I’m so sorry that I didn’t enjoy this at all - I made it to 46% before beginning to skim read the remainder.

It’s slow, it’s sickly and for an adult romance book - it’s childish.

Frankly the lack of direct communication between the main characters is insane - for two people that are clearly head over heels in love with each other (as we are reminded on every single page), I can’t imagine a situation where two adults continue to act like immature teenagers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for this ARC, it just wasn’t for me.

I decided to give ‘One Last Shot’ by Betty Cayouette 3 stars.

A quick and easy read for a lazy Sunday! The plot was interesting enough to keep my interest and I read this book in one sitting. I am familiar with Betty and her TikTok’s so I was curious about her debut novel and she did not disappoint by any means.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC.

Firstly, thank you so much to Betty Cayouette, Random House UK, Cornerstone, Penguin & Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for honest feedback.

'I love you relentlessly' - I'm a sucker for a romcom so I really enjoyed One Last Shot!

I loved reading Theo & Emmerson's story and seeing them grow throughout the book. Going from childhood sweethearts that made a marriage pact at 18 to get married at 28 (if they were both still single!), to being estranged for 10 years following a traumatic event, to reconnecting at a photoshoot just as the marriage pact pings up as a calendar reminder!

One Last Shot has a bit of everything - romance, emotion, a wee bit of comedy, a little bit of spice, frustration (shouting at the page, 'please get together already - you both feel the same!!') & friends you can't help but love. Georgia was one of my favourite characters - sassy & full of confidence!

Also, reading this book realllly made me want to go somewhere warm!

As a final note, Betty has included a trigger warning at the beginning of this book & the trigger is mentioned near the end of the book with reference to it throughout but not specifically naming it.

Thank you again. I'd recommend this book!

Thank you so much for this ARC. A romance set in my favourite place in the world 🇮🇹

This story follows Emerson and Theo, childhood sweethearts who make a marriage pact for when they turn 28. The problem is the pact expires in a week and Emerson and Theo haven’t seen each other in 10 years.

For the first few chapters of the book, I didn’t like the characters and couldn’t understand why they were so hung up on each other, but once the flashbacks started and showed their childhood relationship, I got it. I do wish the book opened with a flash back to give more context.

I enjoyed the use of flashback chapters to really add depth to the relationship and I think it really helped understand why they were meant to be. I will say that I did struggle to understand why Theo didn’t mention Emerson’s lie until the last 15% of the book and I wish he had a bit more angst to him.

Side characters were loveable and the setting was nice, however, I would have loved more descriptions of were they were. I feel like this could have been set anywhere with a beach and a nice sunset when really, I want to feel like I’m in Italy surrounded by pizza, pasta and the sound of Caio!

Thanks so much for the early copy of this book, I will definitely be recommending this!

The cover drew me in, its very pretty and colourful! I enjoyed reading more about Emerson and Theo and being taken on their journey through Italy whilst learning about their shared past.

Read this if you enjoy:

-Slow burn romance
-Holiday romance
-Friends to lovers
-Marriage pacts made as teens
-Dual POVs from our MMC and FMC

One Last Shot is a real slow burner! Angst and miscommunication runs abundant. I enjoyed the jumping timelines between their high school days and their current lives. It was nice to read a story set in Italy too. A great beach read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an absolutely outstanding debut, which I loved almost without reservation. I say almost because I did get completely jarred out of the story when Theo bought Reese's chocolate and Italian peanut butter cups in an Italian convenience store. I can categorically tell you he did not do any such thing, because it's virtually impossible to buy Reese's chocolate in shops in Europe, and definitely impossible to buy it in an Italian convenience store in some small town in rural Italy. I also hate to break it to all the Americans, but peanut butter cups aren't really a thing outside of America, and the Italians definitely don't make them in any kind of a mainstream way. I'm still annoyed by that, because it broke me out of one of the most compelling romance novels I've read in ages. Everything else about this book was fantastic - the writing, the pacing, the flashbacks, all of it. Just not the peanut butter cups.

This book was simply wonderful, and I can't thank netgally and penguin random house enough for giving me access to read this early.

The characters in the book were perfect. Bouncing back and forth between the present and school days. You could feel the love between the leads. It really did pull at my heart and not knowing how it was going to turn out.

The pace of the book flowed extremely well. it wasn't too fast or too slow. Which helped connect with the characters.

I think this book will blow up when it's published. It's a really good summer read.

Supermodel Emerson seemingly has the perfect life – but she’s tired of looking for love in all the wrong places.

When a reminder for the marriage pact she and her former best friend Theo made as teens goes off on her phone, she realizes she has a chance to rekindle the only relationship that ever really made sense.

Emerson convinces her grumpy agent to book her as the face of the campaign that Theo, now a fashion photographer, is shooting.

The good news: the campaign is being shot in ridiculously romantic Cinque Terre, Italy.

The bad news? Theo might not be as happy to see her as she’d hoped . . .

This book 🥰 !! I couldn’t stop reading and just soaked it up. This is a new author for me and one I’ll be looking for everything they’ve written. Thank you to Betty Cayouette, NetGalley and publishers for the chance to read and review One last shot.

This was so great to read, the perfect cocktail of romance, depth, and heartfelt. I really enjoyed looking through both Emerson and Theo’s povs and I quickly warmed up to the secondary characters too. I really enjoyed this, flew through it (and stayed up at night to finish it too!).
I also appreciated the sensitive approach to Emerson’s traumatic past and the preceding warning to it at the beginning. It didn’t feel like it was just thrown in for shock value.
The plot was great, and although miscommunication grinds my gears sometimes, it really worked in here. Honestly, I just really liked the main characters and I would read about them doing anything.

2024 seems to be the year that I’m embracing romance, and I love it! This was incredibly sweet, I adored Emerson as a main character, and related to a lot of her anxieties and struggles about relationships. While Theo wasn’t as fleshed out as Em’s character, I still loved him as a romance interest and co-main character.

My favourite parts were the honest conversations between Theo and Em, especially when they would tell the truth usually through their question game. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the flashback chapter, they added important details from the past that really made me root for Theo and Em. I also appreciated how Cayouette treated the difficult subject of rape and sexual assault, she prefaces the book with an honest insight into her own experiences, and doesn’t let it define her personally, or her characters. Emerson’s experience is discussed but no details are given, so the reader understands the gravity of the situation without feeling uncomfortable. It was handled incredibly well.

Overall, a cute little romance that had me grinning and smiling the whole way through!

I appreciate the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book as I would have been so uncomfortable if there was no warning. Loved the whole setting and the main couple.

Thank you Penguin and NetGalley for this arc!

I'm a huge fan of second chance/childhood friends-to-lovers, so I had to read this.
First, I loved that the story was set in Cinque Terre. I went there a few years ago and it's the perfect summer romance setting! I really liked the plot and that a marriage pact brought Em and Theo back together after so many years. The angst and tension between them was well-written and even though I'm not a huge fan of miscommunication, this one was relatable. It might sound strange, but I actually enjoyed the conflict they had after they got together because it made the story so much more realistic than just not seeing each other for 10 years, spending 1 week together and having a happily ever after.
I think it's also important to mention that this book deals with a SA that happened in the past and is not mentioned on page, but still had a big impact on the character. The author's note made me really emotional and I liked that she showed us how one can open up to a relationship after such a traumatic experience. Also, I think it was an incredibly sweet detail that Theo kept asking "Is this okay?" even though he had no idea what happened to Em.

I recommend this book if you like:
📸 childhood friends to strangers to lovers
📸 second chance
📸 summer setting & fashion industry
📸 dual pov and timeline
📸 marriage pact

Overall, this was a 4.75 read for me (I still rounded up) because I felt like the ending was too rushed and I would've liked to see Em reconnecting with Theo's family and her mum.

An angsty romance with the following tropes:

♥️ Second chance romance
♥️ Destination romance
♥️ High school besties
♥️ Slow burn
♥️ A marriage pact!
♥️ Dual POV pining!

This was such a slow burn! Lots of pining and miscommunication. I wish their past timeline was a bit more developed, but I did enjoy the flashbacks and the comparisons between who these characters were in their teens and who they are at 28. I enjoyed reading their love story, but I wish it moved at a faster pace. Loved that it was set in Italy too!

Thanks to NetGalley and the published for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Théo and Emerson have so many bumps in their relationship, from best friends, to support network to nothing and then tentatively perhaps something again. The story whips between teenage Em and Theo and the roe sent day and fills in the blanks and exposes trauma little by little. A great romp looking at how people protect themselves, put up with less than they deserve and live lives that don’t always fulfil for lack of confidence.

‘One Last Shot’ by Betty Cayouette is a fun and scenic second-chance romance with vacation vibes and two loveable leads. Told in dual POV by supermodel Emerson and photographer Theo, who were best friends throughout high school and briefly dated before falling out of touch, the story begins with both of their phones reminding them of their marriage pact - made at 18 when getting to 28 without putting a ring on it seemed outrageous! After Emerson ensures that she is booked for Theo’s next shoot, week-long trip to the beautiful Cinque Terre becomes their last shot at reigniting their friendship… and their love for each other.

I adored:
- Despite her fame, Emerson came across as very down-to-earth. I loved her friendship with Georgia and the relationships she built with the other models
- Theo was very likeable, and hearing about their high school experience from his perspective was fun and sweet - the donut trail he planned for Emerson was the cutest
- The setting was gorgeously described, and the author’s fashion industry background was apparent from the detail of what happens on set
- Emerson’s love of reading was everything!

I wasn’t so keen on the reliance of the story on miscommunication - which was necessary I suppose since with open communication our perfect couple would have got together almost instantly! The third-act break-up was a bit frustrating and the grand gesture was very enjoyable to read but niggled a bit as it felt like things were moving very fast all of a sudden.

As indicated in the Author’s Note at the beginning of the novel, a sexual assault impacts the story. Cayoutte bravely shares her experience, and I admire how sensitively she handles this plot point. Her assertion that being a survivor is a chapter of her (and her character’s) life, not the whole story, is courageous and commendable.

Overall, I am giving this 3.5 stars (which I am rounding up). I think this will be a perfect beach read for everyone over summer!

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Random House, Cornerstone via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

There's one line in the synopsis of this book that was what really intrigued me, "Theo might not be as happy to see her as she'd hoped". With this in mind, I guess for some reason I was expecting a little bit of him playing it cool with her and maybe some fiery scenes between them but it was all a little tame and Theo starts thawing out quite early on.

This story had a nice setting and I did like the flirting between the characters. But the miscommunication was a lot😣 I'm not generally a fan of this trope but just didn't expect so much of it.
I know people change a lot in ten years but some things stay the same (tells, secret facial expressions, opinions maybe?) and it felt slightly unbelievable just how much they seemed to act like total strangers at times and couldn't communicate.

I also felt the reveal of their fallout could have happened way earlier, it was very built up although it was a pretty easy thing to guess at? Or at least guess thereabouts?

Cute story nevertheless and I can see me trying more of the author's books in future. If this was just a debut novel then I'm sure she'll only get better from here on!😊

3⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin and the author for the review copy, provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book was everything! I flew right through it! I loved the premise and I was so excited to see if they would reconnect after all these years!I loved the model and photographer aspect and I was curious to find out what broke them apart in the first place. The cover was stunning and so attractive as well! Really looking forward to sharing and promoting this one! One of my top reads of the year so far!