The Last Word

By A. L. Tait

Reviewed by Annaleise Byrd

Scholastic’s new Two Hearts series is a collection of standalone novels written by well-known Australian authors and marketed as ‘All the sugar and no spice: Clean romance suitable for tweens and young teens’. The marketing is pitch perfect: there’s a Two Hearts logo, the covers are more middle grade than Mills & Boon, and best of all… there are two-tone sprayed edges with a pattern of small hearts! This makes the books feel special and collectable, which certainly worked on this reviewer in her 40s (I was going to donate my review copy to my son’s high school, but I’m not sure I can part with it… those sprayed edges are JUST SO PRETTY), so I can easily imagine its effectiveness with its target market of romantically minded tweens.

The Last Word is the third book in this series. Author A. L. Tait is well-known in the Australian kidlit community as the co-founder of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast and Facebook group and author of multiple middle grade fantasy series and standalone mystery novels – including, most recently, The First Summer of Callie McGee, Willow Bright’s Secret Plot and Danger Road.

The book opens with high-achieving but somewhat socially awkward 13-year-old main character Matilda about to start Year 8. Her best friend has moved away, leaving the school’s debating team in a pickle without a third member. Enter new student 14-year-old Will, complete with messy curls, a deep voice and an annoying ability to charm everyone with his quick wit and effortless intelligence. Of course he ends up on the debating team, and many delicious clashes with Matilda ensue.

This is quality writing with quirky, well-rounded characters, a rural Australian setting and some great messages relevant to the target age group. The climax of the story revolves around an internet-enabled bullying scenario that is satisfyingly resolved by the female characters without resorting to the ‘rescued by a male’ trope. Matilda’s parents have a ‘no friends in the house when they’re not home’ rule that keeps Matilda and Will outside when he comes over. And Will asks for (and receives) Matilda’s permission before that everything-has-been-building-towards-this-moment first kiss.

Parents and librarians, you are safe handing this book to kids who are ready for romance that is sweet, wholesome and aspirational. I would have loved this book when I was a tween, soaking up every scene featuring The Baby-sitters Club’s Logan and Mary Anne or Sweet Valley High’s Elizabeth and Todd, and to be honest I still adore it now. It has given me two new author goals: to write a clean tween romance and to someday have a book with sprayed edges. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Scholastic 2026

A.L. Tait

Annaleise Byrd is the author of middle grade portal fantasies Losing the Plot and Down the Plot Hole, and the picture book You Are Not a Pup!