3.5*
An entertaining story of three generations of women and their dysfunctional family dynamics. Grandmother Bonnie commandeers her divorced daughter Sandra and troubled granddaughter Heather on a trip to Peru to tackle the Inca trail and scatter her late husband’s ashes. Tackling the mountain also gives time to address conflict, emotions and relationships, described with empathy and humour. Each woman reveals the joy and challenges of their romantic relationships with family secrets revealed, and the fallout from their breakups. Their journey together is chance to heal the past and strengthen their bond. A slow pace and easy reading.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was well written, heart-wrenching, funny, and romantic.

Amy T. Matthews is an exceptionally talented author. Her writing style is addictive, I was drawn in immediately, and I devoured it in one sitting.

I loved Heather, Bonnie, and Sandra. Their banter was entertaining, and their love for each other shone through, even when they fought.

The setting was beautifully atmospheric, I almost felt like I was there in Peru.
I loved that the story was told from multiple timelines, and I really enjoyed Heather and Owen's romance storyline, too.

Best, First, and Last was a beautiful and emotional story full of depth. Amy is fast becoming a favourite author of mine, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Thanks to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and Amy T. Matthews for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adored following three generations of women through this book. A heart warming, tear jerking, uplifting look at love and all the chaos and mess that comes with it. Beautifully written with great, relatable female characters navigating their way through their own relationship beginnings and endings.

I hope I’m just like Bon when I grow up 💕

You’ll enjoy this if you liked Eat, Pray, Love.

When twenty five year old Heather and her mother Sandra are guilted into accompanying grandmother Bonnie on a trek to Machu Picchu they embark on a journey of healing and self discovery. Each dealing with their own issues, they reluctantly set off on an adventure that will change their lives.

Although this novel is touted as a romance, it was the character growth and healing that was the most important part of the book for me. I loved the dynamics between the three woman, the bickering and poking at each other, camouflaging the love they feel for one another.

As they trekked it was wonderful to watch them coming together, working through their individual baggage and sharing family secrets. I enjoyed all of the revelations and the heart felt discussions that brought about a greater understanding of what each other was going through.

Thanks NetGalley for my copy of best first and last. A surprisingly enjoyable book. A lesson in love and life. Fast read and enjoyable characters.

This book took me a while to finish but every time I picked it up it was difficult to put down. The flash backs were beautifully told and did a fantastic job of teleporting the reader back to when Sandra and Bonnie were young. The relationships were all written beautifully, both with the initial falling in love or lightning moments, even to the heartbreaks and disappointments. The author really understands the relationships and emotions of her characters and writes them incredibly well, especially showing the different perspectives that aging adds to the mix. I also think that by showing the three women, all in different stages in their lives, makes this book very approachable to all ages of readers.

Bonnie has lost her third husband, Junior, and carries his urn with her wherever she goes. She springs a surprise trip to Peru on daughter Sandy and granddaughter Heather, planning for them to meet up with a young hiking buddy for a trek to Machu Picchu.
She thinks he may give Sandy a spring back in her step since she is depressed about finally ending things with her womanising husband. Meanwhile Heather needs a break from her work-from-home job and recently dumped boyfriend.
The best parts of this multigenerational tale occurred when Heather hooked up with her ‘Romeo’ after arriving in South America (and you knew what was eventually going to unfold) and when the narrative jumped back to the times Bonnie met her partners. Lots of family secrets and resentments are revealed along the way but any action and sense of place of the hike itself seemed rather bland.

I found this story remarkably affecting, and deeply memorable. These characters and this story are going to live with me for quite some time.

Heather is worried about her family, but not so worried she wants to spend time with them and their endless squabbling. Her mother is mourning the end of her marriage to Heather’s father in a way Heather considers quite excessive, considering he cheated throughout it. Her Grandmother is mourning the death of her third husband by carrying his ashes everywhere. Heather’s own love life is a mess, but she’d rather just… not look.

And then, unnervingly, her grandmother Bonnie announces that they’re going to take a girls’ trip. They’re going to Peru to hike the Inca trail!
Heather has a thousand reasons why this is a bad idea – starting with the fact her 70 year old grandmother is not a hiker (and nor is she). But somehow Bonnie sweeps them all along, and the three find themselves in Peru.

The hike along the trail is a pretty obvious metaphor for the journey of self discovery the women are on, but Matthews uses it extraordinarily well. She vividly describes a part of the world that many have heard of, but few have visited. It’s so easy to feel Heather’s emotions as she discovers a remarkable place. The trail and the towns they visit along the way are so strongly and enthusiastically evoked that I’m betting many people will be looking up travel websites after reading this.

The three women are also strongly evoked. They’re all very different, but you can see family resemblances in their behaviour. There is aching sadness as well as relief in some of the stories they share with each other; along the journey they not only get to know each other better, but they get to know themselves.

This sounds kind of trite, but it isn’t. The three explore family secrets – some of which are just the secrets of three people living separate lives and not sharing every moment with each other. Understanding each other better helps them understand themselves too.

Although this is an incredibly sad book in places, it’s also hopeful and life affirming. I absolutely loved this novel, and it’s going to be one I recommend to people for a long time.

Best, First, and Last is a (self-admitted) fictional "Eat Pray Love" tale about three generations of women (all recently single for various reasons) travelling to hike Machu Pichu and the various baggage they all bring with them.

While it sounds a little like 'chic-lit' (is that term still used) the book has a surprising depth, the way Matthews captures dysfunctional relationships is both deft and skillful but also surprisingly sympathetic. The way the many flashbacks are handled as how the characters met their loves was top-notch, I normally get very easily bored by books that dive into the past a lot but the balance was good for this one.

There's not too much more to say about this book, its fun, funny, insightful, at times awkward and painful but ultimately a good read.

Amy Mathews's novel Best, First and Last is brilliant! It's witty, frustrating, heartbreaking, and swoon-worthy—basically, it has all the feels you could want in a generational love story. The characters are rich and layered, and Mathews's ability to move the reader through their past and present is seamless.

The novel weaves a path through the lives of three generations of women recovering from heartbreak. 25-year-old Heather Russo, her mother Sandy, and Grandmother Bonnie embark on a trip to Peru to belatedly celebrate Bonnie's 70th birthday, which was sadly delayed due to the death of her third husband. There are festering resentments and mislaid plans aplenty as the three women manage their dreams, expectations, and disappointments with themselves, their loves, and each other. All that emotional baggage gets packed with their luggage, and it will take some heavy lifting to reach the cathartic summit.

You will want to read this book for hours, making it a perfect holiday indulgence.

Best, First, and Last has been an absolute joy to read. While the basic story involves three women, Bonnie, her daughter Sandra, and her granddaughter Heather embarking on a hike to Machu Pichu, the emotional journeys these women take along the way are at the heart of the story.
Bonnie, seventy, has recently been widowed for the third time and is grieving both the loss of her husbands and the fact that the last one, Junior, interrupted her birthday celebrations, which ended up being his wake at the golf course. She’s feisty and daring and determined to seize the day, but she has a soft underbelly too and as this story unfolds, we learn about her loves and losses and how they've affected her.
Sandy has been left by her husband, who has been a philanderer throughout their marriage, and she’s struggling to come to grips with her abandoned status, particularly as he is remarrying. She’s depressed and has shut her family out of her life, forcing Bonnir to take drastic action and bring her on the hike. Sandra is a stalwart believer in steadfast love and refuses to believe that her daughter Heather’s relationship with Shawn, her idea of the perfect husband, is over and, of course, this leads to some spectacular scenes on the trek.
Heather is in a slump. She’s dumped Shawn but hasn’t really worked out what drove her to that decision other than that she doesn’t want to be in a relationship with him. The trouble is that he keeps turning up on her doorstep and, for want of a better offer, she keeps sleeping with him, then berating herself the next day.
There are so many wonderful threads in this story. Primarily, there is the regeneration of a familial relationship between the three generations of women, but this book is also about living your best life and running to challenges, people, and places rather than from them. This is absolutely a five-star read. I loved it!

Best, First and Last was my first book by Amy T Matthews, and I really enjoyed reading it.

It is a family drama where each of the three women have issues. Grandmother Bonnie missed out on her 70th birthday celebration as it was turned into a wake for her third husband. She decides to fly to Peru and hike the trail and take her daughter Sandy, and granddaughter Heather, with her.

Sandy has completely fallen apart when her long time cheating husband (and Heather’s dad) has finally left her for his latest mistress and publicly announced on Facebook that he is going to marry the woman. Actually Sandy has gone beyond falling apart and is now entered the wallowing in misery phase.

Meanwhile Heather has a boyfriend who adores her and she has dumped him even though she can’t even tell herself why, and he won’t give up on her as he thinks she has ‘daddy’ issues. It is not until she arrives in Peru that she realises why she has dumped him. I didn’t like Heather at first but gradually she became my favourite character.

Though the actual hike fades a bit into the background against the emotional baggage of the three women, it is while they are on the trail that breakthroughs come through for each of the women. While they bickered, moaned about and avoided each other if they could, ultimately each of the women wanted only the best for each other and went out of their way to help. As the sun rose over Machu Picchu, problems faded away and a new beginning for each beckoned. Well, that’s the plan. Watching the three women grapple with their issues, and share secrets as they travelled the trail was a real treat.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster (Australia) for providing an advanced copy of this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own

It took me a while to get into this one because there was a lot going on in this book - 3 POVs, numerous side characters, multiple timelines, family and romantic relationships and a journey through Peru! But it all came together in the end and showed how messy and painful life can be, but also how those around you can lift you up when you need it.

This story of love, romance and heartbreak, is exceptionally written. It explores intergenerational relationships between a young woman, her mother and grandmother. The three go on a hiking trip in Peru to Machu Picchu, which becomes a journey of truth and realisations, as well as self-reflection, personal growth and healing. Descriptions of stunning scenery along the way make you want to book a flight to this ultimate tourism Mecca. I have this book 5 stars.

CW: stalking, depression, death, hospitalisation

Heather's life is in a rut. Working from home, with an on/off thing with her ex, and being the mediator and emotional dumping ground for her divorcing mother, Sandy. So when her grandmother, Bonnie, recently 70, recently widowed, strongarms the two of them into a trip to Peru with her as a birthday vacation, she takes the chance. And as they prepare for their trek to Machu Picchu, secrets are revealed, and burdens lightened.

This is a complex, multilayered tale of love, loss, lightning and letting go. It's a tale of mothers and daughters; of romance and relationships, of trauma and resilience, mental health challenges and the lengths people go to for those they love.

The subplot - of Heather's love life - lighten's the mood, and allows for breathing room between some heavy topics.

The characters were fun - the overbearing Bonnie, the depressed Sandy, the caught in the middle Heather, the too good to be true Owen and the good-on-paper Shawn - and they were brought wonderfully to life by the audiobook narrator, Charlotte North.

A delightful read and a fantastic audio book.

~Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own~

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an early copy of this book.
This book was an easy five stars. I loved following the relationship between Heather and her family. I loved that they were not perfect and at times deeply flawed but the love they had for each other was evident.
There were some intense emotional moments but also parts where I literally laughed out loud!
The journey through Peru and Machu Picchu was beautifully described and made me feel like I was there.
The story was not predictable in the slightest and I really enjoyed the twists throughout.
There was great character growth from all characters and I could have easily read another hundred pages of this story.
I can’t wait to see what Amy puts out next.

Thank you net galley for providing me with this ARC.
This book took me a little bit to get into. The characters confused me a little at first. It’s a heartwarming, drama filled story. It delves into 3 generations of women dealing with their generations of family baggage.
I enjoyed it but it wasn’t really a book for me, so I didn’t fall in love with it instantly and have it captivate me and thirsty to finish it off.

This is not my usual genre. I usually read crime novels, but I love travel, so this appealed to me. Several years ago, I travelled in Tanzania with a close friend, along with her mother and daughter, so that also appealed - thankfully our trip was much less dramatic!
I found this to be a very easy read. I enjoyed the flashbacks filling in the backstory of each character. Sandra wasn't particularly likeable until I knew her story. Bon was great and a strong character, and as her story came out you could see how that had impacted Sandra. Heather's story is really just starting.
I would have liked more time spent on the hike itself, and more descriptions of it.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Best, First and Last is a story of three generations of women who set out on an adventure in Peru to Machu Picchu - one of the natural wonders of the world.

The trek is initiated by Bonnie (Grandmother) - who suggests it as a great way to celebrate her 70th birthday. Bonnie is grieving her deceased and third husband Junior who has accompanied her on the trip in a small wooden box. Sandra (daughter) is a social worker going through a divorce. Heather (Granddaughter) has just broken up with her boyfriend and is miserable.

All three women carry with them some emotional baggage. Secrets are revealed, family squabbles and bickering are persistent throughout and there may even be a touch of romance.

This book made me want to research Machu Picchu more. Thanks to Netgalley & Kensington Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Best, First and Last is a beautifully written story that includes generational points of life with Grandmother (Bonnie/Bon Bon), Mother (Sandra) and daughter (Heather). You're first introduced to newly re-widowed Bonbon, and through her to her Granddaughter to Sandra. The story is mostly told through Heather but as they do group up, you still get a little of everyone.

In my opinion, the characters are so easy to see yourself in. Each woman is traveling through their own chapter in their book of life, and it was entertaining and beautiful to see them interact with each other as they try to find healing in Peru together. Of course, nothing goes as planned, and I feel the ending was really well done.

I definitely recommend this book for the style of writing (super easy to read and get sucked away) as well as the humor perfectly sprinkled through. It really felt like the author was drawing from some personal experiences!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for the ARC.