Wowowow so cute!! I felt like these characters were real and I only wish there was a bit more world building. There’s a lot of potential here and I can’t wait to see what else this author will do!

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Last Encore
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Book 1 of 1 of the It’s Always Been You series
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Elodie Colliard
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Spicy Romance
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 1st November 2022
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 2.75/5

TW: Sexual assault, depression, anxiety, loss of a loved one

Told from Avery’s perspective, the night she was dreading to spend with her father turns out to be the night she encounters her old best friend and secret flame, Josh, for the first time in ten years.

I seriously love a ‘one that got away’ trope, but this one could also be considered as a ‘second chance at love’ trope since the potential was always there with Avery and Josh, it was just never fully explored until they meet again ten years later.

I only wish I could have enjoyed it more.

There are lots of inconsistencies that could be edited better. Avery gives Josh’s dad a gentle talking to, depicted by the ‘gentle squeeze of his arm’ and that was made into a big deal where she yelled at him like a five year old. We’re told she doesn’t know Julia at all to knowing Julia well a few chapters later. I was getting annoyed at these because it made it hard to get to know Avery fully.

Talking of panic attacks—the mental health rep was brilliant. I especially loved being able to see Avery’s mum reach a stable point in her mental health after hearing how her mental health had affected Avery. But most of all it was full of emotional angst due to Avery’s anxiety causing her to interpret everything in its most negative sense, no matter how many times she told herself off. That felt realistic to me.

Mmmm I didn’t believe that Josh loved Avery is my biggest issue. His sweet words were mainly centered around worshipping her body (which admittedly I didn’t mind) but I cannot get over the thought that if he really loved her, he would have kept his promise, or at least not just blatantly ignore it for ten years until it was convenient for him to show up and apologise (badly). I’d have liked more groveling and more slow burn and less existential crises about we’re just friends, he can’t fancy me because we’re friends. It’s hard to relate to a main character who is so obtuse.

This was a fairly average romance though I did like the ending more than most. I liked that they didn’t automatically give up their dreams for each other but instead found ways to make their dreams work with their relationship.


🌀Synopsis
Avery is in survival mode. She’s still coping with her father’s affair and her parent’s subsequent divorce on top of trying to run her own photography business. The last thing she needs is an old friend to show up and drag up painful memories but that is exactly what happens.

Josh is back and determined to tell Avery how he’s really felt all these years. The problem is, she’s still hurt from when he left. Determined, he starts to build their friendship again until they are both ready to tell each other how they really feel.

Just as they start the relationship they’ve always dreamed of Avery is blindsided by Josh wanting to follow his dream career path. Turns out, they can both follow their dreams and those dreams can include their relationship too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

“She hated berg anxious, overanalyzing everything, getting all worked up over small things, having her fears and emotions take over, feeling powerless in her own head…. Nobody had ever said they loved her mind.”

Let me start by saying I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with Elodie (@elosreadingcorner) on booksta over the past year - we even went to Harry Styles concert together 🕺🏻 and I am beyond proud of her for writing a romance novel.

I had a feeling I would love it because Elodie and I have the same taste in romance novels but let me just say I was blown away by how much I loved it. I basically read it all in one sitting because I had to know what would happen to Avery and Josh.

This has some of my favorite tropes - second chance romance (specially childhood crushes) and friends to the lovers. It gave all the LOVE AND OTHER WORDS vibes in the best way.

And Avery and Josh are perfect. First of all, Avery is me and I am Avery So many of her thoughts put into words exactly how I can feel. Elodie told me that she drew a lot of inspiration from her own anxiety and you can tell it comes from such a place of understanding. And Josh reminded me so much of how my fiancé is with me 🥹 It was so sweet watching Josh slowing coax the confidence out Avery, bringing out the best sides of her with his overwhelming support.

And for those of you who love this in a romance the spicy scenes are 10/10 🌶

I highly recommend this one for my emotional romance gworlies. Thank you @elosreadingcorner and @netgalley for the ARC. This one is out November 1.

A super cute friends to not-friends to lovers read. I really enjoyed that this was a relatively fast paced story and nothing felt rushed or frustratingly slow. The only negative about this book is that I would have loved to have read more of the friendship between Josh, Avery and Brooke

When Avery, a talented photographer whose business still hasn’t taken off in the way she had hoped it would, accompanies her father to a gala, the last thing she expects is to see her childhood best friend and crush Josh, who has spent the last ten years in Europe without reaching out to Avery or their Mutual best friend Brooke, playing „their“ song on the piano. The sparks they had as teens re-ignite almost instantly and over the course of the book, they try to find back to each other, and a way to forgive for the hurt of the past.

I love the idea of second chance romances, but I would have to say that I don‘t feel like this book particularly fits the trope. It’s more like best friends who missed their chance as teens and now take a shot at love as adults. But it does cater to the well-beloved best-friends-to-lovers trope! It is romantic and spicy and cute, and thus the perfect choice for anyone looking for a sweet romance story.

Avery‘s life is quite a mess. Her photography business is doing worse than she had hoped, her boyfriend of 9 years cheated on her after moving to a different city, her parents are getting a divorce after her father has been cheating for two years, and (TW!) she was raped as a teen. And of course there’s also the heartbreak of Josh‘s sudden move to Europe. To be honest, that felt like a bit much to me - half of these past traumas didn’t really play a role in or impact the story, especially the cheating ex part. Avery‘s fear of commitment and fear of being left behind would have been more than justified by Josh‘s past decisions and her parents‘ story, so that addition to the backstory felt rather unnecessarily dramatic.

Anyway. What I did appreciate a lot was the way that Avery‘s anxiety and panic attacks were portrayed, and I loved that she had supportive friends to help her through that. I also liked the way that consent played an important role during all of the explicit scenes.

However, I also felt like the characters weren’t very three-dimensional. Avery was a traumatised photographer with anxiety and Josh was a Mexican-Canadian pianist who wanted to keep his dead mother‘s legacy alive in spite of his father‘s objections and expectations to take over the family restaurant. But beyond that, they didn’t feel very fleshed out, and neither did the best friend with her ballerina girlfriend, the depressive mother or the overprotective brother.

The plot itself was engaging and although I‘m not a fan of insta-love, I felt like it was okay in this case due to the main characters‘ shared history. The plot slowed down a little after their first meeting at the gala which seemed reasonable given that they had to get to know each other again.

There is the usual drama at around 75% and I‘m not sure I like the way in which the conflict was resolved. Josh and everyone else told Avery to let go and live for herself even if it means leaving her loved ones behind, which she eventually agrees to do, just for Josh to turn around and say he can’t leave Avery behind because he loves her too much. I don’t really understand the message behind that, and would have preferred if they had chosen different paths for that one year and made it work regardless - I think that would have been the perfect evidence for their character development. As it is, I feel like neither Josh nor Avery really grew throughout the story other than forgiving things that were in the past, and that was rather disappointing in my opinion.

However, it was a fun and cute read with loveable characters and a beautiful setting in Toronto.

3.5/5 stars.

FOUR STARS

“Now that I’m holding you in my arms, I’m never letting you go, because I cannot go ten years again without you by my side.”

This book was absolutely amazing and surprising for a debut novel. It was a super cute second chance, friends to lover’s romance. The chemistry between the characters was so well-executed that the angst build up was so worth it once something finally happened between the characters.

The main character Avery was so strong I literally love her. She went through so much her whole life, and she never seemed to catch a break until Josh came back. The mental health rep shown through Avery was so thoughtfully done and I really appreciated all the effort that went into Avery. She was not a bland character whatsoever. Averys only issue was that she was VERY stubborn but eventually she does develop in a way that was so fitting for her.

Josh was such a good love-interest I actually really liked him. He was well developed and didn’t feel like just a side character, he was fully devoted to Avery after being apart for 10 years which was so cute to me. He was the literal definition of “it’s always been you boyfriend” and I ATE it up. His own personal subplot was also fully developed and executed really well within the main storyline. I actually felt more connected to Josh rather than Avery which was new to me.

Together, Josh and Avery had some of the cutest scenes ever. They had so many cute moments but also some jaw-dropping ones that were not expected from these sweet characters. They were so in love with each other from childhood and reading about their ten years apart was so sad. When they had to rebuild their trust together, I thought it was such amazing development for them because it led to Avery healing from past trauma.

The only main complaint I have from this book was the miscommunication trope just because I don’t like it and felt like it wasn’t needed. It felt very back and forth at times but overall I was super happy with the book.

Overall, The Last Encore is a wonderful debut novel and I can’t wait to read anything else published.

A huge thank you to Victory Editing Co-op and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

dnf @ 40%

sadly, this book isn't for me. I wanted to love it but this isn't the case.

what I really appreciated is the author's note right before chapter 1 with trigger warnings.

the story itself felt quite flat for me, I did not connected with the characters which is resulted in my not caring what happens to them, which leads to me not wanting to continue.

it felt weird reading about the attraction between the love interests when they haven't seen each other in 10 year and had left things off on a bad note. I wished for more angst and more pining.

I do think this story has potential & maybe it's better in the second half of the book but I'm not interested enough to continue reading it.

big thanks to netgalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is a hard review for me to write because I really wanted to like this book, but sadly, it didn't do it for me.

I felt a connection to the author because (I assume) English is not her native language. She also set her novel in Toronto and I lived in the GTA in my teens. So you can understand my disappointment that this book did not live up to my expectations at all.

I felt the writing was just not up to par. It was too simplistic and some sentences felt like they had been written in French and thrown into Google Translate. And though I can empathize with trying to compete with native English-speaking authors, I couldn't get past the writing as I was trying to read this book.

A lot of dialogues were cringey and unrealistic, the secondary characters felt very one-dimensional and there was lot of over-explaining. There was too much telling us, the readers, what we should feel and not enough showing us. I also didn't feel invested in the story or character's arcs at all.

I'm going to conclude by saying I would give this book a second chance if it's ever published in French!

The Last Encore is an incredibly strong romantic debut. This author has a really strong grasp on character writing, and in effect, the relationships between characters are very well formed. I definitely recommend this to romance readers this season looking for a story with solid, grounded foundations.

I got this chance to read this book before its publication and Oh my Lord!! It was such a nice and good reading that gives you this fullness feeling whilst you are on their characters journey.

Its about moving forward, second chances and decisions that you, sometimes, need to make in your lifetime. Chemistry between Avery and Josh is amazing, slow burn and still manages to catch your own attention to it that you can’t stop but want it more of it.

This was ok, but too cheesy. The writing was simplistic. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one. Why did the character get mentioned as being bigger at the beginning, but the cover doesn't match and it never again came up? There are some ways that I feel the plot could have been extended and delved more into. The friend didn't seem to be fleshed out and I really didn't make a connection to the character or the relationship. Mentions of anxiety and panic attacks were good and realistic.

The Last Encore by @elosreadingcorner

This was such a cute romance and an amazing debut novel! I struggle to write a paragraph for book reviews so I’m in awe of anyone who can put pen to paper and create a love story for others to consume!

Things I loved:
-mental health rep (anxiety)
-a little taste of second chance romance - which y’all know is my favorite!
-authentic relationship and dialogue (I feel like this story could very well happen in real life)
-great characters who you find yourself rooting for! 💜
-very delicately handles sexual assault & the trauma that comes along with it (be sure to check out the author’s note in the beginning about this as well)

Thank you to netgalley & the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! This one is out Nov 1 so be sure to check it out then!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rating: 4.5/5

I surprisingly did like this book! What a debut novel by Elodie Colliard. This book tells the story of friendship, love, and second chances. And I love how they openly discussed mental health issues.

Avery and Josh has chemistry. That's for sure. But they were also struggling on some mental health issues that they need to accept and overcome. I also love the fact that Josh came back from Europe unsuccessful and that Avery's business isn't really thriving. Because this is the reality of life. It's such a cliche if Josh came back as a successful man and very famous while Avery's business is blooming. Maybe it's just me, but in this book, I like them this way. Now, where can we find our Josh? Hahaha.

Oh, by the way, there are a lot of sexy scenes. You better be prepared.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.25 stars! TLE is an ode to Toronto, Ontario (very close to my hometown) and I felt all of those Fall vibes oozing through the pages. We have Avery and Josh, who were childhood besties, but haven’t seen each other in 10 years, a whole DECADE. They unintentionally reunite in Toronto and with that, their feelings of sadness and anger, come rushing back.

I absolutely loved Avery and Josh, separately and together. They are both career driven, and love so hard, but both have some trauma they are trying to work through.

Although this was super easy to read, the pacing felt a bit off to me — I wish there had been just a bit *more* angst and tension between Avery and Josh, and *more* build up to their intense relationship! I would’ve loved to see more “past” interactions between J+A, J/A/B, J+parents to understand the relationships more! Some things tied too neatly for me at the end, but that didn’t take away from the book IMO.

Elodie put an author’s note at the beginning to point out the trigger warnings, and I know everyone will appreciate this. She put her heart into this book, and it shows.

Overall, I really enjoyed THE LAST ENCORE, and would recommend if you’re looking for a diverse, quick and sweet read. I’m so excited to continue with this story in book 2!

TL;DR, read if you like:
🫶🏻 Childhood besties to strangers to friends to lovers
🫶🏻 Best friendship in our female characters
🫶🏻 Steam, steam, and more steam
🫶🏻 Big Toronto, Ontario vibes
🫶🏻 Photography and music
🫶🏻 Meddling big brother

This was okay. There were definitely moments I really loved, but I think I’m terms of the writing and plotting it needed improvement.

I think the chemistry between the main characters was really well done, I really believed they wanted each other. Where the story really struggled was relationship development and plotting. I felt like the relationship between the two leads went from bad to good way too quickly. I also found that main character, Avery, seemed to change her mind very quickly almost as if when the book was being written that the writer randomly thought there had to be some internal struggle to make it interesting.

Another thing I want to mention is how the book handled Avery’s rape, I think the flashback where it was depicted was way too detailed and triggering, especially for a romance novel. I’m not saying romance novels have to always be lighthearted, but I felt it was inappropriate in terms of the tone of the rest of the book as well as how it was handled after the story went on. I felt like that trauma was brought up once and then never really unpacked.

Overall I don’t think this is something I will reread but I don’t regret reading it or hate it I just found it to be very okay.

This book was absolutely incredible and surpassed my expectations. A beautiful debut novel about love, mental health, family, finding yourself and friendship. A second chance best friends to lovers romance? give it to me right now. It had some amazing thought provoking themes and had an overall important message especially for young adults - living for you is okay, starting over is okay. Wasn’t a fan of the second act breakup but what’s a romance novel without one. Overall, i really enjoyed and would recommend.

3.5/5

[...] “I didn’t call you because it was easier for me to never deal with the reality that I had lost you.” [...]

It's definitely not a will-they-won't-they, but more of a when-will-they-finally kind of story. Which at times made this a rather frustrating read for me. However, the secondary characters were fun and added more than just a few funny one-liners to the story.
Personally, I love it when chapters have their own titles. In The Last Encore, these titles correspond to specific, mostly contemporary songs that are meant to reflect the mood of the chapter. In theory a great idea (!), in practice I found that it somewhat spoiled some of the bigger scenes in the book for me.

Overall, an okay book, though for me the absolute best part is the beautifully illustrated cover by Leni Kaufman.

The Last Encore
Elodie Colliard
4.5Stars

ᖇEᗩᗪ TᕼIᔕ Iᖴ YOᑌ ᒪOᐯE:

Boy falls hard
Mental health Rep
Strong Support Systems
Friends to Lovers
Canadian setting
Intense Chemistry and Steam- Lots of it!
Photography and Music

ᔕYᑎOᑭᔕIᔕ

Avery and Josh were best friends throughout their childhood and teen years, then one day he leaves town with very little explanation.
Ten years later he is back and Avery must come to terms with her feeling from the past. Is there connection real and can she forgive him?

ᗰY TᕼOᑌGᕼTᔕ

This is a romance book for romance lovers. Josh and Avery have a very strong connection and you FEEL it in this story. The relationship format felt unique in this book and I enjoyed how they connected right from the beginning given thier history. I love how this book explores so much more than romance, especially the family relationships and the work/life/love balance.

Avery is a wonderful character, she suffers from anxiety and has had a traumatic past experience and it is written so genuine and relatable.
She has an incredible support system that comes with some awesome side characters. I loved how close she was with her best friend Brooke and her brother, they are both the drop everything and come to the rescue type of people and we all need those in our lives.

I am still not exactly sure what a cinnamon roll hero is but apparently Josh is one. He is very in-tune to Avery and all her feelings and fears and loves her for her. Lastly the steam is burning hot. It’s special when the story, characters, steam and setting all come together so well!

This book releases on November 1st and you don’t want to miss it! This is a very mpressive debut!
Thank you Netgalley and Elodie for this advanced copy in exchange for my review!

Thank you Vctoria Editing NetGalley Co-op for the opportunity of reading this debut book by Elodie Colliard in exchange for an honest review! So here we go 💖

Rating: 3.75/5⭐️

Avery Clark needs a break. Between her photography business not doing as well as she’d hope and incessant family drama that does nothing to ease her spiking anxiety, she needs something to go her way.

And that was even before her wc-best friend and pianist, Josh Harding, ran into her during an event in Toronto, after he left her suddenly ten years ago - breaking the only promise he swore he wouldn’t.

Elodie has a really good and smooth writing style, her plot is easy to follow and it turned out to be a quick read. However, I found the plot to be a bit unrealistic but I guess that’s the magic of books, right? That’s the main reason why my rating is only 3.75: I don’t see this type of situation happening like it did in the book. Josh left abruptly (well, to Avery, since Mr. here already knew two months in advance and was kind enough to tell her the day before), came back after 10 years of absolutely radio silence and suddenly it felt like they just went back to what they were - friends, then friends with benefits and then boyfriend-girlfriend.

There is something else that happen during the book and I admire the author for putting herself out there to share her story and to find healing in writing - actually, I thought that chapter was the most realistic I’ve read before -, however, you honestly have no clue it happen until that chapter so it made me feel like it wasn’t necessary to the plot. Make sure to check the message at the beginning of the book for further details on triggers!


This review will be posted on my bookstagram @maria_bookshelf on the release day, so make sure to keep an eye out for it!