TW: grief, anxiety

This story was so moving. Anna's husband died almost three years ago, and she knows precisely when to the number of days. Her friends and family want her to move on, but she doesn't expect to. On a particularly low evening, she tries to call his phone number.

Brody is more of a mystery. It's clear he has also experienced loss and grief, and he is there for Anna in a way that others in her life haven't been able to be.

The book handled grief in such a real way, showing how deeply individual it can be and how many emotions it can contain. It's not an easy book to read. For me, it was an important one that touched me.

I enjoyed this story. I got the sense of mixture of You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle and Lake House. I was totally enthralled with this story. It had me laughing out loud and crying the "ugly tears". I just wish the ending was a little better but overall this story is worth your time.

The Last Goodbye by Fiona Luca is an emotional story about overcoming grief.

Three years after Anna’s husband and the love of her life died she is finally trying to move on. Anna’s mother in law is making things difficult for her. Anna feels guilty about dating but doesn’t want to be alone all forever. Anna doesn’t have anyone she can talk to that understands until one day she calls her late husband’s cell to listen to his voicemail and Brody answers. An unlikely friendship develops. How will this friendship change Anna and Brody and impact their lives? Will Anna move on with her life and find happiness?

I really enjoyed The Last Goodbye. The story is very interesting and kept me invested the whole time. I was invested in Anna’s life from the beginning. It is tragic that Anna lost her husband, but I enjoyed how she is working to figure out how to move on and be happy without forgetting him. She is trying not to hurt anyone’s feelings or lose anyone in her life. Anna is struggling with what to do and doesn’t feel like her friends and family understands. When Brody answers Spencer’s old number, Anna now has someone that understands her. Brody has experienced a loss in his life but also has secrets. I enjoyed Anna and Brody’s friendship developing even when they didn’t know each other’s last names or what they looked like. Brody is a very interesting character, so I enjoyed learning about his life too. The Last Goodbye is emotional and a great story.

I recommend The Last Goodbye for fans of Jojo Moyes and Josie Silver.

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for The Last Goodbye.

THE LAST GOODBYE by Fiona Lucas is a heart-wrenching and emotional story of grief, loss and a second chance at love that I won’t soon forget. Three years ago, Anna lost her beloved husband, Spencer, in a tragic accident. He was her everything and she is finding it hard to move on without him. Despite her best friend, Gabi, gently urging her back into the dating world, Anna knows she is just not ready. On a particularly trying New Year’s Eve, Anna calls Spencer’s mobile number just to hear his voice if only on his voicemail greeting. She is stunned when a man picks up and talks to her. Brody now has Spencer’s phone number. The story unfolds as the conversations between Anna and Brody become more frequent and personal. Brody seems to understand her grief like no one else but he never shares what loss he has experienced. As they become more and more dependent on one another, will Brody’s secrets come between them? Both heartbreaking and hopeful, this story showed how everyone deals differently with loss and bereavement and there is no one way to grieve. I could completely relate to these characters and their journey toward new beginnings. I loved this beautiful and poignant book and highly recommend it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read any early copy.

I loved this book. In the story of Anna and Brody, they navigated thru loss and grief and the resulting anxiety and being stuck in it, while also finding friendship and love in the process.

Thru a bit of an accident, they “meet” each other via phone call and become the support and empathy each other has been missing but truly needs to move forward. The author did an amazing job wading thru what grief really looks like, the raw honesty and vulnerability of it, with Brody and Anna, along with the difficult back and forth that happens with grief and trauma and the risk you have to take when you try to grow and move forward. She highlights how much people really need each other even tho it’s easier to stay isolated and hide what you feel.

Obviously the theme of loss and grief is a heavy one not everyone is going to love but it was so well written in this love story and it resonated so much with me and my experiences, and those of people I know, that I thought it was excellent.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sweet story about two people with horrific tragedies that are trying to find their way through the grief. I felt connected to the characters. The story seemed to drag a bit about a third of the way through, but I kept reading and became more engaged in the story. I was also left wanting a little more at the end. I think an epilogue would've been great to give the reader a little more about what happens next.

The Last Goodbye by Fiona Lucas is a great fictional novel that tells a story of grief, loss, love, and trying to find oneself again.

I really enjoyed this slow narrative of two people, each dealing with their own internal and external conflicts and losses, brought together by fate and how they are able to help each other find hope and a second chance.

The slowly developing story and how Anna and Brody meet, work through their current lives, and find hope, love, and acceptance again was touching, heartfelt, bittersweet, and left the reader with a promising ending. I also enjoyed the full circle that the characters experienced from their first encounter to the last line of the book. Very creative.

4/5 stars

Thank you NG and William Morrow for this arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.

Imagine losing the love of your life when your lives together were just beginning? You grab your phone one day to dial his number just to hear his voice and someone else answers the call! The Last Goodbye is a beautifully written story about love, loss, and hope. It will have you laughing and crying. I'm thankful for #netgalley for this advanced copy.

The Last Goodbye is a fabulous story about grief and the journey to healing, but I wouldn't classify it as much of a romance. Anna is still dealing with the tragic and unexpected loss of her husband, Spencer, three years after his death. She is spiraling and can't figure out a way to keep her head above water. One particularly lonely night she dials Spencer's old number and is surprised when another man answers. Brody is the new owner of Spencer's number and he and Anna strike up a friendship based on their shared grief experiences.

Fiona Lucas did an excellent job with character development and I felt she gave an accurate portrayal of grief. The ups and downs and relearning new routines, even reimagining the life you thought you'd have - those elements were all delicately and beautifully portrayed in The Last Goodbye. While I loved reading Anna's journey and seeing her growth, I didn't feel the connection between her and Brody. I thought they had a nice friendship and they were both integral parts of the other's growth, but the romantic "spark" was missing for me.
The Last Goodbye is a book about love, but also about grief. It's a heavy subject matter and Fiona Lucas writes it beautifully.

This is a beautiful story about grief, moving on, and overcoming fear. I loved both Anna and Brody as characters and they both brought unique perspectives to the book. My one complaint is that I wanted to see Anna and Brody together for more than just a moment, but overall a very sweet book.

*Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

A very emotionally gripping story!

One emotional night had Anna making split decision that would take her life down a path that in the end just might save her! After a terrible loss Anna is stuck between moving forward or simply surviving. One random phone call has her leaving on stranger when an unconventional friendship strikes up Anna will have saved more than just herself!

This story is a beautiful tale of two souls learning to forgive and allowing love to guide them!

I absolutely loved this book! It was beautifully written and the character development was excellent. I look forward to recommending this title to our library patrons this summer!

This book is about life after a loss and self discovering in move forward. Anna is still grieving almost three years after the sudden loss of her husband. Its New Years Eve and she dials his cell to hear his voice message and hears another voice. A few weeks later she calls again and meets Brody someone who she identifies with instantly. I was very hesitant to read any sad or emotional books but I'm glad I took a chance because this book was so worth it (hard to put down and bring tissues). Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for allowing me to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a loved one, agoraphobia

This is one that I would firmly call a women's fiction due to the lack of the HEA. While the writing was beautiful, it was very heavy. 3 years after the death of her husband, Anna is still deep in grief, Still desperate to hear his voice she calls his voicemail, but Brody is on the other line. What is a great premise for a book and interesting I expected more from their conversations.

This book summarized a lot of their conversations providing a lot more tell than show. Anna's relationship with her MIL was also very frustrating, she was constantly being bullied. I also struggled with the dark moment. Brody never really opened up to Anna leaving himself in a lot of mystery, then when Anna needed a moment to realize her feelings he got very upset with her. I just didn't feel the romantic connection, and that really lost the trust for me.

A story about moving on from grief, this one was very heavy and the romance, unfortunately, didn't pull me in.

Rating: 2.5

I absolutely fell in love with these characters. This is a well-paced story of coming to terms with loss. It shows, with brutal honesty, how a loved one's death not only impacts you but those around you. When Anna lost her husband, Spencer, her life was changed forever. Even though she is going through the motions of daily life, she isn't really moving forward. She's most definitely stuck. In trying to deal with her grief, she calls Spencer's cell number one night just to hear his voice and tell him things she wished she'd said the night he died. But instead of hearing his voicemail message on the other end, it's a different male voice that greets her. Anna eventually learns who the voice on the phone is (at least she learns his first name) and they form a strange friendship. He listens to her work through her grief and doesn't judge her. She believes he has also experienced the loss of a spouse and looks to him for wisdom on how to move on. The relationship that develops between them is special because it was formed with knowledge and understanding from shared conversations with a "stranger."

It's such a beautifully written book that demonstrates how people deal with grief and loss. In my opinion, it's quite a realistic depiction. This book shows how differently people handle it as well. There isn't any one thing that works for every person. I was very invested in seeing how the story wrapped up and needed a satisfying resolution. I wasn't disappointed in the least.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a digital ARC!

How can you move on if you can't say goodbye?

This pretty much sums up the whole book. After the death of a loved one its hard too move on, even 2 years later you could be still be grieving. Anna's friends all think she should move on after Spencer's death. Anna doesn't think she'll ever be ready. A wonderfully told story of dealing with shared grief and figuring out if you can move on.

{DNF}
There are too many books on my Netgalley shelf and I did not have time to write a proper review

This book is a precious 4.5 stars that melted my cynical heart. It's a bit of a slow burn, at least through the first two-thirds but the ending more than makes up for it.
Anna has not-so-easily settled into almost three years of widowhood when she calls her dead husband's phone on New Year's Eve to hear his voicemail message only to learn that the number has been reassigned to Brody, someone who is also grieving an unknown past. The two continue to talk for another year as both help each other break out of their comfort zones and embrace their new lives.
I appreciated that Fiona Lucas kept the cast of characters small and spent just enough time diving into other parts of Anna and Brody's lives in between their interactions with each other. Anna's relationship with her dead husband's family is more realistic than some other books that delve into the loss of a spouse and Lucas gives Anna a relatable personality in those scenes too. It was nice that no one ends up the bad guy in this, even once we learn of Brody's past and the secrets that he's keeping from Anna.
Highly recommended for anyone looking for a tame romance novel with some emotion behind the characters and plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

This was absolutely the best book ever. As someone who has been through this grief process, it is very individual, but portrayed beautifully. I loved the connection, the understanding, the acceptance. It is a must-read for anyone who needs a good laugh and an even better cry.

“How can you move on if you can’t let go?”⁣
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The Last Goodbye was a beautifully written story about Anna who’s grieving over the sudden loss of her husband Spencer. Anna calls Spencer’s phone to hear his voice on his voicemail as she grieves, until one night, someone answers. ⁣
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Brody, a man also grieving the loss of someone he loves and suffering from anxiety and agoraphobia now has her husbands’ old phone number. He talks to Anna any time she calls. Over the course of a year these two grow closer. They support each other through their grief and help each other to see the light again. ⁣
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This was a slow burn but it was heartbreaking and heartwarming. She beautifully depicted Brody’s character. You could just feel his fears and anxiety. Your heart broke for Anna and Brody both. It was wonderful watching their relationship blossom, even never meeting. ⁣
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Abby’s best friend Gabby was also an amazing friend and co-heroine in this story. This was a really emotional, beautiful story.⁣
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Thank you @harpercollins and @netgalley for an ARC for my honest review. ⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫⁣
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