Review: The Last Best Kiss by Claire LaZebnik

 

The Last Best Kiss
By: Claire LaZebnik
Paperback, 320
Published April 22nd 2014 by HarperTeen


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Anna Eliot is tired of worrying about what other people think. After all, that was how she lost the only guy she ever really liked, Finn Westbrook.

Now, three years after she broke his heart, the one who got away is back in her life.

All Anna wants is a chance to relive their last kiss again (and again and again). But Finn obviously hasn’t forgotten how she treated him, and he’s made it clear he has no interest in having anything to do with her.

Anna keeps trying to persuade herself that she doesn’t care about Finn either, but even though they’ve both changed since they first met, deep down she knows he’s the guy for her. Now if only she can get him to believe that, too....

With her signature wit and expertly authentic teen voice, Claire LaZebnik (the author of fan favorites Epic Fail and The Trouble with Flirting) once again breathes new life into a perennially popular love story. Fans of Polly Shulman, Maureen Johnson, and, of course, Jane Austen will love this irresistibly funny and romantic tale of first loves and second chances

So initially when I started reading this I wanted to dislike the main character Anna because of what she does to Finn. I felt like she was a coward but I know it all too often. The Last Best Kiss By Claire LaZebnik is about Anna, who realizes she is madly in love with Finn whose heart she broke years before. I really liked Finn, he was my breath of fresh air in this book. He leaves her life but comes back years later and she sets out to get another chance with him. That is not without a few bumps and kinks in the road.

While reading this book I thought "Why wasn't my high school experience like this?" But I digress. Anna has a group of friends that were basically a popular click of girls. But they were not the mean girl type of popular crowd. They were a smart and well rounded group of individuals which I found refreshing. About time!!! This book was a very easy and laid back type of read. At times you feel bad for Anna, especially since you know she honestly felt bad about what she did. But a few times I was like "Oh give it a rest Anna, geez." I think the good thing about this book is one can relate to at least one of the characters in the book. At some point in growing up we all knew an Anna, were Anna or one of the other main players.

Once again I found a book where there is a romance but it is not overwhelming. In fact the real romance does not actually happen until closer to the end of the book. When it does happen you are like "YESS FINALLY". Some parts of the book were rather cheesy, sometimes annoying (mostly one character in particular), and boring. The main issue I had with this book was that it felt too drawn out. This book was close to four hundred pages and I could not understand why. This point for me took away from the story itself, however, that does not make it a bad book, just not one that I personally got excited about.

So if you like teenage romance with a little mischief then give this book a try.