overall a very sweet story of second-chance and enemies-to-lovers romance between two journalists, though i'm not sure it blew me out of the water... i have read other books that do these tropes much better. the emotional pining i usually look for in a second-chance romance wasn't really there, and neither was the conniving and planned sabotage that makes for an exciting dynamic between workplace rivals. it wasn't a bad book per se, just fell flat in terms of making me invested in the relationship between harper & ryan and being unputdownable. by the second half, i was definitely skimming/just wanting to finish the book, rather than wishing that the book would never end. thank you to netgalley and katy birchall for the arc!

<i>Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Ever since she met Ryan on their first day as news interns, Harper insists on getting the last word in. Their bickering gave way to something more, until everything fell apart. Now, eight years later, Harper, a wildly successful (if stifled by her sexist boss) celebrity editor, is furious to see Ryan showing up to take a job at her magazine. Their sniping starts up again, and soon, those familiar sparks begin to fly… will their chemistry once again catch fire… and will it again implode in disaster?

I enjoyed [author:Katy Birchall]’s first two adult romances, [book:The Secret Bridesmaid] and [book:The Wedding Season], so I was excited for her latest, [book:The Last Word]. I’m pleased to say I was not disappointed.

Harper and Ryan are fiery as competitive colleagues but so, so sweet when they put down their knives and pitchforks and get together. Their personalities clash: Harper is a chronically late mess who has an incredible knack for talking to anyone, making her a spectacular and insightful profiler of the stars, whereas Ryan is serious and rabidly organized. But they complement one another.

As a former journalist myself, it’s one of my biggest pet peeves when (so often!) fictional reporters are (a) successful at their jobs despite being horribly incompetent or (b) engaged in deeply unethical practices. I’m pleased to say that Ryan and especially Harper (and their colleagues) are just good at their jobs, and Harper’s love of talking to people and sharing their stories really shines through in her dogged pursuit of stories and her interactions with her interview subjects. Her horrible boss (Cosmo!) is all-too-realistically drawn: assured in his own rightness as he is a poor judge of newsworthiness, dismissive of Harper’s and her beat’s value, and deeply sexist. Unfortunately, Ryan’s major miscues come when he fails to do enough to stand up to Cosmo, even when he’s clearly wrong. And while that makes him less of a Dream Book Boyfriend, it does make him all that more real.

[book:The Last Word] by [author:Katy Birchall]
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5 stars rounded down
🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ Door is open and the bedroom is steamy
👠 (only one shoe)
🧺🧺🧺 London’s best picnics
🚕👶 Unexpected babies

I'm a huge sucker for enemies to lovers. Add in office romance? I'm hooked immediately.

Unfortunately, this one did start out a little slow and while it definitely picked up and I absolutely enjoyed it to the very end, it also fell kinda flat for me. I'm honestly not sure why and I've sat and thought about it a long while. It was a good read and I enjoyed the characters, especially their bickering over Harper's messiness. I loved Ryan SO much and he's by far my favorite character. How much he appreciates and cares for Harper is so lovely.

Huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

I’ve enjoyed the author’s previous books, especially The Secret Bridesmaid. I enjoyed Harper’s story, and admired her work ethic, trustworthiness and ability to help subjects of her journalistic work feel safe and seen. I liked the publishing setting. But I felt like her guardedness and lack of trust in others wasn’t really explained until too late in the story to me. We don’t learn about her family of origin much until the very end of the book. She just mysteriously has a terrible relationship with them. I just had trouble connecting for some reason because of the opacity. I was also surprised by the explicit sexual scene which has not been the norm in her previous books. Overall, I enjoyed it but it was not my favorite of hers. If you like second chance romances set in the publishing world, this would be a fun choice.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Word is a fun and emotional “second chance” workplace romance. It’s perfect for fans of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Just My Type by Fallon Ballard.

One of my favorite parts was Harper’s career decisions. I felt inspired as she worked her way through tough decisions in an even tougher industry.

Ryan was amazing. He was the sweet intern everyone fell in love with, including you, dear reader of my reviews. I loved how much he cared for Harper.

Wow! I’m in love. What a delightful and highly entertaining read it was. The constant bantering, the chemistry, the romance and the end? It was soo good. I absolutely loved and seemed to have highly enjoyed reading it.

I had a fun time with this book. I really wish I could be a celebrity journalist too. I loved the bickering between the two and the way the author described Harper's clumsiness so well. This had all the good tropes: workplace enemies to lovers, he fell first, second chance romance, and opposites attract. I also usually like that though this is a romance, this was also introspective and had some elements of women's fiction too. I will definitely be reading this author's other books.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC

Ryan and Harper are opposites. Ryan is serious and organized while Harper is creative and a free spirit. They both, however, have a love for journalism, despite their different perspectives. This story follows this pair of nemeses turned frenemies turned lovers turned enemies. It takes place in flashbacks to their first internship and then ten years later, when they find themselves suddenly working at the same magazine.

It was a fun read, full of great chemistry between the two MC’s!

I LOVED the Secret Bridesmaid, so I was super hyped to get an early release of this book. I enjoy Birchall's slow burn romances, and she did an excellent job of investing me into this story early on. This was cute, an easy read, and one I'll recommend to my friends.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After absolutely loving “The Secret Bridesmaid” and “The Wedding Season”, I was beyond thrilled to receive an early arc of Birchall’s upcoming new release. I read “The Last Word” in one sitting and I enjoyed the whole ride. The characters are authentic and delightful. It was full of playful & quirky banter which turned to an intense chemistry between the two MC’s. They are very swoonworthy together, but also are hilarious. I loved the flashbacks to how they fell out and it really added to their story. Both are very well-rounded characters that you automatically root for. I do wish that we got some chapters from Ryan’s POV. It would have been great if we could get inside his head to see what he was thinking and feeling. If you like “The Hating Game” and “Beach Read”, you would will probably like this one. I can’t wait to read whatever Katy Birchall writes next! Thank you Katy Birchall, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

💭What I thought would happen:

Adored The Secret Bridesmaid, enjoyed The Wedding Season and knew whatever Katy puts out is for me, except no wedding this time around. 🥲

📖What actually happens:

Bea is a celebrity editor at a glossy magazine. She has to fight tooth and nail to get any of her stories approved by her sexist, out of touch boss. Bea also has a reputation for class and confidentiality (at least as much as a journalist can have) amongst the stars and their publicists.

Bea loves her job until her old internship nemesis joins her team and keeps getting her stories and overall hot presence is pissing her off (hello Hating Game). Why can’t he mind his own business!!

🗯Thoughts:

The way this book starts out I thought 2 things:
This book was going to be about a great love, a crush and flirtation yes but not a gut wrenching death of a partner…
I also got some serious Evelyn Hugo vibes and then was a bit disappointed that it didn’t go further into that storyline.

I loved this book more for Harper and her career than the romance with Ryan. I kind of thought Ryan could have been/done better.

Harper is chaos, straight hot mess - I could not relate to that at all (ok my brain has been a turnip lately but not the norm). I am more about order and cleanliness and being on time for work events. But I did enjoy Hurricane Harper!

The Last Word was a book that took me some time to warm up to. The first half is on the slow side of a slow burn and more enemies than lovers. Harper is complex: she driven and disorganized, a great friend and probably too nice to her interview subjects, but when it comes to her coworker, Ryan, she turns prickly and unreasonable. I wasn't sure how to feel about her, but good dialogue and the details of Harper's life kept me interested. Then came the second half of the book, and it the book opened up and transformed. Harper starts gaining good insight into herself while Ryan becomes more clear as a character and he's great, he's charming and patient, but he's not a pushover. Harper's character evolved in such a realistic way that by the end I was really rooting for her to succeed, not only in love, but with her career and family as well.

I usually find this subsect of enemies to lovers very frustrating: one person has been secretly in love with the other the whole time and the subject of their affections was only mean because they felt hated due to their counterpart suppressing their emotions. However I liked the main character here enough to push past it. Sure, Harper had her moments where I wanted to shake her but largely she seemed like a journalist with morals and a fun job. As a journalist who loves her job and has also been told I work too much to date, this was a cute read. 2.5/5

I thought this was a really cute book! I really liked that she wrote Ryan’s character in a much sweeter/softer way than a lot of love interests are written. I liked their history and how it wove in and out of the present narrative to really tie the whole thing together. I think this is a quick, feel good read and I would recommend it!

Received this book and finished it in one sitting, while neglecting every other responsibility in my life! A light hearted yet well-written Enemies to Lovers and office romance, this book had me hooked from the last chapter.
Harper, a talented and established celebrity journalist just wanted to work hard enough to be successful and recognized in her parent's eyes. After being scorned by a weekend fling with another intern 10 years ago, she has focused all of her attention back on her career and it has paid off. Enter old intern/fling though, can she really learn to forgive or will she ignore the lingering feelings that have never gone away?

i'm all about a second chance romance, give me all the pining and angst!

Harper gave me Elizabeth Bennett vibes, having already formed her opinion of ryan 12 years prior when they were interns together and not really seeing him in any other light after everything that happened between them. when they are working side by side again years later sparks are bound to fly! I loved the banter but not the bickering so much.

i really rooted for them throughout the book and i loved that it showed harper's evolution and growth as well as the romance plot.

this is my first Katy Birchall book but it won't be my last!

thank you to netgalley and st martins press for an opportunity to love this book!

The Last Word is an enemies to lovers story following Harper Jenkins, a celebrity journalist, and her coworker Ryan Jansson. Throughout the book, the reader is provided with flashbacks to what happened between Harper and Ryan 11 years ago, when they were just starting out as interns.

Harper and Ryan’s story is a great roller coaster. And while I loved both characters, I really appreciated that all of the storylines about Harper’s journalistic pursuits were equally interesting and enjoyable. The celebrity characters Harper interviews are believable and well developed.

If you enjoyed The Hating Game and Book Lovers, you’ll love The Last Word.


Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Be sure to lookout for The Last Word coming May 16, 2023.

Really a cute, fun book to read! I wish it would have been a summer book for me but it wasn't and that is ok. I would highly recommend for that purpose and it was a quick read as well. Realy enjoyable and a cute rom-com so to speak!

Top tier enemies to lovers! I absolutely ate this story up! I stayed up until 1 in the morning because I had to know what happened in Florence. Ryan and Harper are just the sweetest. I love that they had to choose one another and get out of their own way. I can’t wait to tell every one to read this book. Thank you for allowing me to read it early.

I loved this one! The relationship and banter Harper and Ryan made me LOL so many times (the "race" to the train - hilarious!) I loved her stubborn can-do, take no prisoners attitude. And I loved Ryan's soft-spot for Harper. The end dragged just a bit for me, and I was ready for them to either get together or not - but overall a fun, fast-paced read that I would definitely recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.