This was a very emotional read. Sometimes life doesn’t turn out how we expected. Sometimes we get a second chance to find our dreams. I will warn you, it can be difficult to read at times, and my heart absolutely went out to Haleigh. A good reminder that you shouldn’t settle for less just because you worry you can’t do better.

The Last Look was not what I had expected. It is filled with heartbreak and loss.

In this book, Haleigh and Josh lived a lie. They lived as a couple, but not really. As time passes they are dealt with a bad hand. However, sometimes you get a second chance and this is the story of Haleigh and Josh.

It is very emotional and a story that grabs you, however, I would have liked to see the characters more developed.

A deep, emotional and heartbreaking novel about a love relationship, breakup and all that this entails. You start it and you can't stop reading it. Not recommended for those who love happy endings.

This was just okay for me. I thought the writing was good but the characters weren't all that interesting and the plot wasn't strong enough to support the 'slice of life' style of story. Definitely an audience out there for this, just wasn't me. 3 stars.

An interesting study of how some of us settle for a life that isn’t great. How long do we stay with someone who really doesn’t make us happy? Though I really enjoyed t, I had one problem with it. I just don’t get why she felt she needed to go to California when she finally got together with the person she has always loved. And who got her! Why couldn’t she find work where she was? Just seems really stupid and selfish and unrealistic to me. To pull the kids away from all the other family members when they lost their dad? Hmmm...

Through the voice of the protagonist Haleigh, the book tells a story of life, love, relationships, dreams, desires, heartbreak, hope, second chances.

During a lifetime, we normally choose and settle for a love and life which we think we deserve rather than the one we know we deserve and there are a lot of factors that play a part in making that decision. Even though Haleigh senses from the start that Josh is not her soul mate, she still decides to start a life and family with him while putting all her personal ambitions on hold because of her conviction that he is probably the best option for her. It takes a devastating incident and a heartbreaking revelation for her to grab onto the second chance life offers her and finally feel worthy to live a life that she knows she truly deserves.

It was not an easy book to read; having said that it is a book that I am glad I read.

My thanks to Netgally, the author Lauren Eckhardt and publishers Burning Soul Press & IBPA for providing me with an E-ARC of the book.

*I am grateful to have been given this book as an ARC from NetGalley. All opinions are mine.*

I finished this book in four hours. I had to. Couldn't put it down. Even still, it took me a bit of time to be able to formulate exactly what I thought about it. I know that I definitely had a Josh of my own (I think most of us do) and while my heart went out to Haleigh, I also wanted to climb through the book and shake her. I don't know why she married him in the first place, because I didn't feel like she really loved him. I think she wanted to, but I don't think she really did. I also thought her reaction to his secret was a bit hypocritical. I am usually a sucker for a happy ending, but I felt like this book needed the ending it got. Sometimes women need to be able to be on their own, and Haleigh was definitely one of them, especially after everything she'd been through. All in all, I enjoyed the book. It wasn't a hard read but it was a difficult one, especially if you've been in Haleigh's place (which I have). It frustrated me a bit when her friend said that she "approved" of Josh, but later on in the relationship she says "I never liked him, I don't understand why you stayed". I know people like that with my own relationships and I don't know if the author intended for that to happen to show how peoples' attitudes can change when a relationship goes sour, or if she just genuinely forgot that she had the character say that. Either way, if you hated him you hated him, if you liked him just own it--keep the same energy!

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley. So a huge thanks for the opportunity to read and review this!

It took me longer than I expected to get through this book. It’s not long and it’s an easy read. But my current situation was making this a bit of a tough read for me. This isn’t your happy go lucky romance novel. It’s real shit. I liked the writing quite a bit. It does read a bit like maybe you’re reading an in-depth blog of someone’s life and relationships, but I like that. I like when I feel like someone is just legit telling me their story. It felt personal. If that’s not your thing, you might not like it as much but it’s still a great read for some real stuff. I loved most of the characters. At one point or another, most of them are unlikable and that’s just real, ya know.

To me, it was reminiscent of CoHo writing with Tarryn Fisher writing so I’m now a fan of Eckhardt.

I also love that this was inspired by a Jimmy Eat World album!

4/5. Can’t wait to read more from her!

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is an examination of a relationship told from the point of view of the female character. Alas, for my taste, there was too much telling and not enough showing in this novel. I felt the characters suffered from this and were mostly one-dimensional.
Spoiler Alert: This is not a conventional HEA read, so keep this in mind when deciding about choosing this book for a light or breezy read - because it is not light or breezy. More of a slice of life type story. Most of us have had a Josh or two in our lives. We can't hit the redo button, unfortunately.

I don't even know what to say about this one.
It was kinda heart breaking (overall) in my opinion. I did enjoy it, but I do prefer a more sweeter story. This one just made me want to cry or scream at the characters.
If you are okay reading a story not ending how you would like it to end, this one is for you. I prefer a HEA.

I wanted to love this one just based on the description, but I just couldn’t get into it. The dialogue was odd, the pacing was strange, and the characters were not all that well-developed. It felt a bit like a knock-off Colleen Hoover, but was nowhere near as well-written.

As I'm typing this review, I'm still wiping the tears from my eyes. This book was an emotional journey, and I loved it.

The first 25% of the book confused me. I kept waiting for something to happen. Then I realized nothing was going to happen, that this book was about the journey. I settled back to enjoy, and suddenly something did happen. I won't give anything away, but this book didn't go where I expected.

This book surprised me a few times, and I fell in love with The characters.

It's about friendship, love, the choices we make and life....

Lauren Eckhardt's <i>The Last Look</i> is an in-depth look at the lives and loves we settle for; and of the journeys we find along the way. She shows us how our lives don't always have to be picture-perfect and all our choices don't necessarily have to be "the right ones" to experience happiness and to receive wonderful gifts on the road of life.

We've all dated or known of a friend dating a Josh Claystone at some point in our lives, and I think that's what initially both drew me in, and what I found difficult. I felt like I was repeating "no, no, no" to myself at Haleigh and Josh's interactions for the first few chapters. Finding myself wishing and waiting for Haleigh to be honest to herself and what was happening sooner rather than later. In life, we settle for what we think we deserve, and Eckhardt's development of Haleigh as a character is one of a woman who reminds me of a lot of young women her age; women who compress their ambitions and dreams, who fear breaking the moulds before them and who sometimes settle for Mr. Wrong just because he seems like the best option at the time.

<i>The Last Look</i> drew me in a lot faster than I was expecting when I first picked it up, by 25% I was invested in Haleigh and her family. The chapters felt a lot like vignettes in time, with Eckhardt illustrating scenes of lives we've seen played out before, but in intricate depth and detail, and I feel like that's where the beauty of this book lies. As I said, we've all known a Josh Claystone somewhere, and we know what he's capable of. As a reader, I wanted to be there with Haleigh, I had a feeling of some of what was coming and you could sense it in Haleigh's interactions with Josh, and I needed to experience this with her.

In terms of style and writing, at times I found the dialogue stilted and not as natural sounding as it could have been with a lot of telling rather than showing to get the plot moving, especially in the early chapters, and would have preferred these to develop more slowly. However, the characters and the plot began to take shape by 1/3 of the way through with the middle sections of the book probably being the strongest in character and plot development.

Overall, I found this book to be quite enjoyable read, as well as unexpectedly emotional as certain events took place. I even wished the entire plot could've been taken at a slower pace so I could experience Haleigh and Josh's lives at an even more detailed insight. I firmly believe being desirous of more rather than less is always a sign of a good book.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.