Susan Spencer Paul

I put this on my to-read shelf in 2012. I can’t believe it took me so long to read it! STELLAR angst! I adored the insecure, plain but charming heroine, and each of the protagonists’ feelings of love unrequited. The drama was a bit overwrought (like seriously, why did he hate her in the beginning?) but this had many of my preferred tropes. It would have had a higher rating if it was not THE WORST MESSAGING EVER about love. The hero muses about murdering the heroine if she cheated on him, for gods sake! This sick cultural phenomenon of equating possessive fury and barely-restrained violence with passion and love is just HORRIFYING to me. I know I should steer clear of bodice-rippers (and the Twilight books) because of my hatred for that awful message, but I do so love my insecure, plain heroines and angst and groveling. So many mixed feelings! (3.5 stars)

Also, I want Bella and Wolf’s story!… (meer)

“Luckily, pretentious through and through, I had read Dante’s Purgatorio in its original language before.”

Thank you Love Book Tours for the chance to be a part of this book tour!

Not gonna lie, I kinda loved loved loved the cover which is why I signed up for this book!

The author certainly has a style, and I would have liked it if I didn’t hate Cordelia so much as a person. I just think she’s an awful pretentious ass and I feel sorry for her ex-fiancé and her siblings. I would have felt better if this had turned into stephens kings Misery and doctor Locke had murdered her. Its been a while since I read a book with a main that I hated this much. For example, she only reads classics and turns her nose up at contemporary stuff; that’s the most insufferable you can get. I also didn’t feel the connection between her and the dude.

However, I did like the authors literature references. Mary Spencer is clearly very well read. She has a style of writing that most people will either love or hate and thats fine. I do think that I would have liked if the main and other character sounded a bit different from one another; like one nice normal person in the book would have made me want to murder Cordelia less (or more, you never know really). The ending was unexpected; I really didn’t think that would happen! And I do appreciate that Cordelia is aware of how annoying she is.

Interesting read as whole and I loved all the classics and mythology references!

Incidentally, my full review is here if you want to read it:

https://the-girl-who-reads.com/the-last-great-american-tragedy-by-mary-spencer-b...… (meer)

To be honest, when I read the premise, I was not really sure what to expect from this book. It read kind of like a Shakespearean meets Greek mythology but in like poem format. All elements that do work well together.

I like that Cordelia and Doctor Locke were both lost souls. It made them more relatable and therefore when they did connect, it was emotional. While, I did like this book I found though the most critical part for me was the fact that I could not fully embrace either character. Thus, I found myself at times re-reading passages as it was not resonating with me. Overall, this is a lovely story of second chances and love. I would try another book from this author.

This passage towards the end of the book is so beautiful. Doctor Locke went down on his knees, eyes gentle:

"I will present a ring, tesoro. Something worthy of your wonder. And I will tell you that you have been the last dream of my soul. The only dream of my existence. That I loved you at your darkest and will continue to love you as the stars love the planets, that life would not hold meaning without you in it, it would not interest me without your presence.… (meer)