Clara Millen's life is spiralling out of control: her dream job is a nightmare, she's resoundingly single, and it's been years since she's taken some time off. Thankfully, the last problem she can fix - this year she'll join her friends on their annual summer vacation to their beloved childhood sleepover camp for a much-needed escape.

I thoroughly enjoyed Kate Spencer's previous novel In A New York Minute and was really looking forward to this outing. It was fun to experience this group of friends as they embark on new chapters of their lives, however, it would have been nice to experience more of their past dynamics (maybe a dual timeline?). There was significant importance placed on these people but they felt underdeveloped in comparison to Clara. The romance storyline also suffered from the same affliction.

Aside from some nitpicking this was an enjoyable book at Kate, as an author, remains as someone whose novels I'll continually look for. Fans of Emily Henry's Happy Place or anyone who went to a summer camp should look into picking this up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this!
I genuinely loved this. There is something so wonderfully nostalgic about summer camp, and coupling that with a second chance lover romance trope is just right up my alley. I think it also really helped me that I completely relate to Clara: career drivven, overly ambitious, maybe seriously burnt out. Check check check. I thought Mack was a really great male lead, the steamy scenes weren't too steamy, there was great LGBTQ+ inclusivity, and the friendship circle of this book felt very authentic to me. Sam is just perfection.
I do wish Clara would have trusted Mack a bit more through this story. I thought the things keeping them apart were a bit silly and easily could have been solved with just some good communication. But overall I blew through this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great book for a summertime read!

Amazing! Loved how it took place at camp and all of the group was reuniting. This would be the perfect summer read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

One Last Summer by Kate Spencer brings back memories of summer camp from your teen years. Clara and Mack have such a beautiful connection and you are rooting for them the whole time. This was a fun story to read and I look forward to more stories by Kate Spencer.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of One Last Summer

I really enjoyed this book. Good friends, revisiting summer camp as an adult, and adults reading the letter they wrote as fifteen year olds about how they thought their adult lives would look. It made me nostalgic for summer camp! The story moved well, and I enjoyed the characters, and didn't want the book to end.

Thank you Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Forever for the ARC!

I loved this book so much! One of my favorite things in romance novels is banter, and this book did that so well between to Clara and Mack. I love how he wore the model when he saw her 😂
Their chemistry was undeniable and I loved how their story evolved!

Sign me up for a week and the summer camp of my youth — featuring all my best friends and the first boy I ever kissed. This nostalgic romance makes you feel the cool water of the lake and the warmth of the campfire. An engaging and sexy story of friends and lovers. Thank you to #netgalley and #readforeverpub for the sharing this great ARC with me.

I really enjoy Kate Spencer’s writing style, this book did not disappoint. It was a quick, humorous read that would be great to bring on spring break.

Clara is a relatable workaholic who struggles to find balance between that and her personal life. Her friendships have taken a back seat and she is just getting over a failed relationship when she embarks on a yearly summer camp trip to meet up with friends.

What she doesn’t expect is a reunion with Mack, her camp love interest. The back and forth banter between the two had me reminiscing of my own “puppy love” interests growing up. I enjoyed the summertime vibes and camp setting of this book, the author does a good job of writing to make you feel like you are walking the story alongside the characters.

I wish we would have gotten a little more POV from Mack on his and Clara’s second chance at love. The underlying message of how a group of supportive friends can help guide and lift you up was relatable and heartwarming.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

My entire childhood my dream was attending summer camp, and this kinda got me in the feels! I loved the relatable ness of Clara’s life and reading about workplace burnout which can be such a real world problem. The characters were so cute and I enjoyed this easy read!

4.5⭐️ 0🌶️

Oh man this was so good! This book brought all the warm fuzzy vibes of a hallmark Christmas movie into summer camp. Childhood friends/rivals to lovers.

As an adult who’s trying to figure out life and friends and direction, this really hit home. I absolutely loved how real this felt. Nothing felt too contrived or cheesy. Yes it was cheesy because it’s a romance novel, but the emotions were real and there was more than just the romance. I loved that we got to see bits and pieces of her relationships with her friends. She got to develop outside of just her love interest.

This was a fun and easy read. It felt well paced and was really well written! Definitely one of my favorite romances in a while. Definitely will be a comfort read. My only complaint was the fade to black/closed door scenes. But even then I’m not really that mad because the story outside of all that made up for it!

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!!!

Sign me up for any book that takes place at a camp on a lake. 😍 Bonus points for it being real life, mid 30s adults working through their 💩.

This was a quick read that made me nostalgic for a place I have never been to, and I was rooting for Clara to put herself first and mend the relationships she has been neglecting. I loooved her growth and all the camp antics. This was just a feel good summer story.

The epilogue was *chef's kiss*.

I also often neglect the acknowledgements at the end, but I read through them this time and Kate Spencer's note to her mom -- "It's all for you, but the loon, especially, is for you." made me feel all the things.

Definitely add this to your tbr this summer!

3.5 stars. Clara is flailing at work when her boss forces her to take a semi-sabbatical to deal with burnout. Clara is frustrated and furious at his forced vacation but it does just happen to fall on the week that all of her camp friends return to camp for a week of fun. The week that she has missed every summer for the past five years. I liked that a main theme of this book was coming to terms with who you thought you’d be at 35 when you were younger. I also liked the fun friendships in this book. I mostly liked the romance but there were arguments that I didn’t really understand. I also would have liked Mack’s point of view. I did like this book overall and thought the ending was perfect. Received a digital copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Perfect summer romance! Love the camp setting and the witty dialogue, which was hilarious at times! The was such an enjoyable read.

This was such a sweet book! I loved the characters, and their love story. The dialogue was realistic and enjoyable. P

This is going to be 2024’s perfect summer romance. Clara is in the middle of life doing all the things she should, burning the candle at both ends like any good millennial seeking her bosses approval and a promotion, when her boss declares she is burnt out and sends her on vacation. Clara heads north to summer camp with childhood friends she hasn’t seen (has maybe neglected?) in years in an attempt to fix her burnout and fix her life. Good friendships, great setting, fun banter, and just a little spice, you’ll want to head out to the lake just like the Pine Lake campers!

I am obsessed with this book. I DEVOURED it. It is the perfect summer camp as adult romance. All the characters are so funny and the main character is so likable. This has everything you want from a beach read romcom - I wished I was reading it during warmer weather. If you like summer camp, childhood friends as adults, finding yourself again, re-evaluting what is important in life, and funny romcoms, this book is for you! Highly recommend!

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up

Workaholic, newly single, Clara is forced to take a week long mini-sabbatical, and the timing perfectly aligns with the annual Summer Camp reunion that she’s been skipping out on each year. One Last Summer is a story about friends, nostalgia, and what really matters most in our lives (and that we easily lose sight of).

Ultimately, I wasn’t sure how to rate this book. I enjoyed Kate Spencer’s 2022 novel In a New York Minute and was hoping for the same heart-warming, fuzzy romcom. One Last Summer reads much more like a Women’s Fiction novel with hints of romance and a HEA. I enjoyed it but think Kate’s writing just may not be for me.

As someone who never attended summer camp, this book was everything that I imagined camp to be. Silly antics with friends, a camp crush, team competitions, and deeper personal growth.

Clara has missed out on her friend group’s annual trip to their old summer camp for a few years. She is burnt out at work, but has prioritized her work over her friendships for a long time. While at camp this time, she compares her reality to what her teenage self had hoped life would be. Romance is the main plot line, but One Last Summer also explores the evolution of friendships into adulthood.

The romance between Clara and Mack felt fun and easy. I loved the banter and the slow-but-steady progression of their relationship. I do wish that we had gotten some chapters in Mack’s POV to see inside his head and round him out as a character. I’d characterize their romance as friends-to-lovers with a hint of second-chance romance, and it had me rooting for them in the best possible way.

This was a great summer book that will transport you back to summer camp. Thank you Netgalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Kate Spencer for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cute sweet read. I loved the setting and feeling of reminiscing with friends over summertime fun. I also enjoyed the characters, not just the main character Clara, who told the story, but her whole circle of friends.

Thank you Net Galley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Kate Spencer for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Meet Clara, she's a burnt-out millennial who returns to her old summer camp and semi-estranged best friends in an effort to relax and return to her former self. What does she find? Her flaws and strengths reflected back to her through the eyes of her friends and most especially, her childhood crush, Mack. While sorting through the disappointments and mistakes made in adulthood, Clara rediscovers all the things she misses from those summers with her best friends on the lake.

Clara was such a relatable FMC in her hilarious millennial jargon and sense of burnout. As a reader, I found myself rooting for her as if she were a bestie of my own. I love how Mack gives off major golden retriever energy, perfectly balancing Clara's type A personality. Even though it killed me to wait for them to get together, the banter that got us there was *chef's kiss*.

One Last Summer is primarily a romance but it left me wanting to laugh with my childhood friends about summers spent together before the real world intruded. This quick read delivers on the warm and fuzzy feeling of remembering the dreams of our teenage selves.

This is the perfect book for summer or for channeling warmer days to come!