Early Unraveling of The Last Best Kiss by Claire LaZebnik

Title: The Last Best Kiss

Series: N/A

Author: Claire LaZebnik
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance, Retelling

Publication Date: April 22, 2014

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.

  

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My Thoughts

A copy was provided through Edelweiss and HaperCollins in exchange for an honest review

I'm going to be honest here and say I have never read Persuasion or any book by Jane Austen. Shocker I know, but well I have just never gotten around to it. So I can't say if this LaZebnik's latest retelling stayed true to the original. What I can say is I enjoyed it. It fit the cute and fluffy mood I was in.

Even though this was a cute book overall, there was quite a lot of it that was plain heartbreaking. First I felt so bad for Finn. His affection was genuine and he was 100% true to himself and watching how Anna kept reacting with her friends was just sad then. But the thing is, she really did like Finn back and she wasn't doing it to be mean, she just had no real backbone to stand with at the time. I just hated the whole sad situation.

Then Anna finally takes it too far and realizes what she has been doing, but it's too late Finn is gone now and Anna is heartbroken and dammit I felt for her! Even though I was beyond pissed with her for how she was treating Finn and not realizing it, once he left I was sad for Anna.

But then Finn comes back! And Anna just can't help be drawn to him again, but Finn isn't having any of it. Good for him! This is where I have even more mixed feelings. I didn't like her group of friends. Most of them still felt like they were trying too hard and only really shone through every now and then. Lucy was, surprisingly, the one I could stand the most, but asides from her, I just didn't like any of them, specially the twins.

I liked how Anna isn't actively trying to get Finn back, she knows what she did was wrong and doesn't deserve him, so instead she is just trying to figure out how to apologize after all this time and at least get back to being friends. Finn gets sucked back in anyway and they are just too cute and adorable together!

I didn't like Anna's family except for Molly, of course, and her relationship problems sucked as well. Her sister and dad were incredibly annoying not to mention Ginny (I think that was her name). She took the cake. I wanted to strangle her every time she made an appearance.

All in all The Last Best Kiss delivered exactly what I had been expecting with some good points and others not so good, but I ultimately enjoyed the ride.

So...

Would I Recommend it?

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