Customer Reviews

The Last Chance Texaco

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had to read this book for my summer reading program for school, and at first I was thinking, "This is a book the school picked out, so it isn't going to be that good. I mean they don't know what kind of books us teenagers are into. All they like are them old boring books." Man was I wrong. This was one of the best books I have ever read. I loved it. Lucy is just one of those characters that you just bond with. You also feel sorry for her, because of how so many bad things have happened to her in her life. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It is a great read for all ages. I finished it in less then three days. I just couldn't put it down. Some nights I even stayed up until four o'clock in the morning reading it. So, for anyone out there wanting to read a great book this summer, I recommend this one.

Overall, I truly enjoyed "The Last Chance Texaco"--interesting title, nice cover, compelling premise, solid writing, an appropriate presentation of the types of issues a teen might face in the child welfare system for adolescent readers, a bit of a mystery, and a convincing and relatively unexpected conclusion to that mystery. Now, realize, I'm writing as an adult reader (also, an adult reader with a bit of experience in the child welfare/juvenile justice arenas.), but here's what I would've liked to have seen handled differently. Mainly, I was thrown by those things that seemed unrealistic or were outright unbelievable (e.g., no teen girl could show up at a juvenile detention facility, claim to be a relative, and be let in with no questions asked--much less be allowed personal contact). I wish Nate had been a more three-dimensional character--more than "rich, good-looking guy who falls in love with Lucy starting with a punch in the mouth and the offer of Happy Meal trash"--that way, I could've suspended disbelief as their relationship went from fisticuffs to kissing in the matter of days.

(Thanks, Brent Hartinger, for the chuckle as Lucy and Nate detailed what unlikely things they'd found while picking up trash.)

The novel, The Last Chance Texaco, like Kindle Home is a warm and inviting place to call home. Brent Hartinger's book gives a voice to those children and teens often overlooked by the system. Lucy Pitt enters Kindle Home a mixture of fire and ice. Slowly the ice melts and Lucy discovers what the warmth that a family and a home provide. Lucy is one strong and determined character ready to take on new friends, love, and a burning mystery that has her hiding in bushes and picking up bags full of garbage. Brent Hartinger has written a powerful novel that feels like home. Go ahead, open the door and step inside. I guarantee you will want to stay a while.

I really enjoyed this book, so much that once I started reading it, I could not put it down. If you liked "Geography Club", you will like this as well. I was trying to decide which one I liked better, but to be honest, I couldn't decide. GREAT second novel. Keep up the good work, Mr. Hartinger!

Raymond W.
I like this book it relates to alot of people ive met over the years. The book is about a girl who has been in foster homes since a very young age, now she gets moved to another foster home called Kindle Home but shes already used to being moved, but for some reason this home is different its not the same as all the other ones shes lived in, it actually feels like home. She even sneeks out just so that the home doesnt get closed down and to clear their name. Its a very uplifting story and you wont want to put the book down, I recamend this boon to any and everybody.

I came across this book at my local library, trying to find good books to read. I'm glad I picked this book up because it was a well-told story about a girl that happened to be a misunderstood orphan.

This book is about a 16-year-old girl that has gone from foster home to foster home because of her behavior. She then comes upon THE LAST CHANCE TAXACO where she has one more chance to straighten up her act before she ends up in a place where she won't get out until her 18th birthday, Eat-Their-Young-Island. Lucy is the type of person that pushes people away because she thinks she can't trust them, but then she gets into a fight with a pretty-boy jock who soon becomes her partner in picking up trash. Their relationship is a little rocky, but it soon picks up when she stops pushing him away. She also makes enemies. One is Joy, another girl at THE LAST CHANCE TEXACO, who just thinks that she can get anything she wants when she wants it.

Soon, Lucy and her boyfriend, the pretty-boy jock, have a case on their hands with the neighborhood car fires. And the cops think the Kindle Home kids have done it. Lucy tries to find the arsonist, and gets help from unexpected people.

I really enjoyed this book with its quick wit and amazing characters. Lucy is a headstrong girl that is so dependant, that she pushes people away so easily, she doesn't even realize it. I also loved this book for its realistic twist. Nothing was left to chance, and I like that about a book.

Life as a groupie is hard. Groupie as in a resident of a group home. They have laws unto themselves, these kids. Secrets that the adults - the counselors, the therapists, the educators - who work with them will never know. Not even there non-groupie classmates are let into their world. They wouldn't want in anyway. The groupies in Hartinger's LAST CHANCE TEXACO live with daily distrust and suspicion, if not outright hatred. The title comes from the nickname of the group home. It's their last chance before their misbehavior gets them sent off to Rabbit Island Detention Center, aka "Eat Their Young Island."

Author Brent Hartinger used to work as a counselor in a group home and his depiction of the characters in this book seems very authentic to me.The main character, Lucy, is struggling to find the good in herself and her housemates. When she gets into a fight with the ultra popular superjock Nate at school, they both end up picking up trash after school, thanks to the intervention of a counselor who knows the "equal punishment" rules. What ensues is a romance you'd never expect in a million years and a crime drama with an unexpected resolution.

The plot requires some suspension of disbelief in a few places, but all in all, a good book and an enjoyable read.

~ Roxyanne Young
Editorial Director, www.SmartWriters.com

I first saw this book in the YA section of a hole-in-the-wall mystery store. I started asking questions about it, and got an excited "isn't it just darling. I'm not sure if it's a mystery, but just look at it. It's darling." Brent, if you are reading this, don't worry. I'll set the record straight for you.

It is not "darling." It isn't quite "gritty" either, (too much warmth for that) but it is much closer to gritty. The title "Last Chance Texaco" refers to a group home for troubled orphans that is the last stop before a prison-style group home. Lucy, the main character, moves in and instantly sees all the types she's known from group homes in the past -- the mole, the scheming alpha female, the rude alpha male, the prey. The book is worth reading just for the dynamics within the group home, but the story goes farther than that. And yes it is a mystery.

The book also has great, tell-it-like-it-is details. Example: love over a happy meal. Here's one fantastic passage: "I knew that I had bigger problems than just starting school in the middle of the year. Almost everyone was white. It's not like I'm racist or anything. It's just that the only time kids in a public school are almost all white is when they're mostly rich. And believe me when I say that it's rich kids, and the parents of rich kids, who have the biggest problem with a kid from a group home going to the same school they do."

My real rating for this is 4 1/2 stars. The last 1/2 I'm holding back, because there were some times I wish Hartinger had pushed his narrative a little farther, or where I wanted more of the great details that are in other parts of the book. Definitely worth reading.

Just finished Last Chance Texaco and loved it as much as Mr. Hartinger's first book. Lucy Pitt is a great, fun character and I'm impresed Mr. Hartinger can write such a convincing girl cahracter. She's tough and smart, but wants a family like everybody. And the group home stuff was really interesting as I don't know much about it. I don't know if we had any group home kids when I was in shcool, but now I understand a lot more about them. Read this book! And you won't be sorry.

I am not a teen, but a grandmother. However when I come across a book that sounds interesting and has great reviews I'm willing to try it out. I loved this book. Great story, great characters--Lucy was so easy to fall in love with. There are some grammatical errors but they were a minor distraction. I would recommend this book to anyone of any age who likes a good story.