I really enjoyed listening to The Last Word by Katy Birchall. It is a great enemies to lovers, second chance workplace romance that kept me invested the whole way.

Harper is a celebrity journalist who is a bit messy and always running late while Ryan is features editor who is extremely organized and always on time to everything- complete opposites, but they have some history no one knows about and the real question is will history repeat itself?

I loved both of the characters, their background stories to how they got here and how well they were developed. I enjoyed how it wasn't all fully celebrity tabloid stories, but actually how Harper really got to know them and how much they trusted her with the storied and how that was how she created great success for herself. I also LOVED that Harper was unapologetically herself and did what she wanted with her career.

This was a great story and the audio was very well done!

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my ALC.

This was so cute! It started out a little slow, but I really enjoyed it overall. I really enjoyed the flashbacks and overall this was a really sweet romance!

Much like The Secret Bridesmaid, this was funny, cute & charming. A great escape read & the narrator did a great job !

Katy Birchall is quickly becoming one of my favorite rom com authors. This one will give you all the feels.

4.5 overall a few spots that could have been tighten up.

Audio Narration was excellent. If you are looking for a great romcom to add to your list. Make sure this one is at the top.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this arc! I thought this was so cute! I immediately was captivated by Harpers world and career in journalism. The characters had so much life and detail to them I felt like I actually knew them. Ryan was an amazing book boyfriend, and the drama between him and Harper kept me wanting more. I really enjoyed this book as well as the narration. Highly recommend for the romcom girlies.

Harper is a celebrity editor for a magazine who is known for getting even the most private stars to open up in interviews. She is shocked to meet the magazine’s new features editor, someone she has to work with very closely, is actually someone she knows. Ryan is the man she interned with years ago, the man who not only broke her heart, but also betrayed her. Now they are working together again and those feelings start to come back.

I really enjoyed this fun rom com set in the chaotic world of journalism. I loved that Harper was killing it at her job and approached celebrity interviews with so much compassion. She was incredible at her job and I loved seeing her shine from the beginning. I appreciated the little glimpses into their past that really showed the miscommunication that caused their relationship to fall apart. It made me appreciate Ryan and want them to work things out. This book was another win from Katy Birchall.

I thought Karen Cass was a great narrator and really captured Harper’s spunk through her narration.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the advance copies.

4/5. I liked the narrator—she was very easy to understand and reminded me of something I would hear introducing a Masterpiece Classics (PBS) or BBC period drama.

As far as the book goes I found Ryan more likable than Harper. He seems a little misunderstood, shy, kind, and patient. Harper seemed to have good ethics and a satisfying arc as she overcame her workaholic tendencies. The banter between them was also great and helped keep me hooked in the story.

I always love an enemies to lovers trope (almost guaranteed a story will be a win for me) and the inclusion of the workplace romance situation was a fun combination. It worked well similar to how they work well together in the Hating Game by Sally Thorne. The character Cosmo was also fun to hate.

Thanks NetGalley, Katy Birchall, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.

Loved this!!! Writers Harper and Ryan have been work nemeses for years… this was part second-chance romance and part enemies to lovers. Not overly sexy, but a little steamy at points. Super cute, fun easy read. I loved the insight into journalism and the banter.
Excellent narration.

The Last Word is an enemies to lovers office romance set in the journalism world. I really wanted to love this one, especially with the premise, but the book just missed the mark for me. I felt like there was a lot going on, but then also not much happened throughout the book. The plot was fairly predictable and I was hoping for more character growth. I didn't love the miscommunication between the two leads, which was amplified by the single POV. The Last Word was more women's fiction than romance, which I wish I would have known going in. I did enjoy the audiobook narrator, especially her accent, which kept me engaged, despite my mind wandering at times.

A cute workplace romance with second chances. What would you do if someone walked back into your life unexpectedly? With the background of journalism, the characters go through awkward conflicts and frustrating competition. I chuckled a few times and was overall entertained. This is perfect for fans of The Hating Game.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and author Katy Birchall for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Harper Jenkins is at the top of her game. Succeeding in her role as a journalist who is able to get even the most private of celebrities to open up with her kind and honest approach. All is going well in her world until her terrible boss hires a talented reporter as a replacement to the CopyEditor…

This was a very cute enemies to lovers novel. An office romance trope is always a hit to me. It also has the perfect balance of tension, steam, and sweetness.

Thank you Net Galley and St Martins Press for this audio ARC!

I do love a good second chance romance but I don’t love when it seems history repeats itself. With this one, I kind of agreed with the main character that the guy screwed up. Yes, her life turned out just fine but the situation that got her there was still pretty crappy.

🌀Synopsis
Harper Jenkins is a thriving journalist and she loves her job. That is, until her boss hires a blast from the past coworker to work with her.
Harper met Ryan when they were interns nearly a decade ago. Assigned to work and write together, the two developed a decent relationship. Just when Harper thought they were going to move forward romantically she found out Ryan got the job and she didn’t.
Now, it feels like the same situation all over again. They’ve started as enemies even though Harper knows she still has feelings for him. Their relationship finally passes into the romantic portion and she’s happier than ever. Until her boss announces that people will be getting laid off and Harper finds out Ryan knew she was one of the layoffs but didn’t tell her.
Harper is out of a job and also reliving the past. She pushes Ryan away and tries to find a way to land on her feet. Thankfully, her journalist days aren’t over and neither is her relationship with Ryan.

This was hard to get into, but enjoyable overall. The narration was fantastic, and it was a fun listen.

Thank you for the opportunity to review The Last Word.

I loved this book so much. The FMC is a flawed human that also has an extraordinary talent and it was refreshing seeing both sides of her. The rivals to lovers was perfectly done, all the side stories kept the story moving, and the way the FMC had to deal with daily misogyny made me fume but it was extremely well done by the author.
Completely recommend this book for anyone who likes strong FMCS, swoony love interests, and rivals to lovers

This book took me a second to get into but once I got maybe 10% in I couldn’t stop listening. This was such a sweet and fun read. I love a good work nemesis enemies to lovers book and this did not disappoint. Even if it was more just in Harper’s head that Ryan was her enemy. There was lots of fun banter between them that made me laugh! I loved Harper’s friendships in this and how she learned to stick up for herself with her family! I just loved her so much. And I loved how awkwardly sweet Ryan was. That is 100% me.

I really enjoyed the narrator for the audiobook and definitely recommend listening to this if you get the chance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for a copy of this audiobook for me to listen to! All thoughts are my own.

Thank you MacMillan audio for The Last Word, a well narrated audiobook that is more character driven than plot driven, which is a great thing for me! I have not read Katy Birchall's work before and appreciated that at the center of her romance novel is a story about people, not just banter or miscommunication but actual people with interesting lives and jobs, personalities and interests. I actually found myself connecting more with the secondary plot at times with the actress Harper is interviewing, that had strong depth and I appreciated that Ryan was given the space to be a part of the story and that, for me, he wasn't a "bad guy".

This is a great audiobook for those summer drives to a winery, a weekend away, or just, for someone like me for those every day moments when I want an escape from mom and work life.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! I really enjoyed the main character. But I did wish we saw more connection between her and Ryan.

Thank you to #netgalley and the above listed for this #giftedcopy in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was a fun, get me out of my book slump, romance complete with the witty banter we love and the enemies-to- lovers trope we all crave! Easy and quick paced reading/listening enjoyment! I also appreciated the way the MC fought for herself in the workplace and her personal life. It is such a great lesson for us all!

(3.5 stars)

The Last Word is billed as “The Hating Game meets Beach Read” but I do not feel like that description really matched the tone of the book. While it is an a workplace rival romance, it lacks the spark of The Hating Game. The animosity felt very one sided and was built on something that had happened a decade before when Harriet and Ryan were interns together.

This was a really rough start for me that ended up being fairly enjoyable. A few things that bothered me:
- Harriet’s main characteristic is that she’s late to everything and is incredibly unorganized. Her second characteristic is that she’s a celebrity writer who is willing to not publish gossip that the celebrity doesn’t want published, which is very endearing and much more interesting than “I’m late because I couldn’t find my sunglasses even though they were in my bag!” Now, don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely the kind of person who would be late because I couldn’t find my favorite sunglasses that were in an incredibly convenient location, but her flightiness gets pretty repetitive and kind of annoying. I think she loses her phone at least twice in the first chapter alone. She does not have an sense of how her disorganization negatively affects others, is way too old for it to be cute, and does not change over the course of the book.

- Harper has a supremely terrible boyfriend (Liam), who does not have a single enjoyable quality and is also forgettable? Like he’s just annoying? He very clearly is just with her to use her connections to support his own career as a talent agent and Harper does not notice this.

All of that being said, if you’re in the mood for a cozy book and can handle the main character, it wasn’t bad. I’m quick to dnf a book if I really didn’t like it, and I was able to read this one pretty quickly. It may be that the humor was “too British” for me!

The audiobook was wonderfully done! I love a narrator with a good accent.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for my review copies!

Harper looks like an absolute disaster - she's messy, with dubious organizational skills and ab absolute inability to be on time despite her best efforts. But she is amazing at her job as the celebrity editor of her magazine- standing out with her empathy and genuine interest in the people themselves.
Ryan is the features editor that was just brought in and he is immediately out against Harper in any way their topics may overlap. Their boss doesn't know their history but the entire office knows that when fee they're in the same room some form of explosion will happen -- sometimes cannon fire, sometimes fireworks.
When the magazine starts having issues, there are some big decisions to be made. What does that mean for Harper and Ryan?

This is a fun read, as the present plays out and the reader gets flashbacks to their intern years together. I am totally Harper so I loved the heroine being a great person who also just didn't care to hang her clothes up and easily lose things on her messy desk. It was nice to see these not being a fatal flaw, just a flaw.

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