Last Best Year: A Short Guide to a Grateful Life

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Roxanne Jeffrey

There’s a quiet kind of urgency running through Last Best Year: A Short Guide to a Grateful Life that doesn’t try to rush you, but still lingers after you’ve closed it. It doesn’t arrive as a big declaration about how to live better. It feels more like someone gently pointing out that time keeps moving whether you’re paying attention or not, and that realization alone carries weight.

Reading it feels close, almost uncomfortably honest in places. Not heavy, but real. It brings your focus back to moments most people pass over without thinking, conversations, routines, small acts that only seem ordinary until they’re no longer there. There’s a softness to the tone, but it’s not fragile. When it touches on loss, it doesn’t dramatize it. It just lets it exist, and that restraint makes it land harder.

The book keeps circling gratitude, but not in the usual surface level way. It’s less about listing things you’re thankful for and more about noticing what you’ve been overlooking. That shift sounds simple, but it stretches into how people spend their time, who they prioritize, and what they assume will always be there. It’s not just about appreciation, it’s about awareness.

Donna Wyland writes in a way that feels unfiltered, almost like she’s speaking rather than performing. The short format works because it doesn’t try to say more than it needs to. Each section lands quickly and then steps back. The language is plain, but not empty. Some lines stick because they’re so direct you don’t have much room to avoid them.

By the end, it doesn’t feel like you’ve been given a plan or a system. It feels more like you’ve been reminded to pay attention while things are still happening. It’s worth reading if life has started to feel automatic, or if you need something that brings you back to what’s already in front of you before it quietly slips past.

About The Author

Donna Wyland

Donna Wyland is an award-winning author, editor, and coach whose personal essays and poetry have appeared in numerous collections and magazines. Her picture books - 'Twas the Night Before Jesus, If I Could Ask Jesus, Your Home in Heaven, and Psalms in Rhyme for Little Hearts have been children's favorites for many years; and her gift book, Surrender, and novel, Autumn's Harmony, have blessed many readers searching for hope and joy. 

When she's not writing, Donna can be found at a local coffee shop (cliche, I know) or on one of many hiking trails throughout her hometown. She and her husband have no pets, but that doesn't mean they don't love a good romp with a friend's puppy every now and then.