I just finished the novel One Last Gift by Emily Stone. This book was a novel about love, loss, second chances, and living outside of your comfort zone. From the description, I expected this book to mostly be a romance with the trope brothers’ best friend. It was more than that; this was a family fiction. The closeness that the heroine Cassie has for her brother and how they were able to share friends and experiences was great to see. I don’t feel like I’m spoiling anything when I say that the sudden death of Tom devasted Cassie. I was heartbroken for her. These siblings and his friend Sam have different family dynamics. I believe that contributed to the closeness Tom and Sam and Cassie and Sam had with each other.
It took so long for the book to turn towards a romantic aspect, but I felt the journey that we went on for self-discovery was necessary before these two got together.
I also really like Tom’s scavenger hunt! I loved that this was his annual Christmas gift, and I love how the scavenger hunt helped aid in her self-discovery.
Overall, I’m giving it four stars. I liked it a lot; my only gripe, if I have one, is that it did not feel like a romance novel to me. This was the first book I’ve read by this author, but it will not be my last.

I just reviewed One Last Gift by Emily Stone. #OneLastGift #NetGalley
www.netgalley.com

Cassie and her brother Tom have always been close since their parents died when they were young. She's grown up with his friend Sam but starts to have feelings for him and thinks maybe he might feel the same. Years later Cassie realizes she doesn't like the person Sam is anymore. When Tom dies before Christmas, Cassie finds he already created a scavenger hunt that's always been his tradition. Tom's clues lead Cassie on a journey that will change her life. This sounds like a heartbreaking story and it is at times but also it's a tale of found family, friendships and kind strangers who help Cassie throughout the scavenger hunt. Her relationship with Sam is complicated, the exceptional way the author writes his character makes you fall in love with him and then later despise him.

Omg this was the cutest story! It definitely got me in a Christmas mood. I liked the writing style and definitely recommend this book!

I enjoyed this book even more than last year’s Always in December. The relationship between orphaned Tom and Cassie was heartwarming and then heartbreaking. He really seemed like the perfect brother, always watching out for his younger sister, and creating the scavenger hunts for her. Even though it was frustrating to watch Cassie and Sam push each other away again and again, I think Emily Stone did an amazing job of portraying the loss they both felt. One Last Gift is a touching story of romantic and familial love that will have you reaching for the tissue box.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. #OneLastGift #NetGalley.

One Last Gift did such an amazing job detailing grief, relationships, and closure. I didn’t expect to cry when Cassie’s brother died but as I started the book their relationship was so special and everyone can tell how much they mean to each other. After the funereal everyone was hit hardly, especially Cassie and Tom’s best friend. Opening her last gift from Tom, she works with the “family” around her to figure out Tom’s clues. As this journey continues you can see Cassie bond with everyone and show how grateful she is for the friends she has and her relationship with them. Overall Emily Stone has written another amazing book!!!

Book review posted on August 7, 2022 on Storygraph: ccliaa
B

After the sudden death of her brother Tom, Cassie receives one last gift from him in the form of a letter. The letter kicks off a Christmas scavenger hunt and brings her closer to her longtime crush, her brother’s best friend, Sam. Her journey to solve all of the clues brings her closer to her deceased brother than ever before.

One Last Gift is infused with so much emotion and tenderness. It is not your typical “brother’s best friend” romance. While there is a romantic thread throughout the storyline, Cassie’s exploration of her grief plays a larger part in the plot.

I did find Sam a little off-putting early on in the book, but he really redeems himself by the end.

One Last Gift really is the perfect cozy, holiday read if you're looking for something a little different than your average Christmas romance.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine!

This was SO cute and also did a really fantastic job of depicting the different ways grief impacts people - both the different stages of grief in one person but also the way that grief can manifest in different people. But it did it without being overwhelming, and only contributed to the romantic plot rather than diverting from it. The two blended together so well and made such a bittersweet picture.

I thought this was a lovely, sweet, and emotional story. It reminds you that life isn’t all good or all bad, but a mix of bitter and sweet but that you shouldn’t let grief or sadness hold you back. The characters were imperfect which made them feel real. Both Cassie and Sam’s journeys after the loss of Tom felt earned. I found the book heartbreaking and romantic in equal measure. My stomach flipped nearly as often as my eyes welled with tears. While technically this may be a Christmas book, you could read it any time of year and be satisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley, Emily Stone and Dell Publishing.

*slight spoiler, not ending but part of the story*

This story is mainly about Cassie. A young woman who lost her parents when she was young and then her brother during the book. It goes through her emotions of dealing with this large loss and the ever moving parts to her love life.

The story was a tad on the glum side for my personal taste, but I much appreciated the struggles that Cassie was facing.

This book was so captivating! A very character driven novel with some heavy topics- make sure to have tissues ready! I was a huge fan of Always, In December as well, so now this is an auto-buy author for me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC- I loved it!

Petition to file Emily's books with mandatory therapy. Mostly set during the holdiays, it managed to capture real emotions as well as git wrenching moments.

One Last Gift is told through time lapses, that is indeed timeless. I sobbed, smiled & sighed while reading this.
Cassie was a very likeable character who wore her heart on her sleeves. Her relationship with Tom was everything.
But she & Sam were something else altogether. Forced apart by miscommunication but brought together by grief, they shared the most wholesome connection ever.

The treasure hunt was the most fulfilling & emotional moment. It reminded me of Ps I Love You & I.was.here.for.it.

Thank you Netgalley & Publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be a good read, more than the usual "romance " novel. Thanks to NetGalley and Dell for a chance to read the book in exchange for a review.
I really enjoyed the author's writing style and I will definitely look to more from her.
The heroine Cassie has had tragedy in her life and the book will have a reader with tissues at the ready. When she loses her beloved brother Tom, it almost seems too much for one person to bear. Despite this the overall feeling I am left with at the end is powerfully uplifting.
I particularly enjoyed the "scavenger hunt" that Tom left for Cassie as a literary device though it did seem to go on forever. There were many surprising and interesting turns to keep the reading fresh and the reader engaged.
The one down side to the book for me was the lack of connection I felt to the characters - I liked them all but didn't really feel I understood them that well. There was surely a maturation for Cassie, Sam, and Tom during the story. The secondary characters such as Hazel, Amy and Linda really added to my enjoyment of the book.
This would be a book to start with the Christmas holiday this year.
Expected publication date is 10/11/22

After reading Always, In December, I was absolutely looking forward to reading more from Emily Stone. Unfortunately I didn't love this novel as much as I would have liked. The writing came off a tad juvenile at times and there were a few words/phrases that were frustratingly overused. Overall, I found the story to be a bit cliché and hard to get into. Part of the issue was that I didn't feel much of a connection to any side characters and barely one to the main characters. There was also a lot of time jumping in the middle of side plots which resulted in them getting quickly wrapped up in the next chapter with just a few quick lines, which I found disappointing. It was a fine enough book that I didn't feel the urge to stop reading and I will definitely still check out future releases from the author, but this one was just a miss for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Sam made me mad quite a bit. I loved Cassie and just overall was felt very deeply for her and her situation after finishing this book I’m gonna hug my brothers.
I do feel like Sam needed to grovel a bit more but overall super cute I cried quite a bit.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Cassie is surprised to find a letter with her brothers Tom,s handwriting. She is tasked with finding everything on the list. She is not sure she is up to it this year. She has had a crush on her brothers best friend Sam for years. This book was well written.

This book was an exercise in pivoting reading expectations partway through the book. For myself, I read the synopsis as the novel falling into the chick-lit, contemporary romance genres. While the latter one may be true to the novel as a whole, the former is not the case. If anything, this novel fell into the women’s fiction genre—which carries its own set of expectations. Due to that pivot, I couldn’t fall into this novel as deeply as I was hoping to; but, a large part of that was also due to the plot structure.

Looking back at my notes, I continually made comments about the plot structure. There’s no denying it: it was strange. The first 25% was undeniably entirely set-up, but it also felt like three consecutive prologues. To which I ask: why couldn’t those scenes be written as backstory throughout the greater story? Since 50% of Cassie’s narrative was already backstory, so including that prologue content elsewhere in the story could have worked well. And it would have gotten the reader to the core of the story faster; I’m unsure if the story began in the right place.

The main plot of the synopsis (Tom’s death and the annual Christmas treasure hunt) didn’t kick into gear until the 25% mark. This was after the first chunk of the novel set up the characters and their relationships with one another; however, due to the repetitive time jumps, I never felt that emotional connection to the characters. The lack of emotional connection was also tied to how the story never lingered to explore the consequences of certain scenes and consequences (like Sam leaving his wedding and abandoning his fiancée at the altar. Sure, there was summary of Sam’s consequences in a later chapter, but what did Cassie have to go through after planning the event?). With the joint time jumps and skipping over the conflict consequences, the plot never felt complete and skirted over moments that were intriguing.

As for characterization, there is no denying that Cassie and Sam both had strong voices and great development journeys. Emily Stone did a great job of signaling to the reader which character perspective a chapter was in. (Although, I was not expecting this to be dual point-of-view; Sam’s perspective didn’t come until play until the 30% mark.) I also felt comfortable in knowing what belief systems were driving the characters, how Tom challenged them both into growing into better people, and how fallible humans are—especially when it comes to working through intense emotions about other people.

I also had an expectation that Cassie and Sam would be spending more of the story together—but a large part of that may be due to primarily being a chick-lit reader and not a women’s fiction reader. Since that wasn’t the case, I was thrown off a little bit. Especially when the two of them fell into, what I would label as, insta-love after being separated for 50% of the novel. Had they been thinking of each other constantly? Sure. But in Cassie’s case, much of it was with anger or disdain over the way Sam had treated her in the past. I wanted more conflict between the two of them before they fell back together again, which comes back to the plot never lingering on conflict consequences for long.

While there is no denying this was a cozy, winter read, I also can’t deny that I wanted to feel more emotions from the narrative, as well. The one storytelling element that was missing, for me, was emotive writing. While I didn’t feel fully connected to the characters, I could admire the character work Emily Stone did on other aspects of their characterization. But where her characterization fell flat was the lack of emotions I felt. I wanted to feel sick to my stomach, I wanted to wipe away tears, but I didn’t experience any of that. I was craving more emotive writing, and if that was present, this easily would have been a three-star read.

Overall, I do think there is a lot going for this novel. I was just craving clearer writing and plot structure to guide me through the novel. This was my first Emily Stone novel and a part of me does wish that I had started with reading her debut novel, as I can’t help but think this novel fell into the sophomore novel trap.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Emily Stone has done it again in providing a deeply moving story in 'One Last Gift.' I was battered with emotions as I navigated through the book. I had to suffer these depths to get to the overwhelming wonderful life lessons provided. I'd give it more stars if I could. I look forward to more from this author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

*Thank you to Dell via NetGalley for the ARC recommendation*

As others have mentioned simply from glancing at previous reviews, The Last Gift is a cross between PS I Love You and insert something else here. I’d insert Hallmark Movie but like a low budget one that doesn’t even have a 00’s former Tiger Beat cover starlet. Don’t get me wrong, the premise of The Last Gift was intriguing enough for me to read the ARC: Cassie is utterly consumed by the grief of suddenly losing her brother, Tom, whose memory she prolongs by following the last holiday scavenger hunt he’s ever put together for her. Couple that with the “in love with older bro’s best friend” trope and I was in!

The dual POV alternates from Cassie and Sam but let’s be honest, Tom is the star. There isn’t a chapter or memory/flashback that goes by that doesn’t highlight their dear Tom, who’s loved by everyone and makes friends every where he goes, and literally gets their lives saved by him. Tom is everything. Except you know, a good boyfriend cause the second he finds out his long time girlfriend is pregnant, he’s outta there, literally dumps her and off to the mountains he goes. But don’t worry, all the loose ends are neatly tied by Tom from the scavenger hunt clues that also conveniently come with side notes explaining everything, even though he’s supposed to be alive when said notes are read. SPOILER: Seriously though, how did Tom manage to write to Cassie saying he’s going to fix things with his girlfriend and be ready to start a family from Argentina where he DIED but somehow manage to get the letter to be hand delivered to Cassie by her coworker? How did the letter make it back but not Tom?!?

Now here lies my problem with Cassie. She’s in her mid 20s and super ambitious and capable of doing great things like crowdfunding to save her beloved pub and throwing events, but unfortunately, her life was so entwined with her brother, Tom and his best friend/her long time crush, Sam, that she’s got zero personality otherwise. She’s so wholesomely naive but shockingly selfishly so. She’s surprised to find other people besides herself who’s been affected by Tom’s passing, even though they’re from a small town. She’s shocked when she realizes their parents death might have hurt Tom more deeply than she realized, even though they were both young children at the time. She’s hurt when she learns Tom didn’t tell her every single thought or feeling he had and chose to…gasp! confide in someone other than her?!? She blames poor Sam for missing the trip that Tom died on because she felt he could’ve saved him from falling off the mountain somehow?! This girl is outrageously immature but yet she gets a pass because….honestly I don’t know why. Cassie is really living life like Empathy? Don’t know her.

I’m so sorry! I’m sure there’s an audience out there that would enjoy this and rate this highly but The Last Gift was just so tedious to read. There was just not much character growth but thankfully there was Hazel and Josh. 2.5/5 stars, rounded up to 3. Publishes in October ‘22 just in time for the holidays!

One Last Gift had me so emotional, I kept a box of tissue next time at all times! The story is beautiful, full of sadness & hope, and tells a tale of family. I love holiday novels and this one was one of my favorites!

This one's needs a tissue warning attached. Phew. Emotionally this one was a tear jerker at times.
Tom is Cassies brother. They lost their parents very young and he took his big brotber role very seriously. We learn he has from a young age created this annual Christmas scavenger hunt for Cassie that has rhymes and 5 big clues. A super cool idea.
Cassie crushes on Tom's bestie Sam and over the years they have moments.
Then, tragedy. Tom dies but there's just one last Scavenger Hunt he had already set up. The journey is a huge one for Cassie.

There were parts of the story that felt a bit over explained to me but overall I loved the message and the story.