Review: Last to Know by Micalea Smeltzer

He was just a boy.
And I was just a girl.
But if that’s all there was to the story it wouldn’t be very interesting, would it?

Up and coming band Willow Creek is back in their hometown for the summer. For the drummer, Maddox Wade, this summer was meant for writing music and playing gigs.

Falling in love was not part of the plan.

One look at Emma Burke and those plans cease to matter.

Emma is quiet and guarded. She’s still hurt from her father walking out two years ago. She doesn’t want to trust Maddox, but with his dark hair, smoldering good looks, and infectious smile he’s impossible to resist.

Together Maddox and Emma embark on an unforgettable summer of adventures and first love.
Everything is perfect…or so Emma thinks.

There are things she doesn’t know, and when she finds out the truth it might shatter everything she’s built with Maddox.

No one said love was easy, and for Maddox and Emma it just might be impossible.

This is a Young Adult book. The following books in the series will be New Adult

5 Star Review by Jen Skewes

I loved this book.  It is just one of those books that left me with a hang over for days.  I love every book that I have read by Micalea Smeltzer but I think that this one is by far my favorite.  It was just so freaking good.  It is a sweet, funny, and amazing story about first love.  Maddox and Emma will capture your heart from the very beginning.  They are just so adorable together. 

Emma’s best friend dragged her to a festival in their town to see a few bands.  One being Willow Creek.  Emma has no desire to see any of the bands that are there.  She is a bit different than most 17 year olds.  She is not into the music that everyone else listens to but because her best friend wanted her to go she did.  While waiting for her friend to show up at the end of the night and realizing that she will probably have to find her own way home, Emma meets Maddox and they immediately click.  He gives her a ride home that night and the rest is history.  From that moment they become instant friends, spending a lot of time together.  Maddox wants to give Emma a summer filled with adventures.  He wants to show her how to live.  And Most of all he just wants to spend time with her.

Emma loves spending time with Maddox but her feelings for him start to change and that just scares her. She has never really had a boyfriend before.  Her father left her and her mother and she is afraid to let anyone get too close.  She is afraid of opening up her heart to love.  But at some point refusing to be “more” with Maddox just become too hard.  She’s falling for him and fast.  But the feelings are completely mutual.  Maddox  has fallen for Emma just as hard.  But he has a secret, one that could destroy everything that they have together.  It could destroy the trust that they built.  What happens when Emma finds out the truth?

From the moment that Maddox and Emma met I loved them.   You instantly fell that connection.  They had this ease to their friendship.  It was as if they have know each other forever.  Maddox has this carefree way about him.  He embraces life and he wants to give Emma the best summer of her life.  Maddox had a hard childhood but unlike his twin who is very bitter and angry, Maddox has learned to embrace life as it comes.  With everything that he has been through and where he is in life makes him so mature but at the same time he is just a 19 year old boy who is having the summer of his life with the most amazing girl.  He is so adorably sweet and caring and that just adds to the sexiness that is Maddox.  He just melted my heart with his actions and words.  He is everything that Emma needed at that moment in her life.  Emma has had a brick wall around her heart since her father left her.  And slowly Maddox managed to break those walls down.  She learned to live again to be the Emma that she once was.  They were just so prefect together. 

Last to Know is a beautiful and amazing story about first love.   And I am talking about that first true love that is real, the kind that lasts forever.  You know the kind I am talking about.  When the other person walks in the room you get butterflies in your stomach.  With every look, every wink, every smile and every touch you feel the goosebumps start to form.  You feel the love and the passion between the two of you.  That is exactly what Maddox and Emma had.  They were young but age didn’t matter, because the love they had is the love that everyone should experience.  Their love was real.  Micalea Smetlzer did an amazing job with this story.  It was the perfect start to a new series.  It is sweet, funny and just a refreshing read.  We get to meet the other members of Willow Creek and get enough of a glimpse of the other members that we are left wanting more. I honestly want more Emma and Maddox and hope to see plenty of them in the rest of the series.  I am really looking forward to Mathias’ story.  He is one mystery that I cannot wit to solve.