The Last Word

The Last Word Written by A.L. Tait (Scholastic Australia) Tween Romance RRP AU$17.99 ISBN 9 781761 646874

Reviewed by Robyn Gillies

Matilda Bell starts Year 8 without her best friend Gemma, her only real friend since kindy. Matilda knows that her classmates think she is an almighty nerd, but without Gemma by her side to laugh or complain with, the year is not looking good. Without Gemma, there may also be no debating team, her other love. And then there is the ‘Cat Pack’ to deal with, a group of girls who have taunted and bullied Matilda and Gemma ever since they hadn’t turned up to Matilda’s eighth birthday party. Surely, it couldn’t get worse.

Enter Will O’Connor, the new boy at the school. Cool, good-looking, disruptive, and annoyingly clever without effort. He gets under Matilda’s skin in a way that no one else ever has. Then, he’s put on the debating team! It just got worse.

Can they find a way to work together so they win as a team, or will they end up hating each other?

From the very first chapter, the story moves along at a cracking pace, and the reader quickly develops a strong sense of the key character, Matilda Bell, a perfectionist who loves learning, which draws unwanted attention. But Matilda has learnt through the years to deal with it – focus, then focus some more. She is also thoughtful, caring and resilient, and she reads others with a high level of maturity, but can she read herself?

Alison Tait taps into a sophisticated understanding of how young people experience the often-difficult years of becoming teenagers, school life, friendships, bullies, love, and romance, and creates a compelling, multilayered story.

The language is clear and simple, but effective. The story is tight, with every word moving the story along. The title is clever and apt.

Alison Tait is a gifted writer in this genre, and she has delivered a wonderful book that captures the sometimes awkward time of first love, when strong feelings can be difficult to understand.

This is book #3 by Alison Tait in the Two Hearts series of standalone romance novels for tween readers 10+ years, and it’s also a great read for those who are young at heart.