I’m nose-deep in edits on Broken Grown-ups Guide to Joyful Family Life, but we have had two beach days, which means two beach reads.
One Last Thing by Rebecca St. James & Nancy Rue
Tara Faulkner and Seth Grissom grew up next door to each other in Savannah’s historic district. Their parents are best friends. They finish each other’s sentences all the time. Their fairy-tale wedding is a foregone conclusion . . . until Tara discovers another side to Seth three weeks before the wedding. Reality has crashed in on Tara’s fairy tale—but hope will lead her to a future she couldn’t have planned for herself.
This one is an emotional suspense that will have you laughing, crying, screaming and cheering. I read this in one day, much as I did with All In Good Time. Similar themes. A clean read but for grown-ups only.
When the Great Depression takes almost everything they own, Ellie’s family is forced to leave their home in town and start over in the untamed forests of nearby Echo Mountain. Ellie has found a welcome freedom, and a love of the natural world, in her new life on the mountain. But there is little joy, even for Ellie, as her family struggles with the aftermath of an accident that has left her father in a coma. An accident unfairly blamed on Ellie.
Determined to help her father, Ellie will make her way to the top of the mountain in search of the healing secrets of a woman known only as “the hag.” But the hag, and the mountain, still have many untold stories left to reveal and, with them, a fresh chance at happiness.
Echo Mountain is celebration of finding your own path and becoming your truest self. Lauren Wolk, the Newbery Honor– and Scott O’Dell Award–winning author of Wolf Hollow and Beyond the Bright Sea weaves a stunning tale of resilience, persistence, and friendship across three generations of families, set against the rough and ragged beauty of the mountain they all call home.
Loved it. Good, solid YA, clean and challenging.
What are you reading these days? Don’t forget to link up with An Open Book.
Erin McCole Cupp 
So, I think I’ve heard of the Rebecca St. James book before, maybe through a post of yours even. And it’s related to a song title, I think, right? I’m adding it to my to-read list. Thanks for linking up!
Is it a song title? I’m so out of touch. Definitely add it to the TBR. There are a LOT of connections with the plot of All In Good Time but with a more bittersweet ending. I love how AIGT hit all the dark spots but still had so much light. One Last Thing gets really dark *and* really light by the end, but it’s overall a darker read.
Thanks for the recommendations. I had heard of that first one and thought about reading it; now I want to!
It’s very good! Warning: it is darker than Carolyn’s All In Good Time, but just as uplifting in the end.