They have the whole summer ahead of them. Is it enough to rekindle the friendship they once shared?
Harriet Greenleaf dreams of spending the summer in a beautiful ancient priory on the Somerset coast with her two best friends—but her dream is bittersweet. On the one hand, it’s a chance to reconnect three lives that have drifted apart; on the other, she has a devastating secret to share that will … to share that will change everything between them forever.
First to arrive is Audrey—the workaholic who’s heading for a heart attack unless she slows down and makes time for herself. Then Lisa, the happy-go-lucky flirt who’s always struggled to commit to anyone—or anything. Ever the optimist, can Harriet remind them of the joy in their lives and the importance of celebrating good friendship before it’s gone?
Through the highs and lows of a long, glorious summer, these three women will rediscover what it means to be there for each other—before they face the hardest of goodbyes.
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Expertly written and very moving. This was extremely immersive and I really enjoyed reading it. You can tell that the author has clearly done their research. This is one of those books where you experience every single feel. Am looking forward to seeing what else this author has to offer.
Harrie, Audrey and Lisa have been good friends since college, nearly twenty years. Harrie decides to rent out a priory for the entire summer and host her friends, so they can relax, laugh and ultimately learn that she won’t be around for that much longer. The setting allows them to enjoy each other’s company and hash out some of their current life issues. Audrey is overworking herself in a new business endeavor and Lisa is scraping by working as a supply teacher and wishes for a more settled and secure life. Hattie has recently learned that her breast cancer has returned after being in remission for several years, and it has spread to the extent that it is now terminal. After she got over the shock of her diagnosis, with the help of her daughter Honor, Hattie decides that her dearest friends must be told, and that it will be in the most beautiful setting possible. Her goal is accomplished soon after the friends are reunited and settled in at the priory.
This book and its difficult topic are so well written that even though the predominant thought throughout the story, especially in Harrie’s thoughts, is a very sad one, this book is not sad. It is not morbid. It is a wonderful, heart warming read that makes you want to get in touch with all the people you care about. Having lost three dear friends to cancer I can connect very well with the story and I loved reading it. Very strongly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author Victoria Connelly, and the publisher Lake Union Publishing for a free ARC in return for my honest review.
Favorite Quotes:
He was the head of the maths department and she’d told him that she’d always hated figures and he’d made some wisecrack about liking hers.
Harrie’s diagnosis. D-Day, she called it, and now her life seemed to be divided between everything that had happened before D-Day and everything that had happened after.
Kindness. That was the trait she’d come to value most in recent years. You realised that as soon as you became ill. Kindness trumped absolutely everything else.
… the likelihood was that she wasn’t going to see her birthday. How strange a thought was that – to know that you have seen your last birthday?
A moment of stillness and wordlessness passed between the two women. It was a strange feeling because Harrie didn’t feel any sort of closeness to Mrs Ryder, but this confession – this sharing of intimate pain – now connected them. Harrie had found that her journey with cancer had linked her to so many people in this way – people she probably would never have spoken to.
Lisa, aligning my chakras and teaching me how to breathe through one nostril isn’t going to save me… This thing’s got me good and proper.
They say laughter is the best medicine… but I don’t think it’s going to cure what I’ve got.
I know he’s the father of my daughter and there’s a part of me that will always love him, but he’s moved on now. He’s married to Lizzie, who has big hair and wears tight tops. So, you see my health isn’t his concern anymore.
My Review:
Knowing her days were numbered, Harriet, Harrie for short, splashed out a fortune to provide one last hurrah to host a peaceful summer vacation with her two oldest and dearest friends of twenty years, who are unaware of her dire health issues. This wasn’t a highly eventful or active story but a slowly evolving character-based study of coming to grips with mortality, as well as how that was processed and dealt with within complicated relationships and personalities. Each woman possessed a distinct and complex identity with vastly different temperaments, life goals, and levels of accomplishment, yet they cared about each other and fussed like siblings.
The premise was relevant and thought-provoking while the writing was emotive and thoughtfully insightful with recurrent themes of interpersonal tension, poignancy, melancholia, angst, and wry humor. The main characters were well fleshed out, although the character of Audrey was the most difficult for me to warm up to as she was the type of person I generally make an effort to avoid in real-life; she was stubborn, bristling with self-importance, driven, highly opinionated, and abrupt. I actually found the local workers to be the most compelling and interesting and greatly enjoyed their addition and contributions to the story.
New additions to my Brit Word list include plimsolls – which are rubber-soled canvas shoes; slap-up – a large and sumptuous meal; and supply teaching – what most Americans know as substitute teaching.
One Last Summer was an AMAZING read, really and truly. Here, we have a story filled with friendship and laughter, hopes and dreams, and that dreaded gray area in our futures called…THE FUTURE. No one knows what it will hold, and no amount of planning can truly prepare up for it…especially when cards are dealt that we weren’t counting on. Yes, we’re talking the big “C” here, my friends, but before you go getting all emotional over it…I beg you to stave off the raw emotions and go with the story because it’s not really about the big “C”, but rather about how we choose to live our lives after its grand reveal. What we do with our time, how we share the burden, the coping mechanisms employed, the bucket lists put into action…basically how we choose to LIVE.
Harrie is a STRONG woman, so much more so than her body might portray, but even that is made of stronger stuff than you might imagine. The amount of heart this woman has is incredible. Audrey, the best friend and workaholic, was having a hard time coming to terms with all that was changing in her life, so much so that it was starting to catch up. Through the midst of all that, she was still on point when first arriving for their summer together…she was in tune to Harrie which was heartwarming, but not herself. Lisa was a sweetheart…strong, stubborn, living life in the moment, and yet so affected by her own past that she literally shut herself down when the going got more than tough. It didn’t make her any less in my eyes, but I shared her pain as she tried to resurface for herself and for Harrie. Then there are the supporting characters like Honor (Harrie’s daughter), Samson (the stonemason), Mrs. Ryder (the initially abrasive, but caring housekeeper/cook), and so many more that play vital roles in the lives of these characters. The good just keeps coming.
Though this could simply be a story filled with tears of sadness, it reaches over those initial boundaries and pulls out the beauty that can be found in TRULY LIVING with grace, with love, and with friendship. Sad that it can take an “end of life” sentence to give us that push towards embracing the every day, but perhaps it’s a lesson we can carry forth from the pages of fiction to our own lives and live fully as ourselves. Recommended whole-heartedly for fans of Women’s Fiction, Fiction, and Contemporary Romance.
**ebook received for review; opinions are my own
Pensive, heart wrenching, and moving!
One Last Summer is a beautifully written, touching novel that takes us into the life of Harriet Greenleaf as she spends her last summer enjoying time with those she loves, reaping as much pleasure and joy out of each day, savouring all the little things, and having no regrets before her battle with terminal cancer comes to an end.
The prose is reflective and eloquent. The characters, including all the supporting characters, are strong, unique, compassionate, and endearing. And the plot is a compelling, highly emotional tale of life, love, friendship, kindness, generosity, honesty, humour, acceptance, and contemplation.
Overall, One Last Summer is a charming, insightful, bittersweet tear-jerker that does a lovely job of highlighting that life is short and should always be lived to the fullest, and that true friendship is supportive, unconditional, powerful, and endless.
One Last Summer was a beautiful novel! I enjoyed the characters and how the friends’ relationships were portrayed. Harriet has rented an old priory for her to spend a few weeks in with her two close friends. She wants to spend this special time with them to reconnect and share her secret with them. The women hit some rough days, especially once they find out Harrie’s secret. But along the way they reminisce, bond with each other, and form new friendships with some people they meet at the priory. These characters were absolutely delightful! The story was both fun at times and emotional at other times as the friends were forced to look at their lives in a new way.
One Last Summer was an engaging read that was filled with beautiful descriptions of the unusual place Harriet chose to reunite with her friends for one last summer.
While I would recommend this book, I didn’t care for the characters. They were well rounded and described well by the author, but they just didn’t click for me. I don’t know why, but I did continue reading because I was interested in how the story would unfold.
It does make you wonder what would you do if you knew for certain your time on earth was very limited. Thanks go to Netgalley, the author and Lake Union for approving my request for an ARC. Thoughts in this review are my own.
The setting in and around the ancient priory on the Somerset coast was the perfectly suited place for three friends to spend together in One Last summer. The characters were wonderfully realistic and each had their own story to tell. The book was very emotional and touching, but had many happy moments also.
I want to thank the author and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. My opinions are my own. I highly recommend reading this book.
A best friend is someone you can count on no matter what. This book is about Harrie who has called on her best friends to spend the summer with her at a beautiful priory. She has a desire to make the most of “One Last Summer” with the friends she has loved and lived life with. Although it’s been six years since the friends were together, they meet back up just like they had seen each other the day before. Like nothing had changed….but things had changed.
For me this is a story about friendships and taking life on with each other through thick and thin. Ms. Connelly took me along the summer journey with emotions that pulled at my heart. Her narrative with Harrie and the deep, personal thoughts she was thinking had me thinking, too. The spectrum of emotions she went through, the “last” thoughts of things she would do or see, the agony of what to say to those she loved. It’s a book that will have you reflecting on life. Every day is a gift.
“One of the hardest lessons to learn in life was how to turn tomorrow into today. Harrie hoped she’d learned how to do it.”
“It’s the same with regrets. I think it’s sad that people have them because everything we experience, everything we feel, makes us who we are and that’s a truly unique person.”
I want to thank LU, Netgalley and Ms. Connelly for the opportunity to read this book. It’s a well written novel of friendships that are forever.
This is such a good, inspiring, sad, emotional, touching, insightful, loving, heart wrenching, beautiful book. From the very first page to the very last word you won’t be able to put it down. It will touch your heart and soul in ways that you won’t soon forget. I cried so hard in places then laughed out loud in others. The three main characters in this book are so wonderful. So loving to each other and so hell bent on having a great summer despite the outcome of one’s life. The love of friends is endless. The friendships here are so beautiful and so inspiring. From college to the end of one’s days they are the best of friends. Even after they will reign as the best of friends.
A mother, daughter, best friend. Harrie just wants one more summer with her best friends. Just one more chance to have time with them and tell them what is going on. How do you plan your life for the end. To tell the ones you love that you will be leaving them and that you are ready to go. That you love them and will miss them dearly. How to you tell your best friends to move on and enjoy, cherish life before it’s to late. Harrie is just that kind of friend. She has always put everyone before herself. She’s kind to a fault almost.
Each woman is special in her own right. Each has dreams and loves the others deeply. It’s a story of true friends who would do anything for each other.
This book made me weep in parts and wonder if any of the people I have known who had cancer felt like Harrie. Did they know it would be their last time here. Did they enjoy their time? Or did they hide scared. I don’t have a clue how I would handle it but hope that if I did I would be like Harrie. Strong and outgoing. Take a chance and love life. Live it. Eat it. Drink it. Enjoy…
I have to thank NetGalley, Lake Union, and the wonderful author Victoria Connelly for this beautiful written book. It’s a definite 5 stars and should be way more. Thank you for the honor of reading this.
I highly recommend it. The characters are all likable. You won’t find fault with a single one. It came from the heart. At the end, the Author’s Notes is a must read also. It was a very touching tribute.
I loved it!!!
This novel was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. It also hit very close to home, as I am about the age of the three main characters. I spent a good bit of the end of the book teary-eyed. Harrie, Audrey, and Lisa have been friends for almost 30 years. They haven’t been together as much the past few years and Harrie decides to rent a large, beautiful old house in the English countryside where they can spend the summer together, enjoying each other and their time together.
This was a beautifully written novel that deals with a subject that could be difficult or depressing, but the author did a wonderful job of keeping it out of that realm, while, at the same time, keeping it realistic. Victoria Connelly’s writing made me feel I was there with them and her characters were three-dimensional and felt like they could be anyone I knew. This novel has made an impression on me, giving me a lot to think about. It is going to linger in my thoughts for quite some time.
#OneLastSummer #VictoriaConnelly #LakeUnion
I suggest having a box of tissues handy when you read this book!
After reading this book I’ve definitely done a lot of reflection on my life and what I’ve deemed “important.” I suspect that many of those things would change if I were diagnosed with a terminal illness, like the main character in this book. Harriet knows she is dying and spends one last summer with her two best friends and her daughter. She focuses on the simple pleasures in life – walking barefoot in the grass, listening to the wind in the trees, and enjoying the feeling of the rain on her head.
3.5 stars
This is a pretty sad story to read about a woman who is terminally ill, acknowledges her time left and wants to spend the summer with her best friends and adult daughter. Harrie has kept the knowledge of her illness from her friends for many years but time is running out and she wants to really enjoy what time she has left with those who are important to her. Harrie wants a summer of carefree days at an ancient Priory with those who mean the most to her.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of One Last Summer. This is an honest review.
What would you do if you had only one last summer left ?
Harriet, Audrey and Lisa have been friends for a very long time. Sharing highs and lows over the years!
Since it’s been 6 years since they’ve spent any quality time together , Harriet rents an old Abbey ( which is being restored) to spend the summer with them. Not letting them know that this will be her last summer , as she has terminal cancer .
These ladies were so different but are exactly what one needs, although at times I wanted to yell at them and then hug them.
This is the story of friendship, love and courage .
This is my first book by Victoria Connelly and it won’t be my last !
Harriet has two best friends, Lisa and Audrey, who, thru time and life, have been distanced. She has a grand plan to rent a Priory for 6 weeks and get caught up with her friends. This time together comes with it a huge secret that Harrie needs to share with them. If you had One Last Summer, how would you handle it?
Not your typical love story, but a love story of friendship and family. This book will leave a huge lump in your throat. Quick and emotional read, some parts seem drawn out but it all comes together nicely in the end. Beautiful descriptions of the Priory and the grounds.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are mine alone.