Review: Famous Last Words

Famous Last Words by Katie Alender
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, what an incredible novel. Picked this up on a whim in my library in the new acquisition section of the teen portion, and I did not regret it for a second!

The first thing I loved about this book was the description. The author really had a way for making you hear the voices of the characters, see the expressions on their faces, the scene playing out in front of you.

The second thing I loved was how it was written in a very realistic way in regards to how it portrayed LA. Too many books about LA are written by people who don't have a clue about what it's really like, and overdramaticize it to the point where it takes over the plot too much.

I eventually got so scared and anxious I had to skim ahead (I KNOW IT'S A TERRIBLE HABIT). This book just had me reeling and freaking out constantly. The rising action was awesome for a while, but eventually I just got antsy and wanted to get to the climax to figure out who the killer was. The only complaint I have: (view spoiler)[The climax was a little too dark and disturbing for my taste, wish there had maybe been a bit more warning of that on the book. Then again, most of the book wasn't like that and that might have scared some people off so maybe it was better off that way. (hide spoiler)] Falling action was absolutely beautiful and truly made me extremely happy. (view spoiler)[ THOSE LAST FEW PAGES ABOUT WILLA AND WYATT OHMYGOD!!! They were written so beautifully and I could truly feel and see the scene as they would have experienced it, it was so brilliant. Unlike many other couples I read about, I feel like their relationship will truly last forever, and I like to believe that they got married. (hide spoiler)]

Don't know why, but for some reason I pictured Wyatt's character as Caspar Lee. I guess Caspar just looks like a Wyatt, and to me his personality just kind of fit Caspar. He's a YouTuber if you don't know who he is, check him out he's hilarious and super sweet. Here's a link to his channel: https://m.youtube.com/user/dicasp?

How I pictured Wyatt:



Unlike another review I read from a friend, it took me a while to figure out the "whodunit" so to speak. (view spoiler)[ However, when Willa was going through what Marnie had said to her the last time she saw her with Wyatt on page 234 (in my book), and she recited the gentleman line in her head again, all the dots connected, as not long before in the book Reed had said he was "no gentleman". Throughout the rest of the book, even when I was still not truly sure it was him because of how dang good of an actor he was (or was written to be), I knew it had to be because there was no way that was a coincidence and was obviously written that way. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ Katie (the author) wrote a serial killer incredibly well. It was very difficult to tell that Reed was the murderer, he was an amazing actor, but his transition from sweet, caring guy to psycho madman was still believable. That's what truly cinched it for me. How well this book was written. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, this book was so well written and had me on the edge of my seat. I don't really read mysteries (besides Nancy Drew in my younger years) or crime novels, and especially not the teen crossovers, but I am so glad I decided to give this one a go. It was really difficult to connect the pieces together, as there were multiple clues that somehow all connected but you just couldn't quite figure it out and it drove you insane. I never wanted to stop reading this book, but she wraps it up quite nicely in the end. Stellar read.

Maybe it's human nature to be drawn to the things that have hurt us the most.

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