Review: Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook

Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook

Perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson and Gayle Forman, Every Last Promise is a provocative and emotional novel about a girl who must decide between keeping quiet and speaking up after witnessing a classmate's sexual assault.
Kayla saw something at the party that she wasn't supposed to. But she hasn't told anyone. No one knows the real story about what happened that night—about why Kayla was driving the car that ran into a ditch after the party, about what she saw in the hours leading up to the accident, and about the promise she made to her friend Bean before she left for the summer.
Now Kayla's coming home for her senior year. If Kayla keeps quiet, she might be able to get her old life back. If she tells the truth, she risks losing everything—and everyone—she ever cared about.

Publishes in US: April 21st 2015 by HarperTeen
Genre: ya contemp
Source: Harper Teen via Edelweiss
Series? no
Other books reviewed by Kristin:
Nobody But Us

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    I wanted to read Last Promise because I looked Halbrook's other novel and I am drawn to these types of books and subjects. It deals with such hard real life topics and I like when authors address then realistically and give an in to discuss such subjects like sexual assault and think through things like what would I do if I witnessed something like that. Or if I were the victim....

     It was pretty confusing with the time line jumping back and forth. I never really got a sense of how everyone related for awhile into the story because there was a group of four friends in the before. and that is always harder for me to to get a handle on the dynamics and the different personalities even without the jumps in time where all of the alliances change and so many people were calling the main character Kayla a killer when the reader is left not knowing the details.

     But I wanted to know what happened and connect with Kayla even though it took longer than I wanted for that to happen I finally realized how it all connected and I understood why she was so scared and why she acted the way she did. I was glad she finally had the courage to do the right thing.

     There was a nice little romance in this one. I liked that it never took eve front seat tho the bigger issues but targeted reinforced Kayla and the strengths she had but didn't realize.

    I wish that stories like this didn't happen in real life but hope that this can make some one brave with to speak up either for themselves or for someone else.

Bottom Line: Confusing time jumps but good mystery.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Have you ever kept a secret you regretted?