A light-hearted read, it was cute! But everything seemed to be all over the place, which made me get bored of the story so easily, sadly! The writing felt a little bit off too, but hey, maybe that's me because this is my first book by Hayley Quinn.

Fans of "chick lit" may enjoy, but a bit too formulaic for me. Helen begins as a unsatisfied, anxious, self-deprecating women obsessed with finding the perfect man. I found it really hard to connect with her and her whining. Thankfully, she grows throughout the story, but it was too little too late for me to enjoy her as a character. Not to mention the whole "she don't know she's beautiful" cliche is a bit tired.

I also found most of the characters a bit one-dimensional and boring. Everyone kind of got one personality trait. Elle was the "hot one," Sophie was the "nice one," Helen's mom was the "fussy mom," her dad was the "emotionly-restrained father," Henry was the "emotional-restrained brother," etc. And we didn't get to see enough of Nessy to really assign her any personality trait at all.

My favourite characters were Nanny G and Ish, mostly because I'm a sucker for badass older women and nice, nerdy guys. Although I really didn't need the implications about Ish's dick size. And sex-induced furniture breakage seems like a rich-person privilege. I can't afford to replace a couch!

While I'm glad Helen had some character growth, but I hate how it was all spurred on by meeting the right guy. I know the author tried to imply that Helen realized she should have enjoyed being single, but its so heavily cheapened by the fact that she only realized that *after* meeting the love of her life.

While this was a quick, easy read reminiscent of the Shopaholic series, it wasn't for me unfortunately.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and HQ for allowing me to receive an ARC of Harley Quinn's latest book.
The last first date is a really nice book with funny and cute characters. Overall i really liked the characters, they were all very cute, especially Ish, Helen's friends, Sophie and Elle were so nice to her and really wanted what was best for her. I liked that she went from a cute date with a "perfect" guy to realizing that she indeed did not know him that well. The qest to find her Nana's past lover was so intersting and Ish was so cute for helping her.
This book was really cute and funny, and had me laughing out loud a lot, but i still thought it was a bit long and slow at some points. Though, i look forward to reading more from Harley Quinn and would definitely recommend this little romance for a nice summer read.

This one was a little slow to start but it did pick up a bit and I'm really glad I seen it to the end. Helen to me seemed to lack confidence in herself but seemed to grow into herself towards the end of the book. She was a little to set into finding the man and not so much in what she had to offer. I really loved Ish and what he brought out in her. I loved the strong female friends Helen had and loved their friendship. All in all a good read. Thank you

A very easy going romance story with interacting characters and a story that put a smile on my face. It’s probably a perfect read for the summer and I would recommend it to anyone on the look for a quick and sunny read.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy

This was a nice and easy read especially for those that love a good chic lit read. The characters were likeable and the story had a nice ending.

An easy to read romance book, with a somewhat predictable storyline. The writing style sometimes fell flat and the characters weren’t overly developed.

I adore the cover art and concept of the book, but the story fell flat for me. It was very slow paced. Even half way through it was hard for me to finish through.

I got this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the author is pretty new to me but I thought the description was very intriguing. While the storyline itself was great and I did laugh out loud multiple times, I thought it was a bit choppy, bounced around too much and too slow paced for me. I couldn't adjust to her writing style as desperately as I wanted too. WIth that being said, I really enjoyed the diversity among characters within the book and grew to like Helen more than the beginning of the story.

This was a light-hearted fun summer beach read. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their experiences throughout the book. It was a little surprising at the end, but I still enjoyed it.

This was a sweet, light-hearted read. Helen is a fun character to get to know, although her character development did feel a bit shallow. As a fun summer beach read, this was as I expected, so this is not a fault of the book per se. I liked the different 'meet cutes' that Helen experienced throughout the book. It was a bit of a surprising twist to see that Brody wasn't a good man since the first date was written to be so overly positive.

This book was a fun read with elements that I enjoyed, but other elements that didn't work for me. I enjoyed the female friendships between Helen, Elle, and Sophie, as well as the family relationship between Helen and Nanny G. I felt like parts of this story dragged, but overall enjoyed the ending, especially the last half of the story. Parts of the dialog fell flat for me, but the chemistry between Ish and Helen was so heartfelt and I wouldn't mind reading more about their love story!  The epilogue allowed all the different story lines between characters tied up nicely, which I definitely appreciated. 

Thank you to @netgalley and @hqstories for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have to disagree with the majority that have read this book and say i adored our main character Helen! She was extremely relatable and quirky. It was a cute debut and i think you should give it a go before judging 😌

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an enjoyable book.

(Thank you NetGalley and publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review)

This book follows 31 years old Helen who feels she’s far behind in terms of how her life should have been at 31 especially since her ex is also now engaged. While the book starts with an interesting plot I feel it derails and the book progresses despite a plot twist that I didn’t see coming. The narration and the story line loses grip somewhere in the middle and the main character changes her behaviour and outlook towards life suddenly and quite fast which makes the story look a tad bit unrealistic and forced for the ending it takes.

So 2 stars because I feel it could have been way better and was a little disappointing.

I want to begin by thanking NetGalley and affiliates for giving me an electronic arc for this book. When I requested it, I had very high hopes for the book. I adore the cover, and the book description intrigued me. Unfortunately, it was very slow paced for me, the storyline seemed to flip from what the description stated, and I found myself continuously hoping it would turn for the better. I appreciate the messaging behind the story for some of it, I just hoped it would have been advertised more honestly regarding the description.

A fun, quirky, off-beat read showing the trials and tribulations of Helen, the main protagonist, and her search for 'the one'.

This book is full of humour and wit and is a modern tale of dating in the 2020s, with social media and dating apps playing a huge part in driving Helen's worries, fears and angst on her past relationship, her desires for a new relationship, and her hopes of future love.

I found this book engaging and entertaining and I particularly loved Helen's friendships and family. Also I appreciated the journey of finding love in the most unexpected of places.

First and foremost, I would like to start this review saying thank you to Hayley Quinn and NetGalley for granting me to read this book before its release.

The Last First Date is a novel centred around Helen, a baking blogger looking for the great love of her life, similar to her Nanny G's and Vernon's one. Enter Brody: a seemingly too perfect man also looking for his so-called 'Last First Date', the pair match and instantly set it off, finishing the night with Helen coming home in his flip flops! However, events happen and Helen then spends the rest of the novel looking for Brody, her last first date.

If I was to sum this book in 3 words, it would be: fun, light and ....predictable. Each page was enrapturing, and I found myself falling in love with characters such as Elle and Ish more and more by the word, not so much Helen, but we'll get on to that.

HOWEVER:

Whilst this book is a fun enough read, focusing on the love life of Helen and her 'last first date', I have some critiques. First of all, I think that Helen was as developed as all of the side characters, almost appearing as if in some situations, she is also a side character in her first person narration. I think that other characters, Nessy and Nanny G seemed more interesting than Helen and I found myself more interested in what they were doing than what Helen was doing.

The Predictable: Most importantly, however, I found the book predictable. As soon as the *big event (hint. crash)* happened, I found myself guessing correctly as to what was going to happen before every page turn. I think that before though, the book was an apt mushy gushy romance for someone looking for a fun read.

If I was to recommend this book to anyone, it would be to someone looking for a fun, light and quick read.

The premise of this book is so good but the execution wasn’t as well done as I would have hoped. Helen is also a total disaster; I know a character growing is important but she was REALLY hard to like throughout most of the book.

The Last First Date by Hayley Quinn 🌸

Pub Date: 20 May 2022 

General Fiction  | Romance

Thank you to Netgalley and Harpercollins for this eArc in exchange for my honest review!

Thoughts: this is such a cute and relatable story! I thought it starts off kind of funny as she decides to start using dating apps And discussing it with her grandma.

I read other people's reviews online lol usually readers end up hating the fact that a protagonist will put themselves down because they aren't in a relationship and that's the biggest problem they have. But if every book character was likable then we wouldn't have very good story lines. Solely my opinion. That is something that this character does. But i liked the read!

The writing seemed choppy in the dialogue but it was OK!

Helen finds out her ex is engaged and decides to put herself out there and downloads a dating app. Where she matches with a gorgeous and normal seemingly guy named Brody. They hit it off immediately and they agree to meet in the small town she lives in.

The date goes absolutely amazingly and she is super happy until the app crashes and she loses Brody! I'd be SO SAD! With nothing but Brody’s name and job title to go on, Helen is determined to track him down.

But despite the initial chemistry, Helen realises she knows surprisingly little about her mystery man…