Our Last Summer is a time-travel, second chance romance that follows main character Elodie Parker as she prepares to head back home to Little Heaton, a village near Cheshire after spending the last four years in L.A. She’s nervous about seeing the love of her life, Tomasz, after their break-up, but also she doesn’t know how to deal with the loss of her best friend, Ed. Her grief for her friend was the reason she left England in the first place. But as she travels by plane, she’s transported back to the past and given another opportunity to spend time with her best friend. Can she change the devastating events that happened so long ago? Can she make the right decision and not lose Tomasz all over again?

This started off well and I was intrigued by the mystery of the secondary characters. Of course, I wanted to see Elodie succeed and save her friend. The romance aspect of the story was lacking and I didn’t really feel that much of a connection between Elodie and Tomasz. There was no big declaration between them and some of the more romantic moments were referred to instead of shown. The ending seemed rushed and was again told instead of shown. It was an interesting read but lacked in certain places.

Oh this was such a lovely book with an original plot. It was perfect escapism and I couldn’t put it down. I’ll definitely read Jennifer Joyce books in future!

We all wish we could go back and see what would have or could have been. It was a fun twist on I am usually not a fan of time traveling troupes but this book did it in light hearted way even while dealing with some childhood trauma / loss and the reconnecting of friends, family not just about your first love.

Our Last Summer follows the FMC Elodie about to go home after 4 years for her sisters wedding. We know she lost someone very close to her so she left her home town moved to another country and hasn't been back since. While on the plane she finds herself waking up 8 years prior and realizes she has the chance to set right the things she feels went wrong in her life. I did like this book was a little slow to start but once it got going had a hard time putting it down. This is my second book by Jennifer Joyce and I like her use of magical realism in her novels. I will say I never completely felt connected to the main love interest and wish that had been fleshed out a little more. All in all a good read giving it 4 stars rounded up from 3.5. I want to thank NetGalley and HQ for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Didn't finish, so it's not really a review (not posting anywhere else). Just sharing my views. I liked the blurb and the idea, and that was the main reason I requested this book. I have read a time travel romance and absolutely loved that one but this book, sadly, didn't work for me. I couldn't connect with the characters and writing style. I was not interested in knowing the male lead.

Thanks for the copy. Sorry, I couldn't review it properly.

There are many time slip romances out there at the minute but this one does not disappoint! I liked the use of turbulence to catapult Elodie to the past and back as she flies home for her sisters wedding.
The cast of characters are well formed and their backstories are shared in a way that makes you feel you grew up alongside them.
My only criticism would be that the trauma of the past is teased well beyond an acceptable point and should have been described far earlier in the book as it became annoying enough to want to flick forward to confirm my suspicions before reading on.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC. Our Last Summer is a story about time travel and second chance romance. I did find it a bit difficult following the plot and didn’t find the connection to the characters to keep me engaged. However, I enjoyed the ending.

I wasn't a big fan of this book. It couldn't not get fully into it and I was so confused for the good bit of the first few chapters. Was she also dead like her friend or was she seeing things. I had to DNF it but that dosnt mean you will not enjoy it.

Second chance romance? Yes! Time travel? Eh? I was skeptical going into this book I still found it enjoyable for the most part. The characters were likable and the story engaging enough.

Getting a magical second chance at your first love while being able to save a loved one? Who wouldn’t at least try? And that’s what this book is about, trying for love and everything, the good and the bad that comes with.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book wasn’t for me! I found it difficult to follow the plot, as there is clearly significant history that the main character is reacting to, yet too long persists before that past is shared, which made it too easy to slip out of focus.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to receive this book for a positive review.

I enjoyed this book very much. If you had a second chance with the love your life, what would you do.
It had me thinking the entire book. And at the end I still did not have an answer. But it was very nice to see how things turned out.

I like to read books that leave an everlasting impression and this one did it for me.

A feel good, happy-ending, time travel romance. I really did enjoy this book. The time travel concept is fun, the build up is great, and the ending is what I hoped for. If you’re looking for an easy, wholesome read, then this is for you.

I love the characters. The friend group is fun and they really care for each other - found family vibes. Plus their real families are great as well. I love that Elodie really finds herself and her happiness. I love reading a book that feels like real life - not just a good time and over the top happy ever after but a realistic realisation that life can be simple.

Overall, great book, but it did feel a little to easy. Everything was nice and fell into place but I think there could’ve been some bigger twists to really kick it up a notch.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this arc #netgalley

Our Last Summer is a time travelling romance that sees Elodie going back and forth between different points in time as she tries to fix some big events in her life.

Time travel books always makes me wonder what, if anything, I’d change if I could go back. And what would each new decision change in the flow on. I was excited to see how this would play out but I was left wanting a little at the end. We didn’t really get any time with the two MCs together or see any of the start of their relationship, which is the best part. Them falling in love was totally skipped to make way for the other parts of the story, which is fine, I was just expecting more “romance”.
The big emotional confrontation I was expecting to happen between Elodie and Tomasz where she apologised and made made some big declarations of love didn’t happen and it instead kind of happened between her and a side character.

That might make it sound like I didn’t enjoy the whole book, but I did! It was still entertaining and I wanted to keep reading, but it was just missing some big parts of where I wanted it to go. If you’re not too worried about the romance part then you’ll probably enjoy this too.

Thanks to #NetGallery and the publisher. I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Romance
Format: Digital
POV: Single
Spice: 0/5
Age suggestion: 16+

Elodie is set to reluctantly return home to England for the first time in four years for her sister’s wedding. She’s avoiding going back due to the tragic passing of her friend Ed and failed relationship with Tomasz, the love of her life. But during some turbulence on the flight, Elodie is thrown back in time to the day she met Tomasz for the first time, and Ed is still alive. As she’s sent back in time over the years leading up to Ed’s death, Elodie magically has the chance to fix all of the things that went wrong and she left England. Can she save Ed and her relationship with Tomasz before it’s too late?

Thank you so much to @netgalley for the ARC! I enjoyed the second chance romance and time travel aspects of this book, and it was interesting to see how small changes had a big impact on the story. I feel as though the relationship between Elodie and Tomasz and Tomasz’s character in general were a little flat, mainly because so much of the story was focuses on Eloise’s journey to change the past instead of their relationship or who Tomasz is. The ending felt a little rushed to wrap up all of the story lines, but it was still a happy resolution.

Thank you NetGalley and HQ Digital for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
4 years ago Elodie escaped her life and moved half way across the world in the wake of a brutal tragedy. She is now returning to her little village for her sister's wedding when all of a sudden she finds herself thrown into the past before the tragedy occurred and her life was turned upside down. Going back and forth from past to present can Elodie change the fate of the past or is she forced to relive it all over again powerless to change fate?
The book provides a nice array of characters to follow and get to know. The story flows nicely at a medium pace, however there are many hints along the way at what some secrets were and I feel this was uneeded. Sometimes things should just be said otherwise it risks becoming annoying. That said I found the story endearing with the right ending I'm sure everyone feels it needed. Not a bad novel just felt it need a bit of kick up it's arsenal to get going properly.

I love a second chance romance, and I also love the thought of time traveling into the past. Unfortunately, I had an extremely hard time getting any feelings from this one. It might just be me, and maybe I just couldn't resonate with this story. I enjoyed following along with what had happened with everyone as Elodie was traveling back to her 20s. I liked the thought of her being able to fix some things in her past that caused so much heartbreak. I just felt like the story was very "on the surface." I found it hard to like have a connection with any character in this one. I did love the ending and thought the best part of this book was the ending chapters. I just needed more from this one, I needed to love a character and feel more about the situation. Great read for summer vibes, second chance romance, past/present, and small town romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ digital for the ARC of Our Last Summer by Jennifer Joyce
I loved the idea and thought the execution of the "time-traveling" was done wonderfully.I loved that we not only saw Elodie falling in love, we saw her grow as a character.
There were times that I didn't see any of the characters as being relatable. The characters weren't as likeable as I thought they would be.
I'm not really someone who would choose to read a second chance romance, but I think I would read it again. Just keep an open mind whilst reading.
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I liked the idea of this book but at times I really thought it dragged. It picked up pace at some spots. The characters were ok but overall it felt like it was missing something.

I received this ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank everyone involved in allowing me early access. All opinions are my own.

3.5 ⭐️

“Our last summer” brings us the story of Elodie, who moved to California after the lost of her best friend. When flying back home for her sister’s wedding, she finds herself back in time, seven years before, capable of preventing the big event that changed the course of her life.

The plot line seemed very promising at first, but the execution was, perhaps, not the best. The first 60% of the book is extremely slow paced, which was unfortunately, given it is such a small book (under 300 pages), so I expected a faster pace. I don’t think the slow pace worked well in characterizing the characters or the environment they were in, as sometimes the events seemed repetitive and leading nowhere. Regardless, the last 40% were amazing, hence my classification. I can’t overlook the slow beginning but I did really appreciate the ending. Elodie grows a LOT in the last 40% of the book and I love a good character evolution, she comes to terms with what is in fact important for her and what she was afraid of facing. It is also a great reflection on how the outcome of events could easily change with a small action of concern by our loved ones.

This review will also be available on my goodreads account and later on, on my instagram account (@cat.literary.world).

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Honestly, I was so confused by this book and I didn't finish it. I felt like the story was a bit muddled and I just didn't believe in the love story. I didn't feel the spark or the love connection. I wanted to love it and requested it because it seemed like a unique take on second chance romances but in the end I couldn't finish it.