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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
After reading both The Secret Bridesmaid and The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall I was so excited to read The Last Word! While I really loved The Secret Bridesmaid, I was lukewarm about The Wedding Season so I’m happy to report THE LAST WORD exceeded my expectations and I absolutely loved it!!! The Last Word is a single POV starring Harper Jenkins, a journalist who 10-years ago when starting out her career had a memorable love-hate interaction with a fellow journalist, Ryan, who was also just starting his career. In a style I felt similar to People We Meet On Vacation (Emily Henry), there are flashbacks between the present and past. A majority of the book really features the enemies to lovers trope, which is one of my favourite tropes, plus office romance that I admit was reminiscent of the Hating Game sometimes like the blurb suggested. I also really loved Harpers fun job as a celebrity journalist (but her journalistic integrity was amazing)!
I seem to fall particularly hard for male lead characters like Ryan, and as someone that has never really struggled in social interactions, I related to Harper and found his awkwardness and sometimes shyness just so endearing. It was a fast read and the slow burn decade long build up left me thoroughly satiated!!
4.5 stars rounded up. I was honoured to be gifted an ARC so that you to Katy Birchall, the publishers St Martin’s Press and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I seem to fall particularly hard for male lead characters like Ryan, and as someone that has never really struggled in social interactions, I related to Harper and found his awkwardness and sometimes shyness just so endearing. It was a fast read and the slow burn decade long build up left me thoroughly satiated!!
4.5 stars rounded up. I was honoured to be gifted an ARC so that you to Katy Birchall, the publishers St Martin’s Press and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I gave The Wedding Season by Birchall 5 stars last year, so needless to say I was excited for her newest book, which I ended up enjoying a lot too!
The banter between the main character and the love interest was very entertaining, and contributed to their enemies to lovers story arc. And while I felt the MC, Harper, was a bit immature at times, she always won me back over with her good natured, charming personality.
Also, there were some great secondary characters in this, and the friendships between the characters all felt genuine and believable. Sometimes the main romance in a book can overshadow or stunt the development of secondary characters, but Birchall did a good job of balancing it all out.
As I kind of mentioned, there were moments where I found myself a bit annoyed with the main character, but if Harper had no flaws there would be no growth in her throughout the book, so it by no means reduced my enjoyment of this.
I think I like the romance in this one more than the romance in The Wedding Season, but overall will say that I liked this one slightly less overall.
Definitely pick this up if you like enemies to lovers, workplace romances, and likeable characters! Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to the NetGalley arc of this. All thoughts are my own!
The banter between the main character and the love interest was very entertaining, and contributed to their enemies to lovers story arc. And while I felt the MC, Harper, was a bit immature at times, she always won me back over with her good natured, charming personality.
Also, there were some great secondary characters in this, and the friendships between the characters all felt genuine and believable. Sometimes the main romance in a book can overshadow or stunt the development of secondary characters, but Birchall did a good job of balancing it all out.
As I kind of mentioned, there were moments where I found myself a bit annoyed with the main character, but if Harper had no flaws there would be no growth in her throughout the book, so it by no means reduced my enjoyment of this.
I think I like the romance in this one more than the romance in The Wedding Season, but overall will say that I liked this one slightly less overall.
Definitely pick this up if you like enemies to lovers, workplace romances, and likeable characters! Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to the NetGalley arc of this. All thoughts are my own!
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
The banter was cute but I really didn’t understand why the main character got so mad at the love interest.
lighthearted
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A cute romance that I really enjoyed! I appreciate that I actually liked the two main characters, which can sometimes be difficult with the... mild spoiler... Enemies to Lovers trope.
Like in some Enemies to Lovers books one or both of them are just soooo incredibly mean (but so incredibly sexy), and then at some point a switch is flipped and they are head over heals in love and so sickeningly sweet to each other. It can just reach a point where it's so unbelievable it's hard for me to be into it. BUT this book did not do that. The characters didn't feel one dimensional, and their interactions (both the good and bad interactions) felt believable and also forgivable (so I could actually root for their romance and not yell at the pages "NO do not forgive him, find someone better!" haha)
❤️ What kind of romance can I expect in this book?
(no major plot spoilers but still hidden if you don't wanna know)
Genders: f/m
POV: 1st Person, single POV
Themes & Tropes: Enemies/Rivals to Lovers, Workplace Romance, Second Chance
Sex Scenes? Yes
Explicit Rating: G/PG
How Much: Only a few. First one is a "fade to black" scene and one has a bit more description but pretty minimal compared to some other romance books.
Like in some Enemies to Lovers books one or both of them are just soooo incredibly mean (but so incredibly sexy), and then at some point a switch is flipped and they are head over heals in love and so sickeningly sweet to each other. It can just reach a point where it's so unbelievable it's hard for me to be into it. BUT this book did not do that. The characters didn't feel one dimensional, and their interactions (both the good and bad interactions) felt believable and also forgivable (so I could actually root for their romance and not yell at the pages "NO do not forgive him, find someone better!" haha)
❤️ What kind of romance can I expect in this book?
(no major plot spoilers but still hidden if you don't wanna know)
Spoiler
Genders: f/m
POV: 1st Person, single POV
Themes & Tropes: Enemies/Rivals to Lovers, Workplace Romance, Second Chance
Sex Scenes? Yes
Explicit Rating: G/PG
How Much: Only a few. First one is a "fade to black" scene and one has a bit more description but pretty minimal compared to some other romance books.
I’ve laughed so much! I was smiling like an idiot the whole time ☺️☺️