Our Last Summer from Jennifer Joyce provides an interesting take on time travel in, to hopefully change the past (no spoilers).

I don't typically read books with unrealistic elements, like time travel, but the blurb and cover caught my attention, so I thought I'd give it a shot, and it was a nice read but there were some elements I didn't enjoy that weren't related to the time travel.

I didn't care for Elodie. She came across as weak and desperate to me. I understand the desperation with the storyline (no spoilers) but when combined with the weakness I had a hard time relating to Elodie.

I don't feel like I was able to get to know Tomasz enough for me to form any opinion about him one way or another.

I preferred more of the secondary characters, with the exception of one more that I cared about the main characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy for my review.

Elodie Parker is reluctantly returning to her hometown after four years away, primarily to attend her little sister's wedding. The prospect of the reunion stirs up old emotions, including her unresolved feelings for Tomasz, her past love. During a turbulent flight, a magical twist takes Elodie back eight years to the day she first met Tomasz, before everything went awry. Now, she's presented with a chance to change the past and potentially secure the happy ending she's always desired. This novel weaves together elements of romance, nostalgia, and the longing for a second chance, creating a captivating story of love and time travel. Readers will be drawn into Elodie's journey of self-discovery and her quest to rewrite her history.

This is my first read by Jennifer Joyce and definitely not my last! What an emotional story. I cried more than once. I loved it so much that I will likely re-read it and I never do that. I love a good heartfelt love story and this checked all the boxes.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

I love a good time travel romance but for me this fell flat. I just really struggled to understand the characters and how the switch was occurring. I felt it was a bit jumpy and cutty the writing which made me unable to invest in the story. I really wanted to love this book but ended up dnfing because it was just too tough to keep reading on.

Our Last Summer was cute, but it wasn't for me. It did a lot of telling us things rather than showing and the story felt somewhat forced. I had a hard time believing the characters ages because they tended to act like children. Just overall not for me.

Don't we all wish we could go back in time and change something, especially if it was something completely life altering? I thought the premise of Our Last Summer was refreshing, not a typical rom com novel. I found the book to be a little bit slow, but I enjoyed how the very end tied everything together. I was truly rooting for all characters that everything would work out in their favor.
I found myself going in and out of engagement with the plot. Some parts I couldn't put it down because I was dying to know what happened next, but other parts of it I found to be a bit of filler and unengaging. But at the end, I really wanted to know what happened with Elodie.
I found it refreshing that the story was mainly plot driven, and how could Elodie use this time travel to change the things that changed her life years ago, and not just focused on the romance of it all.
If you've ever had an instance in your life where you'd go back to change how you did things, give this book a shot!

Our Last Summer by Jennifer Joyce is an interesting take on traveling back in time to change the past - for better, hopefully. While on an anxious flight back home to the UK, Elodie Parker starts reliving the nightmare that took her away from her sleepy little village and to her new life in California. Not long after the flight takes off, Elodie starts traveling back to key events in her past, and tries to make positive changes to save a tragedy from occurring.

I liked the plot and the main character Elodie, along with her sister. However, sometimes the story was confusing and jumped around without enough of an explanation. Characters change throughout the story as a result of Elodie going back in time, but we don’t get enough of a glimpse into the change as a result of time constraints. Some relationships seemed forced, and there weren’t enough connections to make some of the relationships seem realistic.

I applaud Jennifer Joyce for writing something new and interesting with unexpected plot twists. I can see where she was going and what she was trying to accomplish, unfortunately, there is just too much going on for this story to flow in a pleasing manner.

Thank you to HQ Digital and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. #OurLastSummer #NetGalley #kindle

I found there to be a lot of repetition in this book. I also felt that the three best friends behaved like teenagers at times, when they were in their twenties. I think I would have liked a bit more at the end, perhaps more in the way of romance. We were told a lot rather than shown. I enjoyed this book overall. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Who knew time travel could be so believable, and happen while you re on a plane.

In fact given I'm flying tomorrow (at time of writing the review), I wonder if I can time travel too using the same trigger!

It's great the Elodie is given the chance to re-live some very key summers that shaped her life to this point.

It was interesting to see how the butterfly effect would impact anything going forwards too.

I loved getting to know Elodie and her friends, and discovering what did happen originally on that fateful night so many years ago.

This was a joy to read and I couldn't get enough of it.

Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Really struggled with this book.bit. I found it a bit all over the place and i struggled to connect to the characters. Thanks for the opportunity to read it

*Title: Our Last Summer-a standalone

*Release date: 9/14/23 per NetGalley but Amazon has 7/5/23- read: 8/26 /23

*Author: Jennifer Joyce-1st time author for me

*Book cover: cute summertime colors

*Format: e-ARC

*Page Count:294

*POV: 1st person Elodie

*Setting: LA to Little Heaton, UK

*Genre: Adult Fiction, Rom-Com

*Tropes:
✅ 2nd chance romance
✅ time travel
✅ friendship
✅ small town
✅clean romance

Look out for:
⚠️motorcycle accident/death

*Synopsis: Elodie is dreading coming back to her hometown village for her sister's wedding because of some bad memories. While on the plane, she's thrown back 8 years in the past with the possibility to right some wrongs.


Characters:
Elodie Parker
Ed
Yvonne Berkely
Heather
Tomasz
Sacha Nowak
Ronnie

*Review: There is not much romance between the h/H, but it's an interesting concept to go back in time to change pivotal moments in your life. To see if making different choices makes life better. I just watched The Flash on Max, and Barry Allen goes back in time to change history, which doesn't go too well. I did love Elodie's efforts to appreciate her BFFs and family more.

*Rating: 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher HQ for this ARC 🧡! I voluntarily give my honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

🔸 Elodie Parker is on her way from LA to her hometown Little Heaton for her sister’s wedding. She is on her flight dreading this journey since she vanished Little Heaton 4 years back to pursue a flourishing career in LA. Job was not the only motive to move to US but the fact was she was running away from her hometown, from her friends, family, colleagues. The events that unfolded when she left were unnerving and has changed her whole life. She is on her flight and suddenly with a blink of an eye, she is transported 8 years back, to her hometown to relive the summer when she was 24. What follows is a series of events and time travel that allows Elodie to re look at people and situations different to what she did the first time. Whether Elodie is lucky enough to change the course of actions of her past to in turn change her present and future - read ‘Our Last Summer’.
💖 Wows - The plot, the storyline was very good and I could understand the emotions Elodie felt each time. The friendship between Elodie, Yvonne and Ed was very cute. The extended family was also embedded in the story very nicely. I liked Ed the most for his continuous support to the gang and humour. The Novaks were also described well including the town, woods and the pubs. It felt like I was in Little Heaton enjoying a Chardonnay.
💔 Ows - I found too much of repetition within the book. While we know that Elodie wanted to rejig her past but there was this constant reminder in the book about something that she wanted to change. It was that what the event was was known from page 1 but exactly how the event happened or came to light was described much much later in the book. Till that time the suspense kept on building and it felt like reading the same thing again.
💫 This fiction novel is about time travel and if you are interested in reading this concept, you would like ‘Our Last Summer’. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to @netgalley and @HQstories for sharing the review copy in exchange for honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I struggled with this one quite a bit. It felt a bit disjointed and didn't flow well enough for me. Sorry.

DNF at 9%

I've been lucky enough to get approved for an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review of the book.

I really wish I could've gotten through more of this book but I just couldn't.

I've never really been a fan of a time travelling moment but thought I'd be able to over look it for a 2nd chance romance. I couldn't.

Jennifer Joyce has a lovely writing style to read I just couldn't find any interest in the characters whatsoever and just don't care if they end up together or not.

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
2.5 stars rounded up
I found this very hard to finish. It was boring. I didn't like a single character and therefore didn't care what happened to any of them. However, it wasn't badly written, I simply felt there was more that could have been done with the premise. I quite enjoy time travel/time loop stories, but not this one.

Thanks to netgalley for given me the opportunity to read this and give my honest review. In a way you enjoy comfort food so you enjoy this book. I'm not asking to understand why what happened happened, or why you don't control it. You just enjoy it without asking the mechanics or why there is no butterfly effect, or how he only absorbs the memories of his past self with each change. Now with each time travel you must ask yourself, does she do it because now she is more mature and understands her decisions or because she really regretted it. Because her past self quickly understands that she and her sister are separated and makes small changes to that relationship. And she also misses her parents a lot, which influences her decision to stay because she hasn't seen them in 4 years.
But perhaps that is the reason why you say you regret it or are you just mature enough and understand that it was only your mourning that did not let you live happily. I don't know, but I liked the way everything falls into place at the end. I can't wait for it to be September and see it in shelves.

struggled abit with this one as it sometimes felt disjointed due to the time travel though i liked the characters and you really wanted it all to work out in the end. a fun second chance romance

Eloise Parker is a time traveler! She’s living a life she isn’t quite sure she wanted, but does she have a second chance to fix everything?

This book took me by surprise. I’m not normally a big “magical happenings” fan but the setting and this story were delightful. I love a small English village and a tight knit friendship. This book had quirky characters, intense storylines and plenty to enjoy. I found my self dragging through the story a bit. Maybe missing some background, maybe missing some emotion, not totally sure what. But I enjoyed it overall!

Our Last Summer is a time-travel, second chance romance that follows main character Elodie Parker as she prepares to head back home to Little Heaton, a village near Cheshire after spending the last four years in L.A. She’s nervous about seeing the love of her life, Tomasz, after their break-up, but also she doesn’t know how to deal with the loss of her best friend, Ed. Her grief for her friend was the reason she left England in the first place. But as she travels by plane, she’s transported back to the past and given another opportunity to spend time with her best friend. Can she change the devastating events that happened so long ago? Can she make the right decision and not lose Tomasz all over again?

This started off well and I was intrigued by the mystery of the secondary characters. Of course, I wanted to see Elodie succeed and save her friend. The romance aspect of the story was lacking and I didn’t really feel that much of a connection between Elodie and Tomasz. There was no big declaration between them and some of the more romantic moments were referred to instead of shown. The ending seemed rushed and was again told instead of shown. It was an interesting read but lacked in certain places.

Oh this was such a lovely book with an original plot. It was perfect escapism and I couldn’t put it down. I’ll definitely read Jennifer Joyce books in future!