One Last Gift by Emily Stone is a heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting story about love, loss, and how to move forward after the death of a loved one. Stone’s last novel Always, in December was one of my favorite reads last year so One Last Gift was a highly anticipated read for me this year.

The story follows Cassie and Sam, who are both mourning the unexpected death of Tom, who was Cassie’s big brother and Sam’s best friend. Cassie and Tom were extremely close because their parents died when they were kids and they basically raised each other. Cassie is absolutely devastated by Tom’s death and doesn’t know how she’ll be able to go on without him in her life. Sam is also devastated and overcome with guilt over his friend’s death, especially since the fatal accident took place on a trip Sam should have been on with him.

What makes their grief even worse is that Cassie and Sam can’t even turn to each other to mourn Tom’s death because their own relationship has been strained to the breaking point. Years ago, Sam was Cassie’s first crush and in recent years, she thought they had come to care for each other as more than friends. This leads her to make a move that Sam then awkwardly rejects, creating tension between them that they’ve never fully moved beyond. Cassie is angry and embarrassed, so when she learns that Sam should have been on the trip with Tom, she holds him responsible and lashes out at him. This part of the story just broke my heart for both of them because it’s pretty clear that they have feelings for one another, so it just hurt to see Cassie freeze Sam out and I longed for them to reunite and for Sam to redeem himself in Cassie’s eyes.

While the loss of Tom makes for a heartbreaking read, his last gift to Cassie is what makes it such an uplifting one. Tom had a long-standing tradition of creating a scavenger hunt for Cassie every Christmas. She would have to solve and follow all his clues in order to find her gift from him. It was great fun and Cassie looked forward to it every year. Even though Tom dies just before Christmas, it turns out he had created this year’s scavenger hunt for Cassie before he left. At first Cassie doesn’t want to do it, but once she finally feels like she’s ready, the hunt offers Cassie a way for her to have Tom in her life one more time and a way to finally process her loss and move forward, and to open her heart to the possibility of love where she least expects to find it.

One Last Gift is a beautiful and poignant story about love, loss and family that will have you reaching for the tissues along the way but that will ultimately leave you with a smile on your face.

I loved Emily Stones Always in December last year and when I saw she was coming out with another, I knew I needed to read it.

One Last Gift is reminiscent of P.S. I Love You…but make it siblings. I adored this. I loved Cassie and Toms relationship so so much. The story repeatedly pulled on my heartstrings and kept me rooting for Cassie & Sam throughout the whole thing.

If you love second chance romance, friends-to-enemies-to lovers or want a good segue into holiday stories (but not too heavy on the holiday), this is it! 👏🏼✨

Emily Stone can write one heck of a heartbreaker. The beauty of her work is that you know it going in. But by the last page she has managed to put all the pieces back together and left you with more hope than you had before!

As with her first book, Stone writes about love being the only remedy for loss. Both books take place during the holidays, but I wouldn’t categorize them as Christmas books per say. She uses the holiday as a catalyst for dealing with some of life’s biggest struggles.

The plot of One Last Gift revolves around Tom, Sam, and Cassie. The three of them forge a special bond early on in life that goes beyond siblings and friends. This is in large part due to their adolescent needs not being met by their blood relatives. Thus, they create their own make shift family to fill what has been missing.

It is easy to forget that Stone is a new author. She does a fantastic job of character development. We truly see the main characters at their highest highs and lowest lows. It is only through these multidimensional characteristics that the characters come to life and are not only relatable, but realistic.

In the same way, she is a master of building emotional connection. My biggest pet peeve in romances is the characters are immediately in love with one another. Stone establishes a love over time. She does not rush happily ever after. It takes miscommunication, lack of vulnerability, and the fear of losing one another before Sam and Cassie can even admit their feelings. In the end, it is a love that is earned and authentic!

With this being only her second book, Stone establishes herself as breakout author who has staying power. I highly recommend this book! Special thanks to NetGalley.com and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

P.S. Can we all just agree that Tom wins “book brother” of the year!

Thank you to the publisher for a free Netgalley.

After loving this author's previous Christmas book, I was in for this one. Loved the premise and the scavenger hunts. Though a heavier Christmas book, I loved that we are watching two characters deal with the loss of a brother/best friend because that part was well done.

But other than their shared grief, Cassie could be one of the most annoying characters. Cassie acts like a small child, constantly walking away when she does not like what she hears. She constantly belittles Sam's behavior while acting worse than he is. Every time Sam would try to speak to her, she would cut him off and run away. Exhausting. The time jumps were fine, but there were many of them.

Though I enjoy the plot Stone has come up with here, I struggled to get past the annoying habits of our main character. I saw little character development.

After losing their parents as young children, Tom and Cassie are as close as brother and sister can be. Every year, Tom creates a Christmas scavenger hunt for Cassie. When tragedy strikes, Cassie is left to complete the scavenger hunt on her own. As Cassie seeks to uncover each clue, it leads her down a path that may change the direction of her life.

Despite the heavy loss throughout the book, it still managed to be heartwarming, hopeful, and absolutely charming. It had all of the warmth of the holiday season that I seek in a holiday read, yet spans many seasons and years.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the lovely ARC!

I really enjoy this author's writing style. This is the second book I've read by her and both have been well done.

One Last Gift is a sweet and meaningful story that definitely tugs at the heartstrings. It touches on many real human emotions such as pride, embarrassment, guilt, grief, jealousy and most importantly love. The story focuses on a brother and sister who lost their parents when they were quite young. As the oldest sibling, Tom naturally felt it was his place to watch over Cassie. The other significant person in their life was Tom's best friend, Sam who Cassie harbors a secret crush on - - until she doesn't.

As the story progresses, misunderstandings occur, emotions run high, secrets are kept and feelings are hurt. Basically people make mistakes and others aren't sure how to maneuver the outcome from some of those decisions. The sad thing is there are times that I can see some of these things happening in real life. If someone rejects you, then you put up a barrier to protect yourself and they may never get back in again. It can change everything in the blink of an eye.

One of the things I do like about this author is that she isn't afraid of dealing with tragedy or uncomfortable subjects. It's real. Life doesn't always give us rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes it's crappy and you have to find a way to navigate through it anyway. Another thing she does well is give the reader hope and a beautiful ending so you finish the book feeling positive.

Even though One Last Gift is set during the holidays, I definitely wouldn't call it a holiday read but I would definitely encourage you to read it. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗚𝗜𝗙𝗧
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5 STARS
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Thank you @randomhouse and @netgalley for a e-arc of this. Officially out now!
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I. AM . NOT. OKAY . What did I just read! This was my first book by @em and it will not be my last. ALWAYS, IN DECEMBER here I come 🏃🏻‍♀️
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I loved everything about this book! I loved how realistic this was. Cassie and Sam are officially one of my favorite book couples. They’re character growth > ability to communicate > working through grief of a loved one> living life to the fullest >.
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Must read:
•Christmas-ish setting (and other weeks/months as well
•Emo romance read
•Friends to Enemies to Lovers
•Loss and grieving over a loved one
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Highly recommend, if you’re looking for an emotional roller coaster romance but filled with the most beautiful resilience as we grieve a loved one.

One Last Gift was a heartbreaking story about grief and the loss of loved ones. It was extremely sad, but it was very realistic and was written very well. This book is also about hope and learning how to fall in love again. I really enjoyed this book and the scavenger hunt part was great. I loved following along with the main character all throughout England. I look forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for the advanced copy of One Last Gift by Emily Stone.

I went into this thinking it was going to be a cute holiday romance. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of this story and its characters. My heart hurt for them in their grief, mistakes, and self doubts. But cheered for them through miscommunications, second chances, and their own healing.

Cassie's closest family is her brother Tom, who always looked out for Cassie and created elaborate scavenger hunts for her each year at Christmas. Cassie relied on her brother growing up, but also relied on his best friend Sam. When tragedy hits, and friendships have broken, Cassie is on a journey of not only her own self-discovery, but discovering even more about her friends, Sam, and her brother Tom. Tom sends her on one last scavenger hunt that could change her life completely, if she lets it.

I truly enjoyed this book! It had all the Christmas feels and a long term storyline with the characters. It was heartwarming and emotional. Friends to enemies to lovers, second chances, grief, friendship, personal growth, and new beginnings. I absolutely recommend reading this book this upcoming holiday season! (or anytime!)

I think the beauty in Emily Stone’s debut, Always In December, was lost in her sophomore novel. This novel also tied the lines in grief, heartache, and falling in love, but it really wasn’t as compelling and it felt really lost. I often was confused on the direction the book was taking. It was entertaining, just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Another touching, heartbreaking, and heartwarming story from Emily Stone.

Cassie and Tom were very close given the loss of their parents at a young age. Though he was not much older than Cassie, Tom attempted to fill that void. One of the most wonderful family traditions he started was the Christmas scavenger hunt with rhyming clues that sent Cassie searching for her present. Tom passed away shortly before Christmas, and Cassie was wrecked and lost. She thought there would be no more hunts, but he had left her one last gift. Me -> 😭

This. This was the part of the story that owned me. Tom left this one last scavenger hunt for his sister, and it was as epic as he promised. He was no longer of this world, but he left behind tasks to guide Cassie. This hunt gave her purpose and helped her work through her grief. She began to live again and even took a chance on love.

This was a very lovely story about family, loss, grief, and healing. This “epic” scavenger hunt took Cassie to many destinations, and as she searched for the next clue, she learned things about Tom and herself as she began to move from grieving her brother to celebrating the life they shared together. I laughed, I cried, there were all sorts of tears. It was an emotional roller coaster, as expected, and I was grateful for the ride.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! It's the perfect holiday romance. I love how the timelines shifted so seamlessly, and how much I was rooting for the characters to make their relationship work. Normally I need alot of steam in a book but this one was perfect the way it was. It's such a cute story, and emo to boot! Great book!

What a beautiful novel about hope, loss, and finding your way. I can't say I didn't shed a tear... This book follows Cassie as she learns to navigate loss and overcome fear after her brother dies in an accident. While I found the romance not as compelling as it could have been, I genuinely enjoyed the characters who felt realistically flawed and human. Will definitely recommend.

I can't say I connected with any of these characters, but I did find the story much more moving than Stone's first novel.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60323954-one-last-gift

I love Christmas stories and this one was a feel good happy one! I love curling up with a book and a glass of wine by the fire! This story is so cute and will warm your heart right up!

Tom, Cassie's brother always made her a Christmas scavenger hunt, at least he has every year since their parents died. It was his way of making the day special for his little sister. Unexpectedly, she finds herself holding his last scavenger hunt envelope as he has now lost him, too . Will she take the chance to go on this one last hunt that may uncover truths, changer her life plans, and lead her to lifelong love?

This was such a different Christmas read that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster!

This book started pretty slow probably because it jumps timelines quite a bit. As it went on, I really enjoyed it. The treasure hunt is the piece that pulls together all the characters introduced in the first third of the book.

I'd classify this as Christmas adjacent. It delivers a good story with some of those Christmas magic and wonder but in the springtime.

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.

I found this book to be flat in every way-flat characters, flat storyline, just flat everything. There are many better Christmas books out there for you.

Every Christmas, Cassie's gift from her brother Tom was found at the end of a treasure hunt with clever clues to it's hiding place. This Christmas, Tom has died in a tragic accident miles from home. After the funeral, what should turn up but the first clue to this year's treasure hunt. Cassie doesn't open the clue, too overcome with grief to even entertain the thought of completing this last link to her brother. Almost a year passes before she begins this last hunt. Friends of theirs are complicit and hold more of the clues.
At the end of this journey is a new beginning for Cassie and perhaps an old love.
I enjoyed taking this journey with Cassie and would recommend this book.

One Last Gift by Emily Stone is a story that leaves you weeping yet wanting more. Emily Stone's writing is something unlike any other. Her books leave you thinking about the story long after you finish. There is no comparison in her books as the writing just gets better. This book is a romance, but it was also about grief and life in general. LOVED everything about it and look forward to more from this author!