Eleanor and Finn have been best friends forever; or until he ran away with his problems and left her to sort out her life.

Now they are 34, Eleanor is recovering from a broken relationship which has left her with trust issues and Finn has returned because his Mum is dying and he needs to work out his relationship with both his parents. Is it too late to rekindle their friendship and support each other through these difficult times?

The characters drew me into the story, into the complicated lives of not just Eleanor and Finn but but their families too. Indecision, hope, dreams, trust, reconciliation ,or not, all told from the heart. A. Lovely read.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Fin and Eleanor were friends for their whole lives Fin and Eleanor, that is, until 15 years ago. After what seemed like an age since they were in touch, Fin is now back in England and meets Eleanor at their joint friends' wedding.

I loved the story, the characters and how it was written. It highlighted some hard issues, as well as giving some lovely sweet moments for romance.

It kept you turning the pages, the end of the story was perfect for Fin and Eleanor.

Hooray, it has arrived. The second book from author Emily Houghton "Last Time We Met" is here. I don't mind reminding you, I have a huge amount of love for Emily's debut novel "Before I Saw You" and I wondered would her second book live up to it.
Still to this day I recommend her debut to people around me.
So I picked up "Last Time We Met" with huge anticipation, excitement and love for the characters I was about to meet.
We meet Eleanor and Fin in this story. They have been friends since their childhood and are inseparable.
At thirteen, they both make a pact to marry each other when they reach thirty five years of age if neither of them have met the right person.
Roll forward twenty years later and their lives are very different.
Their friendship hasn't really lasted the pace and you can't help wondering why.
What happened in life that sent them on such separate paths and not even talking?
I was baffled as they seemed to have such a connection but we grow up I guess and eventually want different things from life.
So when Fin comes home to care for his mother, he bumps in to Eleanor. They chat, they laugh, they get embarrassed and you begin to wonder can they get back that connection they had. And what about their pact? Does it still count?
An exciting, emotional and funny read so full of hope for a young couple where the earth just doesn't seem to be aligning for them.
Can they meet on the same page? Are the feelings they have for each other enough?
So well worth your time, you will love it.
In my eyes "Last Time We Met" more than lived up to the expectations that came after Emily's debut "Before I Saw You"

A touching story of best friends then and now, I enjoyed the flow between past and present and Fin and Eleanor’s perspectives. I was sad for the story to end and wished it hadn’t finished so abruptly, but overall really enjoyed this book..

Childhood best friends Eleanor and Fin make a pact that if they’re both single at 35 - they’ll marry each other.

15 years later Fin returns to London after fleeing to America all those years ago, but can he reconnect with Eleanor or is it too late?

This was a really sweet childhood friends to lovers tale, I fell in love with the characters and found the side plots also really endearing. The only reason it’s a 3 star is because I didn’t love the ending, it felt a bit too abrupt for me.

TW: death and addictions

Eleanor and Finley (Fin) are the absolute best of friends - the type that are strictly friends but who will be there for anything and everything that comes up - until they aren't. Eleanor was raised in a family with loving parents and a sister who she was very close to, whereas Fin was brought up in a family where his mum continued to take back an abusive, cheating husband no matter how much it hurt Fin. These backgrounds play an integral part in Last Time We Met, as all the characters continue to work through their pasts.

Fin's mum is dying - she's in a care home with dementia and a recent diagnosis of terminal cancer. Her deterioration has brought Fin back to London and back to a world he left behind some 15 years ago. He runs into Eleanor at a wedding and it sets off awkward conversations between the two where they constantly dance around topics and feelings until it all comes to a head.

Last Time We Met was mostly enjoyable - as someone working through impending funerals, reading about multiple deaths throughout was tough, despite knowing they were coming. All-in-all, it was a happy story in the end about the best of friends finding their way back to each other and finally working through issues from their past, only this time doing it together and through conversation. <i>TW: death and addictions</i>

Eleanor and Finley (Fin) are the absolute best of friends - the type that are strictly friends but who will be there for anything and everything that comes up - until they aren't. Eleanor was raised in a family with loving parents and a sister who she was very close to, whereas Fin was brought up in a family where his mum continued to take back an abusive, cheating husband no matter how much it hurt Fin. These backgrounds play an integral part in Last Time We Met, as all the characters continue to work through their pasts.

Fin's mum is dying - she's in a care home with dementia and a recent diagnosis of terminal cancer. Her deterioration has brought Fin back to London and back to a world he left behind some 15 years ago. He runs into Eleanor at a wedding and it sets off awkward conversations between the two where they constantly dance around topics and feelings until it all comes to a head.

Last Time We Met was mostly enjoyable - as someone working through impending funerals, reading about multiple deaths throughout was tough, despite knowing they were coming. All-in-all, it was a happy story in the end about the best of friends finding their way back to each other and finally working through issues from their past, only this time doing it together and through conversation.

I wanted to love this! I really really wanted to love this.

Childhood best friends to lovers ✔️
Made me cry ✔️

It had two things I absolutely love however, this one just fell kind of flat for me. I didn’t like the characters much and honestly I really really liked Ben! It was hard to be invested when I knew my favourite character wasn’t going to be the end game. I also didn’t care for all the “Erms” and “Eurghs”.

All that aside, I did enjoy the overall story and found it to be a very heartfelt and emotional read.

Unfortunately,I couldn’t read this, due to the formatting. Will review when I purchase. Apologies for this.

I knew that I would love this book, but I had no clue how much. In the fifteen years since they last met, so much has happened and there is a lot of emotional baggage for the reader to unpack. That said, Emily Houghton’s light touch means that it never felt like an overwhelming burden. There are plenty of comedic moments, with a side order of embarrassing situations, that come together to create an extraordinary story.
From the opening chapters, I was one hundred percent rooting for Fin to find happiness. I instinctively knew that he had been the victim of interference as his relationship with Eleanor (Elles) would never have been dropped.
The story is told in a dual perspective format following both of their stories in dual timelines. That may sound confusing, but it isn’t. The story works beautifully, and their childhood accounts reinforce their present-day relationships.
Although a trifle close to home, for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the part of the book that examined Fin’s relationship with his mother. Dementia is an awful disease, but this storyline was gently handled. The added joy brought by Fin’s photography project was inspiring. It is easy to write off and overlook the stories that are part of the lifeblood of nursing homes. My Nana has been gone for over thirty years, but conversations with my aunt keep her very much alive in our thoughts.
As the story helps to heal the damage caused by time and misunderstandings, we get a glimpse of the possibilities for Fin and Elles. Expect to laugh and cry as this beautiful story heads to a perfect conclusion.
Emily Houghton has done it again and I’m already looking forward to her next offering.

Wow. Where do I start reviewing this book?

When a book can move you to tears, you know that the author has crafted truly believable characters that make you care, and just feel!

I expected this book to be the usual friends to lovers trope, but it was so much more.

Told from the perspectives of both MC Fin and Eleanor, both in the present day and their pasts growing up together, this story beautifully tells the tale of childhood best friends, of loss, of heartbreak and of course love.

This is the second book of Emily Houghton's that I've read, and it definitely won't be the last.

Having loved Before I Saw You, I was excited to have the opportunity to read Last Time We Met - and it proved to be another enjoyable read, full of engaging characters and an ultimately heartwarming story, but with some emotional moments that tug at the heartstrings.

Eleanor and Fin were best friends as children - and even make a pact that they would marry if they were both still single at 35. But as they grew up life took them n different directions and they haven’t seen each other for 15 years. When Fin comes back from LA to see his dying mother, he reconnects with Eleanor at a mutual friend’s wedding. Can they be friends again - or is there more to their relationship?

A friends to lovers story, the story ends exactly as you would expect - but I certainly enjoyed the journey. Eleanor and Fin are both very likeable, so you can’t help rooting for them both and there were some fabulous supporting characters (who wouldn’t want a friend like Sal?). The book also tackles some more difficult issues around addiction, old age and grief but they are sensitively handled and give a unexpected depth to the story. All in all the perfect escapist read to add to your summer reading list.

What a lovely, feel good book. It has all the unresolved issues and mountains to climb that make it a real ‘will they/won’t they’ story. I loved how it flipped back to the past as it gave a real good in depth back story. Laughs and tears a plenty throughout!

Friendship from a young age but circumstances meant you lost contact. Your reunited but with barriers in place
Can you be friends again or just go through the paces.. Move through the highs and lows of trying to navigate through the hurt feelings, family issues and romantic moments.
This book helped me escape on a hot Sunday to another place.

Having loved Emily Houghton's first book I was delighted to have the opportunity to read this one and I was not disappointed. I loved this, I really did. Lots of emotions - not only romance but some hard hitting things as well. I admit to having had a tear or two in my eyes as the story progressed. I found the characters of Fin and Eleanor very endearing but I did feel quite sorry for Ben who I felt wasn't treated all that well by Eleanor. He was so patient with her despite her wavering emotions. He came over as a really lovely man. I enjoyed the past and present timelines which helped fill in a lot of the history between the main couple. A satisfying conclusion to a lovely story makes me eager to see what Emily Houghton comes up with next. She is definitely becoming a favourite author of mine! My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for which I am happy to give my honest and unbiased review.

This is a nice story that actually tackles some quite serious issues while we explore Elenor and Finley’s friendship past and present. I found it easy to read, the story interesting and concluding satisfyingly. The set up using the past and present timeline and changing point of view was really good way to tell their story. It was somewhat predictable and I felt so much was made of the friendship that I missed the spark between the main characters and saw them more as friends than actually together and this ruined the whole premise of the story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this one early.

Emily

I really enjoyed my first Emily Houghton book. A story of tragedy, friendship and love, told through a dual Point of View, which I found ensured the novel was character driven.

I found it to be an emotional read, and couldn't stop that prickly eye feeling that you get when a book hits you. I wanted to shake the characters at times, and felt frustrated with them, as I would a friend in real life. Houghton brought the characters to life so well that I truly did feel like I was hearing the story of a friend.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fin returns to England after more than 15 years of living in London. He ran away from his prior life, and his best friend Eleanor who he had been inseparable from as a child.
As Eleanor learns of his return an uneasy but civil friendship begins and we start to learn through flashbacks and rotating POVs why it is he left in the first place.

A character driven novel, Houghton takes us through tragedy, families, friendship and love. There is a bit of fun and a few tears along the way, and the novel moves at a good pace. I found myself frustrated with both characters actions a number of times, but that is a sign of a good novel, when we think of characters as people we know!

My second Houghton book and won't be my last. Recommended for fans of novels about people that don't need to be shocking, bound in mystery, or awful characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Last time we met is a duel POV with our two main characters who were childhood best friends who made a pact when they where 13 that if they weren’t married at 35 they would marry each other. The years cause them to drift apart… they are then brought together both single at 34…


I read this in one evening! I couldn’t put it down. I pretty much cried for 4 hours reading. It wasn’t necessary sad, but it was emotional. There are some deep topics in this book so if you feel like you might be triggered look up an warnings.



Thanks to netgalley for the arc, all views are my own.

Emily Houghton broke my heart and delivered a great novel all over again.
After reading Before I Saw You (which is highly recommended!) last year, I was so looking forward to reading this book and was privileged to be asked on the book tour
Sunday morning came and I sent my boyfriend off to work and I just sat and read this book. I didn’t want to put it down. I needed to know Eleanor and Fin’s story and how it was going to work out for them
The book is told from the past and present perspectives of both of the main characters. The author captures the friendship perfectly
There were are few other stories told in this book, particularly how our relationship with our parents can effect us
The book is a perfect romance book and without any spoilers, there were times I grabbed the tissues and times I wanted to grab the champagne!
Another great novel from this author and I am already looking forward to the next
Thank you to the tour organiser and the publisher for sending me a proof of this book

A brilliant read which should not be missed. An easy read full of emotion and relationship issues along with well drawn believable characters.
A wonderful romantic rollercoaster of a book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review. It was a real pleasure.