hope laced in the pages. And with every tear, every wave of sadness, that hope only grew. Hats off to Renée Carlino for slapping me in the face with grief and giving me a realistic look at how crippling loss can be. How hard it can be to get out of that tunnel of despair. But also how beautiful the other side of that pain is.
Upon reading the premise of “The Last Post’” I found myself immediately intrigued and quite eager to delve between the pages of Renee Carlino’s newest novel. But as much as I wanted to love this story, it ultimately fell short of my high expectations.
While I still liked the overall concept, it was the execution that I had trouble with. Boasting characters that I found un-relatable and annoying, I couldn’t see past their faults to form any true connection or to fully immerse myself in Laya and Micha’s quirky & highly bizarre love story.
Still, “The Last Post is not without its merits. There just aren’t enough of them to boost this story from mediocre to great.
3.5 Stars
Laya is struggling with the biggest loss of her life and spiraling out of control. Nothing seems to be bringing her back from the darkness. Wondering if maybe she is some how to blame for all the bad in her life. When someone tries to silently reach out to her to help her move forward.
Micah is a successful architect who seems to have life all together on the outside but is secretly fighting on the inside. When he decides to try and reach out to his bosses daughter to help her with grieving. He never expected to fall in love with her. But he is willing to wait as long as she needs.
Will Laya and Micah find there way to each other? Will she let go of her grief and move forward?
** Advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review. **
3.5 stars
Laya becomes a young widow when her husband’s daredevil career leads to a tragic accident. She becomes mired in her grief, unable to move through the stages of grief at a pace those around her deem acceptable. Micah works for Laya’s father and finds himself floating through the motions. He has entered a sort of crisis of self as he loses sight of what he wants out of his life and career. A brief meeting with Laya has Micah intrigued and he begins to come back into himself as he pursues her. But she isn’t ready for a relationship, she hasn’t moved on from her last. Micah agrees to a friendship, but can’t help wish he could help her process her grief faster.
Laya’s love for Cameron was all consuming. She doesn’t know how to move on when he’s gone and finds herself using present tense still to describe him. She is fragile and the people around her aren’t sure how to help her grieve.
I struggled with parts of this story. I loved the premise, but there were aspects of Micah’s actions that felt overbearing and as if he was taking advantage of the situation (though he means well in everything he does). I kept reading despite my misgivings, and am glad I did as enjoyed the conclusion.
This was a story full of grief and the consequences of staying in one place for too long. I was prepared for an emotional drain, but I guess I was hoping to feel more of a connection building between the two main characters. They finally hit a point where their chemistry was believable, but I felt like I had to hang on to the story longer than usual to get there.
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Grab your tissues, dear readers, because Renée Carlino is going to smack your heart around like a cat with a toy as she depicts the different ways we grieve.
Laya’s grief consumes her. She locks herself away in her apartment, having moved from the home she shared in California with her risk-taker-for-hire husband Cameron. Newly widowed, Laya tries to understand what happened. She tries to figure out whether she bears guilt (should she have tried to stop him?), whether her marriage deserves the depth of grief she feels (did Cameron love her the way she wanted and needed?), and whether she can rebuild. An orthopedic surgeon, Laya knows how to rebuild other people; it’s her own rebuild that makes her retreat.
To cope, she begins leaving messages on Cameron’s cell phone and his Facebook page. These aren’t messages of bereavement, however. They are messages that read as if she believes Cameron is alive.
Micah, an architect at Laya’s father’s firm, reads the Facebook messages and decides he will help Laya feel better by trying to give her what she reminisces about. For instance, she mentions a concert she and Cameron wanted to see, and Micah gives her a ticket to one. He means well, this quiet, humble, loving man, but he fails to see how unnerved his gifts make Laya.
Yes, there is a romance. It begins with a hot flame but follows with a long, slow burn. Renée Carlino respects Laya’s grief and does not try to minimize nor shortchange it. Much like Laya, Micah, too, is someone who builds things for other people. When his own life crashes, he retreats, redesigns, and reemerges.
I loved that Renée Carlino takes no shortcuts. She does not spare you the depth and breadth of Laya’s loss. She infuses you with Laya’s desperation to remain connected to Cameron, even as she struggles with the ever-present fear that he will disappear completely from her memory.
For me, though, Micah is the heart of this story. Lest I make The Last Post sound heavy, rest assured that Micah’s merry band of friends and family provide belly laughs. As Laya recognizes, Micah is surrounded by people who love and support him. Even so, he needs Laya. He wants to be the man she needs, so even with his missteps, she knows his heart is pure.
Get that box of tissues, immerse yourself in this beautiful story, and please let me know what you think of it.
This is the first book by Renee Carlino I have read. I had no idea what to expect from her writing going into this book.
When this book came up for review I jumped at the chance to read it. I love the cover and the blurb had me hooked.
A lot of my rating had to do with the characters. I didn’t like them. Micah was a stalker and not in a nice way. I found him creepy and didn’t like him. I was expecting to do something terrible at any moment.
Layla was no different, I couldn’t relate to her and I found her annoying.
The side characters were no better.
The authors writing was fantastic and I would be interested to read her other books.
Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me.
I have thoroughly loved and enjoyed every Renee Carlino novels I have read and The last Post rates highly in my book. It is a very touching story that you will certainly enjoy and love. It is captivating and engaging.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
3.5 Stars
Carlino’s talent to spin a tale and convey her words with such style has always enthralled me, so it’s not difficult to imagine how excited I was when the publisher sent me the ARC via NetGalley.
I really wanted to like Leyla and it niggled me to bits that I didn’t connect with her until nearly the end of the story. I tried to put myself in her shoes in an attempt to understand why she reached out to a lost one the way she did. Logically, sorrow consumed her; however, it did seem a tad odd for someone in her profession to cling memories in such an obsessive manner. It all felt rather illusory to me.
I really liked Micah and gave this lovely guy ten out of ten for his steadfast patience. He set eyes on Leyla and that was that! She was the one he’d been dreaming of, like a sign to get out of the rut he’d got himself into and start anew. Even though he was on the receiving end of something confusing, he quickly became aware that specific boundaries weren’t to be crossed. Yet him pushing so subtly paid off to a certain degree. This gentle and compassionate man began to tap into Leyla’s subconsciousness, occasionally making her reflect on what could be, other times causing her deep distress.
You see, there’s a lot to be said about social media. You post, it’s read. Is this considered to be stalking? I can’t answer that because sometimes I like to check out what my authors are up to. Was Micah overstepping the mark by reading what Leyla uploaded? It is indeed food for thought. What she was doing showed me she’d hit rock bottom and rebuilding her life was the last thing on her mind.
It’s not until disaster struck that Leyla realized just how important Micah had become to her. Yet she still held back…hmm, I don’t think Micah’s twin sister helped here. Honestly, I would have run a mile, too. I often wondered if the wide berth Micah had given Leyla would backfire on him. It was her call, so he has no option but to play the waiting game. One thing is for sure. It was like a wake-up call for Leylah, and going back to her job meant putting things into perspective.
Carlino’s character development left me with my mouth wide open. How twins can be so different, how one can be so sensible and sensitive and the other…well, I honestly thought she’d got a screw loose. But one thing is for sure, neither can live without the other. I had an awful lot of trouble getting my head around some of the comments Micah’s sister made and not just to her brother. If it was her idea of playful banter, she lost me there.
Observing how Leylah overcame feelings of crippling emptiness and how she learnt to cope with her emotions…even when faced with a few home truths, didn’t make for easy reading. However, Carlino gets home to her readers that hope and the will to carry on regardless is the key. The tone of the story changed three-quarters of the way in with some damn good dialogue lightening up the mood, and I have to say Pretzel, the dog, tickled me pink!
When I read the blurb for The Last Post by Renee Carlino, I was very excited to read it. Laya Marston found true love and happiness with her husband Cameron. Though his career, a professional risk-taker/adventurist, makes her worry, she knows it makes him happy. But when tragedy strikes, how will Laya ever move on without him?
Laya broke my heart. Her love for her husband was deep and true. Losing someone who is so connected to you is heartbreaking and we see her pain and loss first hand. Losing herself in leaving him messages and on his social media, will she ever learn how to move forward? Why would she, no man could ever replace the one she loved and lost.
Micah Evans is just running through the motions of his life. Bored with his job and his life, it is as if something is missing. Then he meets Laya and her saddened demeanor calls to him. He learns what happened to her and he wants to help her in any way he can. He begins to do things for her to show her she is still alive.
The Last Post by Renee Carlino was a heartbreaking and heartwarming read. It will tug at your heart. Laya believes she can never love another man again, but Micah is showing her life is worth living.
Read and reviewed for Reviews From The Heart.
Happy reading.