First and foremost take note that this book is woman’s fiction before going into it. It is about a woman dealing with unimaginable loss and her journey through that pain. Anna looses her husband and struggles terribly so she calls him phone number to hear his answering message. This goes on for a bit until someone actually picks up. And that person is also struggling. I think what I liked most was that camaraderie of shared pain. And I think the author did that well.

I became quite involved in this story; the characters, the emotions. The grief was handled well and I thought the other characters' reaction to grief was realistic. Still, the story was fun and interesting, as was the romance. I wanted to hear more!

Heartfelt and heartwarming. This is a recommended purchase in all formats for collections where women's fiction is popular.

How do you move on after the love of your life is killed in an accident? This is Anna’s life now: people expecting her to move on, since it’s been almost 3 years. One night she calls her dead husband's cell phone number just to hear his voice (on the voicemail greeting) and discovers it’s been reassigned to someone new, a man named Brody, who answers the phone. It turns out that Brody is not only a good listener but he’s someone who also has been dealing with his own tragedy. Their connection grows in fits and starts and blossoms into something neither of them expected. In addition to her growing attachment to Brody, Lucas explores Anna’s relationship with her late husband’s family, which felt very real to me, with all its ups and downs.

This book is about love and loss, grief, friendship, depression, phobias and the courage it takes to face all of this. Have a box of tissues handy!

I listened to the audiobook, beautifully narrated by Antonia Beamish. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Anna is still heartbroken after the unexpected death of her husband 3 years ago. One night, she calls his phone number to hear his voice on his voicemail, but someone answers. That someone is a man named Brody and he is just as lonely and heartbroken as Anna. Through many phone calls, Anna and Brody forge a friendship but Brody has some secrets that may prevent them both from being open to loving again.

Although this book started out a little slow, I ended up liking it quite a bit. It was the perfect springtime audiobook.

Thanks to Harper Audio and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This was such a heartbreaking exploration of the grief and loneliness you experience after losing someone you are close to. I really adored the dynamic between Anna and Brody and their journey together! I really appreciated the honesty in the way this whole story was approached. The mental health aspect was portrayed in a way that showed the good and bad and still upheld Brody's dignity and humanity which I also really appreciated. There is such a fine line with these subjects that can easily be crossed into really disrespectful and insulting territory and I think Fiona Lucas found a great balance.

The audiobook was fantastic and I highly recommend listening to this one!

It has been 2 plus years since Anna’s husband, Spencer, died tragically and unexpectedly. Anna, still grieving, calls his cell phone often just to hear his voice. One day, someone picks up on the other end. This man on the other end, Brody, just listens to Anna. Anna suspects that Brody has his own grief that he is working through. Together, through more phone calls, the two help each other through their pain and suffering. Both Anna and Brody try to move on with their lives. It was a sad story as it deals with love, loss and what happens to loved ones after a death. I like that the characters evolved over the course of the book and learned stuff about themselves through the process. I found myself sad, right along with Anna as she navigates her new life without Spencer. It was a well written story, but because of the context, you have to be in the right mood / mindset to read it.

Took me forever to listen to the audiobook. It was all over the place and very boring. Didnt retain much information or characters.

The last Goodbye was a beautifully written story about love, lose, and how to rebuild your life when you feel numb and are holding on to the past. I was fully invested in the emotionally stunted characters and their reactions to different tragedies in their lives. Mental health was a strong focus with Anna and Brody, the main characters, along with their friends and family when dealing with various types of lose. I loved the unique first encounters of Anna and Brody and how they created a dependent yet helpful connection with their different perspectives. Fiona Lucas's writing style and Antonia Beamish excellent narration created an emotional story with depth, which I love in a book. I devoured this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for allowing to listen to this book for an honest review.

Sooo first of all thank you to NetGally for sending me this ARC (in audiobook version) 💜

Beginning and ending of this book was very intense and the very best ways ! And I loved how the author wrote about mental health of the characters. I can relate to that especially Brody‘s character because he had a phobia and I had one too! Thankfully I don’t anymore! There reactions to meeting each other was very relatable and I know anyone like Anna and Brody will able to relate and be entranced by this lovely story !

For things I thought could be better, the middle section of the book got a tad dry in my opinion but not too dry ❤️

Towards the end a lot of puzzle pieces clicked in about Brody’s daughter and who he was. I really enjoyed that part of the book 📚

🎧Audio review🎧 all the narration voices were amazing and really connected to the characters personality also which I thought was cool! And the emotions we’re not over dramatized by the audio version, some Audiobooks tend to do that ... this one did not !!!

Cover review: I love love the cover, it perfectly matches the vibe of the story .

I will definitely be recommending this to my fellow readers !

Thanks, Netgalley for the audio version of this book. I enjoy narrators with an accent so that was a plus for me. Most people think you should be done with grieving in a year and ready to move on. I love how this book explains the different stages of grief and how we all handle it differently. Sometimes you may find it easier to share your feelings with a stranger than family. Have you ever tried calling a deceased loved one just to hear their voice again? What would you do if a stranger answered your deceased love ones' phone?

Anna has lost the love of her life, Spencer, and she hasn't been able to move on. She knows she shouldn't, but she still calls his phone sometimes just to hear his voicemail message. Then on NYE, a man answers. That man isn't Spencer (because he really is dead)--but he seems to almost instantly understand Anna's grief. That man is named Brody--and he and Anna become phone buddies. Anna finds her conversations with Brody immensely helpful, but what she doesn't realize is that she is inspiring Brody to start living again too.

So often, characters bring out the worst in one another, but Anna and Brody seem to do the opposite. I found this book to be very nice. Loss is a difficult subject, and it was an interesting journey to follow. But, her mother in law was truly awful.

This was such a cute and lovely story. I really enjoyed following these two characters and their journey in falling into each other’s heart. I really liked the narrator and zoomed through this. It was definitely filled with so much detail and entertainment, which i always enjoy.

I was absorbed by The Last Goodbye from the first page to the last. Anna's pain at losing her husband was palpable. She saw herself as bound for life to the man she had married and to his family, and not only was there no light at the end of the tunnel--there was no tunnel. In an act of sorrowful desperation she calls her dead husband's phone number, and the chain of events that begins there was both beautiful and inspiring. No man is an island; we need each other and we need human contact. And this book proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that love is not a finite emotion but rather one that grows and expands with no loss of potency.

This was a lovely story but I wanted the plot to move along just a wee bit more quickly to hold my interest. Though there is the allusion to romance, the story is extremely tame and nothing in the way of romance actually ever happens. It's about two broken people who are complete strangers until they find each other by happenstance and begin a relationship through phone calls. It's definitely worth the read or listen and I enjoyed the story.

I don't know what it is but this year I'm really loving stories about people who've lost their SOs and them eventually moving on. These journeys! Float Plan being the other book so far. It's something I never want to think about, me or my husband dying, but it is a part of life and it does happen. And these kinds of books are so tragic but also uplifting and I very much enjoyed Anna's story. Wonderful debut! The narrator was also excellent.

It has been 3 years since Anna’s husband tragically died and she can’t seem to move on. After a rough New Year’s Eve, she decides to call his phone to hear his voice one more time through his voicemail. Instead, someone answers. It turns out that after the phone bill not being paid, they finally recycled the number and gave it to someone new. The man who answers, Brody, becomes a safe haven for Anna. Together they are able to talk through their individual griefs, coping with loss, and taking small steps to re-enter the world again.

This is a beautifully written story centered on loss and how other people expect you to cope with it. Anna, for instance, has her mother and friend encouraging her to try new things and possibly date, whereas her mother-in-law implies Anna is being disloyal when she finally starts to live again. Everyone handles grief differently and there is no perfect amount of time for how long it takes to cope; Fiona Lucas portrayed this extremely well.

While I wasn’t particularly looking for a sad read, this story enraptured me from the start. Despite the sensitive material, the book was pretty uplifting and inspiring. Brody and Anna found each other when they both desperately needed someone who truly understood what they were going for and were both able to help each other climb out of the holes they have been living in. Both of their stories will tug at your heart.

I do have to also add that this is a great one to check out on audio—the narration was so well-done and it really brought the story to life.

Please go buy this book when it’s out in the US on June 8th!!

TW: death of spouse, death of child, depression, panic attacks, agoraphobia, anxiety, grief

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

The Last Goodbye is a well written story about coming to terms with different types of grief and moving on with life afterwards. Our main character Anna lost her husband Spencer three years ago and is still struggling. After having a really hard night she calls Spencer's phone to hear his voicemail greeting one last time... and someone answers. She soon begins a friendship with a man named Brody who listens to her vent and understands her like no one else in her life can.

I loved all of the characters, but I did feel Brody was a bit underdeveloped as a character. I wanted to know more! Fiona Lucas did a great job exploring grief while not letting the book become overly serious.

I switched back and forth between the kindle version and the audiobook while reading. The narrator did an excellent job bringing the story to life.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Audio for allowing me access to this advanced reader/listener copy!

This was a beautifully written story of grief and learning how to moving forward.
Losing someone you love can feel like being asked to live without your heart in your chest, and I felt this with Anna. I loved Anna and Brody's relationship. They were so good for each other, right from the beginning.
The meet cute is so adorable- and realistic! I could totally see this happening. I was also very happy with the anxiety representation.

Everything about this story warms my heart- Definitely looking forward to more from this author!

3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. Anna loses the love of her life, Spencer, and then one night randomly calls his cell phone to hear his voice. The number is reassigned so she gets a different person and then they start talking. That person has also endured a big loss so they connect through that and end up chatting without meeting each other for a long time.

The story was deep and meaningful and the ache of loss was well presented. I really enjoyed the narration as well.

with gratitude to netgalley and Harper Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.