Author: Suzanne Park
Acclaimed author Suzanne Park returns with a charming and compelling novel about an aspiring tech entrepreneur who goes on a rollercoaster journey of self-discovery after her app, which sends messages to loved ones after you pass, accidentally sends her final words to all the important people in her life—including the venture capital mentor she’s crushing on. Sara Chae is the founder of the app One Last Word, which allows you to send a message to whomever you want after you pass. Safeguards are in place so the app will only send out when you’re definitely, absolutely, 100% dead, but when another Sara Chae dies and the obituary triggers the prototype to auto-send messages that Sara uploads on one drunken night—to her emotionally charged mother, to a former best friend who ghosted her, and to her unrequited high school crush Harry—she has to deal with all the havoc that ensues and reopen old wounds from the past. She applies for a venture capital mentorship and is accepted to the program, only to find out that the mentor she’s assigned is none other than her former crush and VC superstar Harry Shim, and her life goes from uncertain to chaotic overnight. Empowering and laugh-out-loud funny, One Last Word is a remarkably relatable story about a woman in tech who learns to speak up and fight for what she wants in life and love.
One Last Word is my fourth novel by Suzanne Park. Her novels have great concepts, but not all of them have been for me, so far. Luckily, this novel was easy to connect with and I greatly enjoyed it. The story follows Sara Chae who developed an app called One Last Word, which allows you to send a message to people after you pass. Unfortunately, her own messages end up getting sent to her loved ones, friends, and crush. Harry, her crush, also happens to be a mentor in the venture capital program, which means Sara now faces some interesting new obstacles. The actual concept of sending messages after you pass away is interesting, especially as I can see it being a cathartic practice for some people; however, I did not quite fully understand the purpose for participating in the app. If a person receives a message, the story doesn’t seem to go into replies or what would happen on their end. Instead, it focused more on the sender and not the recipient.
Harry has been Sara’s crush for a long time, and she is afraid to let him know how she feels. When she suspects he might consider her a workaholic and unable to have a significant other, she makes up a fake boyfriend. I did not fully understand the purpose of this part of the story aside from only giving Sara and Harry’s possible romance one additional obstacle. These types of details, including the app’s purpose, all seem to be great ideas, but I am not quite sure on their execution. The story seemed to read as bullet points where a certain event needed to occur to get from the beginning to end instead of having a natural flow with explored details. If these aspects were given more depth, I think I would have connected with the writing a little more. The concept itself is what kept me interested, but the details, for me, needed a little work. Overall, I think this novel will be loved by many readers and I look forward to trying more of Park’s novels in the future.
**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Avon, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**
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