This was a sweet story about high school friends finding their way to each other as adults. Overall it fell a little flat for me. The story didn’t really flow and felt a bit disjointed. I wanted more flashbacks to Josh and Avery in high school. I felt like it would have added to their relationship in the present. Without substantial backstory, it felt a little forced and missing the tension that makes friends-to-lovers stories enjoyable.

I liked the premise of this book, but at times the execution just wasn't there. Overall, I liked Avery's journey, and I really liked the Canadian references!!!

Very lovely book, I love the characters, funny and cute story!
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the book

Honestly this book was not for me. I feel like a lot of work was missing in building human relationships and character development. Everything seemed very unbelievable to me, which prevented me from being able to connect with the story. If you like books with the tropes of friends to lovers and second chance romance, give it a try. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't for me.

cw: sexual assault, anxiety, depression, bereavement

Avery is a photographer from an affluent but complicated background. When she reunites with one of her best friends from childhood, romantic feelings start to resurface. Josh Haring, a talented but struggling pianist, was best friends with Avery until he suddenly moved to Europe years ago. Now he's back in Toronto, wanting to rekindle their friendship, and hopefully more.
I was looking forward to reading this supposed second-chance romance, but I really struggled to get into it. I'll start with the positives. The mental health and sexual assault aspects are written very well, conveying all the fear and accompanying emotions that go alongside trauma and anxiety disorders. There are also the bare bones of an excellent story here, with so much potential for angst and emotional development. The intimacy was also written with previous trauma in mind.
Unfortunately, the author couldn't seem to decide whether Avery and Josh knew each other had romantic feelings when they were teenagers or not. Sometimes she writes it as if Avery (and Josh) were transparent in their feelings, at other times Avery walks around surprised that everyone (including her cat) knows Josh loves her, while she's openly *heart eyes* over him. As for Josh, he just disappears for over a decade* with literally ZERO communication, but apparently was always in love with her. Grief or no grief, people don't generally do that in real life. *There are timeline discrepancies that kept dragging me out of the story (it's supposed to be 10 years since Josh left, but in chapter 8 he's apparently thirty, and Avery keeps referring to events that happened when she was 16). Then Avery says she's 28yrs, and Josh left in the middle of his senior year, making him 17 or 18. I know it's nitpicking, but there's SO much reference to it being ten years since they've seen each other, so something isn't adding up. There are also references to the alcohol they consumed 'before' Josh left for Europe, at Brooke's 16th, including gin and vodka, and at other times they apparently used to drink champagne, and tequila. Those just don't scream underage teen alcoholic party drinks to me.
This brings me to their reunion. There's virtually no apology or logical explanation from Josh. Instead, we are treated to some half-a$$ed excuses, and suddenly they're on an uninhabited island at night, in evening wear. After that, he was all but forgiven. Meanwhile, the third mutual bestie, Brooke (who was essentially nothing more than a flimsy diversity checklist character) is apparently SO angry with Josh that she's immediately texting with him and plotting for Avery and him to be together. I found Josh and Avery pretty insufferable at times, and their dialogue rather immature, with no differentiation between teens and adults. Remember, these characters are nearing thirty, yet they read like YA. Avery suggests friends-with-benefits because she's scared he'll leave again but then says that her 'rom-com training' will stop her from getting hurt by never falling for him. All this... AFTER she's spent so much time telling us how much she's loved him for so long. That, and literally EVERY. SINGLE. Rom-com with that arrangement ends in love. Make it make sense.
There are the flimsiest excuses for arguments to create conflict when there are actually good reasons that should have been explored.

I so wish I could have rated this higher, as I believe it's a debut novel, but there were just too many problems with it. Ultimately disappointing.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥🔥
Emotional Rating: 💓😬🙄🤷🏻‍♀️😢💔🤦🏻‍♀️🙄💕


*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

Cuties with chemistry! I love friends to lovers books and enjoyed the writing style. I'm also a huge fan of second chance romance and these characters are so lovable. I like how authors are incorporating real mental health struggles into stories, and I'm so impressed with this debut novel!

Thank you NetGalley and Elodie Colliard!

🔊Song Pairing: Labyrinth - Taylor Swift (I only give my swifties to my favs🤍)

Elodie already made a fantastic playlist for this book. I also made a playlist of songs that felt fitting for this book. I couldn’t choose just one!

💭What I thought would happen:

I thought it was going to be about a woman who was a famous cellist/opera singer who meets a famous pop musician. Do no ask why I built this up in my head. I LOL at how wrong I was.

📖What actually happens:

Avery is desperately trying to make her photography business a success/to make a name for herself in the major metropolis that is Toronto. When a contest comes up where she can submit her photos luck may finally be on her side.

An unexpected twist in Avery’s life derails everything when the love of her past resurfaces out of nowhere. A love a decade in the making, the unforgettable Josh. Avery cannot think straight nor stay a normal shade of peach when Josh is near.

🗯Thoughts:

What a cutie cute romance! I loved Avery and Josh’s chemistry right away! I wanted to be teased by their will they/won’t they kiss until it was unbearable.

I obviously love a book set in Canada - need that representation, as much as I love the usual Chicago/New York/LA setting for every romance. Toronto was a nice change.

Josh’s overuse of baby made me gag from time to time but that’s because I’m the human equivalent of a stale marshmallow - kind of hard/kind of soft. I know I’m an unpopular opinion with cute nicknames 😂

Overall, I am wowed by Elodie’s debut novel (plus the GORG cover art) and also thrilled that Miles and Riley get their own story!

This book is out and ready for your consumption! Thank you Elodie and NetGalley for the eARC

Thank you Elodie for this advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It's always such an exciting time to see a fellow Bookstagrammer release their debut novel into the world. This book was a solid story of childhood friendships, love & all the ups and downs life will throw at you. I really felt like Elodie's writing was strong and she didn't try to0 hard to force the relationships of these characters on you. I felt like she covers some heavy topics with ease and has gives readers appropriate trigger warnings from the beginning.

Avery is a strong female MC that struggles with anxiety. I felt like the importance of mental health was appropriately presented throughout the the the book. I felt like Josh had depth to his character beyond his good looks which made it easy to root for a second chance between Avery and him. My FAVORITE relationship was the one between Avery and Brooke. Because who doesn't love a bestie storyline?

FINAL THOUGHTS: The Last Encore is a really solid debut romance novel. If you love childhood best friends to lovers, second chances and small town romance with all the Canadian vibes this is a must read. Elodie covers complex topics thoughtfully and it had just the perfect amount of spice to keep you turning the pages.

As a debut novel I thought it was pretty good. The friends to lovers concept but with the twist of a 10 year estrangement in the middle made for good dramatic effect. I liked the chemistry between Avery and Josh but I do think that even with years of mutual pining, Avery would have needed more time to come to terms with Josh. Some of their steamy scenes were really fun to read though. I did like the inclusion of mental health struggles and the realities of anxiety. Overall it was a good book but it took me a while to really get into it and even once I did I just wasn’t that invested in Josh and Avery. I felt the overall story was a little predictable, especially the primary conflict toward the end and could have used a little more zing to keep me guessing. I wanted to love it but for me, it’s a solid 3.5 stars. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for more books by Elodie in the future as I love to see new authors grow and flourish from their first book to the next.

The Last Encore is a second chance, friends to lovers romance. It follows Avery and Josh, high school best friends who become estranged and then find each other again and fall in love. Avery is a photographer who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks; Josh is a talented pianist who is still grappling with the grief of losing his mother. Avery and Josh were best friends in high school (and could have been more) but Josh leaves toward the end of their senior year to pursue music in Europe. Avery feels abandoned and never forgives him. Ten years later, they run into each other again at a fundraiser and their relationship is rekindled and they quickly begin to fall in love, but Avery is afraid of being hurt, or abandoned, again.

Things I liked: Second chance, friends to lovers, mental health representation, good spice.

Things I didn't like: Avery's reaction to Josh leaving felt very unfair to me and was hard to relate to. I also thought her sexual assault story line (not a spoiler, the author discusses it in the foreword) was brutal and unnecessary. There are other ways to develop a female character's backstory. It seemed like it was thrown in as a device to show how understanding and good at consent Josh was and that just felt icky to me.

I would still recommend this book to a contemporary romance reader, but with a trigger warning.

Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, so I downloaded to read this book on my app. But then whenever I tried to open it, it would show 'unknown error' or something like that. I suspect that my Netgalley app crashed that time. So I re-downloaded the app. By that time, this book had been archived and I could not read it.

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this one did not disappoint! I also love the slow burn romance!

I liked the idea of this book. Friends who confess their feelings but they get separated. And years later have a second chance.

But, I just didn't like the characters in this story. I couldn't connect with them and I couldn't understand why certain characters *cough Josh cough* made the decisions that they did. And I didn't like how quickly certain characters *cough Avery cough* were so quick to forgive and forget.

All in all, The Last Encore is a pretty solid debut novel. With a straightforward concept of two childhood best friends falling in love and finally having that chance for a happily ever after, this story was lovely. I'm always a sucker for best friends to lovers and while at times this read more like the characters were teenagers than in their midtwenties, I still enjoyed the overall flow of the dialogue. There were some funny parts thrown in as well but this story also had more depth than expected since it talks about SA and mental health with a delicate hand. I really enjoyed some of the subplots and the protagonit's focus on her career. Overall, this is perfect for lovers of second-chance romances and Emma Lord!

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me a copy of this eARC.

This book was hands down my favorite romance novel I've read this year. I can't believe this is the debut novel of Elodie Colliard. The characters are sweet, funny and relatable. Avery is a struggling photographer. Josh is a talented pianist. They were best friends since childhood but when Josh left the country their connection ended. But after 10 years Josh suddenly returns and there's definitely sparks between them.
This is how you do friends to strangers to lovers! I could not put this book down.
If you're looking for a fun, heartwarming and also steamy slow-burn romance then this one's for you!
It's in my top 5 reads of this year!

I've also posted my review on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4997902035

i truly wanted to like this book because it sounded extremely fun, but it somehow didn't work for me. it's not a bad book by any means and it's a solid novel for a debut. "the last encore" is a romance book with a pretty straightforward concept - a second chance romance between two childhood best friends. i did somewhat like how the tropes were handled, but everything felt too easy. the subplots were pretty interesting and i liked how focused the main character was on her career. i also really liked how the mental health aspect was , props to the author for covering the topic so well. there was also a SA scene that i didn't see coming, but i also didn't really check the TWs thinking this would be a fluffy romance.

the writing was pretty bland, with some funny dialogue at times, but it would get unbearably cringy at times, with sentences nobody irl would say. the dialogue during the smut parts especially was quite bad, occasionally. avery's mom had some lines that sounded extremely fake and they stood out a lot. i feel like some parts definitely needed a bit of polishing, just to make everything fit better. i understand this is a piece of literature, but sometimes it felt like i was reading a love story between teenagers, not some 30yo adults.

the romance felt rushed - they just saw each other after 10 years of no contact and they instantly fall in love. i wish the book took a bit more time letting them be friends at first instead of diving straight into the romance. i also wish the romance didn't play such a big role in everything and, yes, i know this is a romance book, but every single subplot wasn't developed well enough, so nothing felt complete. for example, we know avery has some issues with her dad, we're given two scenes with them and then the topic is never touched again. similarly, josh also has problems with his father and they're somehow resolved in a few pages after avery screams at him. everything was just too easy. there wasn’t any real conflict between the characters, just petty stuff to add some angst to the story and that didn't work for me.

the side characters were pretty one-dimensional, which sucked because they had potential, especially brooke. she was there just as the "quirky best friend". i couldn't tell you a single thing about avery's brother besides him being very protective of her. same goes for basically any character besides josh and avery.

overall, an interesting premise, with an execution that didn't work for me. for an adult romance, it felt juvenile. it's still a solid debut, just not the book for me.

Wow wow wow. There is no way this is Elodie’s first book. The Last Encore has sealed its spot as one of my favorite books in 2022. Elodie is definitely an auto buy author for me now.

Friends to lovers has always been a favorite of mine, and Josh and Avery’s story is definitely a top contender in this trope. The connection you felt between Josh and Avery was chefs kiss perfection. I didn’t want to stop reading about them, they made me all warm inside!

Elodie also has a way with words. I’ve never been to Toronto, but the way she described it was beautiful, making me put it on my list of places to visit. The friendships Elodie created were beautiful as well. I felt for each character and what they went through, or how they helped the main characters.

I don’t re read stories often, but The Last Encore is definitely one I would reread! I definitely recommend reading this!

was very excited to read this book then I came to know from a fellow Bookstagramer that there is an on page se*ual Assault scene in the book. So you can imagine my hesitancy as I’m a very sensitive reader and a traumatic scene like that would be in my mind for a long time. And then I read the Author’s note and boom! I was encouraged.

I would say The Last Encore is the story of Avery. She was a very relatable character. A simple, lovely woman who is navigating the life in the best way she could with issues that we all have.

I liked Josh. Initially I was upset with him especially because of way he left. Then I understood his reasons, his regret and like he said Avery could’ve also reached out. But she didn’t. The another thing in his favour was, he never forgot his high school best friend l. He cherished her memory but didn’t have the courage to face her again. Also he was rather sweet.

I also loved their third best friend Brooke. She was a hoot!
Loved the writing style. So much emotion was poured in to the story. At times it was sweet and uplifting and at times it was emotional and dealt with self healing and discovery.
Overall an enjoyable read.

Safe and recommended.

Avery Clark photography business is not doing as well and her incessant family dramas, are causing her more anxiety than she can possibly cope with.
So when an opportunity to grow her business happens, Avery decides to through caution to the wind and photograph the wedding of a friend’s sister. Or more like, her ex-best friend Joshua Harding, the man who broke a promise and left her suddenly ten years ago. As they spend time together, they realise there is more to their feelings, than they felt as teenagers.
The relationship between Josh and Avery was beautifully told, bringing to life the possibility of second changes. I loved seeing how their chemistry grew, as they learnt to trust each other again. Avery’s struggles with mental health were told with sensitivity, and her confidence developed throughout the relationship she shared with Josh. A well delivered debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from this author, in the future.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

TW: sexual assault, abandonment issues, infidelity, anxiety, death of parent, depression, panic attacks

This debut novel that utilizes the estranged childhood friends to lovers and second chance romance tropes started off really strong. It is the love story of a female photographer and a male pianist. I loved their career choices and especially loved the anxiety representation in the beginning of the story. However, I wish the author had incorporated more of how the trauma from the sexual assault affected the female MC.