*Will be posted on March 23rd*
Well, that was just not the book for me.
I'm going to keep it short, before I had to DFN this book at the end of the day. I really struggled to read this book. I found myself not getting into the story. I really felt like not much was happening, despite the fact that the pacing was still fast.
And I'll be honest, I couldn't connect with Mia or Tori, so I wasn't able to turn myself to that aspect of the story to keep me reading.
Honestly, I think many readers will love it. We can already see it in the rating on Goodreads and the reviews I've read. Still, I thing I might not have been the best audience for this book. Maybe I'm too old now to find myself in this kind of book. I still think that the premise was quite interesting, but it was missing something for me to really find myself enjoying this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Trust me when I say the reason I am giving this 2.5 stars is purely because of me, not because this was poorly written or a bad book. I just didn’t really connect to the story. I could see this being for a younger audience, if I was in high school or younger I may have enjoyed this more.

Part of why I had a hard time with this was because it’s hard to convince me that a warm beachy beautiful town is somewhere you’d want to run away from. I know to each their own, but I would love to live where these characters do, so any time a character was desperate to leave, I couldn’t relate to it. Also, music was their life, and while I do love listening to music, I didn’t relate to any of the character’s dreams of performing live.

It’s clear from the summary and the title that this is a book about music. So if you don’t like fake songs and lyrics in books, this would not be for you. I am mixed on it, but honestly I thought the lyrics were pretty good in this!

The overall tone in reference to the movie “Mamma Mia” was very fun!

I loved learning about Tori! I could have read a whole book just on her life with David and Patrick. I wish that was what this whole book was about. I liked Tori and her relationships much more than I cared for Mia. Reading about Tori going between David and Patrick, and the dynamic between Patrick and the band was so interesting to me and we barely got any of that! It would have been a much more compelling book to me if that was the case.

The relationship between Britt and Mia was cute, but I’ve never been a friends to lovers kind of girl, so her and Britt didn’t really appeal to me. I think I would have liked it more if it didn’t feel so much like a tell and not a show. We kept being told that they kissed and they really cared about each other, but I didn’t really feel it. It was a pretty cheesy love story, so if you like overly sweet fluff, this would be the book for you.

I know I just said that I don’t like friends to lovers, but there are some exceptions, and this relationship was one of them. I loved David. He was always there for Tori no matter what. I liked him way better than Patrick. He was the perfect match for her, and the chemistry was there. Patrick again seemed more of a forced tell and not show kind of love. I won’t say how it ends because that is part of the mystery, but I have lots of thoughts about it.

I thought Mia’s journey of trying to discover who her mom was, was very sweet and touching, but for me I just wasn’t very invested in her as a main character. It was a very quick read, so if the love of music plot sounds appealing to you, give it a chance!

Thank you netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so beautifully written. The emotion, the yearning, the wanderlust, the fear, all of it was so raw and heartfelt.

Mia kind of frustrated me as a main character at times, but everything she did, everything she felt, made perfect sense given everything she’d grown up with.

Britt was such a beautiful, supportive love interest. But I was honestly so happy when she finally said enough, said she was done waiting for something that may never come.

These two made so much SENSE together and I was so glad Mia finally got her shit together and made the right choice.

I didn’t really care for Tori’s story though. It felt as though it was there purely to prompt Mia, to manipulate her journey and choices without holding any substance of its own. The love triangle stuff and the “who is my father” plot also did absolutely nothing for me.

But all in all, a lovely YA romance. Definitely recommend.

The Last Love Song was an emotional rollercoaster, in the best way possible.

Mia Peters was a character that felt fully fleshed out, even in the parts of the story where I didn't always agree with her actions. Mia was a deeply thought out character but she wasn't my favorite character - the real star of the story (in my opinion) was Tori Rose.

The condensed timeline that Mia was faced at the height of the story, the whirlwind of a week, was a great way to make the reader feel like every step that Mia took really mattered. And it did, every step forward that Mia took revealed a deeper part of the overall story that really sucked me in.

The relationship between Britt and Mia felt real, slightly juvenile for sure, but they felt like real people in a real friendship. I loved the two of them working together to figure out the Big Thing that Mia was hunting for.

The story pace felt great in the beginning and middle but it did feel slightly rushed toward the end, all the loose ends were trying to be tied up in a very short window of time and I could feel that rush. That's not to say it was bad, the ending was just as heart wrenching as the middle, but I feel that it could have been built out more - even an extra twenty pages (I feel) would have felt less rushed toward the end.

This was a solid 4 star read, if only because it felt like every 30 pages I was being brought to tears by the emotion in the The Last Love Song.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved Mia's scavenger hunt and how she and Britt tackled each clue. It's a really sweet book and I enjoyed it a lot!

Fast-paced, emotional, and full of life THE LAST LOVE SONG follows Mia on her quest to find out more about her mother, her father, and figure out what she wants on the way.

I loved the characters in this book. Mia and Brett had a great relationship, and I loved how queer normative the narrative was. I would have loved to see more tension between Mia and living up to the standards of her mum, but it was still done very well. I also felt that, while cute, Mia and Brett didn’t have a lot of tension.

The plot was simple yet engaging. I loved how the different narratives intersected, and paralleled each other. I would have loved to see more of a contrast between Tori and Mia though.

Overall, a great book! A queer Mamma Mia is just what the world has been missing!

this was such a lovely and emotional story. the writting was really nice, and the charactors felt so alive.
it even gave me teary eyes

"The Last Love Song" by Kalie is a poignant exploration of identity, family, and the pursuit of dreams. Set in the small town of Sunset Cove, Mia Peters grapples with the looming departure of her girlfriend Britt, her struggles with her late mother's legacy, and her own aspirations as a songwriter. Kalie skillfully weaves a tale of self-discovery as Mia embarks on a scavenger hunt through her mother's past, uncovering buried truths and confronting her own fears along the way. With lyrical prose and heartfelt emotion, "The Last Love Song" captures the essence of young adulthood and the complexities of following one's heart. Fans of Taylor Swift's storytelling and soulful narratives will find themselves enraptured by Kalie's debut novel.

The Last Love Song is heartfelt debut from Kalie Holford. Part mystery, part self-discovery we are taken on the journey of Mia Peters as she graduates and goes on a hunt to discover more about her mother, famous singer Tori Rose, who passed away when she was young.

Mia, accompanied by her best friend/sort-of-girlfriend Britt, is led around her small town by letters her mother left her, each giving a clue to a location or person from her past Mia must find. At the same time she is worried about her future, about Britt and her band, which Mia has been song writing for, leaving in seven days to chase their professional music dreams. Mia is unsure if she wants to go with them, unsure who she is.

I liked the way this was told through alternating stories - Mia's present day and glimpses of her moms life in the 80s-90s. I also appreciated the queer rep - Mia is confidently bi and she lives with her sapphic Grandmothers (I would actually love more of their story, they seem so in love and more elder queer rep is needed in all genres).

As I was reading I really wanted to tell Mia - Be confident and go for your dreams!! It will be ok! She eventually figures out who she is and what she wants to be and I'm glad how the story ended up.

Something unique about this writing was the song lyrics added to scenes, storytelling through song is always impactful, I wish we could hear what they are written to sound like.

I see where the Mamma Mia similarities were but also think that this book also had tones of Daisy Jones and the Six with the musical history of Mia's mother. The characters watching Gilmore Girls made me smile (and made me think the character Jess in this book was a reference to Gilmore Girls Jess :) )

This was a good book, I did tear up a little at certain emotional parts, if you're looking for a short summer read about music, love and self-discovery then check this book out.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC.

It's been a while since the last time I was wordless in front of a review, and I think it's worth mentioning it if we're discussing the emotional impact of this story.
Which is a lot, btw.

I'm very much conflicted because… well, it's complicated even explaining why I find it difficult to choose the right words.
Kalie Holford’s debut is significantly better than lots of books you'll read this year but, at the same time, I'm held back by so many aspects of this story that not only doesn't sit right with me, but I also can't properly understand.

Starting with the “Mamma Mia” similarities: there are none. I don't understand why the marketing department chose something so different from the truth, but here we are.
Mia only knows her father ran away before she was even one and doesn't know anything about him, but it's not like she really cares. Like, she says a couple of times that she’s never met him and doesn't even know who he could be, but that's it.
She's not interested in him, and the focus of the story is not on him.

This led us to the most obvious aspect of it all: Tori Rose is a slightly different version of Daisy Jones.
Expect the ‘60s vibes of her side of the story - it's supposed to be 1989 but nothing gives that away -, I loved the letters she left to her daughter to tell her what happened according to her but, at the same time, she kinda gives us nothing.
Again, loved it, but it's also very superficial and more of an introduction to characters we didn't know until that moment.

So, Mia grows up without her mother in a town entirely dedicated to her, and she spends the first 18 years of her life knowing absolutely nothing about her. She feels guilty even mentioning her name to her grandmas and doesn't let herself love the music.
Ignoring how big this town seems to be not to know some things, should I be convinced she had never had a phase where she wanted to know more? At least about her father, if she couldn't ask about her mom. How is that even possible?
Worst of all, they just lied to her. Her grandmas lied about how her mother died and she’s so desperate to know more about her and feels hopeless because she can't find her path… she doesn't even get angry? Not with her grandmas, not with her non-existent father, not with her mother’s real love - who knew about her but didn't show up not once in her entire lifetime.
Last but not least, she may not be the most selfless person in the world, but she's having a panic attack about her life and what her mother means to her, and her girlfriend is just sick of her being uncertain and afraid about the future. Girl, wtf?!

Why even bother, then? Well, even if Mia grew up without her mom, this is the least dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship you can find.
It's simply amazing getting to know Tori and her story at the same time as Mia does, the bond she develops with a mother she looks and sounds so much alike but doesn't know.
It's just one of those stories that make you cry so much that your only thought is to call your mom when you've finished it.

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

first, thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC! this book is so sweet and heartfelt! The Last Love Song by Kalie Holford is advertised as Mama Mia! meets Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, but I thought it was also lowkey giving The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (I said lowkey). I really enjoyed the pacing; it was a quick read, but it fit the urgency that Mia was feeling to finish the hunt before the end of the week. it gave the angsty and insecure teen without being super cringe about it, which can be hard to accomplish. I loved how there were parallels between Mia and her mom, Tori, but the point was clear that they each had their own story and relationship to music. the relationship with Britt was cute, but I don’t really care for a HS romance since they rarely should last. other than that, the relationships portrayed were realistic and not always clean and positive, which is sooo important I think. overall, I think this was a great and emotional read!

I thought this book was okay. This was a story about a girl who is learning more about her mother. But I found this story pretty boring.

Pitched as a queer Mammamia, this book is for everyone who lay on their stomach on their bed, feet in the air, writing down and poring over song lyrics, looking for secret messages. Preferably with a best friend.

In like a love song, a girl whose late mother was a famous singer searches her town, her mother's song lyrics, and some cryptic messages left behind for clues about her mom, and about who her dad might be.

There was a fun scavenger hunt element to this book, and a romance as well.

Yes, there were things in this book that made me go "huh?" But there was also a sort of magic here in the story and I did enjoy it!

This book is such a fun queer Mamma Mia story! The writing style was nice. We follow the story in past with her mother and present with Mia, her daughter.

Thank you so much to author Kalie Holford and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I am a sobbing wreck right now. This is one of the most beautiful stories I ever got to read and I’ll hold it close to my heart forever.

I love the POVs in this so much. It’s a mother and daughter’s story as well as a love story and it was a great change to have their POVs rather than two love interests for a change. It just made me feel more connected to the story and wish Tori Rose was a real artist.

I fell in love with this story and the characters. Mia’s journey to find out about her mother also led her to find out about herself which was beautifully portrayed. I could feel her struggles and yearning. It’s such a beautiful character portrayal to see her being an extension of her mother while also being her own person besides that. As someone who’s quite attached to her mother, as well as the daughter of an immigrant, I could relate to her on the aspect of wanting a separate identity from the mother while being proud of to be hers.

It’s just a beautiful book, one I’ll hold dear to my heart. It leaves a permanent mark in your soul with its emotional impact and beautiful writing. (Also I need those songs to be real, thanks)

✨ YA - Coming of age
✨ Queer Rep
✨ Scavenger Hunt
✨ Mother/Daughter story
✨ Past/Present POV

When Mia graduated high school, she faces a summer of goodbyes, including one to her best friend, Britt, who is leaving Sunset Cove to go follow her dreams of being a music star in Nashville. Can Mia find it in herself to go too? Agonizing over her decision, while being haunted by the loss of her mother who left everything she knew to be a star, she embarks on a "follow the clues" hunt to find out what her mother always hoped she would know.

This book was delightful. I cried multiple times, just aching for Mia to understand she is so so loved and everyone wants her to follow her dreams, even if she isn't sure yet. Britt is the kind of friend/partner that I used to dream of having, and the way her mother was loved, and loved her, it's just heart wrenching. I highly recommend this book, thank you to Blackstone and Netgalley for letting me read it early!

This debut novel is a lyrical and heartfelt exploration of love, loss, and the melodies that shape our lives. Set against the backdrop of Sunset Cove, “The Last Love Song” by Kalie Holford is a queer YA romance that brings together music, mystery, and the bittersweet ache of growing up.

Meet Mia Peters. After high school graduation, she faces a summer of farewells. Songwriting becomes her refuge as everyone she knows moves on, leaving her behind in the small town of Sunset Cove. Her biggest supporter (and kind-of-sort-of girlfriend) pushes her to dream bigger, but Mia clings to the familiar. She refuses to follow in the footsteps of her late mother, a country music star who abandoned her family to chase her dreams.

Desperate for a sign of what lies ahead, Mia discovers a mysterious letter from the past, written in her mother's hand. It's the first of many, leading her on a scavenger hunt through a hidden Sunset Cove. Each discovery brings Mia closer to her mother, but time is running out. Mia must decide if she can face the present, confront her feelings, and forge her own destiny.

Holford's prose is like a haunting melody, evoking the raw emotions of youth. Mia's struggle to find her voice as a songwriter and as a young woman, is beautifully portrayed. The author captures the ache of longing, the sweetness of first love, and the pain of letting go. The small-town setting feels authentic, and the supporting characters add depth to the narrative.

The heart of the novel lies in its exploration of grief. Maternal absence looms large, and Mia grapples with the legacy of a mother who chose fame over family. The scavenger hunt through Sunset Cove becomes a journey of self-discovery, as Mia unravels the layers of her mother's past. The book's emotional core is its portrayal of love in all its forms.

The main relationship is tenderly rendered. Their banter, shared dreams, and stolen moments create a palpable chemistry. Witness encouragement push Mia beyond her comfort zone, urging her to embrace life beyond Sunset Cove. Their love story is both sweet and achingly real, capturing the uncertainty of youth and the courage it takes to leap into the unknown.

The mystery of the letters adds intrigue, and Holford skillfully balances the past and present. As Mia uncovers her mother’s secrets, readers are drawn deeper into the emotional landscape. The pacing is steady, with revelations unfolding at just the right moments. The book's climax is poignant, leaving a lingering ache that resonates long after the final page.

This book is a celebration of music, memory, and the power of finding one's own voice. If you've ever tried to decode the clues in the lead-up to a new Taylor Swift album, this book will strike a chord. Holford's soulful debut invites readers to listen closely; to the notes of love, loss, and the last song that echoes in our hearts. It is a moving portrait of love, wrapped in the warmth of nostalgia and the promise of new beginnings. Holford's talent shines through, and I eagerly await her next composition.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This heartwarming book follows Mia, a recent high school graduate, on a scavenger hunt left by her late mother, Tori Rose. Both Mia and her mother grew up with music in their blood. Despite sharing roots and music, Mia knows very little about her mother.
The book contains two timelines, showing the lives of both Mia and Tori.
It's an incredible debut novel. I’m excited to see what Kalie Holford creates next. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and highly recommend it to music lovers, those navigating mother-daughter relationships, and to anyone who want a queer story with beautiful writing.

Almost forgot my favorite detail- There was two grandmothers/mothers and I loved them so much!

An absolutely delightful story about family, following your dreams, regrets and love. The story told in two is amazing for showing the differences between the daughter and her mum while also showing both their passion for music.

The romance was adorable! absolutely love the two main girls. Though the love interest seemed a little disconnected to the story with minimal justification for why she was so set on leaving (with or without the main character).

Only main issue with the story was the excessive song lyrics. While interesting to read, they didn’t feel very connected to the story itself and it made it feel boring.

Definitely a worthwhile story to read!

This book is perfect is you loved Mama Mia but wished that it had more queer representation. I loved the concept of it and found myself wondering what Mia would find out next. Also loved her relationship with Britt.

Overall I would give this three stars!