Synopsis:
Ambri and Henry have been best friends forever. They've been through the highs and lows of life with each other by their sides. The worst? When Henry's wife, and Ambri's sister, died. Together, they can face it all. Until one night destroys everything.
Two years after he stepped out of it Henry walks back into Ambri's life and she's more than a little shocked. But as old friends fall into even older habits they need to decide whether they can forget the past and embrace their future.
My Review:
Big thank you to Netgalley, Head of Zeus and Aria for allowing me an early read of Aimee Brown’s new novel ‘The Last Dance’. The front cover caught my eye immediately and I liked the sound of the synopsis, although you could tell straight away that this wasn’t going to be your standard romance story. Being a newbie to Aimee’s books I was excited to get started.
Best friends Ambri and Henry have been each other’s supports since forever until tragedy strikes when Ambri’s sister and Henry’s wife dies. Grief brings them closer together until one disastrous night where their relationship changes forever resulting in Henry walking away leaving behind a broken Ambri.
Fast forward two years and Henry is back in town and wanting to be back in Ambri’s life. With a new girlfriend and home Henry is hoping he can amend the past however Ambri isn’t so sure this can be done. Ambri having had two years to rebuild herself, her confidence, trust and still fighting off the all consuming grief of losing her sister; Henry has a lot of bridge building to be back in Ambri’s life again.
There are so many things I love about this book, from the storyline to the characters. Aimee writes beautifully bringing the characters to life, Ambri and Henry being the main characters were likeable (although after Henry making such a huge mistake it did take me a little while to warm up to him again!) As we know Ambri and Henry loose someone they both love, grief and dealing with those feelings were a huge part of the story which was written well, the book was well balanced and the use of humour between the characters was a regular occurrence and gave some light relief from the heartache both Ambri and Henry were feeling.
Another big bonus was getting to read the story through both Ambri and Henry’s eyes, I always say how much I love when authors do this. It gives you that extra insight into their feelings and reactions to situations and towards each other, it helped me to understand their grief a little more and their emotions, it also made me want to bash their heads together knowing their inner thoughts!
Ambri, I could quite easily see myself being friends with, I love how passionate she is about food (I am a huge foodie myself, who isn’t?!) and I love that her job is to blog about up and coming restaurants. Yes Please! I liked that Aimee wrote a character that didn’t have her stuff together in life, she didn’t know where she was headed with her job and she wasn’t sure whether her current boyfriend was ‘the one’ it made Ambri a lot more real and believable.
Henry… What can I say, he is the character you want to dislike but you just can’t help but fall a little bit in love with. Like I said above, I had to get through a few chapters before warming up to him but I couldn’t not. He of course like everyone, is doing the best he can to get through the grief that consumes him, unfortunately he makes some mistakes along the way which you want to hold against him but deep down you know his a good guy and he proves this by all the things he does for Ambri.
The story at times was a little predictable, but you will know from my other reviews that I never mind that in a story, I welcome knowing where it will lead as most of the time I am already willing the storyline to head that way so I am never disappointed and can finish the last page with a smile on my face. I have to admit though I wasn’t ready to finish this story, I wanted it to carry on for a little longer, I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Ambri and Henry.
I am so pleased I read this wonderful, heartwarming story between two people who sadly lost a loved one but learned to survive and keep living and like the synopsis states embrace their future.
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