I absolutely CRUSHED this book on a 5 hour flight home from a Taylor Swift concert.

The book is recommended for fans of Book Lovers and The Hating Game and I can’t help but agree. This book is a fun, light-hearted romcom about a (semi) enemies-to-lovers workplace romance.

Harper and Ryan are complete opposite. Harper is outgoing, bubbly and very disorganized whereas Ryan is quiet, reserved and extremely organized. Which is the obvious equation for butting heads in the workplace!

I really enjoyed the book, it’s light, fun and doesn’t take itself to seriously!

Even better than the hating game, few books have been this good at making me excited for everything else the author will write.

I absolutely loved this enemies to lovers workplace romance! It was hilariously cute while also having some highly emotional moments. I really struggled with the way Harper was treated by her parents and her boss because they were just so awful. But there were so many charming side characters, and some really fun and unexpected moments. This book checks off so many of my favorite romance tropes, and I'd honestly love to see a book written about Isabella Blossom.

Definitely check this out if you're a fan of enemies to lovers, workplace romance, forced proximity, and second chance. This book is very similar to The Hating Game in the best way possible!

4.5/5 stars

So far, I have enjoyed all of the Birchall books. I appreciate that they are also stand alone or at least the ones I've picked up have been. What I did find interesting is that this book actually struck me as meh from the description. I really didn't want to read another Hating Game because the last book heralded as such that I picked up was soooo disappointing. And the idea of a journalist stand off just didn't float my boat. But I started reading and was hooked. Sure, Harper being a hot mess and a slob drove me nuts, because I am more of a Ryan about tidy and organized spaces. Despite that, though, I genuinely liked her as a character. And I was rooting for her to find her HEA from the start. Ryan was a good fit as the romantic lead. He's a bit of her opposite in some things, but when you get right down to it, they had a lot of common ground not only in their careers.

Sure, some of the relationships with celebrities were a bit far fetched, but I still had a laugh. The taxi driver .... I do wonder if he ever realized who he had in his cab. No spoilers! I did want Cosmo to get more of a comeuppance than he did, but that's the only spoiler I will get close to spilling the beans on.

All in all, a satisfying read. Went very quickly and had a hard time putting it down.

I love a second-chance, enemies-to-loves workplace romance and Katy Birchall's newest, The Last Word, delivers on all three. As someone who works in publishing, I found the incorporation of changing media landscapes, worries about page views and social media, and layoffs all too real and highly relatable. I loved the main character, Harper's, creative, chaotic, talented energy contrasted with the straight-laced Ryan. This book was funny, heartfelt (hello, family drama), and delightful to read.

Birchall creates cozy worlds that allow for escape in all of her work. This book was no different and was truly a delight to read!

I was a fan of The Secret Bridesmaid by this author and was disappointed with her second. I’m always down for trying an author again because sometimes there can be duds in between. Sadly, this third book just didn’t do anything for me. I did like a few details out of the book but the overall romance wasn’t believable enough and one thing in particular felt way too convienant.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Harper. She works for a magazine and you can tell when she covers celebrities that she isn’t in it for the wrong reasons. She genuinely cares for these people and always sends her condolences when they are going through something rough. I feel like the book does a good job of showing the industry and what it is like to work for a company such as the one Harper does.

Her work gets a little dicey when Ryan enters the scene. They have previously known each other and all of that eventually comes to light later on in the book. For me personally, I may not have liked their romance because in a way it is a second-chance. I have a love or hate with them. The enemies-to-lovers aspect was fine, but also it felt a bit childish at times and over-the-top. My biggest grievance with it is the whole (spoiler incoming!) cheating fiasco. Sure, she just kissed him while having a boyfriend but to know it wasn’t right, talk about it, and just overly had her mind made up about her actual boyfriend was a lot. Harper showing up at her actually boyfriend’s house and he is with another woman, half-naked, who goes on to say yeah he has been unfaithful is just wow. It all felt too convenient and to not put so much blame on Harper. I wasn’t a fan. (Spoilers are done!)

Overall, it was okay. I am sure that others will love this one, but for me I couldn’t get into it as much as I would have liked.

Rating: 2.5 stars

After reading Birchall’s last book and loving it, I was so excited to get this one!
This is and enemies-to-lovers work place romance that’s been compared to The Hating Game.

The miscommunication played a prominent role in this one, which made it a tough read.

I liked Harper’s drive. She was messy and chaotic though. The emphasis on work rather romance was refreshing.

Harper Jenkins is a talented journalist who can get interviews with even the most elusive celebrities. Harper is completely lovable and endearing. She is also chaotic, messy, forgets everything, and is pretty much always late.

Ryan, who Harper met back in a journalism internship, enters her life again as he takes a job where she works. Things didn’t even well and they subject the entire office to their constant bickering.

The Last Word is a very sweet, angsty second chance romance and was a really enjoyable read.

The Last Word follows Harper, a celebrity journalist who works for a magazine and isn’t taken too seriously. Always late, messy and high energy, she’s not always best understood by her colleagues, and she definitely, definitely does not believe in love. Harder is always choosing work over everything else. Enter Ryan, another journalist who happens to know Harper and who personally ruined her belief in love. They now have to work side by side and sort through their past history which is hard to do because they left each other broken hearted.

I absolutely love Birchall’s books, and I wished more people read and talked about them! The writing is great, the story is interesting and always hooks me and they’re funny! i really liked Harper and Ryan, they had a good connection, Harper was a tad immature at times but it definitely fit with her character. Ryan was sweet and lovely and it was frustrating how the final conflict was so similar to the earlier one. I really loved the ending, the side characters, all was really well done! The book is interesting and enjoyable, a feel good story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review. Can’t wait for the next book!

Review:
This story was compelling from start to finish. Harper is work focused, but also incredibly good at her job, which makes her humanity fly off the page. I loved her realtionships with the celebrities she interviews and how it humanizes them. Her passion for storytelling and the truth makes her so relatable and interesting. When her nemesis moves to her magazine we see a new part of her. A small, bitter part of her that loves to bicker and refuses to back down. As their backstory unfolds we understand their past and their relationship really starts to take off. The format of this story is the only thing that I wasn't sure worked. It dragged on a bit as we try to figure out how these people are related to each other and their past. It took a little bit too long for me to understand, not only why Harper was so mad, but who this random guy was and why she had such strong feelings about him.

Synopsis:
The Hating Game meets Beach Read in Katy Birchall's enemies-to-lovers romcom The Last Word, about a young journalist who puts her career (and her heart) on the line when her former work nemesis is hired in her newsroom.

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, Harper loves her job as Celebrity Editor at a newspaper’s glossy weekend magazine and has the best contacts in the business.

But when her awful boss hires talented reporter Ryan to be the new Features Editor, Harper is furious. Because the two have met before: a decade ago, they were interns at the same publication, where they fell into a whirlwind romance…until Ryan betrayed Harper, and they never spoke again.

Thrown together in a busy newsroom, their 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?

In this second chance, dual timeline romance, we follow Harper semi-thriving (her boss Cosmo clips her wings) in her magazine job as the celebrity editor, while her former co-intern from ten years prior, Ryan, joins the staff as the features editor giving them the opportunity to retry the romance that began ten years prior. There's a lot of enemies-to-lovers bickering that happens first.

The only reason that I didn't give the book one star is that I didn't mind the writing and some personality aspects of Harper - she's messy, always late, has a way with interviewing celebrities, and is tenacious. That said, by the end of the book I despised her. I couldn't get past her lack of character growth to truly enjoy her quirkier attributes. I couldn't get past the fact that Ryan, her love interest, also doesn't change throughout the book. I didn't buy them as a couple and not for a second did I buy that they grew enough as individual's to be together. Their arguments were childish, repetitive, and unprofessional. There was absolutely nothing sexy about it.

Harper and Ryan aside, I enjoyed the cast of secondary characters minus her family that I felt didn't propel plot forward at all. I did like where Harper ended up in her career.

I’ve been focusing on upcoming releases lately, and this one comes out on 5/2/23. Truly some of my favorite tropes covered here - a workplace romance, a second chance, enemies to lovers, and meddling friends - The Last Word had them all. It was such a fun read! Like most workplace romances, there’s always an annoying character you’re waiting to get their ass handed to them, and there’s no exceptions here. There’s fantastic chemistry between our main characters which is really driven home by some dual-timeline storytelling, and even with the lower level of spice, you can still really feel the tension between the two of them.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reading this felt like reading The Hating Game, but not as funny or romantic, but keeping some banter. It was not as romantic as I'd hoped, but it was still cute. The book made me more interested in who Harper is and what she does for a living rather than her romance with Ryan. I felt like there was too much trying to be crammed from her job to her family problems,

Additionally, the relationship between Harper and Ryan was immature, always fighting however, when they finally got together, they were a cute couple. Regardless of my liking of the book, Katy does a beautiful job portraying who Ryan is, and you can tell he cares for Harper and adores her.

Read if you like:
1. Rom-Coms
2. Workplace Romance
3. Enemies to Lovers

Loved this book! It was such a fun read and would highly recommend.
It is a fun love story of Harper, an entertainment writer with all the great connections in London telling the stories other celebrity reporters are missing. She met Ryan, a serious, quiet writer as interns over 10 years ago. Now, they work together at the same magazine. It is witty, quirky, and sweet. I loved how Harper grew to believe in herself and what she does and her passion for her work.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I absolutely loved this book! I have read two other books by Birchall, but this one is her best one yet. Harper and Ryan had great chemistry, and their backstory was handled perfectly. This was just a downright fantastic romance. Highly recommend!

After reading both The Secret Bridesmaid and The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall I was so excited to read The Last Word! While I really loved The Secret Bridesmaid, I was lukewarm about The Wedding Season so I’m happy to report THE LAST WORD exceeded my expectations and I absolutely loved it!!! The Last Word is a single POV starring Harper Jenkins, a journalist who 10-years ago when starting out her career had a memorable love-hate interaction with a fellow journalist, Ryan, who was also just starting his career. In a style I felt similar to People We Meet On Vacation (Emily Henry), there are flashbacks between the present and past. A majority of the book really features the enemies to lovers trope, which is one of my favourite tropes, plus office romance that I admit was reminiscent of the Hating Game sometimes like the blurb suggested. I also really loved Harpers fun job as a celebrity journalist (but her journalistic integrity was amazing)!

I seem to fall particularly hard for male lead characters like Ryan, and as someone that has never really struggled in social interactions, I related to Harper and found his awkwardness and sometimes shyness just so endearing. It was a fast read and the slow burn decade long build up left me thoroughly satiated!!

4.5 stars rounded up. I was honoured to be gifted an ARC so that you to Katy Birchall, the publishers St Martin’s Press and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press for the ARC. Publication day is May 2nd 2023!

I actually really enjoyed this read! It was a cute enemies-to-lovers romcom, and can you ever really go wrong with them! Throw in a second chance workplace romance with some forced proximity, sprinkled with witty banter and there is the recipe for success!

Harper is a successful journalist who writes celebrity profiles and interviews for a London based magazine. Ryan is hired on as the new features editor. The only problem? They have met before, ten years ago, as interns for another company. Their short lived romance went up in flames and the haven’t seen each other since. Can they fix what went wrong or are they doomed to despise each other for the foreseeable future?

I enjoyed the slight dual timeline aspect of the story! I also really liked that there was a focus on Harper’s career and the romance was sprinkled in! I love a career driven MFC! I also really liked the witty banter between Harper and Ryan! Mimi scheming was pretty great as well! I also really liked the juxtaposition of family between them! There is some steam but doesn’t develop into open door spice! These moments are preceded by some cute and romantic scenes.

The one thing I could not completely get passed was the overuse of the miscommunication trope! I mean these are two adults in their thirties that are rehashing the same problems they had in their twenties. You would think they would have matured some in ten years.

Also can we petition for more rom-coms with duo POV? This would have been great with some chapters told from Ryan’s perspective!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend this to any romance reader!

Harper is the best journalist (seriously, ask anyone) in the game. She can get anyone, celebrity or otherwise, to open up and feel comfortable talking to her. Sure, she’s a bit messy and chaotic and always seems to be running late- but she’s fine with that!

When her jerk of a boss hires Ryan to be the new features editor, Harper is less than thrilled. She knows Ryan, they had an internship together. Oh, and a whirlwind romance. But she hasn’t seen him in at least 10 years. Not since the betrayal. With their differing work styles, their reunion is off to a terrible start. They disagree on everything, constantly fight and cannot stand to be around each other.

As they start to spend more time together, Harper realizes she may not have given Ryan a fair chance. And when they’re forced to travel to Florence together for work, their chemistry comes to a head and sparks finally fly.

•

I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did! It definitely has ‘The Hating Game’ vibes, but this, IMO, is better. I loved the author’s writing style. She wrote a fun book, with a cute storyline and likable characters (minus you Cosmo. And Harper’s parents. Terrible.) I was invested in Harper and Ryan’s romance form the start. This was the perfect enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, opposites attract, slow burn romance I didn’t know I needed in my life and I was not disappointed. If you need any of the above in your life, you need this book- you won’t be disappointed.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel, but I did think that the weakest aspect was the the romance, which is obviously pretty crucial for a romance novel.

I liked the protagonist, Harper, and how passionate she was about her job. Although Harper clearly had her flaws, I could still understand why she was lovable. Her love interest, however, was fairly bland and I never really understood why she fell for him beyond his good looks. It felt like she went from hating him to being into him out of nowhere.

I appreciated the major conflict between the characters. It felt appropriate enough to be a real conflict, but not insurmountable. I also thought both characters behaved in a way that was understandable.

I didn’t love the ending just because it felt like a very fast resolution and I didn’t necessarily buy that the heroine would have the skill set required to pull it off.

I think it works a little better as a novel about the heroine’s career than as a romance.


I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.