I grabbed a copy of Helena Haywoode Henry’s debut novel, Last Chance Live! at YallWest 2025, months before it came out. I didn’t get around to reading it until right around it’s release date, when I saw she was attending YALLFest, and we scheduled a little chat about the book.
Last Chance Live! [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] is an interesting premise where teens on death row are given an opportunity to go on a TV show where they could earn their life back. They participate in challenges and rehabilitation sessions on camera, then America votes. Those voted out will have their sentence carried out within the week, but the winner gets to live.
For this story, we’re in the mind of one of the contestants, Eternity Price, as she decides to pursue a spot on the show and subsequently compete. I was expecting this to be more about the show since the book promotions comped it to Squid Game, but that’s not what we get in this book. It dives into Eternity’s mental state throughout the whole process, as well as in flashbacks to her life before the crime and up through that moment where everything changed.
This is such a complicated work. I didn’t particularly love Eternity or identify with her, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an important or valid story. It’s a heavy topic, but this book handles the exploration of it with care and backs it up with research. Helena has a background in law, so having some stats in the mix gave it a little more depth. Last Chance Live! raises a lot of questions that have complicated answers or none at all, so if your teen picks this up, prepare yourself for some deep conversations about it. I’d reccomend reading it along with your child.
Literary Hypewoman 
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