It took me a while to read this book; I found I struggled to get into it and even then, I ended up flipping to the end to see how it ended.
I have enjoyed previous books by the author and I like her writing style, so I really think it was the premise of the book. I just don't enjoy workplace drama and stuff and I found it challenging to be sympathetic with the main female character.

Even though I'm not a fan of this book, I will definitely try out more books by Birchall!

Harper is a celebrity editor at Narrative and is great at her job! When Ryan (another editor who Harper has history with) gets hired at narrative Harper can’t seem to get used to the idea that she will have to work along side her arc-nemesis.

10 years have passed since Harper and Ryan have seen each other. The last time they spoke they both ended up heartbroken and disappointed. They get a second chance to rekindle what they had once started but history seems to be repeating itself.

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martins press for my complimentary copy of The Last Word

The Last Word
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Katy Birchall

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Harper Jenkins is at the top of her game. A brilliant, determined journalist with a well-known knack for getting tight-lipped Hollywood stars to open up to her, Harper loves her job as Celebrity Editor at a newspaper’s glossy weekend magazine and has the best contacts in the business.

But when her awful boss hires talented reporter Ryan to be the new Features Editor, Harper is furious. Because the two have met before: a decade ago, they were interns at the same publication, where they fell into a whirlwind romance…until Ryan betrayed Harper, and they never spoke again.

Thrown together in a busy newsroom, their dynamic is a disaster from the start. They can’t agree on anything and bicker constantly—Ryan can’t bear how chaotic and messy Harper is; Harper finds Ryan’s condescending nature infuriating. They clash over who’s writing what article, and fight over who’s going to which event.

Yet as they’re forced to spend more and more time together, Harper realizes she may have misjudged Ryan and can’t help but feel a spark growing between them. Long buried feelings start to resurface and, when they’re thrown together on a romantic press trip abroad, their chemistry comes to a head.

But all is fair in love and magazines, and with the news that layoffs across the department are imminent, Harper is left to wonder: who will get the last word?

My Thoughts: This was a slow burn romance novel. The tropes are enemies to lovers (my favorite) and office romance.

The story is narrated by Harper and Ryan, in their respective POVs. I loved the author’s realistic and authentic approach to journalism. I really loved Harper’s ethics in journalism and can hope that more journalists carry her same work ethic. Harper was immature and a workaholic in the beginning, but she really evolves throughout the story. Ryan seems reserved and unapproachable to begin with, but when you get to know him, he is kind and compassionate. The characters were developed well with depth, had growth, witty banter, chemistry, and were creative. The author’s writing style was complex, humorous, swoony, and keeps you engaged.

I would recommend this book to other readers. I had both the digital ARC and audiobook and I preferred the audiobook.

Slow and long. I am more than a quarter this novel (after several hours worth of reading), just barely met the main male character and just don’t really care for anything that’s happening here.

I thought this one would be for me since a lot of my book friends loved this author in the past-- however it didn't click with me! I feel like British books are a win or a miss with me unfortunately and this one was possibly too British for me.

This is a great slow-burn full of your classic romance tropes that also had some wonderful side storylines. I was hooked pretty quickly and loved the dual past/present timelines. I do feel that certain sections drug on too long and then the ending wrapped up so quickly, so I wish that earlier parts of the story had been cut down a little to allow for expansion of the ending. I loved both MCs and found myself rooting for their success, both independently and together. I do wish that we could have also had Ryan’s POV of everything!
Overall, a great light read for summer!

Read if you like:
-Enemies to lovers
-Office Romance
-Forced Proximity
-Second Chance
-Dual Timelines
-Opposites Attract

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just finished is "The Last Word" by Katy Birchall and it is a second chance/enemies to lovers/workplace romance. It is single POV but the story has flashbacks to the first time the main characters met which gives us a look at what brought them together and teared them appart which I really liked.

I also liked the different sub plots that are brought in because they add more dimension to the story and you get to know the characters better. I did find it to be slow paced (or maybe I'm slowing down a bit?), but I ate up the last 6 chapters in a couple of hours.

Also, I must say that the spice is really subtle, so if you're not into that, this might not be for you. But if that's not an issue then you should really read this one!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I loooved Katy's debut novel, but have not found one I've loved as much since then. Which is a huge bummer because her writing is so wonderful.

This is my third book by Katy Birchall and I think it is my favorite! Her books are always funny and I find myself laughing a lot while reading. While usually not a fan of second chance romances this one just really hit the spot! We follow reporters Harper and Ryan as the deal with trying to work together as well as ignore the tension they have had for the last decade.

While the beginning was a little slow the book soon picked up and I couldn’t put it down! Thank you @smpromance for my #gifted copy for review!

A unique thing about this book is that there are multiple occasions where it feels like the story could end, but you know there is still quite a bit of the book to go, so you wonder what the author is going to have happen to keep the story going. The story focuses on Harper Jenkins, celebrity editor for the magazine "Narrative", and Ryan Jansson, the new features editor. Unbeknownst to the rest of the "Narrative" staff, Harper and Ryan have a history, and Harper could not be more irritated that they have to work together again. The author alternates between the present and the past, slowly revealing the events of 11 years ago that have poisoned Harper against Ryan, while detailing the animosity between them currently, as Harper believes Ryan is trying to belittle and undermine her.

Harper is amazing at what she does, able to build a rapport with celebrities that results in them opening up and telling her things that other journalists cannot discover; it helps that she writes positive uplifting articles, seeking to portray the celebrities as real people that readers can relate to, rather than seeking to capitalize on their misfortune and mistakes, as is the trend in celebrity journalism. While she knows she is good at what she does, she does not realize how impactful her writing can be, as the editor-in-chief does not understand the need for a celebrity editor or the value of her articles, and more significantly, her parents and sister treat her as if she is a great disappointment, wasting her life and talents on something as vapid as celebrity journalism. However, a series of events, some wonderful, others not so much, will help Harper realize her true worth, and help her realize that maybe she was wrong about Ryan after all.

Harper is a celebrity journalist and she loves her job and shes good at it and isn't a typical lets get all the dirt no matter what would happens. Yes she may run late to work meetings and her boss think her job is a joke but shes a hard worker

Enter Ryan her boss adds him to they team once one of her co workers leaves for another job.
Ryan is someone Harper knows all to well and lets just say the tension is still there after all this time.

The thing I loved most about this book is Harpers way to connect with people in the spot light and not just use them for a story. This story had a rough middle for me but came back around in the end.

I feel like if Ryan and her were honest from the start of all the past and new drama things could of been less messy. I know its part of a story to have conflict but the no talking about the important things was just hard.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this!

I absolutely loved this book so much.

Katy Birchall puts so much heart in her books. I am always smiling when I read them.

I love how she has the perfect blend of romance and humor. Her books just make me happy.

I already can’t wait for her next one!

Enemies to loves is my favourite romance trope - when done well it is fantastic. I was really excited to read The Last Word as it seems to be on the workplace enemies to lovers romance I loved - similar to The Hating Game and Beach Read. Both were used in the blurb as comparisons and both are some of my favourite contemporary romances.

Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me.

What I liked:
- I liked that Harper is good at her job - genuinely good at it and passionate about it. It was great to see her connecting with her celebrity clients in interviews. The author easily could have made Harper’s job a bit too “celebrity gossip columnist” but I think she managed to portray Harper’s job as a genuine journalistic career in a way not everyone thinks celebrity interviewers are.
- I enjoyed the flashbacks of Harper and Ryan’s initial romance.
- The misogyny that Harper faces at work was SO FRUSTRATING to read but it was so frustrating because it was so accurate. I can’t think of a woman alive who hasn’t had a boss be a condescending jerk at some point.

What I disliked:
- Much as it pains me, the worst part of this book for me was Harper. She was so immature that I found myself actively disliking reading from her perspective. I understand a bit why she was mad at Ryan in the past, but her behaviour towards him at her new magazine was straight up unprofessional. I wasn’t really rooting for them to get together in the end because Ryan tried to be an adult about an awkward situation and Harper kept acting like a petulant child.
- Miscommunication trope - one of my least favourite tropes when trying to create conflict.
- Harper’s family was so aggressively terrible it seemed forced. They were so unlikeable to try and make Harper more likeable and sympathetic. I felt like they weighed down what should otherwise have been a light and fluffy rom com.

I really tried with this one but I ended up skimming the last 20% because I could not deal with Harper anymore.

Overall, this was a fun read for me! I typically dont love a journalism/newsroom read but this book pleasantly surprised me! I will say that this book was a little harder to get through because it took me a minute to get into but the more I read, the more that I enjoyed it. The relationship between Harper and Ryan was definitely cute because you can never go wrong with an enemies to lovers trope, but at the end of the day I was left wanting more out of their relationship even after the clever banter happening throughout the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Katy Birchall for this opportunity to read and review this book!

This book was okay. ::shrug::

Thanks to the author, St Martins, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my review.

A book filled with wit and humor that I enjoyed from beginning to end. This enjoyable book is full of classic tropes such as enemies to lovers, second chance romance, opposites attract and workplace romance. The characters of Harper and Ryan are strong willed and passionate. I enjoyed getting to know them through the dual-timeline storyline. As more was revealed in the past storyline the more I could see why Harper had a hard time trusting Ryan but also why Ryan deserved a second chance. Their witty banter and chemistry kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next.
If you're a fan of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, Book Lovers by Emily Henry or Just My Type by Fallon Ballard then I highly recommend this book. The romance is very much a slow burn, letting the reader get to know the characters before the romance takes off. The plot is very well-conceived and was written at an enjoyable pace.
This is another wonderful book by Katy Birchall, who is an automatic buy for me after I thoroughly enjoyed her previous books, The Secret Bridesmaid and The Wedding Season. Though her previous books are more of Woman's Contemporary Fiction this one is more of a Rom-com it was just as enjoyable. She will definitely remain as one of my favorite authors!
I am extremely grateful to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a digital copy of this delightful and engaging book in exchange for an honest review.

l)

Those who are looking for a fun, engaging and relaxing read may want to put this one in their beach bag. It has a premise that has been done before (when the ex descends back into one’s life), but it is done well here.

The setting is within the world of journalism. Watch as sparks fly between the Celebrity and Features editors.

This is just the kind of book for a warm afternoon. Sit down with a favorite iced drink and watch the pages turn.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. All opinions are my own.

The Last Word by Katy Birchall is a great example of the classic enemies to lovers novel. Harper and Ryan have a past and a never ending list of reasons they can’t stand each other. But the newsroom brings them together again. This is a cute book that romance readers should enjoy. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This second-chance, enemies to lovers romance was delightful! I loved the tension between the two characters, the girl-boss attitude, and the witty banter. Highly recommend!

My thoughts fluctuated a lot during this read. At times I really liked Harper and at other times, not so much. I really was a fan of Ryan but also wondered if he was too good to be true. I think I may have liked this more with his POV as this one is all Harper’s story.

Enemies to lovers, workplace romance and second chance romance are all tropes of this one. I am a fan of the chase and that is well represented in this slow burn. I really liked this one as ultimately I rooted for the characters to get over themselves.