The Last Days Of Us

The Last Days of Us
Written by Beck Nicholas
Contemporary, Romance, #LoveOzYA
288 Pages
Published December 18th 2017
Thank you to Harlequin Australia and Netgalley
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★★☆
Six months ago, Zoey’s life went off the rails. After the tragic loss of her brother, she partied her way to oblivion, estranged her best friend, Cass, and pushed away her now ex, Finn. But when her destructive behaviour reaches dangerous heights, Zoey realises she needs to pull herself together and get her old life back, including her ex. There’s just one complication, Finn is now dating Cass.

Now, it’s the last week of summer and Zoey, Cass and Finn are setting out on the road trip of a lifetime to see their favourite musician, Gray, perform live, joined by Finn’s infuriatingly attractive bad boy cousin Luc and his vibrant younger sister Jolie. Zoey thinks this is her chance to put things to rights and convince Finn they should get back together. But she wasn’t counting on her friends’ lingering resentment, Luc’s disarming sincerity, and Jolie’s infectious love for life to turn her plans upside down.
Sixteen year old Zoey is embarking on a journey of reflection and discovery, attending a performance in Melbourne and accompanied by her best friend and former boyfriend. After her brother Daniel passed away, her relationships dissolved as Zoey medicated with a destructive concoction of alcohol and isolation. Although remorseful, Zoe is courageous to concede and apologise for her behaviour, she continued to endure the relationship of friend and former boyfriend Finn. Two important figures in her life seeking solace in one another, rather than support Zoey.

Accompanying them on the journey is Lucien and Jolie, siblings and cousins of Finn. A stoic young man and reluctant passenger, Lucien appears menacing while Jolie is a vivacious and effervescent fifteen year old. Zoey is attracted to Lucien. He's attentive and paternal but with no regards for her best friend, Zoey is determined to rekindle her relationship with Ryan.

I despised Ryan and his girlfriend. Zoey was intoxicated and allegedly discovered with a young man and consequently, this excused her friend and boyfriend from their behaviour. The narrative circumvents the discussion of consent and Zoey is criticised by her friend for her sexuality, implying she's promiscuous. I found the relationship between Zoey, Finn and his girlfriend noxious as Zoey endeavours to reestablish her relationship with Finn. It explores adolescent relationships and deception. Although Zoey is distressed, she attempts to manipulate Finn into a new relationship. Her friend is barely present, a character only existing to aggravate Zoey and create a point of melodrama within the narrative. She spends the entire journey either unsociable or being offensive.

Lucien is a compassionate young man and I enjoyed his gentle and familial relationship with Jolie who is spontaneous and charismatic, her enthusiasm and vitality is infectious. I'm disappointed the narration focalised Zoey when Jolie could have offered a pragmatic perspective. I applaud Zoey's character for reflecting on her behaviour but pursuing Finn was uncomfortable. Zoey's resentment of the relationship between Lucien and Jolie was exhausting as she continuously compared her relationship with Daniel.

The essence of The Last Days of Us is spontaneity, absolution and adversity. Unfortunately it's melodramatic, monotonous and not for me.

13 comments

  1. Zoey sounds like a very annoying character! But the story sounds pretty great ❤❤❤❤
    Haniya
    booknauthors.blogspot.com

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    1. I loved the adventure concept Haniya but unfortunately most of the characters irritated me. It's an entertaining read but too melodramatic. I'd be interested to see what you think of it.

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  2. Sounds like the issue of consent isn't handled well - and it has some really unlikable characters. I appreciate your honest thoughts. Thank you for sharing!!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. It's not really discussed at all unfortunately Lauren. Zoey's character uses alcohol as a coping mechanism and rather than use her behaviour as a discussion point, another character decides to shame her. Teens aren't perfect and it's great when young adult characters are flawed and make mistakes but I was disappointed overall that the narrative felt disorganised.

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  3. This sounds like one of those irritating, overdramatic teenager types *sigh* I cannot stand it when characters compare themselves to others frequently :( sorry this one didn't work for you. I hope your next read is better!

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    1. I just finished reading The Build Up Season by Megan Jacobson and it was brilliant! Sadly this one had so much potential but fell incredibly flat for me.

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  4. Hmmm ... yeah, I'll pass. I'm so picky when it comes to this genre now because I want to avoid the ones like this.

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    1. It was entertaining Christy but unremarkable unfortunately. Contemporary young adult is much more aware and in touch these days that it felt better suited to the young adult releases of three or four years ago sadly.

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  5. This sounds sad. Sigh. I don't read a lot of contemporaries for this reason. They're usually full of clichés, hateful friends and bad relationships. Thanks for the honest review.

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    1. Contemporary has really become a wonderful genre in young adult thankfully, with so many diverse authors bringing their stories to the world but this was too cliche unfortunately. We've moved on from unnecessary drama. Stripped back and told from another point of view I would have actually really enjoyed it.

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  6. Sounds like i'd be repeatedly shaking my head at this book and possibly wanting to fictionally kill of some of the characters :-|
    Thanks for sharing :-) <3

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    1. I know adolescent relationships can be incredibly complex but it just manufactured. Girl and boy breakup, boy and girls best friend get together, girl plans on getting boy back, finds new boy, likes both boys. Doesn't care about friend. Basically. It was entertaining to a point but the only character of substance was asleep most of the time.

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  7. It sucks this book wasn't for you because from the summary it did sound interesting. I get the melodrama put you off a bit. I admit, there are elements of this book which intrigue me but poor character decisions and characters who don't sound all that nice puts me off.

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