Best, First, and Last

By: Amy T. Matthews

Narrated by: Brigid Lohrey

When twenty-five-year-old Heather Russo breaks up with her boyfriend—again—she can't figure out if she's to blame or he is. Either way, she's miserable, and working at home via Zoom meetings is only making it worse. What's more, all the women in her family are struggling. Mom Sandy is convinced she's wasted her life and is nursing a giant grudge against Heather's father, whom she's now divorcing. Grandmother Bonnie is reeling with the grief of losing her third husband, and is carrying his urn everywhere she goes, even the supermarket. The bottom has fallen out of their lives so abruptly, the trio is clinging to any handhold they can—and slowly but surely losing their grip . . .

Inspired by a friend's adventurous grandson, and determined not to spend her seventieth birthday wallowing, Bonnie is ready to take extreme measures. Even if it means dragging her beloved girls along by the hair, they're going to hike the Incan Trail to Machu Picchu! Of course, their emotional baggage gets packed with their lightweight jackets, but as they make the trek, the women also talk, sharing stories and secrets that have been festering for far too long. With every arduous step toward the famed summit, each woman sheds some of the past and its pain, and opens up to the extraordinary possibilities of the present—and a future that just might include a new happily ever after.

©2024 Amy T. Matthews (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

real characters, real relationship

Beautiful story about 3 generations and the secrets and history they each keep. I really love that the author keeps her characters in the real world. they aren't archetypes. I also really enjoy that she doesn't do the "and they lived happily ever after" .. Amy keeps her romance on the

Not for me

I did not enjoy the story very much. I found the characters overly dramatic, a little whiny, and I became frustrated with them making the same bad decisions repeatedly. I did not enjoy the narration at all. The narrator had an accent not in keeping with the characters, and there was an odd cadence to her reading.