Book Review & Blog Tour: The Final Weekend by Neal Cassidy

Hi Everyone! I am super excited to be on tour with Breakeven Books for The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale by Neal Cassidy.

The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale

Author: Neal Cassidy

Publication Date: 25 July 2019

Genre: New Adult – Humor

Pages: 294

Publisher: M & S Publishing

In the last days before the real world, six college friends prepare to take a bow in epic fashion.

After Sunday there’s just Harry, the future business owner; Justin, the medical intern; Trent, the hapless wanderer; and Clarence, soon to don the badge and blues. But now they have years of memories to honor, all packed into one weekend. Will they grow into their new adult roles? Will they go out in style with the girls? Will the four of them even survive the sheer level of debauchery?

Living in an apartment paid for by the Grandma, an ex-hooker turned millionaire, Courtney and Ling-Ling couldn’t be more opposite, yet are completely inseparable. Courtney and Harry have been hooking up for years, neither able to commit, but their imminent separation is about to test that arrangement, and Ling-Ling’s never-ending reciprocated crush on Justin just might become more than that.

Their lives intersect with that of Professor Goodkat, their idolized instructor who never quite “left” college himself. In Goodkat, we find the consequence of getting to live out a hedonist fantasy, and the possibility for change in anyone.

Hilarious, raunchy and uninhibited, “The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale,” captures contemporary society while chronicling the dreams, regrets, perspectives, and future after youth in an unbroken sequence of shockingly touching exploits. No longer armed with the excuse of college stupidity, these friends will go on a journey with higher stakes than a night out has ever had. Because there are things about themselves that blacking out can’t erase. 

I’ll be honest, you definitely need to go into this one with an open mind and be prepared to embark upon a wild ride since it also features lots of satire and sex of course.

The Final Weekend is that weekend when six college friends say goodbye and embark on their final hurrah before they have to enter the real world for good. That being said, don’t look for overly likable or relatable characters here because you won’t be quick to find them.

You’ve got Goodkat the professor who is vain and sleeps with his students. I’ll just leave it at that. Trent has continued his sh*tty attitude, so he finds himself out of a job. Again. Clarence has started a position on law enforcement. Schroeder is a drug dealer. Then you’ve got Ling-Ling, Courtney, and Harry. I’m telling you. It’s a bag of misfits.

So I’ll be honest, there’s partying and definitely plenty of superficial themes. However, if you are able to get through that, what I really gravitated towards the most was the author’s grace when it came to tackling both racism and the prejudice that the LGBTQ+ community faces. These are definitely topics that people try to brush off as jokes when they make problematic comments, and I think the author diligently tries to point that out and not shy away from it.

Overall, don’t be quick to brush this one off with its brash tone. The author’s writing clearly shows the depth’s he is willing to go to tackle some rather challenging topics even if his fallback is humor.

Thank you to Breakeven Books for blog tour invite and providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.