The Last Forever by Deb Caletti (review)

It’s supposed to be a short road trip: Tess and her father head out just before the end of her junior year to see the Grand Canyon and maybe get some perspective after Tess’ mother’s death. Instead, her father takes Tess to stay with the grandmother she’s never known on a Washington island and leaves her there. Despite her fury, Tess finds herself connecting to people on the island, especially Henry Lark, a handsome guy who’s just as book-loving as Tess herself. Tess’ romance with Henry deepens, and when her beloved pixiebelle plant, a rare specimen that’s a legacy from her mother, begins to die, Henry crusades to save its seeds—and Tess’ connection to her mother—in a global seed archive that’s securely encased in the Norwegian Arctic. However, neither Tess’ plant nor Henry prove to be what they seem. This is classic Caletti, with comradely travel, extended families, flawed parents, and quirky coastal communities (this is the same fictional Parrish island setting of The Six Rules of Maybe, BCCB 5/10) key elements in a girl’s self-defining growth, and the author’s lucid, thoughtful prose and effective portraiture is on full display here. The reveal that Henry is gay is a little overhistrionic (and the book’s oddly silent about the possibility of his bisexuality, despite the fact he seems pretty happy to date Tess); the underlying truth that sometimes people care greatly about you even if it’s not in the way you want them to is an important one, though, and it’s explored through Tess’ relationship with her father as well as the one with Henry. Caletti fans and other aficionadoes of solid drama will warm to this satisfying tale of a bittersweet summer that changes things, breaks hearts, and heals them in new configurations.