This story stole my heart and I think it will be awhile before I get it back. The Last Goodbye is heart wrenching slow burn romance story about two people who are grieving the loss of their loved ones. I loved everything about this story. Anna and Brody had captured my attention and I couldn’t stop listening to the story until I knew what was going to happen between the two of them. The plot of the story while so sad it seemed so real, like I was listening to a story happening in real life. The narrator was absolutely amazing too, even with the male characters. This story for sure will be in the running for my favorite story of 2021.

Book 24 towards my goal of 240! 4/5 stars for this adult romance read! Great for fans of PS, I Love You. I did feel like it was a bit long, but still enjoyable. Loved the cover, and characters. Narration was great.

*I received this book in exchange for honest review from Netgalley*

I enjoyed the unique premise to Fiona Lucas’ “The Last Goodbye”. Anna lost her husband three years before to a drunk driving accident. She calls his cell phone and, unexpectedly, someone answers. Through their conversations, they get to know each other and help each other heal from their own tragedies. The author handled the themes of grief and new beginnings very well. I was rooting for Anna and Brody to break through and create a new life together.

The audiobook was expertly narrated by Antonia Beamish. While it would have been nice to have a male narrator handle Brody’s sections, Antonia rose to the occasion!

Expected Publication Date: June 8, 2021
Review Date: January 27, 2021
*Thanks to Fiona Lucas, William Morrow Publications, and NetGalley for this advance audio copy

The Last Goodbye is a book about two people, Anna and Brody, who have never met but have had similar losses in their lives. The changing POV between the characters allows us to imagine the heartbreak in both their lives. I felt very empathic towards the both of them, and felt like I was living their lives every time they spoke on the phone. The audiobook had me hooked from the beginning and I enjoyed listening to the narrator. Cant wait for the book to release so that I can read the physical copy!

Anna is grieving the loss of her husband Spencer who died nearly three years ago (Anna can always tell you precisely how many years, months, and days). Her best friend is doing her best to help her move on, but Anna is not ready. On New Years Eve, Anna dials Spencer’s phone number to hear his voice mail welcome message, and when she says “I love you”, a male voice answers “I beg your pardon”. Those are the exact words Spencer would have used as it is one of their inside jokes. Anna hangs up, understandably freaks out, then eventually calls the number again and ends up forming a mutual support relationship with Brody, the man who was given Spencer’s old phone number. On the other side of the conversation, Brody has also suffered a loss and is suffering from severe agoraphobia as a result, a condition for which he is not seeking treatment. Anna and Brody become friends, encourage each other to move forward, and fall in love without realizing it.

I admit I was a bit wary when I started listening to the audiobook, because the blurb refers to “P.S. I Love You”, which I read years ago and found too depressing for my taste. I shouldn’t have worried. While Anna’s grief is portrayed in a way that feels realistic, the parts of the book where she wallows in grief are fairly short and I never felt bogged down by them. There is also a lot of humour to balance the sadness, like Anna’s “not Spencer” alarm, a little voice that chimes up when she finds herself in a potentially romantic situation with a man who is not Spencer. Brody’s panic attacks also feel realistic, but I did find myself wondering if the treatment would really make him improve that quickly, but for plot purposes it works really well. While Anna and Brody are nice and solid characters, it is the secondary characters in Anna’s life, her best friend Gabby (sorry if the spelling is wring, once again I listened to the audiobook) who almost feels like a fairy godmother in the ways she pushes the plot forward, and her mother-in-law Gail, who is very close to falling into the category of evil stepmother.

The book takes place over the course of a little more than a year, which is long enough for the changes the characters go through, but there is no real sense of the seasons passing so I was surprised when Christmas and New Year rolled around again. I was pleasantly surprised by the lat roadblock thrown up in Anna and Brody’s way when it looked like they would be getting together again. When the conclusion came, I would have taken a bit more to wrap up, maybe like an epilogue set at New Year’s Eve a years on, because it felt abrupt and much of the logistics of the future were left unresolved.

Overall, it was a very pleasant reading experience. The narrator, Antonia Beamish, has a lovely voice and accent (the book is set in England), and she makes a good job of distinguishing all the different voices. When she spoke as Brody, I almost forgot the narrator was a woman.

Thanks to NetGalley for this audiobook!

The Last Goodbye tugged on my heartstrings through this sad romance. Anna has lost her husband to an accident. Her friend desperately wants her to move on, 3 years later. She still has strange ties to her husbands family. Everything seems to be holding her back.

One night she calls his number and unleashes how sad she is. To her surprise someone had answered. She then continues to call this number and confide her feelings in a man named Brody. He seems to understand her grief even though he hasn’t provided details to his story. The two unlikely pair really help each other by developing this strong bond. Anna can talk to him freely without judgement.

This book reminded me of the movie Return to Me where the main character falls in love with the woman who received his wife’s heart transplant. Even though Anna attempts to date we find ourselves routing for Brody. Can she figure out what happened in his life? Who he really is? If he is her new happily ever after? Can she get past any guilt she may have in moving on?

Such a sweet and sad story The Last Goodbye tells. I really enjoyed the audiobook. I enjoyed the accents the narrator used, giving each character a voice. It held my attention and I listening feverishly for two days until I finished. I had to know what Anna would do, who Brody was, how they’d find themselves again. I would definitely recommend!

The Writing, The words, the feelings coming from the author through these characters was so great! It is Such a heartbreaking story. I will say that anyone who has suffered an intimate loss with a spouse, may be triggered, and to read with some sort of caution. I actually enjoyed the narrator with her different voices and moods in her tone. I know others may not technically like that aspect and prefer the book to be read. I enjoy that little "extra". It did get a bit slow at times, but over all a great book.

Thank you Harper Audio, William Morrow and NetGalley for The Last Goodbye.

Thank you NetGalley, for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of this story!

Wow, Fiona Lucas does an amazing job with this one. You can feel the depths of grief that the main character has experienced after the loss of her husband. At some points, I had to give myself a breather. The emotions are so raw and real. Fiona Lucas paints a real picture of the grieving process- it is not a linear experience with a perfect happy ending. It is a painful space to be in and oftentimes, very lonely. Some days, you feel like you're okay..like you've made some good progress. But, all it takes is one second to bring you right back to the beginning.

My only point of criticism is that I didn't love the narrator for this book. I found the different voices distracting. I will read the physical book once it comes out.

This book description really well sets up the story - its a very slow burning tale of how two people can find a way to help each other overcome grief. Its a story that requires patience because nothing happens quickly when a spouse is working on coming out of her shell and figuring out both who she is and how to live in a world where her soul-mate dies in a tragic accident. I was really moved by Anna and her desire to be brave but found her incredibly sympathetic - just don't expect anything to happy in a hurry here.

The narrator for the audio book does a great job with all the different character voices. She really brought me right into the story and wasn't distracting at all for even this heavy novel.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an audio ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of The Last Goodbye. I loved this one! #tearjerker!! This is a beautiful story about Anna and her grief process and the man that saved her. Beautiful!

A young widow called her husband’s cell phone number just to hear his voice and someone answered. This was a touching, lovely book that described how a person can move on after tragedy. The narration was wonderful. Thanks @netgalley for the ARC!

4.5 ⭐️ story about a woman coming to terms with loss. I will preface by saying that if you have experienced a loss and are still struggling with the emotions of it, read with caution.

Anna lost her husband tragically three years ago, and now she is just going through the motions of having a life. She is trying not to worry those around her some of whom, like her best friend Gabi, are pushing her to move on and fall in love again and feel things that she is clearly not ready for. Her parents have moved to another country and she doesn’t want to worry them either. On the opposite spectrum, her mother-in-law Gayle is still mourning her son’s loss in such a way that she seems to be trying to compete with Anna’s feelings of loss. But most importantly in all of those relationships is Anna’s with herself, she is not coping and it’s heartbreaking. He was the love of her life and without him, she has shut down.

One New Years, she calls his phone to hear his voice on the voicemail and is surprised when someone answers, only to find that her husbands phone has been reassigned. She soon begins a friendship with the new owner Brody, who although he can relate to her loss and is so helpful to her psyche, is not forthcoming with the details of his own loss.

This is a lovely story and I really felt the reality of all of the characters although I have to say Brody was a bit underdeveloped to me, I wanted to know him a bit more. The audiobook was really great, even though there was only one narrator, Antonia Beamish did a really bang up job of bringing life to all of the voices. I found myself eager to get time for a walk and allow myself to continue the story and got to the point where I was just sitting listening to it at length.

I loved that Fiona Lucas really addressed that grief is different for everyone and gave value to that and showed how that realization occurred to each character in the book 👏. Although heart-wrenching to hear their stories and not frothy and light, it wasn’t all serious all the time and I really enjoyed listening to it and loved Anna’s character and felt like she was a friend and I was happy to follow along on her journey!

I +++ recommend you give this audiobook or the physical copy a try when it publishes on June 8th 2021, to see if you could say goodbye ❤️

**Thank-you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the advance reader copy of this lovely audiobook**

This is a story of love, loss, and healing.

I listened to the audio version of the book. I was overall pleased with the narration. I do feel like it could have been improved by using two narrators (a male for Brody's POV).

The pace was good. The narration was clear and easy to understand.

The story begins on New Year's Eve. Anna is still grieving for her husband, Spencer, even though he died tragically nearly three years ago. To feel closer to him, she calls his phone number to hear his voice (voicemail greeting). But someone answers.

Brody knows what it is like to grieve. He helps Anna through her feelings. And he discovers Anna is helping him as well.

Anna wants to meet, but Brody is afraid of ruining what they have. Anna starts to plan a meeting, hoping Brody will show up. The day she is planning the meet-up for? New Year's Eve.

I received a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book "The Last Goodbye" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. This book was okay. This was only my second audio book that I have listened to. The first one was terrible. So anyway, I wish the narrator would just read the story. I am not liking voices and whispering which is hard to hear. For the story part I thought it was an okay story, not very exciting and a bit slow for me.

What a beautiful story about overcoming loss and giving your heart a chance to be happy again.

There is so much pain surrounding Anna and Brody and you can't help but feel for them as well. With something as innocent as a phone call, a phone number being reassigned bringing 2 people together, assisting each other in getting past the pain, there is so much want and hope for a happy ending for the pair. SPOILER ALERT!!! I'm glad they get their happy ending!
MIL needs to chill out, though. I understand that she is grieving too, but she honestly needs to get a grip. Her actions were inexcusable, apology or not.

This was a lovely story, truly. I listened to it as an audiobook and it grabbed me from the beginning.

Beautiful!!

Anna lost her husband to a car accident three years ago and she cannot move on. She calls him on her phone sometimes just to hear his voice. One night she is pouring out her soul to his number only to find out the number was given out to someone new. Anna calls Brody often because she believes he has suffered as well and can understand how she feels. This is a great book about loss and how to overcome feelings of anger, regret, and love for something that will never be again. Brody has secrets and problems of his own but through his talks with Anna he is progressing. Facing true feelings will go a long way to healing. Loved the characters and the story.

This book broke my heart, repaired it, and then broke it again. Anna lost her husband in a freak accident, several years later she is still grieving over it. In times of weakness, she would call her husband’s old phone number… only this time… someone answers…. And it wasn’t Spencer. How could that be? He’s gone. Brody though, is grieving himself and over time, him and Anna develop a friendship through phone calls.

I love stories like this… two people developing a relationship without photos and interactions. All through phone conversations. I like the characters in this story a lot! The grief was far beyond any I have ever felt, but my heart broke with them and their struggles. The audiobook had a nice narrator. She captured all the characters voices well with accents and scruffiness. I couldn’t stop listening to it. The story and narrator were captivating. I will say though, the last few chapters really frustrated me. After all each of them went through… grrr…

Overall though, great story! Great narrator! Would gladly add the book to my library.

Thanks HarperAudio and Netgalley for giving the opportunity to access this advance access to this audiobook. I really enjoyed it!

I heard so many terrific things about this book so was so excited to have the chance with the advanced Audio to The Last Goodbye. I had no idea what the story was about as I began listening. I found the reader to be annoying as I do prefer to read books myself, since the story dragged on in some parts and words were so difficult to understand that on two occasions I heard Anna ask Brodie “Are you gay?” “when it was, “Are you okay?”
I honestly think I would have enjoyed the story more if I read it myself without the distractions of how the reader read it and creating a different image in my mind. I also had difficulty picking up the transition from one scene to the next. I liked the storyline as it was unique although unbelievable that it took so long for her to get over her spouse but the fact that she can relate to another individual who also suffered a loss was interesting. My imagination took me places as to her spouse coming back from the dead and discovered some technological way to communicate with her since there were some similarities between Brodie and spouse. The scenes with the mother-in-law were real and heartfelt that I cannot imagine in real life having honest dialogue and rebuilding a relationship in the way they did. I don’t know if it was listening to the audio, but felt there were some missing components that could have been explored more and that was what Anna was going to be doing with her helping others. I wish they delved into it more. All in all the characters are like able and the storyline is excellent.

A heart warming story of grief, love, friendship, and time, The Last Goodbye sucked me in and held me tight. Fiona Lucas captivated the main characters and with so much depth and realism I felt as though I truly knew these people. The story over all was a beautifully written, though it was more character driven than plot driven as not much ever “happens”, but the beauty of the writing is it doesn’t need a thick plot to hold it up.

The narrator was very good and I appreciated her change in tone for different characters. Flowed well even at 1.5x speed.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.

This book is a captivating and beautifully written piece of literature. It deals with loss, grief, and even delves into mental health in a way that really clearly illustrates the problems one might go through when experiencing life-altering and traumatizing events. I was hooked on reading this from the very first chapter and had such difficulty putting it down that I finished the book in two days. There were parts that made me laugh, parts that made me cry, and parts that made me really think. If a book can make you do all three while being thoroughly entertaining and attention-grabbing, then it is surely a recipe for success. I haven't read any book like this recently and would definitely recommend picking up a copy once it comes out.