"One mission to find love" and what a mission Helen made it!

I loved how this book dove right into it, it had me wanting more from the get go.
I unfortunately then lost a bit of interest in the book due to the lengths Helen went to to find her man.
Throughout the book I found Helen to be quite an unlikeable character and I just couldn't connect to her.
Her grandma however was a great addition to the book!

I would put this in the "try for yourself" category, as it won't be everyone's cup of tea. I would give Hayley Quinn another go in the future, I just didn't connect to this book like I thought I would after reading the blurb.

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Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Helen, recently dumped sets out to find her next match on a dating app. When said app crashes after a perfect date and all contact information is lost she sets out to find her date, “The One”. Through some crazy adventures to find Brody life still happens and she meets new friends along the way.
I loved Nanny G and all her spunk! I also saw that ending a mile away but was still a nice feel good story.

This book wasn’t my favorite. I feel like there was too much internal monologue and not enough happening in the story. I also wish there was more to the characters. I feel like we didn’t get to know them very well. Overall, I would not recommend this book. It just wasn’t the book for me.

I like the premise of the book- the discovery that friendship can blossom to romance and that you may not notice what is right in front of your face but I found Helen to be a fairly unlikable character which made it hard for me to believe anyone would fall for her!
That said she did seem to improve and mature as the book progressed (which was possibly deliberate) and the latter half was a smoother read with more opportunities to empathise with the characters.
A nice read but a little bit disjointed in places which spoiled the flow.

this book personally just wasn't for me. I was not able to get into it and only made it about 15-20% in

I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review. I wasn’t enticed by the cover and usually love a rom com. The storyline wasn’t the strongest, however, I did find the interactions between the friends to be entertaining and a true reflection. Helen was in relatable though and quite an irritating character! Overall, an okay read but didn’t amaze me.

I received The Last First Date by Hayley Quinn for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was my first book by Hayley Quinn. I absolutely loved it. I was drawn in by the characters and felt that it was very realistic as at a first date when you first meet someone they can seem wonderful and then over time they can prove themselves to be wonderful, or out themselves as not being the shining diamond that you thought that they were. I liked that the person who was actually her "Last first date" snuck up on her as being a friend first and then developing into more once she realized that judging a book by a cover and "settling" is not the way to go. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Quinn.

This book was a little bit of a book of two halfs for me. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, I thought that the first half was really well written. However I'm not sure what happened because the book seemed to loose its way a little bit and I soon found my mind drifting a little bit. I was really hopeful as this book looked like something I was going to absolutely love. It just missed the mark for me.

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I just couldn't get into the story, so I gave up after about 25 percent. The main character, Helen, is whiny and hard to relate to, and there is far too much inner monologue that is chalked full or self pity. Perhaps others will enjoy it, but I just can't force myself to finish.

The Last First Date by Hayley Quinn is a charming rom com.

I really liked the premise of the book. It started pretty strong but quite quickly it kind of fizzled out. I lost interest in the story.
I have to say I am never a fan of internal dialogues and there was a lot of it.

I loved texts between the girls, there were so funny yet so true. I loved how close they are to each other, true friends.

The chemistry between main characters was not strong enough for me to be invested in the story. There was nothing really swoonworthy and romantic. The beginning showed promise but sadly didn't deliver.

Pacing was off and felt really choppy, I do wonder if it was perhaps the set up of the ARC copy but the writing just was all over the place and I thought it could maybe do with another edit to make it flow better.

I thought the cover/title combo was cute and the blurb sounded promising, but the writing really did not live up to the hype. Maybe it's a "me" thing, but the style of writing that The Last First Date is written in is so hard to read. I kept finding myself either confused or spacing off and not actually absorbing the plot. I gave it a few hours and then decided around to 30% that it just wasn't going to happen for me. I think this book falls into the Try It Out For Yourself & See kind of book! Who knows, you may love it!
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BLURB:
One date. One missed chance. One mission to find love.

At 31-years-old, Helen Pines is far from where she thought she would be. Whilst her ex-boyfriend is now engaged, Helen’s still eating ready meals for one, wistfully dreaming of her last first date. Determined to give online dating a go, she matches with drop-dead-gorgeous Brody, and they hit it off immediately.

One date later, Helen’s heart is still singing. Brody’s everything she’s looking for in a man – sexy, charismatic, and the perfect gentleman. But then she receives an error message on the app… all her contacts have been deleted.

With nothing but Brody’s name and job title to go on, Helen is determined to track him down. But despite the initial chemistry, Helen realises she knows surprisingly little about her mystery man… Was it really love-at-first like, or will she find a new love along the way?

A very heartwarming read. I normally don’t read a lot of romantic books, but I did enjoy reading this one. It’s a quick read that leaves a smile on your face. Very heartwarming.

Helen is a very good main character. She is relatable in so many different ways. How she feels so insecure during her pursuit of real love. She goes to quite a development and you kind of feel proud of her. She started as an insecure girl and ended up as a confident woman. We all struggle with love sometimes. I think a lot of people could relate to this love-story. Sometimes the idea of someone doesn’t match their real personality. Only to then find real love in an unexpected place. Loved it.

The writing-style is good. The book switched between begin fast- and low-paced. Some bits were a bit boring, other bits felt like they were happening to fast. It did feel kind of jumpy sometimes. The chapters didn’t always follow each other well. The plot itself has a lot of potential and I feel like it wasn’t used to it’s maximum.

I very much enjoyed this book though. Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for this e-ARC.

First off thank NetGalley and Hayley for letting me be a ARC reader. First timer here so thank you! This book was a cute, quick read but left me wanting more. I was not expecting that plot at all but it all turned out for the best. I was looking for more romance and I think the characters could have been developed a little more.

This book took me a little by surprise. I thought I had the plot figured out early on (and wasn’t too interested in it as I assumed it would carry out a very predictable/overdone storyline), however I was happily mistaken. I found the storyline to be very creative, as an avid contemporary romance reader it can get quite boring reading about the same tropes repeatedly. Hayley Quinn was able to create a unique storyline that remained very relatable (in the best way possible) all the while keeping me on my toes throughout the entire read.
Overall, it was a very fun, quick read. 4/5⭐️

Thank you to netgalley and Hq for allowing to read this book.

It tells the story of Helen and her journey about herself and her dating lifestyle.
It’s a wonderful read I really enjoyed it, easy to read and what I would call a cosy read.
The characters all complemented each other, I really enjoyed Nanny G’s character.

There were a few twists and turns and how she such ages your opinion on the characters was great.

Never heard of this author before, but would definitely recommend this book to friends and family.

The author was pretty new to me and I couldn't adjust with the writing style. The first few chapters were so slow and because of that I couldn't connect with Helen at all. The pacing was really slow and I kept being bored by the long internal monologues. The whole plot about meeting Brody through a dating app was so interesting and the cover caught my attention but sadly I struggled to feel the chemistry between Helen & Brody (I loved Ish & Elle though). I do appreciate the positive message that this book tries to portray by exploring the feelings of a single thirty year old woman but I feel that it didn't utilise the story's full potential tbh.

Thank you Netgalley & HarperCollins for the ARC

Thank you to both Netgalley and HQ for the ARC of The Last First Date by Hayley Quinn.

Helen (the main character) finds herself as a single 31 year old stuck on her ex boyfriend who is now recently engaged. She decides to go on a dating app and meets Brody.

Brody and Helen have what they established as a last first date. While on the date she misses meeting her brothers serious girlfriend (sort of immature I thought) and becomes head over heels for Brody.

They decide to meet up for a second date, however they never exchange numbers and during this time the app crashes and erases all the matches/conversations prior to. Helen becomes obsessed with finding Brody and cyber stalks him just to see him again. During this time she meets Ish who ends up liking Helen for Helen and who she is. Brody ended up being just the guy who says what he needs to say…

The Last First Date is about finding yourself and the partner that you deserve not the partner you think you need. The love story between Ish and Helen was actually really sweet and realistic since they had more of a friendship first.

What I didn’t love about this book is the writing felt off to me it was written in third person and so many text messages between the characters. It made each character lack depth and none of the characters felt developed. I think if Hayley wrote it in first person from Helens point of view it would have created more passion amongst the characters.

What I did like was that it wasn’t predictable. I sort of thought Helen would find Brody and they would live happily ever after, but instead Helen found herself and her own voice. I also loved her Grandmas character and thought she was a great addition.

The end was a little off to me and it sort of ended in a instagram update? Not really sure what the author was going for in the end. It also took a little bit for me to want to continue reading (about 50% and then it went by fast). At the end I thought it was cute and an enjoyable read, but I wasn’t necessarily wanting more. 3.5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley and HQ Digital for the advance copy of The Last First Date by Hayley Quinn.
One date. One missed chance. One mission to find love. Can Helen Pines find her last first date?

At 31-years-old, Helen Pines is far from where she thought she would be. Whilst her ex-boyfriend is now engaged, Helen’s still eating ready meals for one, wistfully dreaming of her last first date.

Determined to give online dating a go, she matches with drop-dead-gorgeous Brody, and they hit it off immediately.

One date later, Helen’s heart is still singing. Brody’s everything she’s looking for in a man – sexy, charismatic, and the perfect gentleman. But then she receives an error message on the app… all her contacts have been deleted.
With nothing but Brody’s name and job title to go on, Helen is determined to track him down.

But despite the initial chemistry, Helen realizes she knows surprisingly little about her mystery man… Was it really love-at-first like, or will she find a new love along the way?

The Last First Date was a fun book in concept. I loved the idea of Helen trying to find her love after the dating app error. But The Last First Date did not live up to the concept.

Helen Pines’ character was childish. At gasp over age 30, she wanted to find love, but she was so childish in the way she went about it. She basically stalks Brody to try to find him after the app failed. I may have put that aside if during their date I felt a connection between the two of them. But there was very little conversation, and I could not understand why Helen felt she found her true love. Helen also was childish because she couldn’t say the word drugs or sex (she had to whisper them).

The supporting cast was also lacking. We saw Helen’s friends through mostly text exchanges, and I couldn’t figure out why these girls were friends. As I mentioned before Brody was a terrible character, but we didn’t really learn anything about him. The one highlight of the book was Helen’s grandma. I enjoyed her character and wanted more for her.

The book was also very slow. The plot twist did not happen until 60/70% of the way and when it did, I didn’t see the romance blossom. I also felt the ending was strange.

Overall, I was not a fan of this book. I felt the characters needed more development and the story needed cleaned up.

Have you read The Last First Date? Get your copy for a May 20th release.

As someone who also isn’t having the most luck with online dating i related to this book and to the hope of finding the one. The plot line was unique and constantly had me guessing what was gonna happen next. The writing did feel a bit out of place but it has great potential!