Week 45 Review: Last Girl Breathing

From Goodreads:

When the answers to a present-day murder lie in the past, one teen girl must examine a tragic event to prevent more lives from being lost. No one expected it to rain that much. But the rain kept coming, the dam broke, and lives were lost. One was Lucy Michaels's little brother. She was there and while she saved the lives of many young boy scouts, despite being a child herself, she couldn't save him.

Now eight years later, Lucy is preparing to graduate from high school and compete in the air rifle competition at the Olympics when her stepbrother goes missing right before his most important football game. The search is focused on the same plot of land where her younger brother died, and she can't help but draw parallels.

When the search for a missing person becomes a murder investigation, Lucy knows the secrets she holds about what her stepbrother was up to that day could help find the murderer. The clues quickly connect Lucy's ex-boyfriend to the murders, but he couldn't be guilty... could he?

Everyone involved has their own secrets and revealing hers to the wrong person could put her life—and her whole town—at risk. Last Girl Breathing is a page-turning hunt for the truth as Court Stevens once again creates nonstop suspense with characters who will break your heart.

My Review:
I loved reading this book! I've read her first published book, but now I need to go back and read We Were Kings, because this was so good, I loved the mystery, and I need to read more by her! This story was so fantastic, I had to know where the mystery would go from here! 

One thing that I loved even as it hurt me, was that we slowly were told of what happened 8 years ago when Lucy's brother died. We knew it happened, but not the details-at first I thought that he was with the scouts, which just made what happened all the worse.

Another thing that I really enjoyed was the time jump. Just over half of this book takes place in the immediate happenings of when her stepbrother is killed. The other part takes place a few years later, and I really enjoyed that contrast! 

This was a really fantastic mystery, I loved all the twists and turns, like the fact that someone was bribed to compromise the dam, but it wasn't clear who was bribed-just who'd done the bribing. This story dealt with so much with the politics of a small and tight knit town, and it was so satisfying when it came to a close. 

Loved this book so much, it was so good, and I can't wait to read more by Court Stevens! 

Author: Court Stevens
Read: November 10th, 2023 
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2023 Book! 
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: November 7th, 2023

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars