I will try my best to write down everything that I loved about this book. Though it will be hard, because all I have in my brain right now is that I loved it so. The writing was incredible, as always. I had no trouble connecting to these characters. Contemporary is not really for me, but I always love these books by Megan. Sigh.
This is an adult book, which I also almost never read, but Megan have now written three amazing ones that I have all loved. What I love the most is that her characters are about the same age as me. In this one the main girl is twenty five years old, which is the same as me. And I feel all kinds of young, haha, so it was easy to connect with this main character too. I'm giving this book four stars, as something very small about the past bothered me. But besides that, I very much loved this book. I could not stop reading it. And I will be thinking about this for a long time, I am sure of it. Because it was all kinds of exciting and thrilling. Yet so slow at times too. It was probably mostly a character driven book, with secrets being revealed, and I loved it a whole lot. So good.
This book tells the story of Avery. She have lived in the small town of Littleport her whole life. When she was fourteen her parents died in a car crash. And when she was eighteen her grandmother died too, the last of her family, leaving her all alone. A few months after that she met Sadie for the first time. And they clicked together right away, becoming best of friends. But only for the summer, as Sadie was only there in her family's summer house during the holiday. But they spent every summer together for about six years.
Until the summer that Sadie died. It was ruled a suicide, and Avery believed in that for almost a year. Until she started looking more. Learning more about what had really happened that night, the night Sadie was found dead in the water. There was a party. Sadie never showed up. But the killer might have been there, if Sadie was murdered and did not kill herself. That is pretty much all I will say about this plot. It is about Avery trying to figure out what happened to Sadie. About her learning things about everyone around her.
There is so much going on in this book. We get to know Avery, piece by piece. There is much she keeps hidden. And I loved that. I loved all the secrets and the surprises. Some of them ruined my heart, though. Especially learning about Connor, her childhood friend and first boyfriend. It ended too soon, because of the pain she was going through after her grandmother died. And gosh. Learning things about her and him ruined my heart. Some things were too painful, too rude, but there were some happy memories too. Sigh.
And though this was not a romance book, sadly, haha, there were hints of a romance at times. I shipped Avery and Connor so very much. They were complicated. Yet they would fit together so well. I wish there had been more focus on it, that it had been more happy. But I was also pleased with what was included in this book. And I enjoyed everything so very much. This is Avery's story. And she has a whole lot to share. We learn many secrets about her and Sadie, how they may have been fighting weeks before Sadie died.
At times it was impossible to know who the murder had been, if she had been murdered at all. There was so much to learn about everyone. There was Sadie's brother, Parker, their parents. They all had secrets. And they all played a part in this story. I did not like Parker much at all, honestly. Hmph. Avery had sort of wanted him ever since she first met him, and Sadie told her don't. But they have not been together. That made me happy, haha. He was an interesting character to get to know, though. Fully complicated as well.
But I must admit to loving getting to know Connor the most. Who he had been to Avery, before. And who he was to her now. I so wish they had spent more time together. Yet simply just loved learning about their past. They were perfect together, yet also not, because he had not fully seen all the pain she was in those years back. She hurt him, badly. But he hurt her too. And that is another reason for why they would have been so good together. Sigh. But this book was not about that. It was about a murder, almost a year back.
And gosh. Every single thing that came to light about the death of Sadie hurt my heart a little. There are secrets being learned pretty often, most of them bad. All of them exciting. I fully loved reading about the friendship that Avery and Sadie had before. They were pretty much amazing together. A bit destructive, perhaps, but also perfect for each other. We learn so much about this place they live in too. And it was beyond interesting, honestly. I always wanted to know more about this town and the people living there.
I simply have no other words for this book. It have not been easy writing this review. Since all I can think about is how I loved this book. And how you all need to read it too, when it comes out this summer. It was such a great read. And I am so thrilled that I got to read it right now. I know that I will read this book again one day, and that is the best feeling. While a few small things bothered me, I still loved everything. I loved Avery a whole lot. She was so fierce and complicated and loving and I adored her to pieces, to be honest.
The Last House Guest was such a thrilling mystery. Exciting and filled with suspense. I so loved working everything out. Most of the surprises and secrets were surprises for me too, and I loved that. I adored the main character and I loved learning more about her. Huge thank you to the publisher, Simon & Schuster, for approving my request to read this book early via Edelweiss. I had to start it right away, and I'm so glad I did so. This book was incredible. And I cannot wait to own the finished copy of it too. You must read this.
