Reviewed by Stephen K
TITLE: Last Romance
AUTHOR: Matt Burlingame
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 363 Pages
RELEASE DATE: July 1st 2021
Garrett spent his life preparing for “one day.” One day he’d meet the man of his dreams. One day he’d have a family. One day he’d travel to all the places he’s dreamed of seeing. Then came the one day he hadn’t prepared for. The day he was told his “one days” were about to run out. Will that be enough to make Garrett stop dreaming and finally start living?
Last Romance is a moving look at 48 year old Garrett Gilmore who is grappling with the reality of falling in love with 29 year old actor Justin Dixon, who has agreed to be his companion through the final months of his life. Is the feeling mutual or is the younger man just acting the part out of kindness? Enter David Wong, a muscular, take-charge cruise director who makes no bones about his carnal interest in Garrett.
A plethora of colorful characters, challenging situations, and existential realities round out this passionate, raw, and at times sexually charged, tale of humanity, and the lesson that it is never too late to find chosen family and true love.
REVIEW:
I think that reading Love Story in the early 70s made me an avid three hankie reader. I recall following it with Thursday’s Child and Death Be Not Proud and a host of others but over the years I somewhat lost my taste for pathos. But since this book came up for review as I was approaching Medicaid age, I decided it was time to revisit the genre, hopefully this time with a gay bent.
Ever read a story about a dying man which wasn’t a tear-jerker? This one has its sad spots, but its much more about learning to live. It’s even laugh out loud funny in spots; but that was partly my fault… When Justin comes into the bedroom wearing Dr. Who inspired blue Tardis lounge pants I just HAD to know if they were bigger on the inside than on the outside.
Garret Gilmore was born poor and concentrated on making money, slowly losing more and more of his basic humanity as he grew older. But beneath it all, Garrett is still a good man who’s terminal diagnosis provides him the wake-up call he needs to reclaim his humanity of his joy of life, even as the life remaining to him draws shorter and shorter.
Determined to not die alone, he decides to “hire” some company. His first foray into that leaves him sexually sated, but it’s with “replacement date” Justin that the romance part of this terminal M/M romance begins. While their interaction is something of a “business arrangement,” it neither begins nor ends that way.
Garrett learns to live, laugh, and even love in the time remaining to him; and that is perhaps a happy ending of sorts, and well worth reading about. After all, we’re all living with a terminal diagnosis of sorts. Some of us just have longer than others. This book does remind us that “the life in our days is more important than the number of days in our lives.”
There are parts where Garret is feeling the onset of his cancer where I was reminded of the Theodore Roethke quote “How body from spirit slowly does unwind, until we are pure spirit at the end.” It seems that the closer he gets to death the more he learns and loves his life.
This book does have a happy ending of sorts; but it’s still bittersweet, and tear-inducing. I hope I make as good an ending, (hopefully many years from now.) This book is a reminder to live now, because there won’t always be a tomorrow.
RATING: 
(and three hankies)
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