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The Last Encore by Elodie Colliard
I felt driven to finish The Last Encore in one sitting since I was hooked from the start. With the author’s quirky and modern writing style, the prose flowed smoothly. The inclusion of text message snippets worked great. The reader is cheering for Avery and Josh’s romance to flourish despite the setbacks since they are strong heroes.
I thought it was a brilliant concept to have a Spotify playlist to go along with the book, and I enjoyed that the chapter names were well-known songs. Avery owns her own business and wants to become a photographer. Her life is going well; she has a fun maternity and home birth photo shoot planned as well as a wedding photography contest to enter.
However, when Josh, a boyhood friend, goes back to his hometown, things get more complicated. He had kept his word to never leave her and had pursued his ambition of playing the piano. There have been ten years. Will he be present at this time?
Avery’s history is well-illustrated by the author. Her mother was left to battle depression and raise her children alone while her father, a prominent neurosurgeon, was never present. Avery’s attitude and subsequent adult mental health troubles were caused by both of these factors.
The tension was expertly created by the author, making the reader eager for the couple to share that crucial first kiss. Later, the passionate intimacy moments are written, and Avery and Josh’s chemistry was palpable. This book is much more than just a light romance. The narrative’s themes of mental health and sexual assault trauma are skillfully woven in by the author.
I was impressed by Avery’s accurate and thorough description of her panic attacks as well as by Josh’s tolerance and consideration given the trauma she had endured. In the sense that they might also be able to find a partner like Josh, this is a wonderful story that gives survivors hope. I would definitely recommend this book and will look out for more by the author.
About The Book
Avery Clark needs a break. Between her photography business not doing as well as she’d hoped 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 ex-best friend, and talented pianist, Joshua Harding, ran into her during an event in Toronto, after he left her suddenly ten years ago, breaking the only promise he had swore he wouldn’t.
When an opportunity to grow her business falls into her lap, Avery decides to put her doubts and resentment aside and agrees to photograph Josh’s sister’s upcoming wedding.
As they spend more and more time together, rediscovering each other and the people they turned into, Avery realizes that maybe, the spark she felt ten years ago wasn’t just a fleeting teenage phase. But the past is never far away, and an unknown future is terrifying. Could Avery take that leap of faith?
The Review
The Last Encore
9 Score
This is a debut, friends to lovers, second chance romance with the sweetest cinnamon roll hero male main character. The characters were given such strong personalities in which Elodie truly knew who each of them were and wrote them as so. The different relationships portrayed showed that some were complicated & some were easy and simple (e.g., father/son, father/daughter, brother/sister, sister/brother, best friends, lovers, mother/daughter, etc.). The mental health representation felt authentic and genuine & made our MC feel relatable & pull empathy out of me while reading. The writing was extremely well done, giving us glimpses into the MC’s witty inner-dialogue without overdoing it. The love story was sweet and strong & I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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