Title: The Next to Last MistakeAuthor: Amelie Jahn
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Trigger Warning: Bullying, death of a loved one
Rating: 5 stars
Release Date: March 19, 2019
Synopsis
Tess Goodwin’s life in rural Iowa is sheltered and uncomplicated.
Although she chooses to spend most of her free time playing chess with her best friend Zander, the farm-boy from next door, her skills as a bovine midwife and tractor mechanic ensure that she fits in with the other kids at East Chester High. But when her veteran father reenlists in the Army, moving her family halfway across the country to North Carolina, Tess is forced out of her comfort zone into a world she knows nothing about.
Tess approaches the move as she would a new game of chess, plotting her course through the unfamiliar reality of her new life.
While heeding Zander’s long-distance advice for making new friends and strategizing a means to endure her dad’s imminent deployment to the Middle East, she quickly discovers how ill-equipped she is to navigate the societal challenges she encounters and becomes convinced she’ll never fit in with the students at her new school.
When Leonetta Jackson is assigned as her mentor, she becomes Tess’s unexpected guide through the winding labyrinth of cultural disparities between them, sparking a tentative friendship and challenging Tess to confront her reluctant nature.
As the pieces move across the board of her upended life, will Tess find the acceptance she so desperately desires?
Review
A special thank you to Netgalley and Light Messages Publishing for providing a free advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Amelie Jahn tells the story of Tess, a farmgirl from Iowa who finds herself moving to a military base in North Carolina when her father reenlists. As someone from the Midwest who started going to college in the South this year, Jahn captures the essence of both cultures extremely well, especially with some of the culture shocks that I had, especially with race relations. This experience and changes where extremely well written and made it so much more relatable and easy to read and enjoy because of my similar experiences.
The interactions and relationships between characters was fantastic. While the friendship of four girls from various backgrounds was the main point of the book, so many of the other characters were really well written as well, especially the role that Cameron plays in the book, not as a main character but who definitely contributes to the overall value and greatness of this book. So many of the characters were great, both in positive and negative ways and felt real and relatable.
The ending honestly shocked me. I did not see it coming at all, but reflecting back, there was foreshadowing so it was definitely a well built shock. The events in the last part of the book were just absolutely amazing and it was a really great and complete ending. Definitely a little on the sad side but it was still absolutely phenomenal and did a great job closing out this book about friendship, first loves, and redefining yourself to be the person who you truly wish to become.
At first, I struggled a little bit with the time skips but the book soon settled into a nice and easy rhythm once the action got started. I wish the first bit had been condensed but this was easy to overlook once I was really able to get into the book and become invested in everything that was truly going on.
I loved Zander and Tess together and found them to be really cute childhood sweethearts, especially as Tess reflects back on her friendship with and memories of him. It was absolutely adorable. The four girls and their friendship was also amazing and so cute. They all had individual challenges but came together and I just adored it. I definitely would recommend reading this book.
This book was just honestly so good and relatable. I didn't see a few things coming but those things were still within the context of this story. I really adored this read and cannot recommend it enough. I fully expect that this will make my favorite 2019 releases list, and potentially even books I read in 2019. Definitely something to pick up.
Thanks for reading!
Alyssa
Amelie Jahn tells the story of Tess, a farmgirl from Iowa who finds herself moving to a military base in North Carolina when her father reenlists. As someone from the Midwest who started going to college in the South this year, Jahn captures the essence of both cultures extremely well, especially with some of the culture shocks that I had, especially with race relations. This experience and changes where extremely well written and made it so much more relatable and easy to read and enjoy because of my similar experiences.
The interactions and relationships between characters was fantastic. While the friendship of four girls from various backgrounds was the main point of the book, so many of the other characters were really well written as well, especially the role that Cameron plays in the book, not as a main character but who definitely contributes to the overall value and greatness of this book. So many of the characters were great, both in positive and negative ways and felt real and relatable.
The ending honestly shocked me. I did not see it coming at all, but reflecting back, there was foreshadowing so it was definitely a well built shock. The events in the last part of the book were just absolutely amazing and it was a really great and complete ending. Definitely a little on the sad side but it was still absolutely phenomenal and did a great job closing out this book about friendship, first loves, and redefining yourself to be the person who you truly wish to become.
At first, I struggled a little bit with the time skips but the book soon settled into a nice and easy rhythm once the action got started. I wish the first bit had been condensed but this was easy to overlook once I was really able to get into the book and become invested in everything that was truly going on.
I loved Zander and Tess together and found them to be really cute childhood sweethearts, especially as Tess reflects back on her friendship with and memories of him. It was absolutely adorable. The four girls and their friendship was also amazing and so cute. They all had individual challenges but came together and I just adored it. I definitely would recommend reading this book.
This book was just honestly so good and relatable. I didn't see a few things coming but those things were still within the context of this story. I really adored this read and cannot recommend it enough. I fully expect that this will make my favorite 2019 releases list, and potentially even books I read in 2019. Definitely something to pick up.
Thanks for reading!
Alyssa
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