Was not one of my favorite books. Just did not vibe with me like I wanted it to, and I did end up DNFing the book unfortunately. Although, I did rec this to my two friends who I know will love and enjoy it and it WILL vibe with them. I would still rec this book to certain people, I just couldn't get into it like I wanted to,

Katy Birchall's The Last Word is definitely comparable to Sally Thorne's The Hating Game and Falon Ballard's Just My Type. This second-chance and opposites-attract romance set in a glossy magazine newsroom in London (the Anglophile in me is very happy already) is completely adorable and fun that I did not want to put down. The language was funny and quippy. All in all, it's fun, frothy and indulgent. Love.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I just couldn't get into it and I was easily able to put it down for weeks at a time before picking it back up, only to lose interest again. I'll give it another shot in the future. 🤞🏻

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

A slow start to a great book. This book definitely leans more towards women’s fiction than romance, I did enjoy it.

Thank you @netgalley and @smpromance @stmartinspress for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

📑Summary📑
Harper is the celebrity editor for a magazine. When Ryan replaced her friend as features editor, Harper is livid. She and Ryan have a secret past, they interned together 11 years ago, and it did not end well. Now that they are working together again, they are fighting and sniping at each other all the time; over who is writing articles, who attends events and whose way is the best way. When they both end up on a trip press trip in Italy, those buried feelings start to bubble back up. But will it end the same way as before or can they get their happily ever after this time?

📑Review📑
I really enjoyed this story. I loved the opposites attract vibe of Harper and Ryan. Harper is an agent of chaos and color while Ryan is more straight-laced, organized and serious. It contains many of my favorite tropes; enemies to lovers, opposites attract, workplace and second chance romance. The story bounces between present day with flashbacks to Harper and Ryan's intern experience. It was closed-door, but plenty of tension and chemistry. There was miscommunication, which isn't my favorite, and I felt Ryan should have known better, but overall, it was a cute story and I really liked it.

I have only read one other novel by Katy Birchall, but something makes me keep wanting to come back to her and I am glad I did with The Last Word. This is a slow-burning romance, no instalove here, and while a bit too long for me (my only real gripe), I loved that it really lets you get to know the characters and give them a nice story to play out. There are 2 timelines going on in the book, and I do have to confess that I tended to get confused about when I was in the past and when I was in the present, but I did enjoy getting to see both. Ryan 'betrays' Harper not once but TWICE in the story, and even I was saying oh no he didn't! Clearly, there are good reasons here, and it was nice getting to see Harper gain some insight and come to terms with the fact that maybe she wasn't completely in the right to get so angry. In other words - she grows!

I loved the London and magazine settings, and it was incredibly fun to watch Harper at work with the Hollywood stars and getting them to chat and open up to her. I quite liked both of the MCs and I didn't want to hit Harper over the head at all which was a huge bonus. Karen Cass was the narrator for the audiobook, and I so enjoyed her narration. Audio may have been part of the reason I was confused by past/present changes, but I don't even care because she was so fun to listen to. In my "educated" opinion, I don't think you can go wrong by listening to OR reading The Last Word. If you are so inclined, I could easily see this being a one-sitting type of read, and I really did get lost in Birchall's writing and the characters. She did a fantastic job of keeping me interested in what was going on, and if you like a good slow-burn, longish romance, I would definitely recommend this to you.

DNF ~25%

I could not connect with the characters, and that is very important to me when enjoying a romance novel. I continued to put it down with no real motivation to pick it back up. I am also not a fan of the miscommunication trope. I was simply just not the right audience for this book but I can see others enjoying it.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review an ARC.

Harper is the celebrity editor for a magazine - always getting the latest scoop. When a guy from her past - Ryan - is hired to be the new features editor she is not too thrilled. Ten years ago they interned together where after a whirlwind romance, Harper found out Ryan was lying to her. But has he changed? Can she forgive him for past mistakes? The sparks are flying even if Harper wants to deny it. But history just might repeat itself.

Cute! Perfect for fans of enemies to lovers and second chance romance. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

I’m a sucker for a workplace romance and this one definitely fit the bill. Harper and Ryan were so fun together.

Here are some of the things I enjoyed the most. ⬇️

⇢ 𝖲𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍 𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋
⇢ 𝖫𝗈𝗏𝖾𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝗌𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌
⇢ 𝖮𝗉𝗉𝗈𝗌𝗂𝗍𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗍𝗍𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍
⇢ 𝖤𝗇𝖾𝗆𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌
⇢ 𝖲𝗍𝗋𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝖥𝖾𝗆𝖺𝗅𝖾 𝖫𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋
⇢ 𝖢𝗎𝗍𝖾 𝗋𝗈𝗆𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾

These are a few things I wasn’t a big fan of ⬇️

⇢ 𝖯𝗋𝖾𝗍𝗍𝗒 𝗌𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝖻𝗎𝗋𝗇
⇢ 𝖧𝖺𝗋𝗉𝖾𝗋 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗂𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝖺 𝖻𝗂𝗍 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗆𝗒 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀
⇢ 𝖶𝗂𝗌𝗁 𝗂𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗌𝗇'𝗍 𝗌𝗈 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖼𝗍𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾

Overall this was a cute read with the positives outweighing the negatives. If any of the things I listed as liking were things you like also, check out this book!

This was my first experience reading something by this author, and it definitely won't be my last. Such an adorably fun and sweet story! Harper is a Celebrity Editor and excels at her job. Everything at work is going well until her boss hires a new Features Editor, Ryan. She knows Ryan from back when she was an intern and they had dated, but then he ended up betraying her. And now she has to work with him. Needless to say, they don't get along and butt heads over everything. But despite that, they can't ignore the fact that a spark burns between them. As they spend more time together, they realize they may have misjudged each other and feelings they thought were deeply buried start to resurface.
This was a flirty and fun story, and I had a lot of fun reading it. Harper and Ryan were great together and their chemistry was sizzling! The constant bickering between them brought about such witty and fun banter! I had a lot of fun with this one! I really enjoyed the story and look forward to reading more by this author.
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

fun workplace enemies to lovers story

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this review copy.

Another winner from Katy Birchell! I need all of her books on my shelves. This one wasn’t my favorite but I still throughly enjoyed it. I just was missing some of the humor that her other books have. But of course I’ll keep reading and buying because she’s quickly become one of my favorite authors.

I just love what Katy Birchall does. This book was fantastic - it felt pretty feel for what some could potentially consider a cheesy romance.

As a huge fan of Katy Birchall's previous novels - THE WEDDING SEASON and THE SECRET BRIDEMAID - I was beyond thrilled to receive this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for my honest review.

THE LAST WORD tells the story of Harper Jenkins, British magazine writer, and her former rival turned friend, Ryan. Harper and Ryan have a complicated history and, when forced to work closely together a decade later, sparks fly. I loved this story of second chances, redemption, love, friendship, and perseverance. Harper's career journey is so rewarding, and Harper and Ryan's connection is palpable. Once again, Birchall's writing is lovely, hilarious, and heart-warming! I will read anything she writes!

I would recommend this whole-heartedly to fans of romance, second chance romance, and Birchall fans. A lovely read with substance and heart.

Celebrity editor Harper is angling for a promotion when a man is hired over her to become the features editor; Ryan turns out to be the ex from her internship (spoiler alert: it ended badly). Their forced proximity is both frustrating and a reminder of everything she liked about him, and their falling back into a relationship is inevitable.

Birchall excels at banter but sometimes the grudge got to be a bit much for me. Both Ryan and Harper are talented and ambitious, Harper is hilarious and a bit of a hot mess, but also ran hot and cold, and was sometimes a little mean to Ryan, who comes across more genuine and very earnest. The pacing was a bit slow, and the sex, when they finally got over themselves and got it on, was behind closed doors.

The novel deals realistically (sadly) with sexism, and how hard it can be for an ambitious woman to get ahead, even when they are hitting it out of the park. The enemies to lovers trope can be hit or miss for me, and I found this to be a good but not great read.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #TheLastWord from #NetGalley.

I read "The Wedding Season" by Katy previously and absolutely ADORED it. So when I was given the opportunity to read their new book, "The Last Word", I was THRILLED!

"The Last Word" is an enemies-to-lovers office romance with banter that I would compare to Emily Henry's Beach Read. I really enjoyed how Harper was portrayed as a real person and not just like an immediate journalism superstar and the struggles were there.

Ryan obviously had betrayed Harper (Not spoiling anything! It's in the description!) but comes through the pages as a super genuine and caring individual. And when they come together it's magic bound by dead trees and glue.

I thoroughly enjoy Katy's works and I will continue to request them because I can't wait for them to be released.

Thank you to St. Martins, Katy Birchall and Netgalley for an early copy.

P.S. St. Martins... You have my heart. I love all your publications.

This was an entertaining enemies-to-lover and second-chance romance. Harper was happy with her job until a new editor was hired who thought her job as a celebrity columnist was useless. In his condescension, he hires a new writer, Ryan, to help with the position. The biggest issue is that Ryan is Harper's ex and her nemesis. She has always believed that he has it out for her, making the job harder, especially since they are acting like they haven't ever met. As they are forced to spend more time together, they realize they still have feelings for each other, but with layoffs coming up, will they make it, or will the potential relationship break? It was a fun read.

Included in this post https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct4JzzML719/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Very quick, fun, entertaining summer read. I really enjoyed and quite loved it. However, it was the banter that had me having some of the best times here!!

This was a fun, quick read set in the world of journalism with enemies to lovers AND concealed history driving the romance! I loved Harper and how passionate she was about her job as a journalist - she knew her worth and what she was good at which I love in FMC. But then she was rather immature and unprofessional when the new features editor, Ryan, is someone she has a past with. Except it's largely due to miscommunication and bitterness that she holds onto for far too long. Despite those aspects of the story, I did enjoy it! Ryan was a great MMC and I wish we had his POV at times because I would love to know how he worked through is own frustration with Harper. They had excellent banter filled chemistry, but I wanted a bit more development of their relationship. It would have complimented Harper's growth wonderfully.

I would still recommend this even though it has room for improvement!