Hey Bookdragons! Today's "The Saturday Review" merges with my stop on the Last Things Blog Tour hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club!
Last Things
Publisher: Greenwillow
Release Date: May 7th 2019
Genre: Young adult, Fantasy
Blurb
When strange things start happening to local music idol Anders Thorson, everyone blames his number-one-fan, Thea. But is she out to hurt him? Or protect him?
High school senior Anders Thorson is unusually gifted. His band, Last Things, is legendary in their northern Minnesota hometown. With guitar skills that would amaze even if he weren’t only eighteen, Anders is the focus of head-turning admiration. And Thea Malcom, a newcomer to the insular town, is one of his admirers. Thea seems to turn up everywhere Anders goes: gigs at the local coffeehouse, guitar lessons, even in the woods near Anders’s home. When strange things start happening to Anders—including the disappearance of his beloved cat, then his sort-of girlfriend, and, somehow, his musical talent—blame immediately falls on Thea. But is she trying to hurt him? Or save him? Can he trust a girl who doesn’t seem to know the difference between dreams and reality? And how much are they both willing to compromise to get what they want?
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Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 This is one catchy cover. As a whole it's pretty awesome, but the longer you look at it the more you notice the finer details you might not have picked up on at first glance. It's creepy and edgy and totally rock and roll.
Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 “Someone is always watching." - This only adds to the eerie mysterious vibe of the cover and begs the question "who is watching? Thea? A more sinister being? As far as taglines on covers go this one definitely makes you want to learn more.
Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 We're presented with two main characters who tell the story in alternating chapters. We have Anders - the lead singer of an up-and-coming metal band who behind the scenes is kind of insecure about people liking him for him or just his talent and of course there's hints dropped about where this godlike musical talent came from, a darkness in Anders he's afraid everyone else will find out about. Then we have Thea. By all accounts she's the weird new girl who is essentially stalking Anders and lives in the creepy house with her crazy aunt. And her actions, following Anders home after gigs, following him everywhere basically and listening in to band practices from the tree house next door do nothing to dissuade you from thinking of her as a crazy stalker. But what if she's not stalking so much as observing and looking out for Anders? What if she knows something about Anders nobody else knows? Both characters are really well developed. They have insecurities and aspirations, feelings and obsessions.
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Last Things is set in a small Minnesota town, and I definitely felt like I was in some backwater Minnesota town as I read this book. I could see myself walking through the woods, hearing the sounds of the trees and unseen nature, picture myself seated at the coffee shop/bar where Anders and his band play their gigs - a latte warming my hands as ear-drum breaking metal music roars in the background. Perhaps I can see it so well because the setting is not so different from the small Wisconsin town I live in, and I get how life and people are in small towns.
Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Alright, now picture this. You live in a small town where there isn't much to do and you've gone to school with the same kids your entire life. Everyone knows everyone, everyone frequents the same places, etc. And on Friday night the place to be is where the hottest band in town is playing. Most people would call it a dive. Without the success of the band the joint would probably cater to the same grizzled bikers or whatever that have been regulars since the doors opened. But the band is on fire. Not only that, but the lead singer of the insanely popular band Last Things is your invisible-by-day classmate Anders who transforms into this powerful musician who screams out amazing lyrics every weekend. You know he's going somewhere big fast. (Are you getting creepy Jessica's Body vibes yet because I definitely was initially!) But then weird things begin to happen and all signs point back to the strange new girl. The girl everyone claims is a crazy stalker. But is she really? And is Anders's talent just a gift he was born with, a gift that took him from singing cover songs to writing new songs non-stop seemingly overnight, or does his gift stem back to something more sinister? I actually read this book twice in anticipation of this blog tour and I liked it much more the second time. Overall, this is an interesting read and I definitely recommend it!
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 4.6 of 5 Stars!
My Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
4.6 of 5 Stars!
About the Author
Jacqueline West is the author of the NYT-bestselling middle grade series The Books of Elsewhere, the YA novel Dreamers Often Lie, and the new middle grade fantasy The Collectors. She is also the author of two poetry collections, Cherma and Candle and Pins: Poems on Superstitions, and her poetry and short fiction appear in a variety of publications.
She lives in Red Wing, Minnesota, with her family.
Connect with Jacqueline online:
Prize: Win (1) of (2) copies of LAST THINGS by Jacqueline West (US Only)
Starts: April 29th 2019
Ends: May 12th 2019
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