Last Wish is a fun and funny, sweet and sexy, will they/won’t they second-chance romance—a moving testament to how an unlikely combo of laughter and grief can become the touchstone for lasting love.
Ellie Cardoso has worked her whole life to make a name for herself as a New York City gallerist. Just as her career—and her love life, thanks to artist Max Jacobs—start to take off, Ellie’s beloved father dies. This unexpected tragedy calls her back to her working-class hometown in Rhode Island and all she left behind. Struggling to navigate the practical and emotional aftershocks of losing her dad while dodging his inquisitive but well-intentioned friends, Ellie can’t escape the nagging feeling that her dad is meddling in her romantic pursuits even from beyond the grave.
The day he died, Ellie’s father made her promise she’d leave herself open to finding happiness, no matter how or when it might appear. So when Eric, Ellie’s long-lost high school crush, shows up unexpectedly at her father’s wake, she wonders if her dad is trying to send her a message about second chances, despite her budding relationship with Max. And when some biblical-scale events— seriously, she starts to worry frogs will fall from the sky—force an extended stay, she finds herself suspecting that happiness might lie in the very place she’s spent her whole life trying to escape.
Donna Freitas is the author of a number of award-winning, critically acclaimed books, including the novel The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano (published in twenty languages), the memoirs Consent and Wishful Thinking, and over a dozen novels for children and young adults. She has a PhD in Gender Studies and Religion, and teaches creative writing. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Sunday Times, and many other newspapers and magazines, and she has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, and All Things Considered. A native Rhode Islander, she splits her time between the US and Barcelona.