What a beautiful story about grief, moving on and finding love again! Kate’s story was so heartbreaking but I loved her sense of humor and resilience through it all. I absolutely adored Hugh and their love story is one of my favorite friends to lovers I’ve come across in a while.

Behind the light, beachy cover, this is a book that actually shows the complexity of grief at all stages. Author Emma Grey does a great job of creating characters with emotional depth. Her personal story shines through the book, so that main character Kate's see-saw of good and bad days feels relatable to any reader who has lost a loved one. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a deep, emotional book about love and loss.

Starts out farcical but evolves into a sweet love story with some twists and turns that keep the reader guessing as to who will end up with who!

This one really touched me. It starts out slow and I almost gave up on it but I'm sure glad I finished. It'll definitely get you in your feels and even maybe shed a few tears.

This is a great read. Loved it. I liked how the story unfolded. I highly recommend it. If you like heartfelt books with strong characters, you'll like this one. It weaves together love, grief and life. Wonderful.

The last love note

🌅 BOOK REVIEW 🌅

Synopsis: When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what's right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time? When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together.
Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she's grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the ball--and yet clinging to her sense of humor.

Review: A wonderful insight into grief, solo parenting, resilience and love, this descriptive and medium paced novel was a heartbreaking yet wholesome read. I initially thought it was going to be a “P.S. I love you” copycat but was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn’t, the story even addressed this! I liked that the story was reflective, mysterious and unpredictable. I found the ending a bit anticlimactic, but overall it was a great book to read.

3.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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4.5 stars- thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC. I loved this book. It tugged at my heartstrings. In The Last Love Note, Emma Grey crafts a poignant and heartwarming tale of love, loss, and the journey towards healing. At its core, the novel revolves around Kate, a woman grappling with the aftermath of losing her beloved husband Cameron. Two years later, she finds herself mired in the chaos of solo parenting, navigating the challenges of grief, and struggling to keep her life from spiraling out of control.
Kate's journey is punctuated by comedic mishaps and absurd situations, offering moments of levity amidst the weight of her grief. From her overbearing mother to her well-meaning but misguided best friend, each character adds depth and humor to the story.
Central to the story is Kate's unexpected bond with her boss, Hugh, whose own hidden struggles mirror her own. As they find themselves stranded together on the east coast of Australia, Kate is forced to confront her grief head-on, while also grappling with the possibility of opening her heart to love once more.
Kate grapples with the lingering pain of losing Cameron while also rediscovering the capacity for love within herself. The trail of scribbled notes left by Cameron serves as a poignant reminder of their shared love and the importance of cherishing every moment, even in the face of tragedy. I loved the way the author had the last love note delivered. This book made me cry and made me grateful, once again, for moments shared with my loved ones.

This book drew me in quickly. I was delightfully surprised with the quality of the writthe story. Great character development, and poignant story telling. I could easily see the scenery, and characters in my mind's eye. It was funny, compelling and heart wrenching. I am not generally a fan or romance but this defied that label. It is a book I can recommend enthusiastically to a wide variety of readers at different stages in their lives. That is a rare gem.

Thanks for making me laugh, Thanks for making me cry.
Thanks for the brilliant way you write, Thanks for your shining light.

Thanks for a story that sets all the emotions off. This book was a joy to read and for anyone looking for their next read I highly recommend adding this to your TBR.

This beautiful story of love and living through grief had me laughing and crying throughout. Kate is still working through the loss of her husband Cameron at a young age, while also navigating life as a solo parent, job responsibilities, and her friends’ and family’s attempts to set her up. When things go awry during a work trip away, she’s stranded on the coast of Australia with her boss Hugh, finally getting the chance away to confront her grief and see what she’s been missing. The story alternates between present day as well as back in time to the progression of Cameron’s diagnosis and decline.
I was stunned by this novel and anyone who has gone through loss, whether a spouse, parent, child, pet, etc, will definitely connect to some of the feelings expressed in here.
Thank you to Zibby Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Love Note is a touching, moving portrayal of how one woman finds a way to embrace her life after losing her husband at a very young age just two years prior, leaving her with a young son and so many uncertainties for the future. Kate has some help from friends, and her friend and boss, Hugh, and along the way she finds that she is learning to live and love again. This book will make you cry, laugh, and remember how it feels to fall in love, even in the midst of such great sorrow.

The author covered grief and loss so well in this story that you feel so deeply for Kate and her son. Kate’s ability to accept her loss and begin to live again was written beautifully. Keep the tissues nearby as you read this story.

The emotion in this book was so heart wrenchingly real that if it affected me in a major way. It will rip your heart out, but don’t worry, it will put it back together again.

In this story, you’re watching a woman deal with the reality that her husband and love of her life is suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s. The journey that this author takes you through in the emotions that main character experiences not only for herself, but for their young son, makes it very difficult not for you to put yourself in that same position.

Finding the will to move on and experience life after something as tragic as that must not be easy, but the transformation that she goes through amid the grief, it’s just absolutely incredible. You’re pulling for her in every way. As you watch her try and piece her life back together, you also get to see how patient others are in her journey back. Watching her try to love another through the guilt was just such an incredible story. I highly recommend it. Thank you to Zibby Books and NetGalley for this copy to read and review!

Thank you Zibby and Netgalley for an arc of " The Last Love Note" by Emma Grey. Kate is a recently widowed mother to a five year old son, and struggling to balance life after the death of her not even forty year old husband. She has a job she loves, but feels like she can never truly give it her all since she is still trying to navigate through the murky waters of her loss. She feels like she isn't doing anything right, and often puts her own feelings aside to be there for her son. When she is diverted on a work trip with her boss, who has been her rock for the last few years, the story becomes pretty predictable, but you root for them. Hugh is the kindest boss ever, and puts work and his own feelings aside to make sure Kate is continually happy. Again. the story is VERY predictable, but it shows that there can be light again after the darkest days.

The Last Love Note
Author Emma Grey
Available now!

Thank you, @zibbybooks and @netgalley, for my #gifted copy of this beautiful book! I loved it so much that I also chose it to be one of my BOTM picks. I read and loved this one in 2023.

Wow, and I didn't expect to love this one as much as I did... While it's not my typical genre, I did read more romcom's than ever in 2023. The Last Love Note doesn't fit into that category, however, despite is title. Rather, it's a heartbreaking yet hilarious and witty contemporary romance and women's fiction novel that's also a stunning debut!

You may never stop loving the one you lost. But you can still find love again.~

Kate is seriously struggling to stay afloat. Her young husband and love of her life sadly passed away two years ago. She is now a widowed mom raising their five- year- old son alone, who is just trying to keep it all together at work, with her friendships, and in her own head. Thankfully, she has a hysterical sense of humor and can both laugh and cry at her own blunders and has a pretty incredible support system. Her mom, although a big overbearing, is loving and know what her daughter needs; her best friend provides her with comedy relief and helps and encourages her to move forward; and her boss, Hugh, knows her better than she knows herself and is always there for her without question.

An unexpected weekend away on the beaches of Australia, after a flight delay, Kate and Hugh are stranded together for a work fundraiser. Here, Kate can finally let it all go without her son witnessing - and she can truly grieve her husband's death. She kept sticky notes that her husband wrote in his final days and is beginning to piece them together, but she can't completely understand them until she figures out the secret that Hugh has been keeping from her.

Oh, my heart. I teared up several time while reading about Kate's love story with Cameron and their son, her heartbreaking grieving process, her amazing support system, and how she might find love again someday. While consumed with loss, it's always incredible to see the abundance of love that remains, and while broken down and hopeless, it;s powerful to experience resilience and grace. I just loved this moving story.

Having just suffered a personal loss, The Last Love Note hit on a different level. Kate may not have been my favorite character, but the way Emma Grey writes about grief and life continuing in spite of that grief was so raw and powerful. I was consumed by this novel and needed to have these words in this moment.

The Last Love Note is just a beautifully written book! That being said I didn't know anything about it when I started reading it and I was really surprised. To be honest at times it was really hard to read and other times it had me laughing out loud. Kate becomes a widow at a young age but still has to function because she has a young son depending on her. The person she leans on most is her boss Hugh who seems to be available to help whenever she calls. It's hard to know where to draw the line between her professional and personal life. But no one should have to go through something like this so young. A great story about dealing with and overcoming grief. Highly recommend!

A beautiful and heartbreaking story of losing the love of your life and rebuilding your life without your best friend. This story is filled with emotions and I dare you to not shed a tear at the closing line. However, I can’t say I loved the writing style. The out of order plot line actually took away from the emotional impact at times and the beginning few scenes had me utterly confused. But the messages are so important that I do highly recommend

This was a good one. It captured my attention from page one, and even with a beginning storyline that I initially thought was too dramatic, the story ties itself into a neat bow pretty quickly.

In "The Last Love Note," Kate grapples with the aftermath of losing her young husband Cameron, attempting to balance solo parenting, a demanding job, and the comedic chaos of life. Navigating an overbearing mother, a matchmaking best friend, and a mysterious secret hidden by her boss, Hugh, Kate finds herself stranded on Australia's east coast with him after an in-flight problem. This unexpected weekend away provides a space for Kate to confront her grief and consider the possibility of opening her heart to love once more.

The novel seamlessly weaves moments of humor and heartbreak, as Kate's journey becomes a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of love. As Kate follows a trail of scribbled notes from her past, readers are taken on a poignant exploration of self-discovery, healing, and the enduring nature of love in the face of loss. "The Last Love Note" is a touching narrative that will elicit laughter, tears, and a reaffirmation of faith in the capacity of the human heart to love again.