iUniverse, $11.95, ISBN 978-0-595-48630-4
Contemporary Fiction, 2008

Last Love is one of those “women go on a road trip and discover themselves” stories. Elsie Erwin’s mother recently passed away. What follows are a series of revelations, including a clue to the identity and whereabouts of her father. She decides to embark on a road trip with her best friend Bertha – something that they haven’t done before in their lives – and in the process finds their own Hallmark TV movie of the week.

The problem with Last Love is that I don’t know what to make of Elsie. How old is she? I have to wonder because for an adult, Elsie sure doesn’t behave or think like one. She has never socialized with the opposite sex because her mother told her that men are like germs. She has never wondered about her father until a cousin tells her about him. Throughout the story, she speaks and behaves like a child in this story that I wonder whether she’s mentally handicapped in some way. Elsie and her friend Bertha are girl-child types rather than adults, which makes this story a hard one for me to get into.

On the bright side, the scenery is beautiful. The various descriptions of Gaston County are most vividly detailed that I wish I can pay a visit to that place one day. But alas, Lost Love feature some characters that are portrayed too simplistically to the point that they come off like children. Since they are supposed to be adults at some kind of crossroads in their life, I can only scratch my head in confusion. This one feels like an Enid Blyton story masquerading as a coming-of-age women’s fiction, in other words.