Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this book.

What a heartbreaking but beautiful book.

When Leila loses her charm bracelet she puts out an advert to find it again. Someone answers the advert to say they have found it but need proof that it is Leila’s. The book tells the story of what each of the charms mean to Leila and the reason behind each one. The book had me in tears at the end as Leila tells the story of how the bracelet was lost.

This book was both great and...something still didn't click. Leila and Jake are two kids who meet at a young age and keep crossing their paths--Jake comes from a family that isn't loving, and Leila has her dad, grandfather and a mother who ran away. There were moments that were so real--Leila's anger and Jake's nonchalance, from both of their respective upbringings but there were also moments that felt rushed, as though the story was glossing through the beginnings to get through to the meat of the story..

Overall, however, a good book and enjoyable read!

Wow just wow!

As soon as you read the first page, you know it’s a book you are not going to be able to put down. It starts with an email from Leila to a girl called Caitlin to prove she is the owner of a lost charm bracelet as so it begins from the perspective of an 11 year old Leila and a 13 year old Jake and continues through the years as their friendship hits highs and lows and significant milestones along the way...

There are times where it is hard to warm to Leila as a character and there are so many moments where you just want to shake her but that proves good writing by the author doesn’t it! Jake on the other hand... just melted me throughout.

Well written and thought provoking, I think this is one of the best books I have read all year.

Thank you to netgalley and one more chapter for the opportunity to read and review this book - I can not recommend it enough.

I absolutely adored this charming story by Ella Allbright, I read it in two days and i'd have finished it sooner if life hadn't got in the way. I didn't want to put it down. I sympathized with the MC Layla, I fell in love with Jake. Ella built an incredible leading man. He has his flaws, frankly what man doesn't,however he's just what you want him to be too. There are many missed opportunities in this novel for the two of them to get together, but it's a realistic portrayal of how misunderstandings and things going unsaid can lead to a lifetime of regret. A beautiful story that drew me in and devouring every word.

I am a huge fan of this trope and this didn't disappoint. If you loved One Day in December you will love The Last Charm.

Leila's mother leaves suddenly on Leila's 10th birthday, leaving behind only a charm bracelet for Leila. Soon after, Jake moves into Leila's house. They spend a week together before Leila moves away, becoming close friends. They lose touch, then, aged 14, Leila moves back to the area to live with her grandfather. She finds herself in the same class as Jake at school, where he takes the blame for her bad behaviour, getting himself expelled, which results in him moving away from Dorset. She doesn't see him again for several years.
Throughout Leila's teenage years, charms arrive periodically for her - she assumes they are from her mother.
As young adults Leila and Jake meet again. Gone is the skinny little boy, to be replaced by a tall and handsome Marine officer. ..
Throughout the book, Jake is revealed as a thoughtful, mature individual, in contrast to Leila who is irrational and quick tempered.
Where does their relationship lead? are the charms from Leila's mother? will Leila's mother return?

This book had me gripped - there were moments of romance and scenes that made me cry. I loved the character of Jake, and found Leila infuriating. Leila's grandfather was also a sympathetic character.

Was the ending right? Read it and see

Story starts off with Leila receiving a call that her charm bracket was found. In order to prove that the bracelet is Leila states, “Each and every charm on the silver link chain with its heart-shaped locket clasp is significant, making a special memory which has the power to make me laugh, smile, or cry”.
This is the story of Leila and Jake who have known each other for nearly 20 years. Each chapter in this novel is the story of their lives via one of the charms.
<i> Awww I had a charm bracket and have the same reaction ~ Great memories. (Hmmm, I still have it …someplace!)

At first I had a really hard time with Jake’s story… no one should have to live with domestic violence.
I love that her wanted to always protect Leila. Story is emotional.
Have to admit I was a soggy mess after reading this!

Want to thank NetGalley and Harper Collins UK One More Chapter publications for this early release granted to me in exchange for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 21, 2020

Interesting and creative premise of telling a couple’s story through each charm on a lost bracelet. Unfortunately, the main female character seemed so unlikable that it was difficult to give the story credence.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow what a great summer read. I whipped through it in a day.

The love story was intense and realistic. Jake is the boyfriend everyone wants. He was so patient. The setting (Dorset) was brilliant too. I liked the descriptions of some key areas. It's not a county I've visited a lot, but I felt like I was there.

If you wanted to pick, some passages are a bit awkward. Overall though it's a great read. Easy to read, and brilliant if you're looking for a holiday read (including staycations!)

Unexpectedly I got Nicolas Sparks vibes (without the misogyny and religious elements) from the book. Perhaps it was the epic nature of the story, with no guaranteed traditional happy ending.

Definitely a book I'd recommend

A wonderful charming book, and thoroughly enjoyable read with a lovely story. I was hooked from the start. Thank you for allowing me to read this.

This is a lovely story that really should be made into a movie - although it would definitely be a tear jerker. Following the story of Jake and Leila from their troubled childhoods through to their eventful adulthood, whilst some of the story may seem a little predictable it does not take away from emotive writing.

Such an amazing story that keeps you hooked in from the word go. I spent most of the story wanting to shout at Jones but in a good way and their were heartbreaking twists along the way.

So far so good with this book! It's gripped me for the last 45 minutes and I can't wait to keep reading it! Still deserves the 5 stars every book starts off with so far!

I'm wondering if the author has gained permission to use the brand names she's used? If not, she could get into serious legal hot water!

This is a great book, but I'm wondering which age range it's aimed at? The book started with pre-teens and 50 pages into it they are sixteen... it's too mature for the Young Adults market but not mature enough for adults!

This book is just getting better and better... the author has really got into her stride with it now and I'm totally into the story... WTG author! This is definitely a must-read for chick-lit fans!

Oh. My. Gosh. That chapter has my eyes prickling with tears and I *never* cry while reading books, which is hopefully all the proof you need of just how amazingly well this book is written.

Wowsers. That was an incredible story... a touch rushed at the end, but that's OK. This author has written an incredible story that has to be read, beginning to end, just be prepared to get emotional in parts - I certainly did.

I chose the last charm, just for the fact that as a jeweller, the history behind jewellery has always fascinated me, so although this isn't my usual genre I have to say I really enjoyed it, the story starts with Leila asking about her lost charm bracelet and describing each one with the story behind each one from the day she received it on her birthday and her mum leaving and how she met Jake, a shy big with a violent father who moved into her old home. It is very reminiscent of PS I love you and is definitely worth a read.

I love the idea of the storyline, I loved the style of writing and I'm sure it was going to have a happy ending, but I just found the whole idea of Jake and his mum being abused, and Leila being abandoned, too upsetting to read. Sorry, but I had to stop reading it. I think this book will be a winner with those who can handle reading such emotional storylines though.

Perfect for fans of Normal People, The Last Charm tells the story of Leila and Jake and it’s utterly bewitching. A gorgeous ‘will they, won’t they’ story, with a heartbreaking conclusion and a lovely twist, I was enthralled from beginning to end (a 2am end!). Highly recommended for an easy enjoyable read.

This is an emotional story which tells us about the relationship between Leila and Jake through the story of the charms on Leila’s bracelet which she received on the eve of her eleventh birthday, the day which was also when her mum unexpectedly left her and her father and her life was forced to alter. Jake had his own problems with an abusive father and a mum that just accepts that’s how their life is however when he moves into Leila’s old house which is just down the road from her grandfather and unlikely but enduring friendship is formed despite the distance between them. Told from both Leila and Jake’s perspectives this tells more of Leila’s life than Jake’s however the reflections on the times they spent together are depicted well from both. As characters I found Jake to be almost too nice but real with it, Leila was much more flawed although part of her spikiness was self defence however she was the more rounded character of the two. The stories of each of the charms were thoughtful, some had more meanings than others but the overall balance worked very well. This was a very poignant story with a lot of originality and two great main characters.

This is one of those reads that requires the cliche breakup line, "It is not you, it's me." I say this because I think this book will and should have an audience that will be swept away and touched by it. That is why I could not give it any less than 3 stars. Personally, I just could not get there. I just could not connect with the characters.

For me, in order for a romance to work, I have to really get invested in the character's lives. For whatever reason, I just was not interested in our main romantic duo of Jake and Leila. Also, and this is on me again people, I do not like romances where it is obvious a couple should be together but they cannot make it work for YEARS and YEARS. I should have known this when it was compared to <i>One Day in December</i>. That is another book many were a fan of, but I was not.

In terms of tone, I think an even more accurate comparison might be to a Nicholas Sparks novel. Much of it felt like a Sparks novel to me. I think if you have enjoyed his books in the past, you may also enjoy this one. So listen, don't necessarily let my review put you off. This just was not for me. It may be for you.

I would like to thank One More Chapter and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book to read and review.
The Last Charm from its delightful cover to its intriguing blurb is a book that all romance fans must read. I have always wanted a charm bracelet where I could create something personal to me and so the idea for this book really spoke to my heart.
Ella Allbright who also writes under Nikki Moore has really created something special in The Last Charm. A love story that you can relate to but it also has that special magical touch, which had me thinking, I wish I had a love like this and kept me turning the pages to find out what happens next.
I adore Leila and Jake and through each chapter which is alternating between them both, you get to really know them. They leap from the pages and I found myself completely immersed in their story. The ending was perfect, there will be no spoilers here, but it was not how I wanted it to go but it was the perfect way to end the story.
I am so excited to read more by Ella as this was an exceptional love story.

When Leila is eleven, her mum runs out on her family, leaving only a charm bracelet and a single charm behind. Forced to leave her childhood home with her dad, she sullenly looks on as another family moves in, one with it's own pains and secrets. And a boy a couple of years older named Jake. They form a strange, fragile friendship during the few days before Leila and her dad move away. There's little contact and communication between them during their adolescence, but, over the next 15 years, their friendship changes and evolves, all of it told through the charms that start to populate Leila's bracelet.

Jewelry isn't my favorite thing in the world, but I do adore charm bracelets and the stories they tell. If I could keep one of my wrist, I'd wear one. But I can't, so I'll settle for reading about one. That's why I wanted to read this book. I wanted to know about Leila's charm bracelet and what it had to say about her life. There were parts that felt agonizing to me, parts that made my cry, and definitely parts where I wanted to scream at Leila and slap some sense into her. It was a crazy roller coaster. Best of all, though, I think this book broke me.

The Characters: Full of Love and Pain

The characters are real and flawed. They keep secrets and hurt each other. But the love they hold for each other always shines through. Leila and Jake have incredible love around them even though they're both broken.

At the start of the story, Leila is eleven, and Jake two years older than her, and her mum has just abandoned her and her dad. For the next 15 years, we get to know both Leila and Jake, get to see them grow and mature and find themselves. I loved getting to see them turn into teenagers and then mature out of it, though the teen years really annoyed me. Leila annoyed me because she came across as so angry, self-centered, and incredibly spoiled. She made herself out to be a victim because her mum ran off and made it seem like it was okay to take it out on everyone else. It's for those very reasons that I can't bring myself to read YA, all those difficult adolescent emotions that seemed to skip right over me so I can never relate. But I knew this book covers 15 years, so I just patiently waited and read on. Her early twenties weren't much better, but then she has an epiphany scene and becomes so much more bearable and my heart just softened and I fell in love with her.

Then there's Jake. I think a part of me fell in love with him. He's amazing and wonderful, too patient and caring. He's strong, quiet, and supportive, always there for Leila even when she wants to hurt him. He endured so much from her, but really, truly loved her. I sometimes wondered if he only loved her because, in her own way, she saved him when they were kids, but, reading about him and how he felt about her the entire time, I like to think she was just his match in every way, a solid support that she needed while she added color and whimsy to his life. I'm amazed at just how steadfast he was, though he clearly had his own feelings that led to their push and pull relationship. Still, I sometimes wondered what, exactly, he saw in her.

Every other character was wonderful and interesting in their own ways, but Leila and Jake were the stars. I liked getting to know the minor characters as they added to Leila and Jake and helped the reader get to know them better. Almost all of them were supportive, which could have come across as boring, but really highlighted the close relationships. My only problem was that, at the end, characters started popping up that had had some role in the past, but hadn't been seen until that moment. It was kind of like something just flying by, waving hello, and then disappearing into the ether. Kind of weird.

The Setting: In an Around England

This book mostly takes place around England. The southern shore was mentioned, so I guess it's set in southern England. But I don't think it was really necessary to know what part of England it was. The story was really focused on Leila and Jake and their relationship, so I often lost track of where in England it was set. There were, though, a lot of sea-related locations. Both of them had an affinity to the sea, so it was nice to see that theme run through the book.

Mostly, I think the setting was set by how the characters spoke and behaved and how the story was written. It felt quintessentially British, matching many stereotypes I recognize from other books and movies, like the openness about having sex and the drinking that seems heavy at early ages and then tapers off into something a bit more refined. In general, it was just impossible to think of this book being set anywhere but the UK. I was, being American, a little perplexed by some of the words and phrases, but I like to think it didn't impact my enjoyment of the book.

The Plot: A Story in Charms

This is the story of Leila telling someone named Caitlin about how she received every charm on her bracelet. See, prior to the start of the novel, Leila had lost her bracelet and it was found by someone named Caitlin who wanted to know the story about the charms to be persuaded the bracelet was actually Leila's. So, Leila starts writing back and tells the entire story of how she received every charm, which twined around her relationship with Jake.

I have to admit that, at first, I didn't find this story to be terribly exciting. It skipped ahead through time to the points when Leila received each charm with mentioning here and there what had happened during the intervening time. Jake and Leila's childhoods seemed to be on fast forward, so it was difficult to really get to know either of them. But, by the last third, I was hooked and fully invested in their relationship.

This may be the story about a charm bracelet, but it's also a love story. It's full of animosity, misunderstanding, and omission of information. There's a lot of hurt and there's a lot of love. It took getting past the adolescent years for me to see this, to really form my own opinion about them and see the book for what it is even though I knew about it going in. I had a hard time with Leila, which really impacted my enjoyment of the book, but, by the time she was an adult and starting to mature, she began to steal my heart almost as much as Jake had already done so.

This is beautiful book. Yes, the beginning was annoying to me, but it grew on me. I began to fall in love with Leila and Jake and really wanted to see how the story would end for them. I had a feeling it would end like it did, but really hoped I was going to be wrong. The end shattered me. I don't cry often when I read, but the tears weren't something I could stop, and I tried. Overall, this book chugged along at a good pace, all of it leading up to the tear-worthy end.

Overall: Beautiful

There was so much packed into this book, from the uneasy beginning of their friendship to the love they discover over 15 years. Like I said earlier, this book broke me. It made me annoyed and frustrated. It made me fall for Jake and want to slap Leila. It made my heart hurt for both of them. It made me sad when they couldn't find ways to communicate. It made me happy when they held hands. After that kind of roller coaster, one that made me so emotionally entangled in the lives of two fictional people, I couldn't do anything but feel broken in half. It's beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley and One More Chapter for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was not ready for this book at all. This book tells the story of Leila and Jake, and their friendship turned relationship. The story started when they were children, how they met and takes us through it from both points of view.

What a wonderful tale that had me laughing and crying, I was so emotionally invested. Highly recommend, absolutely beautiful.