Summed up in two words Harper and Ryan are cute & chaotic!
I loved a good forced proximity, second chance romance.

Harper & Ryan meet when they are both interns at the same publication. They have a short lived romance before Ryan betrays Harpers trust and they never spoke again... 10 years later Ryan ends up working at her magazine... they argue about anything and everything both of them always having to have the last word. they are crazy about each other but neither know the others feelings...


Thank to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to the audio book!

The Last Word
By: Katy Birchall
Narrated by: Karen Cass
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins

This was such a fun read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🌶️

It reminded me in a lot of ways of the Hating Game, but I’m totally okay with that since I loved it too!

Harper & Ryan meet as interns in 2012, and are then working together in the present. We get a dual timeline, showing what happened between them in the past.
They go from enemies to lovers to enemies to strangers to enemies to lovers again!

Ryan & Harper are both journalists, with different styles - total opposites - that teach each other along the way. Their banter is so fun, in your typical enemies to lovers way.

Besides the romance, it also told Harper’s story of growth in her career and her life. We see how she deals with lack of support from so many in her life - her parents, her sister, and even her own boss.

Read if you enjoy:
⭐️ Second chance
⭐️ Romcom
⭐️ Enemies to lovers
⭐️ Workplace
⭐️ Banter
⭐️ Opposites attract
⭐️ Dual timeline
⭐️ Slow burn
⭐️ He falls first
⭐️ Single POV/first person

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press & Macmillan Audio for an advanced ebook & audiobook copy to review. All opinions are my own!

I had the privilege of tandem reading/listening to The Last Word by Katy Birchall so my review will be the same for both the ebook and the audiobook. I can absolutely understand why this is being described as Beach Read + The Hating Game hybrid - it meets the mark while being unique from them. I love a second chance 'enemies to lovers,' opposites attract, office romance. Lovable characters, great story and great chemistry with a believable slow burn. I definitely recommend this romcom, perfect summer read!

For the audiobook, the narrator did a fantastic job (I listen at 1.75x for my own speed preference).

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC/ALC!

DNF- This looked cute. It was so boring that I stopped about 20% in. It's a second-chance romance set in London. It takes forever for the main characters to see each other again. The heroine is dating someone else, which is messy, but it was too boring for me to care.

I loved everything about this tempestuous charming romance. Ryan is a hot new book boyfriend and Harper is a chaotic successful mess that I would love to have as a friend. These two create beautiful sparks that finally turn into the fire I was hoping for. A new favorite for my home library!

Are you like me and have been LOVING this trend in publishing of writing romance stories of people in some form of publishing? From Book Lovers to the Book Proposal! Now we have The Last Word by Katy Birchall!

In this story, we meet Harper, who is not your average celebrity news journalist that posts TMZ level drivel. No, Harper genuinely cares about the celebrities she writes about and wants to make their stories told as much as she wants to publicize the movies, plays, and tv shows they are in. She would rather miss out on a salacious story than use it to hurt any of the celebrities she works for. With her being so phenomenal at her job, you would think Cosmo, her boss, would make her the head of the features section of the magazine when the last features editor leaves. Unfortunately, the job goes to Ryan, who she has history with going all the way back to her start in this industry.

Through a series of flashbacks, we find out why Harper and Ryan don't get along well, but it is hard to stay mad at Ryan when he is so sweet and oh so hot! This book does get steamy a couple of times and ends exactly how you want it to!

This book is charming, lovable, and one of the best enemies to lovers story I have ever read where it not only makes sense why they are enemies but also shows the slow progression to friends and then to lovers. Without giving too much away, the taxi scene is one of the most memorable I have ever read! My only thing with this book is when they have their 3rd act break up all romance books have, it was so well done that I was like, "You're right, Harper! He is a jerk! You SHOULDN'T get back together with him ever again after that!"

Overall, this book was so cute, cozy, and just the right level of saccharine. What a joy it was to read this novel!

What an absolutely adorable book.
I love the back and forth. I adore that Ryan really stayed true to Harper thru out the book.
I devoured this book in 1 afternoon. I'm obsessed

What a great audiobook performance. It felt like a friend telling her story. The accent was natural and pulled me into the story.

This second chance, enemies-to-lovers, workplace romance was witty and entertaining.

Harper is a journalist, an honest and honorable one. When her editor leaves, Ryan is hired as the replacement. Ryan the man that not only broke her trust, but also her heart ten years ago.  

It took me a while to get into this one.  I connected with Harper's structured chaos and her tendency to be late and messy.  I find a kindred spirit in someone who sets multiple alarm clocks to get up. Ryan is her complete opposite.  He's a little uptight and arrogant but it turns out he's a really good guy.

Despite her flaws, Harper is likable and is great at her job.  She connects and cares for the celebrities she interviews. 

The character development stood out the most. I loved the ending and seeing Harper take charge of her career and go in a new direction. 

The banter and competition between Harper and Ryan in the past and present added a lot to the story.  The story was cute with some funny scenes.

It's entertaining and well-written and does have a little spice, its definitely a slow burn. The romance and chemistry were a little lacking for me personally.  Even so, I recommend this if you enjoy contemporary fiction or women's lit with some romance mixed in.

This book was SOOOO GOOD! Awesome narration and MC’s! The story flowed well, and was easy to follow. Shout out to Netgalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this book!

4 STARS!

Enemies to lovers is a favorite trope of mine! The audio of this was fantastic. This one was hilarious! The banter and arguing between Harper and Ryan was so funny. I also loved the journalism part of the story. It was so fun and interesting. I cannot wait to read more by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan audio for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this one! Full of classic tropes - enemies to lovers, second chance & workplace romance, I was hooked right away and found the dual timelines equally interesting. I loved how smart, strong and determined Harper was and thought Ryan was a swoony MMC; I would have loved to have his POV! I also loved the London setting and side stories about celebrities and Harper’s family. Overall I would recommend this one!

2 Star book for me.

The narrators were great….I just had a problem getting into this book. I like a good workplace romance but I found the start dragged on. I DNF around the 35% mark. Just not for me.

The Last Word is about two journalists, Harper and Ryan, who have a shared history and start as enemies and turn to lovers. Harper loves her job, but when Ryan is hired as the new Features Editor on her team she is furious. Harper and Ryan have a history that dates back to the time when they were both interns at the same publication together. They did not part in good terms and Harper isn’t ready to forgive Ryan, but when they are forced into a working relationship, how long can she resist?

I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers and of workplace romances, this book combines the two in a great way! This book is full of great characters that are fun to get to know, the perfect amount of workplace drama and a great romance that has me rooting for the couple from the very beginning. I really enjoyed this book and thought it was really well done. This is perfect for romance fans who are looking for a witty romance between two work rivals who are undeniably attracted to each other!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an audiobook version of this book! The narration was great as well!

I absolutely loved this audio! Katy Birchall is one of my favorite authors, and this was a highly anticipated audiobook for me. Loved it! Also reviewed it on my bookstagram before pub day.

I loved everything about this book except for Harper’s attitude towards Ryan. Was it warranted? Maybe. But for someone portrayed as being at the top of their game professionally, her reactions to him were anything but; she was childish and immature. Otherwise, the story was wonderful. I enjoyed the immersion into the world of magazine publishing and Harper’s approach to getting her stories. Overall, a highly enjoyable read.

This was a delightful book. This is reminiscent of The Hating Game, in that our heroes Harper and Ryan are work place rivals, but they are also exes. This leads to a lot of snark, banter and one-upmanship. Overall this was a fun read.
Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the Advanced Listener Copy.

I’ve been in a rough reading slump and this delightful book brought me out of it! Katy does such a great job of writing powerful friendships on top of relationships. I love Harper’s friendships with all of the other awesome ladies in this book. And I absolutely loved the banter between her and Ryan in the “enemy” phase, even if it was pretty clear this was a “he falls first” situation and not all was what Harper thought.

I’m not a big second chance romance girl but the playful enemies to lovers of it all made it for me. I loved their relationship but I also love that this was a story about Harper embracing those around her in her natural bubbly compassion and the rewards that paid for her in her low times.

The audio of this is fantastic! I don’t always love romances on audio and this one knocked it out of the park.

The Last Word by Katy Birchall
FIVE STARS

This was extremely entertaining and sometimes frustrating, as all romcoms are.

Harper and Ryan are former interns who were competitors and are not enemies and have to work together again. At least this is how Harper sees it since Ryan kept a secret from her about who got the job after their first working experience together.

Harper is so frustrating sometimes with how she reacts to Ryan. I mean, I get it on some level but if they'd just TALK things would be better.

I still loved it though and definitely recommend it if you like second chance romance, co-worker romance and misunderstandings.

#Romance #ContemporaryRomance #ChickLit
#TheLastWord #KatyBirchall
#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #ALCReview

2.5⭐
Publication date ~ May 2, 2023
Page count ~ 396
Audio length ~ 11 hours 8 minutes
Narrator ~ Karen Cass ~ a fine job
POV ~ single 1st
Featuring ~ coworkers, opposites attract, enemies to lovers, slow burn, second chance, slim steamage

Harper & Ryan have a past that Harper wants to keep a secret from her coworkers.

I enjoyed Ryan's character way more then Harper. I found him to be sweet and fun.
I didn't care for Harper's grudge towards Ryan or the miscommunication that went along with it. I might have liked Harper slightly more if we had Ryan's POV too, but since all chapters were just from her it was too much for me. I was happy with her work ethic and personal growth though.

The banter was fun at times, but then that got to be a little much for me so my ears began to wander.
Overall, not a super big fan, but there are quite a few positive reviews, so don't let mine sway you.

Thanks to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for this early copy of the audiobook.

Looking at other Goodreads reviews, I am in the minority here - so don't let my 2 stars deter you, but man, this book was not for me.

If I can give any advice to the marketers of this book, it's to immediately take the sentence "The Hating Game meets Beach Read" out of any description of this book because while this is a workplace enemies-to-lovers, that's really the only connection to The Hating Game, and I'm sorry, but I don't see a hint, nary a BREATH of Beach Read, I'm actually not sure why they pulled that comp at all.

Like other reviewers have said, this starts off a bit slow. It takes about 25% of this book before the MMC is even mentioned, the beginning is all about Harper and her job. However, this starts with a prologue of Harper in a meeting being asked if she would ever give up her dream job to follow someone she was in love with, and we get this weird preamble about how she would never do that for love, and she's learned her lesson...but friends, this doesn't really go with the rest of the book. I kept waiting for some big reveal that she had given up her job for love, but that literally never ever happens. So we're starting off disjointed, and slow. Not great.

Then we finally start to pick up with the banter and the enemies part of this enemies to lovers plot, and to be honest, I don't understand what Ryan sees in Harper. She is grating. She is disorganized, and obnoxious, she is messy, and late, and we're supposed to find this charming but honestly if I had to deal with someone that was THIS much of a mess regularly, especially in a professional manner, I would be so irritated. But apparently this is all part of what everyone loves about Harper, and she's able to charm her way into the good graces of everyone, except her boss. But she is able to get secrets out of celebrities that no one else can, and it's all because she's oh so relatable and NICE.

Then we get into the backstory of Ryan and Harper and why they hate each other, and it's really...unmonumental. But ya know what? Fine. People overreact or small things hurt people differently, so okay, I'll let that pass, but then they NEVER try to clear it up? Even when there are no stakes for either. Not even a, "hey, I'd like to clear the air about what happened 10 years ago."

Anyway, Harper continues to be neurotic, Ryan continues to find this charming. Then there's *shock* another betrayal that plays out almost the same as it did 10 years ago. Harper is mad and Ryan is an idiot...so great, we have learned nothing in 10 years.

Obviously we get a happily ever after, but this book also does something I hate and the last chapter is like a speed round of wrapping up.

My biggest complaint about this book is that the FMC grated on my nerves the entire time, and that would be one thing if she learned a SINGLE. THING. but she doesn't. She just keeps being messy and disorganized, and manic and it's fine! Because everything not only works out but she flourishes!!!!! Good for her!

Bad for me.

I hear the authors other work is great, but honestly, I was so not into this that I don't even want to try. And the narrator did a lovely lovely job but I had a hard time fitting her voice into the character...probably because the narrator sounded mature (mentally and physically) and you could have told me this character was a 15 year old and I would have believed you.