Book Review: The Last Page
If you are bibliophile who loves an enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance, you will enjoy The Last Page.
The Last Page bookstore is a New York City institution. Ella has dedicated her life to the bookstore and she feels at home nowhere more than among the shelves and the quirky team of booksellers who are like family. Outside of work, she is dedicated to her loving Peruvian-American family, but her love life is lackluster.
When Leo, the friendly bookstore owner who is a grandfather figure to everyone, passes away suddenly, everyone is devastated and the future of the bookstore is up in the air. Ella was being trained by Leo to take over the store in the future; however, his estranged grandson Henry shows up claiming that he is the new owner. And of course he acts like an arrogant jerk.
Cue the enemies-to-lovers arc. Henry is nerdy, handsome, and shy with the broad shoulders of a football player and an adorable Southern accent. However, he tries to change everything that was unique about the bookstore with his insensitive, business-consultant management style. In this way, the corporate guy/indie bookstore gal was echoing of You’ve Got Mail. Even as Ella hates Henry for his insensitive management style and for taking the bookstore away from her, she has to work with him to raise money and save her favorite place in the world.
As time goes on, Ella and Henry bond over their love for Leo and mutual mission. As Ella helps Henry fall in love with the big city, sparks fly and they begin to fall in love. Yet their time is short…Henry plans to move back to Tennessee to help his mom, once the bookstore is on its feet. Is one summer long enough to save the bookstore and fall in love…and stay in love?
My Thoughts
While I didn’t love everything about the book, I still read it quickly and had fun with it overall. I enjoyed the love for literature, funny book recs at the beginning of each chapter and the lively personalities of the cast of characters. I related to Ella’s character and I liked that we learned more about her family, love for literature, and the story. My only two critiques were that some of the dialogue was stilted and I wanted better character development for Henry’s character.
I felt like Henry’s character could have been developed more, even though this was a dual-POV romance and readers do hear his perspective. He was overly stereotypical at first; in the dialogue, it wasn’t always clear what he was saying and why. He was just being stubborn trying to change things and not listening to Ella at all, so much so that it didn’t seem realistic. Then we get the backstory about his grief for Leo, struggle with depression (only briefly mentioned), and his feeling of “not being enough,” but these things were revealed by telling, rather than showing in a clear way through his actions. Early in the book, it felt more like his character was driven by the enemies-to-lovers formula, rather than his actual personality and character traits.
Overall, readers who enjoy cozy contemporary romances set in NYC, enemies-to-lovers, books set in bookstores with an underdog angle will have fun with The Last Page!
Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley and for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
