From the critically acclaimed author of The Gospel of Winter and the coauthor of All American Boys comes a cool, contemplative spin on hot summer nights and the classic teen love story as two teens embark on a cross-country journey of the heart and soul. The point of living is learning how to love. That's what Gpa says. To Hendrix and Corrina, both seventeen but otherwise alike only in their loneliness, that sounds like another line from a pop song that tries to promise kids that life doesn't actually suck. Okay, so: love. Sure.
The thing about Corrina--her adoptive parents are suffocating, trying to mold her into someone acceptable, predictable, like them. She's a musician, itching for any chance to escape, become the person she really wants to be. Whoever that is.
And Hendrix, he's cool. Kind of a poet. But also kind of lost. His dad is dead and his mom is married to her job. Gpa is his only real family, but he's fading fast from Alzheimer's. Looking for any way to help the man who raised him, Hendrix has made Gpa an impossible promise--that he'll get him back east to the hill where he first kissed his wife, before his illness wipes away all memory of her.
One hot July night, Hendrix and Corrina decide to risk everything. They steal a car, spring Gpa from his assisted living facility, stuff Old Humper the dog into the back seat, and take off on a cross-country odyssey from LA to NY. With their parents, Gpa's doctors, and the police all hot on their heels, Hendrix and Corrina set off to discover for themselves if what Gpa says is true--that the only stories that last are love stories.
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 09/13/2016
ISBN: 9781481429887
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 1.10d
Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2016
Publishers Weekly 07/11/2016
Booklist 08/01/2016 pg. 63
Horn Book Magazine 09/01/2016 pg. 109
Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview 08/15/2016 pg. 71
School Library Journal 09/01/2016 pg. 159
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 10/01/2016
Voice of Youth Advocates 10/01/2016 - Recommended - Hard To Beat
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2017 - Superior,Well Above Average
Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 193247 / Last True Love Story
Reading Level: 5.3 /
Interest Level: Upper Grade /
Point Value: 10
