The storyline was cute but a little drawn out in my opinion! This was my first Kate Spencer book and I’m intrigued to see what else she has written

One Last Summer features Clara, a single workaholic 35-year-old, who is forced by her boss to take a burn-out relief sabbatical. The timing coincides with her friend group’s annual reunion to the summer camp they spent their teenage years at.

Reuniting with old friends and her first crush surrounded by the cheery vibes of summer camp sounds like the making of a perfect rom-com, but unfortunately most of the comedy fell flat. This felt more like a personal growth story with a dash of romance. The lesson to the millennial generation about not working ourselves to death was less than subtle.

While the summer camp vibes sparked positive memories of my youth, this story never sucked me in, and I had a hard time relating with the characters as most of them acted much younger than they actually were. This book would be better marketed as “women’s fiction/chick lit” than as a rom-com.

Thank you to NetGalley & Forever/Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

One Last Summer is such a cute summer romance! I did not read Kate Spencer’s debut, but this is a great book.

I thought the main characters in this book were well thought out and developed, although I do think they seemed younger than their age — which is a normal occurrence in romcoms. I heavily related to Mack in this book especially in terms of not having a plan and just taking things day by day, while Clara overwhelmed me a bit. However, I did find her anxiety relatable, especially through themes of time moving quickly and burnout. Also, the banter was so cute & silly & I loved it and loved their arguments.

The summer vibes sold me!!! I want to plan a trip to New Hampshire ASAP!!! The camp vibes felt so nostalgic and this is the best kind of book for the beach or the lake! Definitely recommend for this summer — out June 11!!

Thank you to Forever for the advanced copy.

Thank you Forever and Grand Central Publishing for my copy! All thoughts are my own!

If you know my reading taste at all, you know I saw this cover and had to read this book. I think this will be a very popular Summer reading choice because it’s a quick read with a great summery setting, a little bit of heart, a breezy second chance romance, and a fun, bright friend group.

I enjoyed reading this book! I loved the setting and the discussion on creative burnout.

Synopsis:

“Clara Millen’s life is spiraling 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.But when Clara arrives at Pine Lake Camp, she faces yet another unwelcome change: the owners are retiring and selling the property. The news turns her plans for revelry into a night of reminiscing . . . and prompts a surprise heart-to-heart between Clara and Mack, her old camp nemesis and constant competitor, who's still just as annoying (and annoyingly handsome). Soon the campfires aren't all that's throwing off sparks. And when one wildly passionate night turns into two (then too many to count!), Clara begins to wonder if she and Mack could have a future together. But when Clara's boss finally offers her everything she's worked so hard for, Clara will need to decide if the life she's always wanted is the life that makes her feel truly alive. “ —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Setting—I love a lake setting (i’m a broken record) and the idea of adult Summer camp is so appealing. I feel like we spend our entire adult life trying to return to the joys of adolescence and Summer is one of the most nostalgic times.

The Friend Group/Characters—I found them all so delightful and real. I loved their banter and how they encouraged each other and ragged on each other.

The First Half Pacing—I loved how it just “started.” It’s an appealing aspect of rom coms that make me feel like I’m enjoying a film.

What Didn’t Work:

The Second Half Pacing—Things fell off for me between 50-70% when our enemies/rivals to lovers became a little murky.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: 0/5 Overall Rating: 3.75/5

I had previously read and enjoyed the author’s debut romcom In A New York Minute and was looking forward to this book.

It was very nostalgic and the perfect book to kick off the summer season. I had been itching to read a romcom set in an adult summer camp and this delivered.

I will say, it read more women’s fiction versus rom com. The overall theme of giving up control and loving life despite plans going awry, was beautiful, heart felt, and written very well.

I think the majority of female millennials will be able relate to the female main character and her work/life balance.

Read if you like:
1️⃣Single POV
✌🏻2nd chance romance
🏕️Summer camp
🥇Rivals to lovers
🫂Found family friendships
🐤Loons
🍨Food fights
🏆Competitions

I LOVE THIS BOOK! I’d read Kate’s grocery list if she let me. It’s the perfect second chance (kind of?) romance to read by the pool or camping with old friends again. Clara’s list was very relatable, the chosen family was extremely relatable, and the love story was made of dreams.

“Work. We know. Your first love.”
“Okay, that’s a bit much,” I said, crossing my arms defiantly. “My first love is cheese.”

After her relationship ended in a nightmare, work became Clara’s entire life. She put her all into it and is hoping for a well deserved promotion when instead her boss announces she is forcing her to take a week sabbatical. With a huge project deadline fast approaching, Clara wants to do anything but, however, she isn’t given the chance to say no. It does happen to be the week of the annual trip back up to camp with her friends, the week she has missed for the past 5 years. So Clara decides to go up to camp and hopefully find a way to stay plugged in to what is happening at the office. When the group pulls up, they are shocked to see the “Sold” sign next to the sign for camp. Their summer home away from home is sold? They decide they will have to make the most of this last week they have there together.

Oh man this book brought back all the camp memories! My cabin won “cabin of the week” one year which was really fun and included our costumes of “white trash” aka we just wore white garbage bags as clothes and our cabin song “so no-one told you camp was gonna be this way.” Aside from my crazy camp memories, this book was so good! I loved In A New York Minute so I was super excited to start reading, and it didn’t disappoint! With the turmoil from Clara’s childhood, it wasn’t surprising that she liked to be in control at all times, and that work was her main focus. I also adored the chemistry between her and Mack, even when they were ribbing each other! Between the camp nostalgia, the friendships, and the relationships, this book just hit it out of the park!

This was an enjoyable second chance romance full of nostalgia for summer camp. I really liked reading about the friend group, but otherwise some of this story was fairly forgettable. A solid 3 stars.

Cute romance story about reigniting with childhood crush after experiencing burnout.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Net Galley for the eARC.

This is such a fun summer read by my beloved Kate Spencer! I enjoyed the summer camp setting, as someone who always dreamt of a camp romance, and I thought it was a super satisfying story.

Yay! Kate Spencer is back! One Last Summer will be a terrific summer read for anyone who enjoyed Happy Place or Same Time Next Summer.

Basically every scene with Mack and Clara gave me butterflies, right from the jump when she arrives back at camp and he’s wearing the medal. Heart eyes the whole time from then on out.

Honestly, I struggled with this book. The beginning was repetitive and read young, the middle was more of the same, and the ending was okay but also felt unfounded, like there was resolution without proper development. The characters felt surface-level and I just couldn't get invested. This wasn't the book for me, but it may be for readers who enjoy stories about reliving camp glory days, reforming workaholics, and drama in friend groups.

Thank you to Forever for gifting me with an ARC to review! All opinions are my own.

Thank you Forever Publishing and NetGalley for the arc!

I enjoyed this book and it's summer camp vibe! The central characters were fun and the overall pace was good.

I would give this a 3.5/5 because at points I wasn't as invested as others.

1. I've been a Kate Spencer fan for a long time, so I'm already going into this biased.

2. Romance novels are not my usual choice.

That said, I loved "One Last Summer". Clara is overworked, under-appreciated, and teetering on the edge of a midlife crisis. She is overdue for a promotion at her branding agency and is still feeling the effects of her breakup the previous year. After being blindsided by her boss, in an all-hands meeting, she finds herself with a week of free time, conveniently the same week that her lifelong camp friends are reuniting at Pine Lake, their beloved campground.

Clara is hopeful that the week with her friends at her much-loved camp will be the break she needs, but as her car arrives, she's greeted with a "SOLD" sign at the entry. Clara rallies her friends to experience all of the games and events they loved so much during their time, and as a way to reconnect.

Mack, her long-time camp crush, is still living on the campgrounds and the two have a heart-to-heart (and a mouth-to-mouth) moment, which leads to a night full of passion in the old boathouse. But, all is not well. Despite her best efforts, her branding brain is still working overtime, and her hangups won't allow her to let go fully into a romance with Mack.

Or....will it?
----
Kate writes with a hint of nostalgia and of humor that is often missing in books in this genre. The characters are all well-developed and I was instantly able to dig into everyone, including Clara's assistant, Lydia. I feel this is a good book for a quick pick-me-up for anyone who ever went to camp, had a long-time crush on boy summer after summer, or for someone with a close group of friends.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book. And thanks to Kate Spencer for helping me relive a little camp nostalgia from years ago.

A CUTE SUMMER ROMANCE. The title is what originally hooked me on wanting to read this and it did not disappoint! It felt like a perfect summer read and a warm hug of nostalgia. It had such good elements of friendship, second chance romance, and personal growth! It was set in a summer camp which for me was just perfection. It had so many real moments that I could connect with and felt like this book was an easy romcom that will help you think about moments in your own life. I would definitely recommend and want to thank netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for a review!

A fun summer read... and by that I mean the main setting is a summer camp, and you could totally read it in one day at the beach (doubling as the perfect beach read).

I really loved the overwhelming nostalgia centered around the stereotypical summer camp experience, and it made me long to be a preteen again with my summer camp friends (*looks wistfully into the distance reminiscing on the summers of my youth*)

I really enjoyed both the platonic and romantic relationships between all of the characters, but I feel like most of my enjoyment was derived from their mentions of past camp memories, rather than from their current (slightly tenser) dynamics. I understand that this is all meant to be remedied by the end of the story, but I still felt like that development could have been made more explicit.

Overall, definitely a fun read perfect for a day by the lake-- just be sure not to try to contact past camp flings ;)

Thank you to both NetGalley and Forever Publishing for this eARC.

Man this book made me wish I had the opportunity to go to a sleep away camp as a child! I’ll be honest the book was hard for me to get into AT FIRST and I also worried based on the earlier chapters that the communication would be lacking between the characters but it really turned around for me a little before the halfway point. At times some things felt a bit immature but I think that tends to happen when you’re around childhood friends especially ones you don’t see often so I could relate. The big gesture was a bit wild to me but hey, go for it is what I say!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I loved this book! The nostalgia of getting together with your high school friends just really did something for me. The plot itself felt a little jumpy at times and sped through some scenes that I wish got more attention. I would recommend this as a fun and easy summer read.

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for the eArc!

Huge fan and longtime listener of the Forever 35 podcast so I was happy to read Kate’s newest romance. One Last Summer was an enjoyable read and made me wistful for summer and the outdoors. Mack was fun and I enjoyed seeing Clara banter with him. Recommend for a sweet time.

One Last Summer features Clara, a workaholic with ambitious dreams, who is forced to take a mini-sabbatical just when she feels she's on the cusp of making strides that could cement her career.

Since she suddenly has a bunch of free time, she ends up going on her friends' annual reunion trip, a trip that she's been blowing off for years. She returns to the last place she felt whole, her old summer camp. Even though Clara has been distant from her friends, they welcome her back with open arms, especially Sam, her old best friend and Mack, her irritating adolescent camp crush.

I have to say that the side characters are really where this book shone for me. I found myself rooting for each and every single one of them, though at times, I was frustrated with Clara, though I think that was intentional by the author.

Mack seems like a sweetheart, someone who really cares about his friends and the camp. I did feel the chemistry between Clara and Mack, though I did sometimes feel like their romance was younger than they are.

Overall, a sweet summer read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever for sharing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.