Review: 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.

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I can’t remember the last time a book left me reeling like this one.

Every Last Promise is haunting and beautiful. I felt for the main character, Kayla; she carries a heavy secret on her shoulders, living in fear because of it. She was the driver in an accident where one boy died and the other survived…but that’s not the whole story.

The boy who survived recovered from his injuries, and yet there’s still someone hurting. Will Kayla be brave enough to step up and help the other person involved?

Reading the novel, I sometimes wanted to be mad at Kayla for how she handled things–until I remembered how her “friends” treated her when she returned home.

Living in a small town meant doing the right thing would drop a bomb on everyone. I really felt for Kayla, seeing the shame and abuse she endured for a great deal of the novel.

I absolutely loved Every Last Promise. A fast read with a great hook, its chapters switch in time from Spring–before the accident–to Autumn, when Kayla returns from Kansas City. I liked how the chapters took readers back and forth.

This book reminded me of the dangers that come with power–and what powerful people will do to keep their reputation clean, no matter what. It also illustrated fear, how it can be strong enough to make a person walk away from friends or lie because they don’t want to be alone.

This book was spectacular. Give it a read.