A cute and wholesome rom-com about second chances, first loves and following your dreams. The main characters has a great chemistry, and there was some nice romantic scenes throughout the story. But I just couldn't get into the story, even though on paper it seemed like the perfect read for me. Because while I like Avery, I just couldn't care less about Josh. So this unfortunately wasn't for me.

Read from October 25th, 2022 to October 27th, 2022. Written on October 28th, 2022.

(4.5)

One of the best debut novels I read this year. A sweet, marvellous read for childhood friends-to-lovers fans.

Elodie Colliard did something really special with this book: she wrote an Author's Note, where she said that her book talked about sexual assault and explained why she couldn't just remove that part of Avery's past, to just because she felt like she would be silencing her character and herself, but also because it shaped some things about her character's present life during the book. I was so proud of Elodie already for standing up for herself and her character and I already knew I was going to love this book.

Now, one thing that I absolutely adored about this book was the chapter's names. Every chapter was a song, and each song had some sort of meaning towards the chapter. I won't give any spoilers of chapter names but seriously, it was so so creative and so cool to read (and listen to while reading).

The relationship between the characters, from Brooke (Avery's best friend) and Avery's relationship, and the way Brooke helped her through rough times; or Miles (Avery's brother) and Avery, and the way he supported her as well; or even the highs and lows of Josh (the childhood best friend and love interest) and his father, David. All relationships were different and so fascinating to navigate throughout the story.

I loved reading this story so much! From the banter to the spicy moments, or the heartbreaks and redemption arcs, it was amazing. And something that I love in books when I am reading the story of a character who struggles with mental health is actually reading about that struggle. In the beginning of the book, Avery has a panic attack about a thing that haunts her mind and we read her going through the panic attack and getting better with the help of Brooke. It felt important that throughout the book her anxiety isn't just set aside and we see her navigate her emotions and trying to not let the stressful and bad things get the best of her.

I guess the only part I didn't enjoy as much was how easy the romance flowed between Josh and Avery. I guess I was waiting for a little more resistance from Avery after the history between the two of them. But honestly, it didn't affect my liking of the book that much; I just thought it was worth mentioning since it did affect my rating at the end.

Lastly, I just want to say that this is one hell of a ride and I cannot wait for the next book and hopefully many more. Elodie Colliard, my congratulations on such an extraordinary story. Also, the cover is absolutely gorgeous!!

(Free ARC from NetGalley that I chose to review after reading)

Release date: November 1, 2022

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of The Last Encore ebook from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Encore is a second chance, childhood friends romance story written by a Canadian author, taking place in Toronto. This is also the debut novel from Elodie Colliard and I will definitely be following this author and her next couple of projects.

Avery and Josh were best friends, inseparable and always had each others back. At one point, there was even a bit of a spark and potential for them to explore a relationship….and then Josh left, without saying anything to anyone. He just left and it’s been 10 years with no explanation and no communication.

Avery has recently gotten out of a long term relationship that ended badly, her parents are getting a divorce and her anxiety is through the roof. Avery grudgingly attends an event with her father and is absolutely floored when the performer on stage is Josh. He’s back! And they have a lot of catching up to do!

I really enjoyed this story and liked Avery and Josh’s relationship. The author does provide trigger warnings as there is details about a sexual assault when Avery was younger. Josh is extremely attentive and is adamant about consent which is amazing. It didn’t impact the spicy scenes at all (and there are plenty). I felt there was too much weight put into the reason Josh left and the impacts and very little explanation and details. That piece fell a bit flat for me.

Ultimately this was a great debut romance, 3.5 stars for me. Looking forward to reading the next instalment from this author.

#NetGalley #thelastencore #elodiecolliard

Elodie Collard created a beautiful story filled with love and underlying topics in this well-written novel. This open door, slow burn romance touches base on Avery and Josh's present and past. The emotions that Avery showcases throughout the novel are raw and well expressed as she struggles with mental health. The topic is handled in a respectful and kind manner while still being true. The sincerity that Elodie evoked in this novel touches my heart and leaves me with great expectations or her future projects.

I would recommend this novel for lovers of slow burn open for romances, forced proximity, friends to lovers trope, and second chance romance.

Please check trigger warnings.

First of all, this is so good for a debut book. The author really gave her all in this. As a sucker for friends-to-lovers trope, this book fits perfectly for my taste. Not gonna lie, I requested this book because of the cover, but little do i know that the story is just as beautiful as the cover. Though this book is a romcom, the author did a great job in delivering and handling heavy issues. Both of the main characters are likable and OH MY GOD, JOSH?! How do I start with him. He's just perfect.

Anyways, this book is a MUST read.

I love friends to lovers so much and this was so good. I loved how much Avery and Josh loved each other, how supportive they were of each other. I think their friendship was so sweet. Avery worked hard to protect herself from getting hurt, and Josh worked hard to prove that he’d never hurt her again.

I was having a hard time figuring out Avery and Josh for a long time. They clearly had unresolved feelings from when they were younger, but they were never romantically together…and then all of a sudden they’ve reunited and they are seemingly in love and in deep?! I was fixated on how quickly she got over it?? Because she wasn’t REALLY over it? I wasn’t over it?? She was just falling in so deep with him. And they were moving so fast!? But also so slow at the same time. Once again the story worked. Everything made sense, what happened and why made sense. But it didn’t work for me?

Don’t get me wrong everything else was great. I did love seeing how much Josh had been pining for Avery, he loved her so much. And quite literally everyone knew about it except her. I loved how careful and considerate he was about her feelings and needs. I loved the friendship Brooke, Avery, and Josh all had together. Them being able to heal as a little trio was fantastic.

All of the mental health rep was written so well; Avery’s anxiety, her mothers depression, Josh’s grief. Avery had a good handle on her anxiety but when it was too much she knew exactly what she needed, and so did her best friend. I loved seeing how supportive Brooke was! And Avery and her mother having an open and honest conversation about the reality of depression was done so well.

I am excited that Avery’s brother Miles is getting his own story! I cannot wait to meet Riley!

Thank you to Netgalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Not for me. I couldn't get on board with the pacing here. This was second chance, but there wasn't enough development in Avery and Josh's relationship in the past or present for me to believe in them as a couple.

Things were also quite rushed- some of the emotional beats didn't quite land for me because they seemed to happen too quickly in the storyline without enough buildup.

I absolutely adored this book. I have posted my thoughts in an article on heyitscarlyrae.com
And have attached the link.

From best friends to not speaking for 10 years to running into each other and the spark of something is still there. Will their past get in the way of something special? Read this very spicy 🔥 book and find out. It was so good, I couldn't stop reading it and finished it in less than a day.

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Avery and Joshua are high school sweethearts and seem adorable as a couple. But a sudden break up initiated by Joshua pushes them apart for a decade and now all of a sudden when they face each other, do they take a leap of faith and try out the relationship again or the abrupt break up still manages its hold on them. I’m not really a fan of second chance romances but the mental health representation in a very realistic form in this book is very much spot on and the fact that the main characters did not shy away from it is really refreshing.

I did wish there was more character development and also more detail on how the relationship kicks off the second time but my gripe is that the relationship after a decade started almost instantly which did not work for me. I really liked Joshua but I wished he could have explained more on why he broke up initially and why he should be given a chance now. Overall it was a very cute light read that also handled serious issues so I’m fine with ignoring those flaws

TWs for this book: Sexual assault, depression, anxiety, loss of a loved one, panic attacks, divorce

To be honest, I struggled with rating this book because there were some things I absolutely loved and others that fell pretty flat for me, which is how I ultimately landed at 3 stars.

I loved all of the characters, and I loved the premise of childhood friends being separated and coming back together and falling in love; the romance absolutely had me. I also loved the mental health representation and the depiction of panic attacks; I felt like that was really well done and it was definitely something I could connect with.

But on the other hand, even though I loved the characters, I felt like there wasn't much character development, particularly with the two main characters. I wanted to see more of a change in them from where they were at the beginning, and I didn't feel like there was a significant enough change for it to be satisfying. In addition, Brooke, Avery's best friend, was a critical character in the beginning of the book, and I loved the scenes she was in and her characterization. But once Josh was in the picture and he and Avery reconnected, even though Josh used to be both of their best friends, Brooke really fell out of the story and we don't see her much after that, which I thought was a shame.

The ending also felt really rushed. Avery and Josh were in conflict so briefly before everything was just magically fixed, and I wanted the conflict to be drawn out a bit more and actually explored before everything had a bow wrapping it up.

It was a fun story and definitely had some amazing moments, but those moments were unfortunately overshadowed by the story's flaws.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Avery Clark is struggling to get a break… for her photography business that she’s trying to get noticed, in her family which is tearing apart after her dad cheats on her mom, as well as her own mounting anxiety and debilitating panic attacks.

At an event in her native Toronto, Avery is shocked to run into her ex-best friend Joshua who ran away to Europe to pursue his music career after he had promised her that he would always be there for her. Avery realises that there’s a spark between them but the past is never far away. Can Avery take the leap of faith and learn to trust him again?

This is a second chance romance story and friends to lovers trope with some really hard-hitting elements. The author warns the readers that rape and sexual assault will feature. The trauma that Avery goes through adds to the overall emotional aspect of this story - the author really pours her heart into her female protagonist and it shows in how Avery struggles with her anxiety and her past.

Both MC’s are struggling with personal growth and I really enjoyed reading their development and realisations that their friendship and love is strong enough to survive anything.

There’s plenty of other characters introduced - loved Avery’s protective big brother and her equally protective best friend and confidant Brooke. Their bond is unshakeable!

A story that will definitely pull on your heartstrings, the themes of The Last Encore will stick with you for a while.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc. Out on November 1st!

This is a very sweet combination of friends to lovers and second chance romance, which are my two favorite tropes.

Avery and Josh were best friends growing up until he suddenly chose to move to Europe to pursue his music career. It's been a decade when they bump into each other at a fancy event. It quickly becomes clear they have feelings for each other but she's terrified he's going to leave again.

It's a beautiful story about friendship and love. It's also about grief and the power of our family's expectations of us. I highly recommend this one for romance readers.

The story
Avery is a young photographer working for herself in Toronto. At a gala fundraising event with her father, she reconnects with the pianist, her best friend from school Josh who she hasn’t seen or heard of in ten years. Josh moved to Europe to make a name for himself and is now back in town. Josh is hoping to reconnect with Avery, but she isn’t ready to have her heart broken again.

My thoughts
There is a lot of emotion in this love story, woven with the feelings of anxiety that Avery struggles with, the need to protect herself particularly since she was a victim of sexual assault in the past. There is a fair amount of on the page steam in here. I feel like this story might have benefited from a dual POV, and seeing the events and feelings from Josh’s perspective would have given it some depth.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc of The Last Encore by Elodie Colliard!

This was a super cute story and a really great debut. I adored Avery's character. This story had great mental health representation in it and I thought it was written in a very relatable and tasteful way. It made it very easy to relate to Avery and feel a lot of what she was feeling. I liked the relationship between Avery and Josh enough. To be honest I wasn't sure I believed they were genuine ALL the time. I think maybe I needed another POV though and that is just my preference.

I can't wait to read what Elodie Colliard writes next though :)

I loved this book so much! It made my heart so happy. I loved the characters and I truly felt connected to them. I was rooting for them! I enjoy photography so I really liked the photography aspect! I loved the mental health representation! I also loved the trigger warning at the beginning of the book. This book made my heart hurt but it also made it so full! The banter between the two characters was amazing. I wish the characters had a little more depth and I wish we had gotten a little more from their past. I would recommend this book if you love friends to lovers, slow burn romances!

Okay so Elodie Colliard not only put this book out as her debut, but she wrote a book in a language that is NOT her first language! She wrote an ENTIRE BOOK in a language that was learned. Can we all just applaud her and appreciate her for this aspect alone?

Anyways, this book was good! Both Avery and Josh went through some very traumatic experiences in their lives and we were able to see pieces of what their lives looked like due to these things. My heart went out to Josh primarily because I lost a parent in my final year of high school as well, so I know the feeling of wanting to run away from everything that is a reminder of said parent. They both had such deep feelings that were expressed on the pages and you couldn’t help but have your heart hurt with them in certain discussions they were having.

Josh was a fun and well written book boyfriend, so props for that definitely! There’s nothing like an unlikeable book boyfriend to ruin a story for me (unless they are meant to be unlikeable, in allllll the right ways LOL). Avery felt like a relatable character to follow along with and my heart broke during her mental health moments and her backstory piece. The two of them together was wonderful and I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination for when/if you read this book.

I would recommend you give this book a read and obsess over all of the descriptions of Toronto like I did.

⚠️TW: sexual assault, mental illness, death of a parent, infidelity, panic attacks/disorders

Thank you @victoryeditingngc and @netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review! All of the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This sounded so good, and it started off promising for me, but the longer I read, the less I was enjoying the writing style, to the point where I wasn't enjoying the book anymore. There were also some comments that felt very alienating to read as an asexual person, like the MC claiming it was sad that she hadn't had sex in a year. Because of this, I decided to DNF.

I really wanted to like this one, friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but I just did not connect with this book.

The writing was a bit immature, and I know this is a debut, but even then it felt a little too simplistic for me. This was a little more insta-lovey to me, and I feel like I wanted more of their friendship before we got to the good stuff.

This book had a really sweet premise w/ a lot of heart & tropes I love (second chance romance, friends to lovers, etc)

It was an overall fun read with relatable characters and swoon worthy romance. I appreciated how the author didn’t shy away from heavier subject matter and included a warning to her readers before reading (especially given that an explicit SA scene is very triggering for me any I’m sure many other readers).

I think there was just a lot going on in this story that it didn’t have time to dive into. Both MCs were struggling with a lot of personal growth and character development at the same time but it all sort of got pushed to the side with the romance and wrapped up a little too neatly without addressing some of the issues the characters had deep dived into earlier on. I think if some of the external conflicts had been trimmed down, I would’ve enjoyed reading this one a little more.

However the ending was sweet and I do see myself picking up the next book in this series when it’s out to hear Miles’ story.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!