As a fan of Suzanne Park, this has to be my favorite of her adult releases. Talk about a story about crushes, businesswomen, and family. One Last Word is for fans of characters fighting for their dreams and falling in love. Keep reading this book review of One Last Word for my full thoughts.
Summary
Sara Chae is the founder of the app One Last Word, which allows you to send a message to whomever you want after you pass. Safeguards are in place so the app will only send out when you’re definitely, absolutely, 100% dead, but when another Sara Chae dies and the obituary triggers the prototype to auto-send messages that Sara uploads on one drunken night—to her emotionally charged mother, to a former best friend who ghosted her, and to her unrequited high school crush Harry—she has to deal with all the havoc that ensues and reopen old wounds from the past.
She applies for a venture capital mentorship and is accepted to the program, only to find out that the mentor she’s assigned is none other than her former crush and VC superstar Harry Shim, and her life goes from uncertain to chaotic overnight. Empowering and laugh-out-loud funny, One Last Word is a remarkably relatable story about a woman in tech who learns to speak up and fight for what she wants in life and love.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
First of all can I say how much I love the idea of One Last Word. The regrets, secrets, and thoughts we never got to say being sent. There’s this sense of whimsical darkness with longing and catharsis. But for Sara what starts off as a drunken series of letters becomes real and forces her to question if she should wait till the last sentence for it to come out. Why do we let what we would have wanted to say, hold us back. Hold these relationships and true feelings behind?
With the sexism of the tech industry making my blood boil, One Last Word took me on an emotional journey. There’s this feeling of the best things which happen from awful situations. When our nightmares become reality. But what would happen if we cut the people from our life who we’re afraid to answer. Would we not only find a moment of freedom, but also the opportunity for these relationships to change? Aside from the fantastic premise and hook, One Last Word is a story about speaking up.
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About not letting these regrets haunt us, but to find that space for growth and possibility now. Sara has to figure out what will be worth saying and who will be worth having those difficult conversations with. Find One Last Word on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.