The last letter A novel

Yarros tells the agonizing yet heartwarming contemporary story of a military man and a single mom trying to find love and happiness in each other despite devastating losses and an explosive secret. Ella's brother, Ryan, who's stationed overseas with the Army, asks her to write to his lonely best friend, a fellow soldier nicknamed Chaos. Ella, who runs a resort in Colorado, and Chaos fall for each other through letters. When Ryan is killed in action, Chaos blames himself and can't read Ella's letters or write to her anymore-until he receives Ryan's last letter, written to be given to Chaos in the event of his death. It asks Chaos to help his sister, since she now has no living family. Still afraid to face her, he stays at her resort under his real name, Beckett. Ella is a single mother to five-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and discovers her daughter has late-stage neuroblastoma. Beckett explains that he was a friend of Ryan's-though he keeps his nickname a secret-and insists he will help care for her children no matter how long he is needed. But even the spectre of a child's death may not be enough for him to admit he was Ella's pen pal. Thanks to Yarros's beautiful, immersive writing, readers will feel every deep heartbreak and each moment of uplifting love in this tearjerker romance. Agent: Louise Fury, Bent Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan's sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella's letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan's death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan's death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan's death and the risk of losing the family he loves. Yarros' (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett's aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella's romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros' writing is crisp and sharp with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: "But I'm not the center of their universe. I'm more like their gravity." While the love story is the book's focus, the subplot involving Maisie's illness is equally well-developed and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere. A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.