Celine runs a match-making service in London. She has a husband of 10 years, Mike, and a pre-teen daughter, Aimee.
But we find out that Mike is not the "love of" Celine's life. No, she is still in love with Patrick with whom she had a 4 day affair with in Vietnam - 12 years ago.

A divorce between Celine and Mike is eminent. She knows inwardly that she was comfortable with Mike but never was in love with him. This, particularly after she and Mike are out for their 10th anniversary at which time Celine chases a taxi she swears she sees Patrick in.

Someone emails Patrick using Celine's email address. Patrick and Celine begin a steamy long-distance love affair (both of them are now divorced). Patrick is fine with this as he is a photojournalist who travels extensively. Celine, however, wants a means to an end with these short visits - not an end. Patrick is either a commitment-phobe or is content with this arrangement?

In the meantime, Celine has some wacky match-making scenarios. This includes her ex-husband and father!
Both Celine and Aimee visit Patrick in Toronto, Canada. After this pivotal trip, Celine realizes that she cannot go on with the long-distance thing. Although Patrick wants Celine and Aimee to fly out for Christmas, she decides not to go. Is she wanting the comfortable life back with Mike?


Many thanks to Amazon Publishing, UK and NetGalley for a sweet read !

Lovely story telling. This is a tale about regrets, new starts, and second chance romance. Celine's voice comes through loud and clear- and sympathetically. Mark and Patrick are both well fleshed out. I enjoyed this more than I expected to, chiefly because of the writing. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

You could not in all honesty call this ‘chic lit’. I am sure it will be featured as a ‘romance’ and written for women, but it is better than the ‘chick lit’ phrase suggests.

Celine travelled to Vietnam 15 years ago where she encountered Patrick who she terms ‘the love of her life’. Over four days, they meet, enter into a love affair and she is smitten forever. She learns that he is married but although he wants to be with her he cannot abandon his wife in Hong Kong. After all she followed him there to enable him to further his career as a photo journalist and it would ‘not be right’ to leave her in those circumstances – but he would work something out. So Celine watches him leave, her heart broken. (So far sounds pretty chick-let, doesn’t it.

Moving on, Celine is now married and she has a daughter. She admits to her sister that she is not ‘in love’ with Mike as she can only recognise Patrick as her one true love. Then on a visit to London she catches sight of Patrick and chases after him. Poor Mike. So eventually she and Mike divorce to the dismay of their daughter. The divorce is amicable and they both work hard to keep it that way. In the meantime she focuses on her introduction business ‘The Love Market’ named after the market where she met Patrick in Vietnam.

I found the whole matchmaking business fascinating as it allowed the author to introduce some interesting, funny characters and situations whilst the irony was not lost on me that she could not order her own love life. We are presented with an examination of what true love is – romantic love or lust or the love measured in kindness, respect and time. What is interesting is that there are no real badies in this, just measured acknowledgement and understanding.

Thank you Ms Mason for a really, really good piece of women’s fiction.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

This was my first book of Mason's and whoa, I've got some reading to do. Mason gifted us with an absolutely stunning, first person narrative about heart-break. The story centers around Celine, married to Mike, and how their marriage is broken when they both come to realize that she has not forgotten, cannot forget or get over her first love, Patrick. A compelling, beautiful read.

Hard to review. Maybe a good book for romance readers, but for me it was just ok.
Thank you NetGalley for the free advance reading copy!

This stunning first-person narrative is a heart-breaking yet uplifting story of Celine whose otherwise happy marriage to Mike is torn apart when they both realise she is unable to forget her first love, Patrick. Mike is a good man and Celine loves him; but she’s not in love with him.

When a mysterious matchmaker reunites Celine with Patrick, she’s given a second chance but should Celine let her heart rule her head and choose a relationship full of passion with Patrick; or should she be content with life as a family unit with Mike and their daughter, Aimee?

There are some real tear-jerker moments where we see how the repercussion of family breakdown has affected Aimee, and it is these moments of heightened emotion that really showcase the skill of this author’s literary expertise.

The Last Time We Met is a revised and updated re-release of The Love Market which wasn’t available as a printed edition in the UK when published in 2010. I can’t tell you how super-excited I am that not only will this fabulous book be available in print, it has also been re-vamped with a contemporary new title along with a gorgeous new book jacket.

But its new title and cover aren’t the only changes. Contemporary language and contextual updates bring a fresh new vibe to the narrative: selfies and Netflix were barely heard of when The Love Market was first published, and poor old Brad Pitt has been dumped as the named heartthrob in favour of Ryan Gosling! Narrative tweaks give extra depth to the novel: Carol Mason is one of those authors who just gets better and better with each book, and The Last Time We Met is evidence of how the author has grown and developed as a writer since initial publication. Structural changes have also been made: introducing Celine and Patrick’s time together in the past, before we see Celine in her present everyday life (as in The Love Market) gives Patrick’s character more of a voice. This helps the reader to identify more with Patrick and alters the dynamics of the novel, making the novel’s conclusion even more satisfying.

The Last Time We Met is a beautifully written, thought provoking, and emotive story. I would recommend this book for anybody who likes JoJo Moyes or Dinah Jefferies.

Under Literature Love’s rating scheme this book has been awarded 5 out of 5 stars.

When she is 21 and traveling the world, Celine meets Patrick. After four bliss-filled days together, the lovers part. Fast forward fifteen years and Celine spots Patrick on a busy London street while she's celebrating her anniversary with her husband Mike. And that's where the story goes powerful, riveting, and glorious wonderful. The author manages to convey the tumult, the doubt and the desires, the "what if's" that haunt so many long-marrieds contemplating who they might have been, what they might have experienced with their first true love. Each character was so well-developed and sympathetically presented that I felt totally at ease handing the control of the story to the writer, to Celine, to find her own way, without my having to intervene for a happy ending. Even the secondary and tertiary characters including a nameless waiter are vivid, realistic, immediately relatable. This was a book that kept me up late racing to the end, because I had no idea what was going to happen next -- and what's more, I had no stake in anything other than Celine finding her own way.

I received this book "The Last Time We Met" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own.
I loved the idea of this story - well the description of the book about first loves. Celine and Patrick were quite annoying though. She sleeps with a stranger, only knows him 4 days and she is in love. You really don't know someone in four days. So you pick up where you left off 15 years later and give up your marriage for some fantasy. Then she seemed to regret it and then she didn't. The story was all over the place.

You are sitting in traffic. Your mind wanders from your to-do list to the what-ifs in your life. What would your life be like if your first (blinding) love had worked out? Suppose you had a second chance?? Carol Mason explores those questions, contrasting one woman's memories and reunion with her first love, fifteen years later while juggling the demands of family, work, and friends.

Mason writes in first person and often, present tense so that the reader is experiencing life from the main character's point of view. Her dialogue is spot on, and frequently, reminded me of my own conversations. The plot moves at a fairly fast pace. While it seems like light romance, this is by no means fluff. Mason slides in enough insight about life and love so that you will feel satisfied with the time spent!

#thelasttimewemet #netgalley

I absolutely loved this book. A beautiful story of one’s first love and whether you can rekindle the flame years later.

Highly recommend to those who love a romantic love story.

This story made me experience so many mixed emotions.There was love,pain,happy moments,guilt and many more.The book is written on first person perspective which makes you connect deeply to the main character of Celine. She was deeply in love with Patrick but the circumstances didn't permit them to be together and so she had to let it go and afterwards she got married to Mike.Unfortunately,everyone faces a hard time to forget their first love and that's what caused a trouble in Celine and Mike's married life and they got divorced.Finally, Celine got a second chance to meet Patrick after fifteen years.However, Mike left Celine but didn't stop loving her,whatever he did reflected his love for Celine and that's when Celine faces a dilemma whether to start a new life with Patrick or give her marriage a second chance.
The book is written so beautifully that you really can not judge any character to be good or bad as they all seem to be right in their perspectives. Every character was so unique.Patrick seemed to be a passionate Journalist who is very charming too. Celine was a loving mother.Her bonding with her twelve-year old daughter was lovely.They were like friends.Mike, Celine and their daughter made a lovely family.You also get their daughter's perspective that how she feels about her parents separation.She just wanted to stay together with her mom and dad as a normal,happy family.All these facts make the readers really involved and think again and again which could be a perfect ending? Going with Patrick or Mike?
I really felt connected to all the characters but didn't like the ending.I wanted it to end in another way but that is just my personal opinion other readers might love the ending.

I struggled with this book at the start and I didn't like Celine or Patrick, in fact it was the other characters that made the story bearable for me and it's nothing to do with the author, its not my usual type of book and it's more to do with me. I just found the ending was predictable. I would like to thank the publishers and netgalley for letting me have the arc to review and the opinions expressed are entirely my own and are unbiased.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I am not sure what to write about this book as my review as whilst I did enjoy it I didn't

“Last Time We Met” by Carol Mason asks the question of whether it is possible for a person to get over his/her first love.

Celine met Patrick while visiting Vietnam. The couple spent four eventful days together before separating. Several years later and married and with a daughter, Celine runs into Patrick on a London street. The book jumps ahead where Celine is now divorced amicably from Mike and pining for Patrick. In a twist, Celine works as a matchmaker and is tasked with possibly finding a new mate for her former husband.

This is the first book I have read by Carol Mason and though I found the characters believable, I did not find Celine especially likable, though I really liked the character of Mike and could not help but root for him to end up with the person he deserved (even if that person ended up being Celine). Carol Mason did manage to avoid predictability so the reader is not sure whom Celine will end up with until the novel’s end.

This book was previously published as “The Love Market” and will be republished by Lake Union Publishers on October 16, 2018. I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy for my unbiased review.

If nothing else, this book will move you to tears. A compelling read, heartfelt and a woman's journey through life, discovering herself and her love. Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

A beautiful story that will have you reaching for the tissues. Great plot and flow with a enjoyable atmosphere and stunning characters

Celine is married to Mike and they have a daughter. Mike is madly, deeply in love with Celine, but, does she feel the same way, or is she still in love with a man she met several years ago (for 4 blissfully happy days) A chance meeting, a mystery person sending a text. Will Mike and Celine stay together or will this mystery lover come back into her life? Celine has set up a matchmaking company called "The Love Market" this is where she first met Patrick the first (and only) man she ever truly loved.

I loved this story, beautifully written. I felt for Mike and Celine and absolutely loved the ending (which I will not spoil) Go and read this if you love love

Loved this book. It was hard to put down. Everyone has a "what if" and the "one who got away." It was delightful to see what happens when a connection is reestablished. Loved the characters and the story as a whole.

I received this ARC from the publisher and netgalley for my honest review.

I'm not sure I was 100% in love with Celine, the main character of this novel who's romantic eye seemed to teeter back and forth throughout the book. It was a fun, light, romantic novel that would be great for an easy day of reading.

A pleasant read,but I cant say that I was impressed, by the characters.The main character,seemed a bit weak,dreaming about her first love for so many years seemed a bit unrelistic.