Member Reviews

Awww this was absolutely lovely! 4.5 stars!

This audiobook peaked my interest while I was rediscovering Netgalley and I am so glad I was able to read it in exchange for an honest review that way. Such a funny, endearing and emotional read with a little bite of spice to keep you entertained. I loved Lizzie (Elizabeth), the main character, her friends and her brothers. I was less of a fan of Connor though, which probably had something to do with his position of authority and Lizzie being a student.

But it was rather easy to forget that when I was actually listening to the narrator tell the story. I would definitely recommend listening to the audiobook as it, in my opinion, brings an extra dimension to the book. And admittedly, I would have never picked this book up in a bookstore if it had been with the original cover. I love the audiobook one!

I cannot wait to read/listen to book 2 and 3, as I am definitely keen on getting to know Lizzie's 2 best friends a little bit better. Book 2 will tell Cait's story and book 3 follows her other best friend Frankie. I will report back when I have more opinions to share!

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Lizzie, the protagonist, has struggled with her adjustment to college when unexpectedly she is slapped in the face with another adjustment of gaining permanent guardianship of her two younger siblings when her parents die. The book covers wonderful topics like grief and acclimating to new circumstances with real life experiences and concerns. That being said, I found Lizzie hard to relate to, and I couldn't quite identify the target audience for this book. The target most often feels like for a younger crowd, but then between the language and graphic sex scenes and ethical consideration of a power imbalance, I felt like I don't know who I would have recommended this book to.

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I received a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review from NetGalley and the reason I requested this book is that I was hoping that it would be a little bit queer or at least queer friendly since it's written by Dahlia Adler. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to that. This was actually released in 2014 and it shows. It's not necessarily a bad book and I understand why people like it, but there was way too much girl on girl hate for me when men were the problem and also I didn't love our MC.

Lizzie is hooking up with the wrong guys, she is failing her classes and everything comes to a halt to when she learns that her parents have died and left her as the guardian of her two younger brothers. In order to care for them she has to keep her scholarship which is merit-based and so she reaches out to her TA, Connor, who isn't the biggest fan of her. I really liked Connor. He annoyed me at sometimes and I feel like he could have had more depth but I feel like his heart was in the right place for this whole book. Lizzy on the other hand mostly just angered me. So the beginning of this book starts with her sleeping with a guy who has a girlfriend. And that bites her in the ass this entire book. His girlfriend basically hates her instead of the stupid cheating man, and it results in way too much catty drama. The simple point is that had the guy not cheated on his girlfriend none of this would have happened.

Anyway, Lizzie was apparently a high school valedictorian but with some very brief mentions of anxiety she's failing college now? There was a lot of inconsistencies that didn't quite match up for me and if you're willing to overlook those, this book's fine.

I personally did not understand how Lizzie and Connor could be so irresponsible when the fate of two kids is in her hands but whatever. But I guess I skipped that part. Yeah so Connor tutors Lizzie and she ends up starting to feel things for him. When she needs help she calls him and he's always there whatever.

There are some heavy moments especially regarding the death of their parents and also the mistreatment of Connor from his parents. There is a lot of slut shaming, also there are some offensive terms regarding mental illness used. Well there are two very brief mentions of queer characters, it isn't prominent. This is a very cis hetero book which was unfortunate. Lizzie is biracial and apparently one of her friends is pan.

There are way too many sex scenes in this book. Like seriously, the fate of children is in your hands not to mention Connor's job, and they're just going to risk it to have sex? Color me a confused asexual.

I feel like for my review it's a little obvious that I wasn't a huge fan and maybe I'm a little bit more annoyed by it that I realized as I'm ranting this review into my speech to text.

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I enjoyed this as an audiobook. I found the narrator good and easy to listen too.

I felt it was well written, and the characters were well portrayed.
Lizzies' character isn't the easiest to fall in love with, but that makes the story more realistic and relatable. I found the story to be a huge emotional growing path for the characters , and I enjoyed following them along their way.

This was a new author to me, and I will certainly be reading / listening to more from her.




I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I listened to the audiobook for the book. The story starts off strong but the narrator is exhausting. I realize she is a young adult going through a trauma but it is not for me. I disliked the characters. People were very insensitive to her parents death and it was just glossed over while being a main pivot of the story,. DNF @ 15% for me.

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Thank you to Orange Sky Media and NetGalley for an ALC of Last Will and Testament by Dahlia Adler. I loved my ARC of Adler's summer 2021 YA romance Cool for the Summer and am excited to start her summer 2022 YA romance Home Field Advantage.
While this is listed as coming out 2/8/22, this is actually a re-release of a book published in 2014 with a new cover. The new cover doesn't accurately represent the book in my opinion - the math equations make no sense because her love interest is her TA in a history course! The cover also looks too lighthearted, minimizing the serious beginning of the story. There should be a content warning if this lighthearted cover is used!
I originally requested this audio because it was listed as YA Romance but as I started to listen to it, it was clear that it was incorrectly labeled. This is New Adult Romance - and a very spicy one at that! I had trouble reading the sex scenes with the 18-year-old main character's forbidden romance.
I did enjoy the narration. This is the first in a series, but I won't be reading the rest of it. But I will absolutely keep reading the author's YA romance!

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**please note due to low rating I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.**

I'm not sure if it was the writing that was over the top, or if it was the narrator that took it to the next level. Either way this didn't work for me. Thanks for allowing me to give it a go.

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I've enjoyed Dahlia Adler's last two YA novels, "Cool For Summer" and "Home Field Advantage". This is a NA (new adult) book and the first of her Raleigh University series. I am a little confused why it is currently on NetGalley as it was originally released in 2014. Lizzie Brandt is Filapino/American and graduates valedictorian from high school. She is enjoying her college experience complete with drunken parties and sexual freedom. Her world changes when she learns that her parents have died in a car accident leaving her in charge of her two brothers who are 14 and 7. She needs to get serious about getting her grades up to keep her scholarship and has to figure out parenting boys who are struggling. Connor Lawson is her TA for Byzantine History. He is the kindest and sweetest guy. He is her tutor her and pitches in to help with her brothers too. What he isn't looking for is romance.

I enjoyed the story but Lizzie isn't the easiest person to like. Some of her problems are self inflicted coming from her immaturity. She really tries when it comes to her brothers but the situation would be difficult for any 20 year old. Connor is a gem. He is honest when he tells her he isn't sure he is ready at 25 to be parenting. Together they sizzle and many scenes are hot and steamy. So much of the drama is around Lizzie's schooling. We didn't get many moments of her being at home with the boys. I felt like the ending was a cop out as the same thing could have been figured out months before. I listened to the audio book and found the reader very compelling. I will continue to look for future (and past) books by Adler even though this isn't my favorite. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an audiobook in exchange for an honest review. (3.5 stars)

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This is not my first time listening to an audiobook … and even this time it was amazing !!!
It definitely became an great hobby to pass the time, when you’re walking and can’t really read the book!!!
I loved every character and, despite living a terrible moment, Lizzie manages to face it with strength, knowing that she has to rely only on herself to take care of her little brothers.
Connor is a great love interest and , honestly, I fell deeply for him from the first moment he was mentioned in the story !!
The struggle our main character goes through are incredible, though already common for a lot of young people, who tragically found their life turned upside down, with responsibilities they maybe shouldn’t have…
I loved how it was all handled in this book and how it blended with the romance … a forbidden relationship between a TA nerd and a young rebel who’s doing what every college girl should at her time … tho maybe with a bit less screwing things up !!!!
I’m glad I experienced this story and I’m giving it five out of five stars without any doubt !!!!

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This book started out with a hard hitting topic. Lizzie, at 18 years old, was told that her parents were killed in an accident and she is now the guardian to her two young brothers. Lizzie is already suffering with her grades in school and if she doesn’t keep them up, she’ll lose her scholarships. There is one person she was able to lean on and that’s her TA, Conner. Their relationship starts to grow as he helps her with her brothers and her grades. The closer they become, the more Conner realizes it’s a mistake since he’s a TA. Conner and Lizze have to figure out how to keep their relationship from falling apart and save his career at the same time. This book is a HEA and was a cute and quick read!

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Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Last will and testament follows Lizzie, who loses both her parents in a tragic accident. Having been the family rebel, she now has to step up and take on the responsibility of taking care of her two brothers, whilst managing her grades, so that she doesn't lose her college scholarship. To get her grades up she partners up with her TA, the handsome and kind Connor, but when sparks start to fly everything gets complicated.

This book wasn't for me. The main character Lizzie is insufferable, arrogant and whiny. At the start of the story, she has an affair with a boy whose in a relationship and instead of owning up her mistake, she accuses the guy's girlfriend of being stupid for not realizing it sooner. She literally gives her the fault for something she herself is to blame for. But it gets worse, Connor her love interest is the one who has to tell her that she is being unfair, and the author then proceeds to make the reader hate the other girl, because she won't accept Lizzie's apology. Then there is the death of Lizzie's parents, which is supposed to be one of the main aspects of the story, but is basically left out of the story. We don't see Lizzie working through her grief, I would go as far as to say she doesn't even truly grief for her parents. She just spends the entire story whining about how complicated her life now is, since her parents aren't there anymore to spoil her. And then the reader is supposed to believe that she goes from doing nothing for school and spending her free time on parties, to straight A's after studying for a couple of days. Even the romance couldn't convince me, it felt very insta-lovey, and it contained Connor being always there for Lizzie going above and beyond for her and Lizzie being mad at him for not wanting to throw his life out for her after they kissed once.
I was really expecting something else when I started this story, but the protagonist being so judgmental, spoiled and unbearable ruined the story from the beginning for me.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend this story to anyone who dislikes girl-on-girl hate.

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This cover is extremely misleading. It is way more "New Adult" rather than cutesy "RomCom" Even though the heroine is 18 it is extremely sexually based. That doesn't mean I didn't like it. I actually really did like it but I think marketing is misleading and they should represent the storyline in order to get the right audience.

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I’m always hesitant with this kind of age gap trope with the concept of the power dynamic between TA and student. I feel like a lot of the times it comes from boarder-line grooming and this was NOT the case here. That being said, I think this was really well done. I enjoyed Lizzie. I felt like she was super reasonable for how an 18/19 year old would act which I really appreciated — I don’t think this happens a lot. Over all I really enjoyed this.

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I love the teacher/student romance in this book. I was so interested and giddy about their relationship. The cover art is so cute for this audiobook. It does have math in the background which I thought was funny because Connor was not a math TA. This story starts with a really sad event yet this book wasn't sad to me at all. The characters didn't really grieve normally in my opinion but it didn't hurt the story besides it not being very realistic. As a fellow Filipina, I am here for this representation! I loved all the references to the main character's Filipino culture. It made her character more relatable to me. Last Will and Testament was also super funny. I listened to it in the car and was laughing to myself like an idiot.

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Dahlia Adler’s „Last Will and Testament“ is a steamy romance novel perfect for fans of the forbidden love trope.

Valedictorian turned partygirl Lizzie Brandt’s life is turned upside down when she learns that her parents have unexpectedly died and left her as the sole guardian of her younger brothers. Only eighteen and currently not the most responsible person in the world, Lizzie has to turn her life around in order not to lose her scholarship and to keep her brothers out of foster care. She never could have expected that her unapproachable TA would be the one to help her the most – both academically and as a shoulder to cry on. Suddenly, not falling for Connor becomes a challenge in and of itself, a challenge that if lost could have horrible consequences for both of them.

I am not opposed to the forbidden love trope, but am not particularly a fan of student-teacher romances. Somehow, I didn’t realize that’s exactly what „Last Will and Testament“ is all about.
I have very mixed feelings about the main character, Lizzie. On one hand, I love how she steps up and tries her best to do what’s expected of her. In caring for her brothers and bringing up her grades, she shows a lot of responsibility and character growth, which I really like. On the other hand, she is a rather jealous young woman who tends to make mountains out of molehills a lot, which just annoyed me. I guess, considering the recent tragedy, I should cut her some slack, but her hot and cold demeanor really got on my nerves at times.
Her love interest, Connor, is an absolute sweetheart and I just adored him. He is a dedicated, reliable and driven person and not at all someone who would take advantage of others. I think that’s also the reason why I did not immediately put this book down upon finding out about the student-teacher relationship.
The story itself wasn’t particularly innovative, but entertaining nonetheless. I liked the mix of drama and romance, even if some of the drama (I am looking at you, Sophie) was largely unnecessary. To be fair, Sophie plays her part as the unlikeable and petty nemesis pretty well.
What I absolutely did not enjoy about this book was the frequent use of crude language. Of course, people swear and don’t always use the prettiest words in real life either, but I am not a fan of unnecessary profanity, especially in books that should make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

All in all, „Last Will and Testament“ is a solid choice if you are in the mood for a romance novel that’s a quick and easy read. I especially recommend it to fans of books like Colleen Hoover’s „Slammed“.

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I finished Last Will and Testament this afternoon and still CAN'T shake the feeling of it 😍 This book was FILLED with emotions, and it really warmed up my heart.

The plot is about Lizzie, a girl who's informed of her parents passing away after a fatal car accident. As if the shock of the two people giving birth to her wasn't striking enough, she learns later on that she is the legal guardian of her two younger siblings, Tyler who's 13, and Max who's only 7 years old.

Lizzie thought her life had practically come to an end and that she'd never be happy again, but everything changed after she asked for a favor from her Teaching Assistant, Connor, who's kind and couldn't seem to be able to refuse helping her. Of course, she realised that being a parent wasn't an easy task, especially not when you're an 18 year old teenager who could barely take care of yourself.

I don't have the right words to describe how masterfully written this story was. All I can say is that I cried and laughed with all my heart during her moments of struggle, and happiness. That might or might not be related to my emotional state these days 🤭 The romantic scenes were PERFECT👌 I truly appreciated the characters' development, and I loved how realistic it felt. I was HOOKED from the beginning 'till the end 😍

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Thanks for the chance to listen this book.
Sadly I didn’t really liked it. It’s too much. I would have lived for the story to finish after thanksgiving. I don’t even know if I will finish it and I still have 2 hours left. The part with Sophie who threaten is just too much in this story. There was already so much happening before.
And maybe it’s the fact that I’m a French Canadian but, usually, we don’t really have Canadian flag (maybe English quebecers but clearly not French one’s). We also don’t usually swear that much (and the prononciation is really off for some sadly).
The main character in is also much! I understand the fact she lost her parents and all, but it seems to be her personality.
The age difference is also weird. The relationship is also so toxic at the beginning.
I think this story has a lot of potential but the way it is at the moment it isn’t for me sadly

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More Like 3 and ½ Stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Orange Sky Audio for my advanced listeners copy of Last Will and Testament.

I'm still trying to decide how I feel. It wasn't bag but at the same time it wasn't the best thing I've ever read.

Last Will and Testament is a rerelease with a new cover. (Original Publication: 2014)
The new cover is super cute but also misleading. This book's content is a lot heavier than the cover leads the reader to believe at first glance.

Trigger Warnings for : Loss of a loved one and Slut Shaming. There was a lot of slut shaming in this book and I wasn't the biggest fan of that.

Last Will and Testament did deliver the drama and included a forbidden romance. It was also heavy on the steam and I am here for it.

Before getting into the negative I must give credit to the amazing narrator of this book. Samantha Summers did an awesome job of keeping me entertained.

Why This Book Lost Stars-

Lizzie was super annoying. I had to remind myself that she was a teenager and I am a grown ass adult in my mid thirties ;)
Maybe if I had read this book when it was first released I would feel different.
Connor basically made this whole book for me.

Overall- Somewhere in the middle. I may not pick up the next book in this series but I still enjoy Dahlia Adler.

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Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange of my honest review.

4.5 Stars
Last Will and Testament narrates the story of Lizzie, an eighteen year old college student and Connor , her teaching assistant.

At one point of her night, Lizzie was enjoying her college life and by the end of the night her parents are dead in an accident and she was the guardian of her two younger brothers. She is failing behind in her classes. If she want to renew her scholarship, she need to improve her GPA. Thus, Connor, a nerdy history TA, enters the picture, she asks Connor to tutor her. But Connor rather ended up helping her through her life issues and ended up being friends and what not.

I loved that even when things went south they sticked by each other. Their banner was lit. The writing was good. The narration cracked me up at times. It was nice seeing Lizzie grow as a person throughout the book. But I felt if her relationship with her brothers could have been explored more, it would have been great. This book gave me THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS vibes. Connor swearing in french is just 🔥🔥. It is a single POV - LIZZIE's.
According to Goodreads, this book was first published in 2014 and now it is being rebranded with a new illustrated cover. It was a very great idea as it was the cover that attracted me . If it has the old cover , I probably wouldn't have read the book.

Trigger warnings: Parents' death, Cheating, Parent's absence, Slut shaming

The rebranded cover will be released on 8 FEBRUARY.

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“𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕒𝕔 𝕕𝕖 𝕔â𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕖"

Thank you to @netgalley and @missdehlelama for an ARC, is it an ARC for an audiobook? AAC? Advanced audio copy?

Let me tell you as my first Audiobook ARC I couldn’t have imagined this being any better. I loved the story. Lizzie has the level of petty, confidence, and relatability that attracted me to the story so much.

Lizzie is an 18 year old college student whose life of partying and being the “other woman” all come to a screeching halt when the unthinkable happens. From party animal to parent all in the span of the evening.

When Lizzie finds herself the guardian of her two younger siblings, she turns the life she was living around determined to make the best situation for everyone as possible.

Conner, Lizzie’s TA, hard-ass nerd supreme lends a helping hand, in more ways than one. He’s a tutor, a chauffeur, and a reliable friend turned lover. He loves Lizzie and her brother’s and helps Lizzie deal with her grief and new found parent-dom.

Dating your teacher never ends well, or will it?

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