This book had a really slow start for me and it made it hard to get through the book. I also was expecting more of a rom com from it with the way it was advertised.

Thank you @smpromance @netgalley for a copy of this book.

This is a second chance about Harper and Ryan both journalist that becomes co-workers 11 years later. I enjoyed the dual timeline and the opposites attract between them. This is a slow burn and lots of bickering between the two. At parts, I was a bit annoyed at Harper how she treats Ryan at the office. Ryan was so quietly attentive to Harper's needs that you just want to shake her and wake up to him. Overall, a fun romance.

This one was cute. It started off really slowly but I do like enemies to lovers! One of my favourite tropes. It not my favourite by the author as it just felt a little predictable.

So Harper and Ryan have just become one of my favorite book couples! This book is very much an enemies-to-lovers workplace romance and the chemistry between the two main characters is present from the very beginning. Even their coworkers comment on the palpable romantic tension! While their coworkers think they just met, it turns out they hadn’t! I loved the slight twist of how they knew each other for 8 weeks, 10 years ago. The author was masterful in how she twined both timelines together in a way which only enhanced the story.
Harper has always been fiercely independent and unapologetic in her career. Ryan is quiet and sweet and very much a strong supporter of Harper. Ryan remains pretty consistent throughout the book while Harper has growth as she gets to actually know Ryan. While these two are complete opposites, I loved how their stories unfolded. Their banter and tension was top notch! I didn’t want to put this book down and it captured me from the very beginning! 4.75⭐️, 2🌶

This is my third book by Birchall and she is always very consistent with her books. I know I can go into her books and come away happy.
I do wish that the characters would have changed more throughout the book. I felt slightly frustrated that the characters reacted mostly in the same way two different times throughout the story. I feel like, even though you see the character growth after, I would have loved to see it during.
One of my favorite parts in Birchall’s books are the strong female relationships that she cultivates with the FMC and I loved those relationships in this book too!

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s and Griffin Books for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5/5 (rounded up to 5)

CW: death of a sibling from pediatric cancer (recounted), toxic parental relationship

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Harper Jenkins is making a name for herself at her job as a celebrity editor, getting even the most reclusive celebrities open up about their lives. But, when her favorite features editor leaves for another magazine and is replaced by her old rival from a previous publication, Ryan, Harper feels that it’s only going to get worse from here. Yet, after being forced to work together quite regularly, Harper realizes that there’s more to Ryan than what she originally thought all those years ago.

Personally, I enjoyed reading The Last Word. While it does open to a prologue that I feel didn’t need to be there, you’re instantly able to get into the plot in no time. I also really like Birchall’s writing style and how she was able to come up with interesting characters that give off just enough depth to make them relatable, especially for Harper and Ryan.

For those of you wondering if this is pretty much a British version of The Hating Game, you’re right but also wrong. Yes, there’s the snarkiness between Harper and Ryan that could be found in The Hating Game (and could be said for a lot of romances that use the enemies-to-lovers trope), but Birchall provides a more genuine connection between Harper and Ryan and their rivalry (and eventual relationship) mostly makes sense. For me, I’m not a fan of the trope being used on rivalries made up on the basis on dumb things. What you get in The Last Word is more of an actual rivalry between two up-and-coming journalists that leaves with a tender second chance romance in the making.

So, if you want a book that’s basically The Hating Game but British and has more depth or are looking for a second chance romance similar to The Make Up Test, I would definitely recommend reading The Last Word.

Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy. This is my first book by this author. I love a good workplace / enemies to lovers / second chance romance and this was a bit of all three.

Harper is a celebrity editor and has a talent for making celebrities and agents feel at ease and gets the amazing scoops. She loves her job but is under appreciated by her boss who she has to fight every step of the way to get her articles featured. I loved every minute of Harper hustling to get the scoop and her interactions with the celebrities were A plus in my book.

When Ryan joins the team, Harper is thrown into a spiral. When they first met years ago and were pitted against eachother for one full time position amidst a budding romance, heartbreak ensued. In their current jobs, they are butting heads and arguing over every little thing even thought sparks are flying.

I enjoyed the romance and the portions featuring their jobs and how well they worked together when they stopped fighting.

My only criticism is for someone so “top of her game” Harper is constantly late and scatter brained to an extreme degree and I feel like she was a bit immature with just how much bickering and bitterness she had towards Ryan.

All in all, it was a cute book and I think workplace romance fans are going to love it.

3.5 rounded up to 4. Katy Birchall is an excellent writer and her narration kept me engaged. The story is not new or innovative but it’s a cute standard rom com. I will definitely keep reading her books because the writing style is great.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Griffin for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

✨What to expect✨
•Co-workers
•Opposites attract
•Banter/tension
•Journalists
•Dual timelines

✨Thoughts ✨
This was such a cute one! I loved the celebrity journalist element. I also enjoyed the dual timelines going back and forth between present day & 10 years ago with Harper & Ryan. The banter back & forth between them was so funny. Also, the whole taxi scene and lead up to that was heartwarming & funny. While I did enjoy this for the most part, I had a love/hate relationship with Harper. She infuriated me a bit with how stubborn she was sometimes. I did love how she stood up for herself against her family, Cosmo, & Liam. I am here for the female empowerment of it all. I love that she was career driven and makes no apologies for it. I also found it a little hard to believe that Ryan & her would have a happily ever after. Just because they were such opposites & clearly drove each other crazy most of the time because of that. I still enjoyed & highly recommend this one.

Such a cute and lovely novel. The story was chaotic at times but that related well to the main character’s personality.

Harper is a top-tier celebrity reporter, able to get the scoop on all major celebrity developments with her charming personality and ability to put folks at ease. But neither her boss nor her parents take her career seriously, dismissing her work. Tired of dealing with her boss, Cosmo, she is even more frustrated when a new guy takes over as Features Editor at their magazine--it's none other than Ryan, a guy she competed with for a job ten years ago, in addition to spending a romantic weekend together. Now, a decade later, they're forced to work together and her hatred of him is stronger than ever. But there's a fine line between hate and love...

I am a huge Katy Birchall fan and this new book is no exception. Interestingly, her other, prior two books veered more women's fiction, where this book feels squarely romance to me. No complaints, there, though! I love anything Birchall writes. The chemistry between Ryan and Harper was off the charts, but my favorite part might be learning more about Harper's job and seeing how she snags the best pieces--you catch more flies with honey, and all.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

This is essentially The Hating Game, but set in London. Colleagues who becomes instant enemies, he’s a silent brooding type and she’s chaotic and lovable. It was a little hard not to feel like I’d read it before. It was still entertaining, and I liked the family history to round out Harper’s character.
The book could’ve easily been 80 pages shorter, and the slow burn was wayyy too slow. I also think the tense changed a few times throughout but I can’t be sure. Hopefully that’ll be ironed out before publication! I foresee a lot of people loving this one.
Thank you NetGalley, Katy Birchall and St. Martin’s press for the arc!

First off I had so much fun reading this book. Harper who is a a celebrity journalist in love with her job and amazing at what she does, is a loveable character despite the fact she is incredibly, hilariously unorganized in every aspect of her life meets Ryan who is the polar opposite, type A, and very very sweet and adorable and is now her new coworker. Their banter and arguments throughout the book is hilarious but the author was very good at writing enemies to lovers but still making the characters lovable with some flaws. I found myself feeling so angry at some of the "villains" in the books and i am absolutely obsessed with the ending of the book. I literally can't get enough and i need to talk about this book with everyone!!! Not is it an adorable romance, but it does touch on sexism in the workplace and double standards, which I really enjoyed reading about that as well!!

I love Enemies to Lovers and I love Katy Birchall’s first two novels so I was super psyched to get an ARC of The Last Word from @netgalley! Sadly, this book did not have an weddings (boo) but it was still fun. It started off a bit slow but luckily as I became more invested in the characters, it picked up.

Harper is a hot mess and I found myself frustrated with her on a regular basis. I am type A so her lack of planning and overall sloppiness gave me hives. However, it was her need to jump to conclusions that annoyed me most. I related to Ryan better and I enjoyed their budding romance. I actually liked her friendships and how she handled her career and family issues more than I really found myself invested in their love story. Overall an enjoyable read but not my favorite.

This book is an office enemies to lovers rom com. Harper and Ryan have been enemies since they were both interns at the same publication years ago. Now forced to work together, sparks start to fly due to their diametrically opposed approach to journalism and their sizzling chemistry,

I enjoyed the details of Harpers job, especially her passion for writing stories about celebrities that weren’t superficial or salacious. She seemed very warm, and really cared about her telling the true story of her subjects life and career. Ryan seemed like a decent guy as well, but I feel like we really didn’t get to know him as well.

I felt like the chemistry between Harper and Ryan was 4/5. I personally would have liked a bit more sizzle.

The plot was decent, if somewhat predictable.

Overall this was a well written light rom-com. I would definitely consider reading more titles by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

Katy's The Bridesmaid and The Wedding Season were two of my favorite reads in 2021 & 2022. This one is a little more romance than TWS which was more than TB. Outside of that, I find that Katy's voice is easily bingeable and would be a one-sitting kind of read if I was capable of that. Harper is the celebrity editor at The Narrative and loves her job. She has a couple of great friends who support each other at work with the only pain being Cosmo, their boss. When one friend leaves for a promotion with another publication, the new hire is a face Harper has been avoiding to great lengths. She can't stand stick-in-the-mud and neat-freak Ryan. They've only gotten on well for a short time years ago but she'll never forget their big blow up. It's more than infuriating that the sparks persist between them.
I loved the tension and chemistry between Harper and Ryan. Their constant bickering and need to have the last word was relatable even when it got to be a touch too much. I wanted to have Ryan's POV because he was such a sweet cinnamon roll even through Harper's less than positive viewpoint.
Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Harper Jenkins is at the top of her game. A brilliant, determined journalist with a well-known knack for getting tight-lipped Hollywood stars to open up to her. But when her awful boss hires Ryan to be the new Features Editor, Harper is furious. The two of them have a past no one in the office is aware about. kTheir dynamic is a disaster from the start. They can’t agree on anything and bicker constantly—Ryan can’t bear how chaotic and messy Harper is; Harper finds Ryan’s condescending nature infuriating. They clash over who’s writing what article, and fight over who’s going to which event. Yet as they’re forced to spend more and more time together, Harper realizes she may have misjudged Ryan and can’t help but feel a spark growing between them. Long buried feelings start to resurface and, when they’re thrown together on a romantic press trip abroad, their chemistry comes to a head. But all is fair in love and magazines, and with the news that layoffs across the department are imminent, Harper is left to wonder: who will get the last word?

I've only read one Katy Birchall book before and I was a bit neutral on it, so I almost didn't pick this one up when it came into my email, but I am SO GLAD I did! This was such a fun read. I loved how past and present came together and how the puzzle pieces fit together so satisfyingly. This is classic enemies to lovers opposites attract romance paired with a fast paced news room and a ton of celebrity gossip. I love the secondary characters that Harper and Ryan worked with, minus Cosmo, but I think he was written that way for a reason. I couldn't put this book down. Two nights in a row I stayed up waaaaaay too late to see how this book ended, and it did not disappoint!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 5/2

Enemies to lovers, workplace rivalry, and side characters you love (and loathe) made this book a fun read. I have to say, I felt like the first half was slow, but it picked up momentum during the second half. I enjoyed the characters but found Harper a bit frustrating and immature at times....and honestly found it hard to find any fault with Ryan - he was my favorite and the epitome of what we want in a romcom book boyfriend.

If you like closed-door romcoms with quite the slow burn, I think you will enjoy this, just know it takes a bit to get going, in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
3.5 stars
Loved the character of Ryan. But Harper? Not so much, and I didn't love that she redeemed herself so quickly at the very end. For most of the book I thought she was immature and, in the office (not so much at her interviews), unprofessional. I loved her "found family" of friends, though, and how she interacted with them. It was slow for the first 25-30% but did move along faster after that. Their banter got funnier too. A highlight for me was the race to the train station early on - laugh out loud funny. The whole book had a "Moonlighting" vibe (if you're old enough to remember that TV show) which isn't a bad thing.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

This thing with "The Last Word" is that - yes, it's a romcom (closed door romance) - but it is so much more.

This is a story about Harper - a journalist who profiles celebrities for a weekend magazine. She takes pride in the stories she gets to tell - that she gets to showcase individuals in a way that the public might not have been privy too. Harper in work mode = BRILLIANT.

But work is not always perfect - and when the features editor leaves for another job - the person who replaces happens to be Ryan - the same Ryan she had interned with years earlier at the start of her career. The same Ryan she had caught feelings for. And the same Ryan who betrayed her.

And so begins the basis of this book - Harper and Ryan - not only are they on the same team at work, but they sit next to one another. They are constantly being thrown together - and SPARKS fly.

I loved their banter. I love the personal growth. At times Harper felt a little immature - but she was able to acknowledge that.

This book made me smile, it was so good that I didn't want to put it down (stayed up late to finish it as quickly as possible). Harper and Ryan made me feel warm and fuzzy - I loved it ALL.

It is a PERFECT comfort read - entertaining, well written, well paced and delightful.

4.5 star read. recommended.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.