Book review - No spoilers
The Last Goodbye by Fiona Lucas
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TW: grief, loss
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Anna Barry lost the love of her life, Spencer, nearly three years ago; and the grief is still too hard to bear. Her best friend Gabi, thinks it’s time for her to move on. As another New Year goes by, Anna decides to ring her dead husband’s phone to listen to his voicemail; so she is shocked when someone else answers.
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That someone is Brody, he knows much about loss too. Anna and Brody start a friendship over the phone, and become each other’s reasons for trying to move on. But Brody is keeping something important from Anna, and it could jeopardise their friendship.
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Beautifully poignant, a tale about loss, and the journey of moving on; it covers family, friendship, mental health, grief and loss.
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Echoes of the story, P.S I Love You, mixed with An Affair to Remember, Sleepless in Seattle in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. The relationship between Anna and Brody is precious, but also feels real and tangible.
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I fell in love with both characters and felt real attachment to them; I was rooting for them. They both deal with grief in similar, yet different ways. I found Anna’s mother-in-law a particularly interesting character, especially how her grief manifests.
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I really loved this book and would definitely read more from this author. Such an easy read, with wonderful characters. I definitely recommend!
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Thank you to @hqstories and @netgalley for this early copy. The e-book and audio download are available now, the paperback is out March 2021.
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Favourite Quote
She appreciated that her friends and family cared about her, but she was sick of being watched, of every word that left her mouth, of every gesture, being judged and weighed and measured so they could compare notes, so they could encourage each other with the tiny pieces of evidence they collected that she was finally ‘getting over it’.
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Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

The last goodbye by Fiona Lucas

A well written book. An emotional story that is also about second chances. The way the story unfolds you see the female strength of character grow. A lovely story dealing with grief and moving on. Leaving the past and then moving on to another chapter in the future and dealing with the struggles that may bring. There is a little intrigue to the mix that the book inthralls from first page to last. Thoroughly enjoyed with all the emotions this story brought.

Thank you NetGalley, This was an emotional read and definitely reduced me to tears on more than a few occasions.

A story about grief and moving on from that. It’s a heartbreaking story and I found myself really wanting Ana to do what’s best for her.
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for gifting me this book

I love a book that moves me to tears and this one delivered exactly that! Three years after the death of her husband, Anna decides to call his voicemail, craving the sound of his voice. When someone unexpectedly answers on the final ring, a journey of healing, friendship, and newfound love forms. Beautiful romance from start to finish.

Lovely story about loss, grief and moving on which a lot of us have had to do. Anna is very much still grieving her husband and cannot help herself dialling her husbands mobile number and someone answers who now has his number. This feels like something that could really happen and it’s hard not to get completely involved in their story. I don’t want to spoil what happens but the story felt authentic and real and very emotional I really enjoyed it.

Anna tragically lost her husband Spencer and struggling to cope with his death. She calls his phone just to hear his voice all the time but on one occasion the phone is answered by a man called Brody and what ensues is a beautiful friendship with someone who truly understands what Anna is going thorough. However Brody hasn't been totally honest with Anna, can their friendship survive?
A great read that keep you enthralled right to the very end.

Just found the character of Anna insufferable and just way too harsh, so she didn't endear herself to me at any point. I get the focus of this book was grief, but it focused way too much on that, and this dragged the story and the whole energy of the story made me wonder why I would choose to read this when it just felt so down and without a shred of hope most of the time... Sadly, not a story I enjoyed

This was quite an emotional read for me. I liked the way the characters developed through the book.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I found myself unable to put it down. The way the author describes grief and heartbreak is beautiful. The sense of hope throughout for Anna's re-emergence to the world was dealt with so sensitively. It has left an after glow with me and won't forget this story.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allwing me to read this.

This was a poignant story of a womens' struggle to cope with her husbands death. The ups and downs of life are well portrayed with a rewarding conclusion.

Wow! My favourite book of the year so far! When it first started and I realised it was about someone dealing with grief, I thought oh no! It’s going to be really heavy and I’m going to end up skim reading all the upsetting bits, but it wasn’t heavy at all, it was a pure delight. It was about hope and moving forward and helping each other.

Although it started off with Anna as the main character, Brody soon emerged as an equally important character and I even fell in love with him myself!

It was tender and emotional, heart warming and endearing. I couldn’t wait to finish it, but equally I didn’t want it to end. Wonderful!

I loved this book. It drew me in from the start and I couldn't put it down. Fiona Lucas has done a wonderful job capturing emotions about what it is like to lose someone and trying to deal with grief.
Almost three years after losing her husband Spencer in a tragic accident, Anna is still grieving. One night, in a moment of complete despair, she calls Spencer's mobile number just to hear his voice, but another man answers the phone. What ensues in the coming months, is a warm, honest friendship between Anna and the man with Spencer's old mobile number, Brody.
Brody is also in a state of grief, so much so that he has cut himself off from the outside world and suffers from agoraphobia.
They begin to find solace in each other and Lucas writes this in a very believable and poignant way. What I liked most about this book was the double narrative. It is quite rare to see a male character's development in women's fiction and Lucas gives equal importance to both Anna and Brody's stories.

A lovely read about grief, heartbreak, and hope moving forward. Really enjoyed this book, nice and easy to read, and enough to keep you wanting to read on, and see if anything develops for the two main characters.

Haunting and emotional, this was beautifully crafted and a story that stayed with me for a long time after I read it - a mark of a really well written novel. Will definitely be looking for more by this author.

This was a change of pace for me and the first by this author, I enjoyed it and wanted to get to the end but then when I had finished it I was still thinking about it, a good book always leaves you wanting more.

The Last Goodbye was a beautiful look at grief and how the people left behind after losing someone finally move on with their lives. I wasn't entirely sure how heavy this book would be given the topics included but found it a surprisingly easy read given the content.

I was invested in both the main characters and by the end I was so rooting for them to be able to come to terms with their individual losses. I would definitely recommend and read more from the author in the future.

never having read Fiona Lucas work this was a first for me but it certainly wont be my last. Very impressed even though this is not my usual kind of book i read it and could not wait to finish it yet was not eager for it to end. All i advise is you have tissues at the ready as it is one major emotional roller coaster.

Anna just can’t get over the death of her husband Spencer despite almost three years passing by. She keeps calling Spencer’s phone simply to hear his voice again and was stunned when a stranger answers. Brody too is a man with heartbreak to bear.... Quite a bit of this book was mundane and took a long time (a very long time) to get to the crux and when it eventually does, it just ends! Anna, let’s be honest, was a doormat, especially where her mother-in-law was concerned and really needed someone to point that out. Heavy on the grief but still more chic lit than anything too serious. I liked the style of writing and would have liked it even more had the book been pruned by at least a quarter.