It was ok. I wanted to love it but found myself rather bored and skimming a lot. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. Thank you for the ARC!

“may we all be showered with shards from Sara breaking more glass ceilings"

•

One Last Word opens with Sara pitching her app, Upon My Death, to her misogynistic bosses. after a matter-of-fact dismissal of her project, Sara quits on the spot and decides to strike out on her own.

fast forward, and Sara has been accepted into a venture capitalist program, which could lead to the funding of her app. she also quickly discovers her mentor happens to be her high school crush, Harry.

an app rebranding plus an unintentional soft launch later, Sara is chasing her dream while dealing with difficult relationships and following in love at the same time.

•

One Last Word is ultimately the story about a woman with an idea navigating how to bring her vision to life while projecting her voice.

the romance was lackluster for me, but it didn’t take away from my interest in Sara. her journey was enough to keep me reading and cheering for her.

•

<b>read if you like:</b>
♡ app development
♡ asian female mc
♡ closed door romance
♡ entrepreneurial boss women
♡ fake boyfriends / fake dating
♡ family birthday parties
♡ friends to lovers
♡ friendship reconciliation
♡ galas
♡ kettle bells
♡ reality competition shows
♡ single pov
♡ taylor swift references
♡ tech startup culture
♡ women in stem

trigger warnings:
☞ racism
☞ toxic parental relationships
☞ misogyny
☞ divorce

•
thank you to the publisher, Avon Books, for sending me an early copy of the book!

This was a nice story! The main character, Sara, is funny, infuriating at times, and dynamic. I appreciate how much character development this book has involving mostly her but also some of the side characters. (Side note I felt like Sara was so disrespectful about her parents though). The One Last Word app was interesting and I loved the concept of many of Sara's deepest, darkest thoughts being sent out to the exact people she wouldn't want to see them.

There were quite a few plot twists toward the end which made for a chaotic ending, but overall this was a fun story that I flew through!

Thank you netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Avon for allowing me to read this book. Overall this book was just meh

This is my third book by this author I think and it's time to admit the writing is just not for me. Unfortunately this wasn't my thing for completely subjective reasons.

This was a classic Suzanne Park book, and I mean that in the best way! The characters are easy to root for, and the story was a fun and fresh take. I enjoyed the romance elements, but the focus really felt like it was on Sara's growth. I feel like I've read a few books about women in tech where I walk away just feeling so frustrated, but I love that Sara's character encounters *difficult* people in positions of power with a confidence in who she is and what she has to offer. This was a read I walked away from with a smile on my face.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Imagine your dying words, your secrets, your true feelings about someone getting emailed out upon your death. Now imagine that happening on accident you’re very much alive and your parents, high school crush, landlord and more all got those emails…

This book was enjoyable. The premise had just enough believability that the outcome seemed earned. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good time.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the ARC.

This had a really cool premise - the messages the MC meant to have sent to her friends and family upon her death (this is the app she is creating) get delivered to them by mistake when she's alive - it's a sort of Lara Jean situation in that sense.

Most of her messages are about why she's unsatisfied with her relationship with these people, and she has to work through all of it, while also pitching and developing her app.

The book also highlighted the difficulties women in the tech world face, and the author did a good job of writing in nuanced situations of the same + the MC standing up for herself (really inspiring!!).

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for accepting my request for an ARC of this book!
2.5/5
“Some days don’t go as planned”
I had such a fun time with this book! The idea of it was entertaining to read. The romance was one of my favorite parts, it was aggravating at times with how much I was anticipating on what would happen next. It was a fast read. It was short which made it seem like I was reading it faster than I thought. But here were my downsides, I am 99.99% such I am currently in a reading slump so it took a tiny bit longer than I thought to finish this read. I guess I had trouble finding motivation. The main character was what made me enjoy this book more. When I took a step back though, it hit me. If you liked To All The Boys, this is definitely a book I would recommend.

What a pleasure to dive into One Last Work by Suzanne Park, a smart, contemporary and laugh-out-loud novel about taking chances and making amends. With a clever plot twist that leads to deep storylines about love, friendship and family ties, Park draws us in with relatable characters and sharp dialogue. The overall effect is a satisfying tale of a modern woman choosing to live life on her own terms.

I love Suzanne Park! Her books feel vivid and authentic, and I appreciate how they touch on so many relatable issues such as struggling to prove yourself in your career, navigating cultural and familial clashes, and feeling anxious about not having it all figured out. The scenes with the "tech bro" bosses were so vivid, and made me feel the main character, Sara's frustration so clearly, I would guess that the author was drawing from her own background in the world of finance. This book was definitely less of a spicy romance, and more of a story of a woman coming to trust herself and her own abilities - with the bonus of a supportive and attractive love interest! Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

ONE LAST WORD dives into what it's like to be a woman in tech and how difficult it is to get the same kind of opportunities. But the heart of the book is how the protagonist, Sara, learns to advocate for herself professionally and personally, when the app she developed sends messages that were meant to go out when she died. As a result, Sara had to face her nagging parents, her ex-friend Naomi and her former high school crush Harry. Readers get to see the journey Sara goes on as she tries to balances it all. Though things don't always go as planned, you'll root for Sara as she gains her confidence and puts herself out there.

suzanne park!!!!! i love you this book was so fun and cute i loved every second! great book!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the concept of "One Last Word" was really interesting. I like how it talked about the struggles of a Korean woman who is trying to succeed in business. It reminded me a bit of Shark Tank. I thought that the app that she created was a really great concept. However, I thought that most of the story was pretty boring and flat and I didn't connect with any of the characters. I also think that the romance in the book was severely lacking and needed much more spark!

I really enjoy Suzanne Park’s books — the writing is always great, it’s a style that works for me and I love some of the deeper issues each of her reads seem to touch upon.When I saw she has a new one coming out, I was immediately intrigued.

The cover art as always is gorgeous, and the premise was intriguing: her heroine was striking out alone in the tech industry with an app called One Last Word, trying to get venture capital money to make her dreams come true. The app allows users to send a final pre prepared message from the beyond to friends, family, etc - whether those be words of comfort, confrontation or what last words you’d like to have. Sara, our FMC, in testing her app mistakenly sends out her batch of messages after a drunken night: to her parents, ex-bff, landlord, bosses, and her long time crush 🙈

I once again enjoyed that Park’s reads have a women’s / literary fiction tilt with a romantic thread throughout. I like that the story focuses on Sara’s journey and growth - in her career, in her relationships and of course in her romantic interest.

The story takes the time to touch on deeper issues: women in tech and the workplace, sexism, racism, generational differences, cultural expectations, and family dynamics. These are real issues that underly life for all of us, so feel relatable and real.

I love the inclusion of the some of the experiences and culture around being Asian American and Korean American. Park always weaves in bits of this and references in her stories I’ve tried.

Sara was an interesting character, I found her relatable, authentic and frustrating at turns. I loved that she spoke out in certain situations about things that were difficult, rude and unacceptable. Silence or acceptance is often easier, or the path of least resistance - but I’m sure many can relate to wanting to speak out at times in life.

Though I liked both leads, I did not feel the connection between them as much as I might have liked. It felt a bit rushed at places in the story in regards to some of the relationship building (love and friendship) and towards the wrap up for me as well.

Overall, a good read and one I was satisfied with the ending too but not my favorite from the author. I’ll continue to try more from this author in the future and look forward to seeing what’s next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own and freely given.

3.5 ⭐️

3.5 stars - I always love reading Suzanne's books, the writing flows so smoothly and the premise of her books are intriguing to read. this one fell a little flat for me because I personally felt the main characters had no chemistry and the romance aspect was not strong at all. I recommend checking out Suzanne's books, though, as there are more hits than misses.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an arc.

I love Suzanne's books. The general flow and story are always interesting to me. And I felt like I'm learning new information and ideas. This book was about Sara that created an app called the last word that enabled users to write an email to loved ones and/or friends the last words they wanted to express before death. Which could be cathartic to some. After a night of too many drinks she unfortunately sent hers to her parents, her old high school crush, and former best friend. On top of that she was chosen to participate on a pitching show to showcase her app to the public. I liked Sara. She was a very likeable character. She was definitely a workaholic that wanted to please her parents. She needed work/ play balance or a good nights sleep. The high school crush Harry was okay. I think the reality of who he really was wasn’t too great. He wasn't likable for me. And that’s needed for the romance part of the story. The former best friend was a lot better. She was thoughtful, insightful and kind. Sara’s app and the pitch competition was a bit overwhelming for me. I've learned through reading this that technology and apps are not my favorite things to read about. I skimmed through some of those scenes. The ending was good. Though, I needed more from Harry to understand the romance aspect of this story. Overall, it was a good story with a likeable main protagonist. I definitely recommend her previous books. They were fantastic. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my review.

Another great story by Suazanne Park about a app developer workaholic who when she finds that her company doesn’t want to continue developing the app she has invested all her time into, she decides to quit and make it work on her own.
Of course, quitting means that she can’t collect unemployment insurance for being out of work, and she has to move into her sister’s place, where she lives in the closet, literally, while she works on bringing here “One Last Word” to market.

One Last Word is envisioned as an app that notices when you die, and sends out notices that you have prewritten, to all your loved ones. Of course, this doesn’t work the way it should when Sara gets drunk, one night, along with her sister, and writes notes telling people to F off, and fun stuff like this, but think nothing of it, because she isn’t dead, and so they won’t get sent out.

Until they do.

There is also a romance in there. And trying to please your parents. And trying to get VC (venture capital) funding in a world where most women don’t get it.

Well written, as always, and quite enjoyable. This book is one I had on my list to buy, and intend to do so when it comes out the 16th of April 2024.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

One Last Word is the app that Sara Chae is the founder of which allows a person to write pre-written messages that will be sent out the day they die. Unfortunately for Sara, one night all the messages she wrote on a drunken night were sent out. One of them is her high school crush, Harry, who now is her mentor in a program.

If you’re a fan of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, this book will definitely be for you! Sara and Harry’s relationship was enjoyable to watch develop. I love knowing that they have a past since high school and it is not a recent development. It was like a second chance story in a sense but more on the unrequited love side.

When it came to Sara. I loved her story because it was so relatable in a lot of ways. She deals with a hostile work environment and overbearing parents. It was great to see her stand up for herself in all aspects of her life by the end. Sadly, I feel like this book fell flat for me. It was a quick read but a lot of development was needed when it came to certain parts of the story and by the end, it felt rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for this eARC!

ONE LAST WORD by Suzanne Park is a fun (and understandably frustrating) story of a women in tech that comes out in April. I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Like Park's other works, it features a Korean protagonist dealing with family, work, and friends. More women's fiction than pure romance, the story focuses on the character's quest to get funding for her app startup through a mentoring program. She deals with racism, sexism, and imposter syndrome (while yes, also getting the guy).

It was a fun, quick read full of inspirational glass-breaking and standing up for herself.