[...] “I didn’t call you because it was easier for me to never deal with the reality that I had lost you.” [...]

It's definitely not a will-they-won't-they, but more of a when-will-they-finally kind of story. Which at times made this a rather frustrating read for me. However, the secondary characters were fun and added more than just a few funny one-liners to the story.
Personally, I love it when chapters have their own titles. In The Last Encore, these titles correspond to specific, mostly contemporary songs that are meant to reflect the mood of the chapter. In theory a great idea (!), in practice I found that it somewhat spoiled some of the bigger scenes in the book for me.

Overall, an okay book, though for me the absolute best part is the beautifully illustrated cover by Leni Kaufman.

The Last Encore
Elodie Colliard
4.5Stars

ᖇEᗩᗪ TᕼIᔕ Iᖴ YOᑌ ᒪOᐯE:

Boy falls hard
Mental health Rep
Strong Support Systems
Friends to Lovers
Canadian setting
Intense Chemistry and Steam- Lots of it!
Photography and Music

ᔕYᑎOᑭᔕIᔕ

Avery and Josh were best friends throughout their childhood and teen years, then one day he leaves town with very little explanation.
Ten years later he is back and Avery must come to terms with her feeling from the past. Is there connection real and can she forgive him?

ᗰY TᕼOᑌGᕼTᔕ

This is a romance book for romance lovers. Josh and Avery have a very strong connection and you FEEL it in this story. The relationship format felt unique in this book and I enjoyed how they connected right from the beginning given thier history. I love how this book explores so much more than romance, especially the family relationships and the work/life/love balance.

Avery is a wonderful character, she suffers from anxiety and has had a traumatic past experience and it is written so genuine and relatable.
She has an incredible support system that comes with some awesome side characters. I loved how close she was with her best friend Brooke and her brother, they are both the drop everything and come to the rescue type of people and we all need those in our lives.

I am still not exactly sure what a cinnamon roll hero is but apparently Josh is one. He is very in-tune to Avery and all her feelings and fears and loves her for her. Lastly the steam is burning hot. It’s special when the story, characters, steam and setting all come together so well!

This book releases on November 1st and you don’t want to miss it! This is a very mpressive debut!
Thank you Netgalley and Elodie for this advanced copy in exchange for my review!

Thank you Vctoria Editing NetGalley Co-op for the opportunity of reading this debut book by Elodie Colliard in exchange for an honest review! So here we go 💖

Rating: 3.75/5⭐️

Avery Clark needs a break. Between her photography business not doing as well as she’d hope and incessant family drama that does nothing to ease her spiking anxiety, she needs something to go her way.

And that was even before her wc-best friend and pianist, Josh Harding, ran into her during an event in Toronto, after he left her suddenly ten years ago - breaking the only promise he swore he wouldn’t.

Elodie has a really good and smooth writing style, her plot is easy to follow and it turned out to be a quick read. However, I found the plot to be a bit unrealistic but I guess that’s the magic of books, right? That’s the main reason why my rating is only 3.75: I don’t see this type of situation happening like it did in the book. Josh left abruptly (well, to Avery, since Mr. here already knew two months in advance and was kind enough to tell her the day before), came back after 10 years of absolutely radio silence and suddenly it felt like they just went back to what they were - friends, then friends with benefits and then boyfriend-girlfriend.

There is something else that happen during the book and I admire the author for putting herself out there to share her story and to find healing in writing - actually, I thought that chapter was the most realistic I’ve read before -, however, you honestly have no clue it happen until that chapter so it made me feel like it wasn’t necessary to the plot. Make sure to check the message at the beginning of the book for further details on triggers!


This review will be posted on my bookstagram @maria_bookshelf on the release day, so make sure to keep an eye out for it!

Wow. Few books make me feel the way that THE LAST ENCORE made me feel. This book was everything I was hoping for and more. An incredibly well-written and relatable MC, a swoon-worthy, strong, and sexy love interest, and a story that I just couldn’t bring myself to put down.

Elodie, well done. I can’t believe that this is a debut. I have fallen head over heels in love with Josh and Avery and I can’t get them out of my head. I think I could read 20 more books about them and never get tired of their banter and their sweet friendship.

This baby publishes two weeks from today and I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy. This is a book that I think everyone should read and it will be a book that will always hold a place in my heart 🤎

3.5 rounded up.

Okay, listen. This book has really great bones. I really appreciated all the author included to bring these characters to life. Both Avery and Josh have issues and traumas that I feel are good for readers to find in books. Isn't that one of the reasons we might choose to read a book? To find something or someone to relate to so we feel seen and maybe understood? Well, this book had great characters, including all the side ones.

Now the story. I felt like the pacing maybe could have been better? I don't know how to explain this, but this is a slow burn but it also felt fast? 😅 I think my one wish would be that we could have seen more of the renewed friendship between Avery and Josh. He left town – no, the country – one day and they had zero contact for ten whole years... I just would have liked to see more of the getting to know you parts on page, separate from all the physical stuff. Which was great. Lol.

Anyway! Could the pacing have been smoother? Yes. Were there some holes left in the story? A little. Did it stop me from enjoying the book? Nope! Am I already looking forward to the next book by this author? Heck yes!

Thank you for the ARC!

I am so impressed with the debut! Elodie wrote a beautiful story of two best friends rekindling their friendship after ten years apart. This was definitely more of a best friends to lovers than second chance, but I still enjoyed it regardless of the specific trope!

The author tackles the very tough subject of abuse (with a very explicit TW scene that readers were warned about before beginning the book). I believe the subject was handled well and the MC’s experiences and anxiety portrayed someone who had gone through those issues. I did feel like a lot was happening in the first half with her anxiety but it kind of fell off in the last half. I did like seeing the MC work through those anxiety attacks and negative thoughts.

Overall a really beautiful debut that I think many will enjoy!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I wanted so much to love this book since it was written by a bookstagrammer, but it just didn’t land for me. I had a hard time connecting with the main character because her feelings would change so quickly on things, it would give me a bit of emotional whiplash. The relationship moved so quickly that it didn’t seem believable to me, that forgiveness for such a major heartbreak with zero contact for ten years would be forgiven immediately by both the main character and her best friend. The story and relationships seemed really forced to me and there were some loose ends that never tied up. Overall, this one just wasn’t for me.

Side note, this book could also use going through another round of editing for spelling and grammar errors.

Thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review

Trigger warning: this book has a sexual assault scene, there’s an author’s note at the start that explains that it comes from Elodie’s own experiences with SA.

I wanted to like this book more, the premise was so good and had such potential and a few of my favorite things: second chance romance and friends to lovers.

I had some problems with this story but first let’s talk about the good things: it has an amazing representation of anxiety disorder, talks about contentment and boundaries in a physical relationship.

What I didn’t like so much:

- The writing had to much telling and little showing, for example Avie talks so much about how things were ten years ago but there are only three flashback scenes in the whole book. For me flashbacks are a must in second chance romances, we have to actually know how things were the first time around.
- Which brings me to: it looks like it’s not a second chance romance after all because nothing really happened between them before. And in the present everything happened to fast.
- There was no anticipation, even though they only have sex at practically 70% of the book, I had no expectation built because there wasn’t one little scene where Josh and Avery were together that he wasn’t “touching her waist in a delicious way”.
- The side character didn’t have much going on other than answering Avery’s texts or picking her up from places. And I didn’t like her meddling brother at all. And although I’m not looking forward to read the next book about him I hope he can at least get good development.

Overall it is a book that sadly didn’t work for me but I think Elodie has potential to grow as a writer nonetheless.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a good easy read. It was nice to see a character with anxiety learning to handle it.

Avery, a photographer, is recovering from multiple traumas: sexual assault in high school and the abrupt disappearance of her best friend shortly thereafter, and more recently, her mother’s mental health decline and her father’s dissolution of their marriage. She has mixed feelings when her best friend from high school, a talented pianist, reappears in her life after ten years of silence. Hired to play at a benefit where Avery is accompanying her father as his date (even though she’s furious at him for the affair he had), Josh is the musical equivalent of the keynote speaker and plays a song to tug at her heartstrings before he even knows she is in the audience. They reconnect, but the balance of indignation and let’s just forget about our conflict and our chemistry for not to try to restore the friendship, is not quite believable. The anxiety rings true and so does the trauma, but the processing isn’t on the page to see.

Minor details like Avery’s dad working for a hospital and not connecting with family if they are brought there in an emergency, and feeding her pet cat raw fish (a strict no-no!) make the whole novel a little less believable. Typos, poor grammar, and more telling than showing are the hallmarks of lack of professional editing.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #TheLastEncore from #NetGalley.

Thanks you to Netgalley for the arc.

Sadly this book was not for me.
As a debut novel it’s a lot off potential but it failed to deliver. I was having a really hard time to finish this book and I couldn’t believe it that I’m the one who doesn’t like this book.

Avery was a hard character to like. I didn’t like her clumsiness and the cringe scenes around her. She wanted to cry all the time and I couldn’t believe it the way she was acting with her brother when all he did is to protect her.

Josh was not a love interest I’d run to. The author made him up as a boyfriend material with his superior speeches and ofc the darkish past.

This is a childhood friends to strangers to lovers book. However we did not get much information about their past just that they were friends until Jody left and went abroad to gain life experience or whatever. And they met after ten years and they act like nothing happened. I mean Avery tried to be mad at him but failed right away. Seems like they didn’t change in that last years and they jumped into their relationship like nothing. And the side characters were all cut out after a couple of chapters. All focus was on Avery and Josh to get together again. And we got some pretty great spice scenes which I’m not sure it’d fit in the picture or not.

I wanted more development and I’m sure the author will be better at this with her future writings. (Can’t wait for Miles book because he’s the only reason I finished this book).

And I was happy to see the trigger warnings right in the beginning. Avery’s anxiety was well shown.

Let's start with the pros..
Josh is adorable. His devotion to Avery is all a girl could want.
The mentions of Toronto neighborhood was really fun to read as someone who lives here.

Cons...
Siggghhhh.... The pacing drove me nuts. The whole situation with her father was never really resolved. Brooke barely appeared in the second half of the book. Avery drove me nuts because she had a foot out thw door the entire time... and a friends with benefits, no strings attached arrangement with someone you've had feelings for for ten years is just ridiculous. It could also have used a bit more angst.

That being said...I am looking forward to Miles and Riley's story, it was wonderfully set up- just enough to get us interested.

This book was really cute! I loved the second chance, best friends, it’s always been you vibe.

I found myself relating to Avery on several levels. There are some triggering topics discussed (sexual abuse, anxiety, depression, death of a parent) and I felt they were handled VERY well.

I’m impressed with this debut novel from Elodie Colliard and will DEFINITELY be checking out her next book.

What a great debut y’all.

The Last Encore follows the relationship between Avery & Josh, childhood best friends who lost touch after Josh leaves the country. A decade later - the two reunite and sparks begin to fly - if Avery can begin to trust Josh again and heal from her past.

It’s pretty steamy friends, so get your glass of water ready to cool off.

One of my favorite things was also that the chapter titles are also song titles and the author curated a Spotify playlist to really set the scene.

Aside from the romance, this book had a great mental health rep. As someone who struggles with anxiety attacks, I could definitely relate to Avery’s experiences in the book. I also enjoyed how the relationships both Josh & Avery had with their families was highlighted.

Sometimes I got a little lost in the timeline at times, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to see what Elodie writes next!

Recommended if you like:
-second chance romance/friends-to-lovers
-book boyfriends
-slow burn & epic tension
-open-door romance
-Toronto setting
-family dynamics
-classical music
-photography

TW: sexual assault, anxiety, depression, loss of a loved one

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC. The Last Encore is out on November 1st.

Thank you for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

THE PREMISE
Avery, Brooke and Josh were inseparable...until Josh decided he needed to leave town. A decision that not only cost him their friendship but also a potential relationship with his best friend Avery -  who he'd loved for as long as he could remember. Ten years later they are thrown back together again when Josh suddenly returns without warning. 

3.5 stars

MY REVIEW
This story had really good bones. There was depth to both Avery and Josh. It was meaningful to see their individual traumas and Avery's mental health all have representation - and all of which were handled with care. These were two deeply feeling MCs which made for an emotional read. It's so evident how clearly Elodie sees and understands her characters that I found myself wishing it was dual POV. I loved Josh as a book boyfriend and seeing Avery finally confront some things that has kept her from growing since Josh left. There was also good angst and spice and Brooke was an absolute breath of fresh air.

That said, I did have some issues. The writing and editing felt like they needed to be developed more. I felt distracted by wanting to edit instead of being absorbed into reading.  There was a lot of setup and explaining every behavior/thought/feeling; there were a lot of exclamation points and long sentences and chapters; there was a lot of trendy language. There was too much specificity which left little room for me as a reader to envision things on my own. It worked better in the spicy moments (literally my heart was pounding at times) and during Avery's mental health episodes but not so much outside of those. It also focused largely on Avery and Josh's physical relationship rather than rebuilding their emotional one - which, I thought, is really what broke them in the first place. 

At the end of the day the story and characters were there and that's a great foundation for an indie author debut. I'm excited to see what Elodie has for us next in book 2.

TWs: sexual assault, anxiety and depression, cheating, grief/loss, absentee parent

Firstly I’m a little bit in love with Josh Harding because who could read this book and not fall in love with him and secondly this book was so cute! I absolutely adored both Avery and Josh and their second chance, friends to estranged friends to lovers romance. I really loved the way these two were together and because of all their history there wasn’t a huge amount of build up to them getting together which I liked because it gives more time for all the cute (and spicy) stuff to take place!

Also, I know you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover but we definitely all do it and this cover is gorgeous.

I will definitely be looking out for the next book in this series after enjoying this one so much.

This book was full of sweet moments and great scenes, that I wanted to lift out and put into a slightly better book.

I found the writing pretty clunky and disjointed, it’s just one plot point after another with very little connective tissues or character development, we have plot lines getting dropped and picked back up in awkward ways, and backstory just materialising halfway through in a very jarring fashion.

I really liked the the two characters, and I liked their relationship, but I found it weird that Josh comes back from years away and is immediately putting the moves on. They never really reconnect as friends and get to know each other as adults before he’s full on wooing. Don’t get me wrong, the wooing is pretty swoon worthy, but I think it needed a foundation of them establishing their dynamic now that they are fundamentally different people.

This book had a lot of potential, but I think needed more polishing.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book about 30% into the story. I never connected with the protagonists, the “conflict” made little sense, and the story seemed disjointed overall.

Sadly, not my cup of tea.

This book felt like a love letter to Toronto. I loved the setting, the gorgeous cover, and how kind Élodie Colliard seems judging by her author's note.

The Last Encore is a second-chance, friends-to-lovers romance that follows Avery and Josh, two parts of a close-knit trio back in high school whose friendship dissolved when Josh revealed his plans to leave for Europe. Ten years later and Avery is still deeply hurt by his decision to leave, but when they run into each other at an event in Toronto they soon find themselves where they left off as teens.

Unfortunately the execution of this novel wasn't my favourite. The plain writing, straight-forward plot, one-dimensional characters, and inauthentic dialogue all left a lot to be desired and pointed to an inexperienced writer. The couple is together almost immediately, but their mutual attraction wasn't convincing because they didn't feel fleshed out as people. Everything was too easy and simple.

I personally wouldn't recommend this book unless you're looking for a very light, simple read. However, I'd love to see what Colliard comes up with in the future when she has more experience under her belt.

The Last Encore
4.2
I usually skip anything that’s not first person, I LOVE first person, but of course I had to read this :)
Okay wait. I was shook when Averys dad said “Hi bug.” That’s my nickname!! I also totally related to Averys anxiety and panic attacks. The mental health relatability was spot on!

When Josh dedicated the song to Avery!!!!! I nearly spit my water out, seriously. and he didn’t even know she was there??

The slow burn!!!!
Amazing. and I rarely say that!

Josh being so gentle with Avery during their first spicy scene made my heart explode!!! I cant.

The part with Josh and his Dad when he performed for Julia was so sweet and tender. It really made me smile and feel so much!

It makes me a little uneasy when guys call their girlfriends “baby” for some reason BUT besides that Josh Harding is THE PERFECT book boyfriend!!

Overall this was a really really great first novel! It was so cute, raw, relatable and I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC!

fav quotes
“To what we would have been.”


“‘I mean it when I say I had a great time. Thank you for helping me go after my dreams.’”

“Calm down, take a breath. What can I do? What do you need?’”

“Real life men could never measure up to book boyfriends.”

“‘I got you, let go, Avie.’”

“I love you, too. So fucking much I’m scared I wont survive it.”

“‘Don’t be your own obstacle, honey.’”

“‘I’ve always been yours, J’ she said simply.”