#BookReview: THE LAST WORD by Katy Birchall @KatyBirchall @HodderBooks

Publication: 25th May 2023 – Hodder & Stoughton

What if your new colleague is the one person who leaves you speechless?

Harper Jenkins has a way with words. As Celebrity Editor at a glossy magazine, she knows exactly how to get tight-lipped Hollywood stars talking, landing her exclusive stories and a great reputation.

There’s only one person who leaves her speechless – her arrogant colleague Ryan, who has been hired as the new Features Editor. Harper remembers Ryan from a decade ago, when they both interned together. Back then she had believed he was someone she could trust – but he betrayed her completely and they’ve never spoken since.

Thrown together again in a busy newsroom, Harper and Ryan clash on everything – he can’t bear how chaotic and messy she is while she declares him uptight and infuriating. But as the tension between them builds, who will get to have the last word?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

I have adored all Katy Birchall’s novels (she is one of my autobuy author, after all), but I think that The Last Word is my favorite so far. I fell in love with the story and the characters, and I stayed up late to finish reading it.

The protagonist of the novel is Harper Jenkins. A celebrity journalist, she is not only good with the written word. She can convince celebrities to open up to her like no other journalists can’t so that her articles are always exclusive. On the personal side, she’s never committed to anyone, not ever since she got her heart broken by the only guy she ever trusted. The problem is that now that same guy sits next to her at work as the new Features Editor, but she hasn’t forgotten his betrayal. Their arguments become the entertainment of the office as they fight for who has the last word, but what happens when the two of them spend more and more time together?

I loved the character of Harper. She is a workaholic with a strained relationship with her very dysfunctional family. She is messy and chaotic, and she is also genuine, loyal, and relatable. Her approach to celebrities as humans, making them feel comfortable and at ease (and, in one case, helping them give birth in the back seat of a car), makes her successful in a job she loves, but for which she must fight tooth and nail. Her relationship with Ryan is not only the very essence of the enemies-to-lovers trope, but also the opposite-attracts trope. Where Harper is loud and the dictionary definition of disorganized, Ryan is neat and tidy, quiet and reserved. He is adorable and kind and it is clear neither of them has moved on from what happened ten years earlier.

The Last Word is a witty, entertaining, sparkling, and addictive novel and I didn’t want it to end. I can’t recommend it enough as I wait for whatever the author writes next!

A huge thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Katy is the author of several young adult novels including The It Girl series, the Hotel Royale series and Morgan Charmley: Teen Witch. She is the co-author of the middle grade Lightning Girl series and Star Switch with Alesha Dixon, and the Find the Girl teen series with YouTube stars Lucy and Lydia Connell. Katy was proud to be the author of a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma for the Awesomely Austen series, a collection of Austen’s novels retold for younger readers. She has also written a non-fiction book, How to be a Princess: Real-Life Fairy Tales for Modern Heroines.

Katy lives in London with her partner, Ben, and her rescue dog, Bono.