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The Last Days of Summer
Sometimes all it takes is one long summer weekend for the person you thought you hated to become something more...
'It's about friendship, it's about life, it's about how people change . . . I loved it very much' MARIAN KEYES
'Funny, filled with emotion and very, very sexy! Add it to your 2025 TBR pile immediately...' BETH O'LEARY
'I laughed out loud, cried until I was a husk and finished it feeling refreshed, renewed, and looking at life a little bit differently. It's a summer I never wanted to end' CRESSIDA MCLAUGHLIN
'Your favourite writer's favourite writer . . . fun, sexy, bittersweet and utterly romantic, I fell head over heels for Cassie and Marc' LINDSEY KELK
'Expertly crafted, extremely loveable and a perfect balance of wit, heart and smut' LAUREN BRAVO
After a disastrous first meeting, Cassie and Marc become arch nemeses. He might have great cheekbones and a sexy French accent but he's a terrible person who did a terrible thing. Too bad that Cassie's best friends Lucy and Russell think he's wonderful.
But years later, when an unexpected tragedy strikes their friendship group, Cassie and Marc team up to give Lucy and Russell the best weekend ever so they can make new memories with all of their favourite people. Which means convincing everyone that Cassie and Marc are head over heels in love.
After hating him for so long, it takes four bittersweet days for Cassie to wonder if she got Marc all wrong. Can they let go of their troubled past and together, face whatever the future is going to throw at them?
⭐Enemies to lovers
⭐Fake relationship
⭐Grumpy / sunshine
⭐Heartfelt and emotional
⭐True love
⭐Hot, French, male main character
⭐Spicy, including a walk-in pantry scene...
REAL READERS ARE SWOONING OVER SARRA MANNING...
'Beautifull written, romantic, sexy, and gives a good ol' tug on the heart strings' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Sarra Manning is a one-click author for me' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Funny, romantic and spicy in equal measures' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'An auto-buy author for me' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Yet another absolute triumph by this author' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I willed my eyes to move faster so I could find out where the story was going! And I teared up more than once' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
AND EVEN YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS ARE FALLING HARD FOR SARRA MANNING...
'Romantic, funny, sweet and sexy' MARIAN KEYES
'The funny, clever, deeply romantic, sinfully sexy, devastatingly heartbreaking, perfectly uplifting' CRESSIDA McLAUGHLIN
'A very swoony, sexy, warm read' CESCA MAJOR
'Emotional and profound and so so hot' SOPHIE IRWIN
'What a wonderful storyteller Sarra Manning is' JANE CASEY
'Funny and sexy and rips along' FREYA NORTH&
'It's about friendship, it's about life, it's about how people change . . . I loved it very much' MARIAN KEYES
'Funny, filled with emotion and very, very sexy! Add it to your 2025 TBR pile immediately...' BETH O'LEARY
'I laughed out loud, cried until I was a husk and finished it feeling refreshed, renewed, and looking at life a little bit differently. It's a summer I never wanted to end' CRESSIDA MCLAUGHLIN
'Your favourite writer's favourite writer . . . fun, sexy, bittersweet and utterly romantic, I fell head over heels for Cassie and Marc' LINDSEY KELK
'Expertly crafted, extremely loveable and a perfect balance of wit, heart and smut' LAUREN BRAVO
After a disastrous first meeting, Cassie and Marc become arch nemeses. He might have great cheekbones and a sexy French accent but he's a terrible person who did a terrible thing. Too bad that Cassie's best friends Lucy and Russell think he's wonderful.
But years later, when an unexpected tragedy strikes their friendship group, Cassie and Marc team up to give Lucy and Russell the best weekend ever so they can make new memories with all of their favourite people. Which means convincing everyone that Cassie and Marc are head over heels in love.
After hating him for so long, it takes four bittersweet days for Cassie to wonder if she got Marc all wrong. Can they let go of their troubled past and together, face whatever the future is going to throw at them?
⭐Enemies to lovers
⭐Fake relationship
⭐Grumpy / sunshine
⭐Heartfelt and emotional
⭐True love
⭐Hot, French, male main character
⭐Spicy, including a walk-in pantry scene...
REAL READERS ARE SWOONING OVER SARRA MANNING...
'Beautifull written, romantic, sexy, and gives a good ol' tug on the heart strings' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Sarra Manning is a one-click author for me' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Funny, romantic and spicy in equal measures' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'An auto-buy author for me' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Yet another absolute triumph by this author' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I willed my eyes to move faster so I could find out where the story was going! And I teared up more than once' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
AND EVEN YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS ARE FALLING HARD FOR SARRA MANNING...
'Romantic, funny, sweet and sexy' MARIAN KEYES
'The funny, clever, deeply romantic, sinfully sexy, devastatingly heartbreaking, perfectly uplifting' CRESSIDA McLAUGHLIN
'A very swoony, sexy, warm read' CESCA MAJOR
'Emotional and profound and so so hot' SOPHIE IRWIN
'What a wonderful storyteller Sarra Manning is' JANE CASEY
'Funny and sexy and rips along' FREYA NORTH&
367 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 27, 2025
About the author
Sarra Manning
42 books1,968 followersSarra Manning is a teen queen extraordinaire. She spent five years working on the now sadly defunct J17, first as a writer and then as Entertainment Editor. She then joined the launch team of teen fashion bible Ellegirl, which she later went on to edit and has consulted on a wide range of youth titles including Bliss, The Face and More.
Sarra is now editor of What To Wear magazine. She's also been a regular contributor to ELLE, The Guardian, ES Magazine, Seventeen, Details and Heat and wrote the Shop Bitch column for Time Out. Sarra lives in North London with her dog Miss Betsy
Sarra is now editor of What To Wear magazine. She's also been a regular contributor to ELLE, The Guardian, ES Magazine, Seventeen, Details and Heat and wrote the Shop Bitch column for Time Out. Sarra lives in North London with her dog Miss Betsy
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews
December 24, 2024
The Last Days of Summer perfectly captures the sad feeling that engulfs you when you know this will be the last time you will experience something. It is bitter-sweet and it is emotional.
Cassie and Marc are enemies. Enemies who share a history and a couple of best friends. Civil behaviour amongst their friends, snarky when they are alone. They avoid each other at all costs until tragedy strikes and they are forced to present a united front. Is a weekend enough to erase 16-year history of being enemies?
I liked the romance in this book but more than anything, I loved how the author wrote everything around Russell and Lucy. They were not the main couple but are the heart of the story. Russell’s diagnosis, his choice, and the different reactions of Cassie and Marc were portrayed so realistically. You are really able to empathize with the characters and it is an emotional read that balances a heavy topic with the beauty of life. I think by the end of it, you will look at life a little more differently and maybe take one or two more moments to appreciate the beauty and joy of living. See it as a chance instead of a chore and take fewer things for granted.
The only reason I deduct a star is because I would have liked to see a few more tender moments between Marc and Cassie. They went from hot to cold quite a few times and I couldn’t follow the development of their emotions, they just suddenly more than liked each other, it felt a little underdeveloped for me.
Thank you to Hodder&Stoughton and NetGalley for an earc in exchange for an honest review!
The Last Days of Summer is out March 27th 2025!
Cassie and Marc are enemies. Enemies who share a history and a couple of best friends. Civil behaviour amongst their friends, snarky when they are alone. They avoid each other at all costs until tragedy strikes and they are forced to present a united front. Is a weekend enough to erase 16-year history of being enemies?
I liked the romance in this book but more than anything, I loved how the author wrote everything around Russell and Lucy. They were not the main couple but are the heart of the story. Russell’s diagnosis, his choice, and the different reactions of Cassie and Marc were portrayed so realistically. You are really able to empathize with the characters and it is an emotional read that balances a heavy topic with the beauty of life. I think by the end of it, you will look at life a little more differently and maybe take one or two more moments to appreciate the beauty and joy of living. See it as a chance instead of a chore and take fewer things for granted.
The only reason I deduct a star is because I would have liked to see a few more tender moments between Marc and Cassie. They went from hot to cold quite a few times and I couldn’t follow the development of their emotions, they just suddenly more than liked each other, it felt a little underdeveloped for me.
Thank you to Hodder&Stoughton and NetGalley for an earc in exchange for an honest review!
The Last Days of Summer is out March 27th 2025!
July 12, 2025
Marc was absolutely awful & very disrespectful for 90% of the book. Cassie should have had more respect for herself and made him grovel.
October 11, 2025
3.5 stars 🌟 ouchhhhh 🥲 beautifully written but also quite painful, especially those last words from russell 🥹 cassiemarc were a bit underwhelming (i personally loathe the tugging pigtails cause i love you trope…) but the friendship between cassie, lucy, marc, and russel was so lovely ⛱️🍾🪩 there were some sweet domestic moments between marc and cassie but the way they came together so close to the end irked me a bit. lucy and russell’s love for each other literally made me want to cry 😭 ugh this evoked lots of feeling but it was still good!
August 6, 2025
Something has happened to romance fiction since I started reading it as a young teenager in the late nineties. I hesitate to call it woke, but … I think it’s woke?
Maybe it’s the fact that there’s likely an irreconcilable difference between being a competent, financially stable, emotionally secure woman in the world, and getting into a rewarding heterosexual relationship. When I think of the great romances in literature, there’s a clear imbalance. The woman tends to be poor or powerless or both, and the man provides money and power, while also being hot and overall a good dude – even if he tends also to be arrogant and domineering and all those other alpha male characteristics latter-day romance jettisons. I am also slowly re-watching Natalie Wynn/Contrapoint’s video on Twilight and it’s really hitting. The idea of not wanting to take responsibility for your desires (as well as everything fucking else!) as a straight woman, and so the rich alpha male representing an alleviation of responsibility more than anything else – yes. It makes sense to me.
Which is why in this novel Marc is both too much of an asshole and NOT ENOUGH of an asshole. Yes, he pumps and dumps Cassie on their first meeting, and lives to regret it as a later reformed fuqueboi. However, Cassie has no hand in his reformation. I’m not saying I necessarily want to have my female heroines take charge of the emotional development of the male heroes, but … there’s something in that. Elizabeth Bennet calls Darcy to account and walks away. He does the rest on his own, but the callout remains hers to perform. There IS something inherently appealing about being the Only One the incredibly hot and sought-after man can truly confide in, can truly be himself around. Jilly Cooper and Fiona Walker, two of my OG romance writers, were past masters at this. Sarra Manning herself was able to do this, once upon a time! You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me remains, not just one of my favourite romance books, but one of my favourite books, full stop. Which almost makes her later works worse, in a way, because I know she can do way better than this.
There’s also a lot of insufficiently justified or interrogated choices made in this book. Case in point: the age gaps between Cassie and Marc, but also Lucy and Russell. As many have said before me, it’s not just age but experience gaps. Cassie being 37 to Marc’s 44 is a WAY different prospect to Cassie’s TWENTY-ONE to Marc’s TWENTY-EIGHT. And for why? Is it just to make the current ages work? Because quite simply no one needed to be as young as they were. Lucy and Russell’s teenage children barely feature, to the point where they could just have been YOUNGER CHILDREN when the book opens. Have Lucy be thirty when she has her kids!
Ditto Cassie’s convoluted parental history, with her mother being fifteen when she had Cassie and creating a huge abandonment wound and then having a second-chance romance etc etc etc. None of this contributed to the plot except to explain Cassie’s Trauma, but why put it in at all? I feel the time is ripe for Manning and other authors to just write about late bloomers who glowed up post-college (or not at all) rather than scrabbling for reasons why someone would be this tragic combination of late thirties, single, but normal.
I’m also tired of Manning’s MCs not going to college. That was sort-of fine when the books were set and written in the early to mid-aughts, but if you’re going to have characters NOW who aren’t college-educated, you really need to do the work of explaining how they’re good friends with OXBRIDGE GRADUATES. Cassie’s RIGHT when she talks about not fitting in with people who went to private schools and stuff. Even in Ireland, which has a much less rigid class system, people tend to stay within their intellectual levels. Because it’s simply not that fun to be friends with people who don’t share your cognitive abilities and interests! Sorry to be a snob on main but it’s true. And if you’re going to have this girl who seemed to LEAVE SCHOOL AT 16 in a BOOK that’s mainly going to be read by BOOKISH GIRLS … fucking own goal, basically. In no other sphere of life do you see bookish, nerdy intellectuals getting with hot men. Can we not have this ONE THING?!
Also the whole premise of the fake dating being the imminent tragic death of their friend from cancer … uh, I guess that could work, but the execution is half-hearted at best. Mainly because sixteen years is just too long for this to carry on and be believable. Again; why is Lucy twenty-four getting married and having babies? Make her thirty, make all of this have happened five years ago, and boom, suddenly there’s urgency and it makes sense. And Russell is barely a person, just a ‘beacon of light’. Convenient that no one needs to have any kind of complicated feelings about that I guess. I feel like there’s a very different book attempting to burst, Alien-style, from the guts of this one. One that’s much longer and better developed. I think of the scenes that took place in YDHTSYLME over one evening of clock time but pages and pages of book time, the exquisite detail and 360 view from the character’s head, and cannot but sigh for what we’ve lost.
Maybe it’s the fact that there’s likely an irreconcilable difference between being a competent, financially stable, emotionally secure woman in the world, and getting into a rewarding heterosexual relationship. When I think of the great romances in literature, there’s a clear imbalance. The woman tends to be poor or powerless or both, and the man provides money and power, while also being hot and overall a good dude – even if he tends also to be arrogant and domineering and all those other alpha male characteristics latter-day romance jettisons. I am also slowly re-watching Natalie Wynn/Contrapoint’s video on Twilight and it’s really hitting. The idea of not wanting to take responsibility for your desires (as well as everything fucking else!) as a straight woman, and so the rich alpha male representing an alleviation of responsibility more than anything else – yes. It makes sense to me.
Which is why in this novel Marc is both too much of an asshole and NOT ENOUGH of an asshole. Yes, he pumps and dumps Cassie on their first meeting, and lives to regret it as a later reformed fuqueboi. However, Cassie has no hand in his reformation. I’m not saying I necessarily want to have my female heroines take charge of the emotional development of the male heroes, but … there’s something in that. Elizabeth Bennet calls Darcy to account and walks away. He does the rest on his own, but the callout remains hers to perform. There IS something inherently appealing about being the Only One the incredibly hot and sought-after man can truly confide in, can truly be himself around. Jilly Cooper and Fiona Walker, two of my OG romance writers, were past masters at this. Sarra Manning herself was able to do this, once upon a time! You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me remains, not just one of my favourite romance books, but one of my favourite books, full stop. Which almost makes her later works worse, in a way, because I know she can do way better than this.
There’s also a lot of insufficiently justified or interrogated choices made in this book. Case in point: the age gaps between Cassie and Marc, but also Lucy and Russell. As many have said before me, it’s not just age but experience gaps. Cassie being 37 to Marc’s 44 is a WAY different prospect to Cassie’s TWENTY-ONE to Marc’s TWENTY-EIGHT. And for why? Is it just to make the current ages work? Because quite simply no one needed to be as young as they were. Lucy and Russell’s teenage children barely feature, to the point where they could just have been YOUNGER CHILDREN when the book opens. Have Lucy be thirty when she has her kids!
Ditto Cassie’s convoluted parental history, with her mother being fifteen when she had Cassie and creating a huge abandonment wound and then having a second-chance romance etc etc etc. None of this contributed to the plot except to explain Cassie’s Trauma, but why put it in at all? I feel the time is ripe for Manning and other authors to just write about late bloomers who glowed up post-college (or not at all) rather than scrabbling for reasons why someone would be this tragic combination of late thirties, single, but normal.
I’m also tired of Manning’s MCs not going to college. That was sort-of fine when the books were set and written in the early to mid-aughts, but if you’re going to have characters NOW who aren’t college-educated, you really need to do the work of explaining how they’re good friends with OXBRIDGE GRADUATES. Cassie’s RIGHT when she talks about not fitting in with people who went to private schools and stuff. Even in Ireland, which has a much less rigid class system, people tend to stay within their intellectual levels. Because it’s simply not that fun to be friends with people who don’t share your cognitive abilities and interests! Sorry to be a snob on main but it’s true. And if you’re going to have this girl who seemed to LEAVE SCHOOL AT 16 in a BOOK that’s mainly going to be read by BOOKISH GIRLS … fucking own goal, basically. In no other sphere of life do you see bookish, nerdy intellectuals getting with hot men. Can we not have this ONE THING?!
Also the whole premise of the fake dating being the imminent tragic death of their friend from cancer … uh, I guess that could work, but the execution is half-hearted at best. Mainly because sixteen years is just too long for this to carry on and be believable. Again; why is Lucy twenty-four getting married and having babies? Make her thirty, make all of this have happened five years ago, and boom, suddenly there’s urgency and it makes sense. And Russell is barely a person, just a ‘beacon of light’. Convenient that no one needs to have any kind of complicated feelings about that I guess. I feel like there’s a very different book attempting to burst, Alien-style, from the guts of this one. One that’s much longer and better developed. I think of the scenes that took place in YDHTSYLME over one evening of clock time but pages and pages of book time, the exquisite detail and 360 view from the character’s head, and cannot but sigh for what we’ve lost.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2024
Sarra Manning has always been an auto-buy and favourite author for me, and ‘The Last Days of Summer’ is up there with one of my favourite books she’s ever written.
Is it heart-achingly sad? Yes! Does it have proper enemies to lovers? Yes! Is the spice, spicy? Yes! Is it written in the most beautiful way that made me upset that I had to put it down to live life occasionally? 1000% yes.
This book and these characters will be living with you far past the last page. It’ll make you realise you need to cherish what is in your life and fix the things you don’t like. It’ll make you grateful for the little things and make you want to ring your loved ones to tell them you love them.
Also, the nods to previous characters was *chefs kiss*.
This is romance with the extra oomph. If you’ve never read a Sarra Manning masterpiece than I implore you to start with this one. It is Manning at her best.
A huge thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the ARC.
Is it heart-achingly sad? Yes! Does it have proper enemies to lovers? Yes! Is the spice, spicy? Yes! Is it written in the most beautiful way that made me upset that I had to put it down to live life occasionally? 1000% yes.
This book and these characters will be living with you far past the last page. It’ll make you realise you need to cherish what is in your life and fix the things you don’t like. It’ll make you grateful for the little things and make you want to ring your loved ones to tell them you love them.
Also, the nods to previous characters was *chefs kiss*.
This is romance with the extra oomph. If you’ve never read a Sarra Manning masterpiece than I implore you to start with this one. It is Manning at her best.
A huge thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the ARC.
March 16, 2026
Loved it.
Sad.
Happy.
Nervous.
Excited.
Happy again.
Sad again.
I love Russell, and I want to be his best friend. I want to be friends with Lucy and go to her naughty fortieth birthday party to drink champagne and sing karaoke. My fancy dress outfit would be Dorothy from the wizard of Oz and my karaoke song will be Piano Man by Billy Joel. Wait, wait, wait, I need to change my karaoke song. Piano Man is really, really long and I think I would be embarrassed. I’ll do Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers instead.
I want the next part of the story. I want to know what happens after the birthday party. I don’t want it to end. I want Marc to say dirty things in French to me.
Beautiful story, with beautiful people. Hire me a house and fill it with my best friends and all the love in the world.
Sad.
Happy.
Nervous.
Excited.
Happy again.
Sad again.
I love Russell, and I want to be his best friend. I want to be friends with Lucy and go to her naughty fortieth birthday party to drink champagne and sing karaoke. My fancy dress outfit would be Dorothy from the wizard of Oz and my karaoke song will be Piano Man by Billy Joel. Wait, wait, wait, I need to change my karaoke song. Piano Man is really, really long and I think I would be embarrassed. I’ll do Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers instead.
I want the next part of the story. I want to know what happens after the birthday party. I don’t want it to end. I want Marc to say dirty things in French to me.
Beautiful story, with beautiful people. Hire me a house and fill it with my best friends and all the love in the world.
January 13, 2025
‘She was always going to feel at her most alone among a group of people who had found their person. Whatever life threw at them, they didn’t have to deal with it on their own…Still, it shouldn’t be so hard to find your most favourite person and be their favourite person in return. Not when she wanted it so desperately.’
Oh wow, Sarra Manning has done it again! THIS STORY is why we love this Author so much, why we will ALWAYS buy her books as soon as they release for our book shelves of love. She never fails to grab our hearts, make us laugh and make us cry. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Sarra Manning is truly MAGNIFICENT!
’Even though it hadn’t been real, to Cassie’s indiscriminate heart, it had felt real. She wanted to hate him but she also wanted to mean something to him.’
Be still our beating hearts! Sarra Manning has written an absolutely beautiful story about friendship, love and ultimately, the ups and downs of life. What a stunning romance, what a beautiful setting and what a gorgeous group of friends! We felt every bit of Cassie’s journey as we laughed with her, cried with her and swooned with her. We join her at a poignant moment in her life which sees her facing the ultimate test where the fragility of life is the main character.
’Despite the wind, the frenetic waves, there was a stillness to the two of them. Their love was palpable. A living breathing thing.’
One weekend changed everything for Cassie and it’s bittersweet. What a beautiful character she is! We loved Cassie for her devotion, her sense of humour, her selflessness, her vulnerability and her patience.
’They fell asleep like that, the half-moon peeking in at the window the only witness to the start of something that had taken sixteen long years to begin. Something precious.’
When we, as readers, say we love enemies to lovers…THIS IS IT! Cassie and Marc’s story played out as if we were watching a movie, whilst frantically turning the pages, compelled by the stunning storytelling by Sarra Manning. This is a book that’ll stay in our hearts. Always.
July 26, 2025
3.5 Stars ⭐️
January 5, 2025
Sarra Manning never fails to deliver, and this book is no exception! Cassie and Marc start off as sworn enemies after a disastrous first meeting. But years later, they’re unexpectedly thrown back into each other’s lives when they’re asked to help their mutual friends, Lucy and Russell. Tasked with planning an unforgettable weekend, Cassie and Marc must put their differences aside and pretend to be madly in love. However, as the weekend unfolds, Cassie starts to question her long-standing resentment toward Marc and wonders if there’s more to him than she ever allowed herself to see.
This novel has everything you’d expect from a Sarra Manning story—romance, friendship, heartache, and redemption. While the primary focus is on Cassie and Marc, the narrative beautifully interweaves their friendships with Lucy and Russell, adding layers of depth to the story. The heartache felt so raw and authentic that it moved me to tears more than once. Manning masterfully balances these emotional moments with lighthearted humor and delightful banter, especially in the playful dynamics between Cassie, Marc, and their friends during the weekend’s escapades.
Without giving too much away, I’ll admit I was nervous about how things would ultimately unfold between the four friends. But the ending was nothing short of perfect—a touching, satisfying conclusion that felt like the cherry on top of an already delicious cake.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this gem. If you’re a Sarra Manning fan or simply love heartfelt, character-driven stories, this one is not to be missed!
This novel has everything you’d expect from a Sarra Manning story—romance, friendship, heartache, and redemption. While the primary focus is on Cassie and Marc, the narrative beautifully interweaves their friendships with Lucy and Russell, adding layers of depth to the story. The heartache felt so raw and authentic that it moved me to tears more than once. Manning masterfully balances these emotional moments with lighthearted humor and delightful banter, especially in the playful dynamics between Cassie, Marc, and their friends during the weekend’s escapades.
Without giving too much away, I’ll admit I was nervous about how things would ultimately unfold between the four friends. But the ending was nothing short of perfect—a touching, satisfying conclusion that felt like the cherry on top of an already delicious cake.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this gem. If you’re a Sarra Manning fan or simply love heartfelt, character-driven stories, this one is not to be missed!
September 3, 2025
3,5 - nothing extraordinary, but it was a sweet, moving summer read nonetheless.
September 26, 2025
Good beach read.
June 30, 2026
FINALLY a good enemies to lovers summer read!! I’ve been patiently waiting and reading book after book with a summer theme and I have finally succeeded. This book was a genuine enemies to lovers, good backstory, well fleshed out characters, good background characters and great story. I loved the tension within the main love story, and felt that the book was paced in a great way. So happy I read this!!
June 14, 2026
A true enemies-to-lovers romance, with tragedy also bringing love. I enjoyed the side character relationship between Lucy and Russel and main characters
Marc and Cassie’s was funny and spicy. Both were respectably real and relatable.
3.75 stars
Thanks to Harper Perennial for the gifted copy.
Marc and Cassie’s was funny and spicy. Both were respectably real and relatable.
3.75 stars
Thanks to Harper Perennial for the gifted copy.
January 28, 2026
4.5 🌟 stunning
June 23, 2026
A good distraction on a summer’s day.
June 25, 2026
This was excellent. Best British romance I've read this year
January 17, 2026
felt like a millennial trying to cosplay gen z
June 29, 2026
3 1/2
I read several of Sarra Manning’s YA novels years ago, probably around thirteen years ago (yikes! 😱), and then somehow lost track of her. So when I picked up The Last Days of Summer, her latest adult novel, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was walking into. Women’s fiction? Romance? The answer turns out to be both, with a generous side of heartbreak that I wasn’t fully prepared for.
❓ Is The Last Days of Summer worth reading?
If you love enemies-to-lovers romance and don’t mind your happy endings coming with a bittersweet edge, yes. Manning is a skilled writer and this is an emotionally engaging novel. But go in knowing it’s heavier than the happy, summery cover suggests, and that the romance lives or dies on your tolerance for an arrogant hero who you’ll be attempting to suss out for roughly three-quarters of the book.
📖 What Is The Last Days of Summer About?
The novel opens with a gut punch: Cassie learns that Russell, the husband of her best friend Lucy, has cancer and very little time left. What I found interesting and more than a little jarring, is that after receiving this news, Cassie goes home and her thoughts turn not to Lucy and Russell, but inward, to her own sense of a life not fully lived. No partner, no marriage, no one special. Having personally been dealing with this kind of news in the past year on several fronts, I wondered why the author chose this path rather than showing Cassie’s emotional devastation. I think most of us would be consumed with grief for our friends in that moment, so that early self-focus gave me a slight pause.
The plot kicks into gear when Russell, his energy flagging, asks Cassie to plan a spectacular 40th birthday weekend for Lucy. He then volunteers Marc to help. This is a problem for two reasons: Cassie is a professional event planner who is perfectly capable of handling it herself, thank you very much, and also because she and Marc have a history, a history that she’d really rather not reflect on.
Sixteen years ago, at Lucy and Russell’s wedding, Cassie, then just 21, and Marc slept together. Afterward, when she went into the bathroom, he left. His reasoning, we eventually learn, was that she seemed peripheral to Lucy’s life and he’d never have to see her again. She was young, she felt used, and she’s been carrying that hurt ever since. He’s been carrying something too–neither of them has quite forgotten how good it was. Throw them together for a long birthday weekend at a gorgeous country house on the Sussex coast, add a fake-relationship ruse to keep the guests entertained, and you have your enemies-to-lovers setup. The seaside setting does its job well: it feels both beautiful and a little melancholy, which suits the mood of the novel perfectly.
✨ What Worked for Me?
Manning knows how to wring emotion from a scene. I found myself genuinely teary at several points, she pushes Cassie to real breaking points that didn’t feel overly melodramatic (if you’ve read my reviews long enough, you know I shut down on melodrama!). The shadow of Russell’s illness over the whole weekend gives the romance genuine weight; this isn’t just banter and sexual tension, there’s something real and painful at its center.
The novel also reminded me of the 1992 film Peter’s Friends (if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it even just for the stellar cast alone!), a group of old friends gathering at a country house, a terminal diagnosis, the attempt to make joy in the shadow of grief. It’s a comparison that works in Manning’s favor even if most of the characters involved in this retreat don’t know of Russell’s diagnosis.
And despite how very frustrating (unlikeable, even) Marc is for much of the book, Manning does something smart: she shows his character through his actions. He steps up throughout the weekend (and even before when he finances most of it, a fact which provides financially strapped Cassie with abundant relief). He defends Cassie, helps her, shows up for her repeatedly. So when his vulnerabilities finally come out in that last quarter, when he talks about what Russell’s death will mean for him, about losing his oldest friend, the person who has been the fixed point of his life since he was seven, it lands. It reframes everything that came before without feeling like a cheat and actually gives voice to something that we, as readers, suspected.
👥 Characters & Relationships
Cassie is a vivid, fully realized protagonist. The whole novel is told from her point of view, which keeps her sharp and present on every page.
Marc is seemingly less evolved. Because we’re locked in Cassie’s perspective, he’s mystifying for most of the book; we see him through the lens of her long-held grudge, and we have to trust Lucy and Russell’s obvious affection for him as evidence that there’s more than Cassie is willing to admit. It’s an old-fashioned romance structure, the mysterious brooding hero whose inner life is withheld until the big confession scene. (I couldn’t help but think: old fashioned Harlequin romance.) If that archetype works for you, you’ll be fine. If you’ve aged out of imperious, critical male leads who have to be decoded rather than understood–and you can believe I have!–the long middle stretch requires some patience.
Lucy and Russell are warm and appealing but a little underdeveloped and I think that this is where the novel struggles with identity. We’re told that Russell has really lived; that he’s done this and been that, but we don’t get enough scenes that show it. I wanted to see more of Lucy and Russell, especially Russell since he is the focal point of Cassie and Marc’s shared sadness. For a novel where his impending death is supposed to be emotionally devastating, it’s a missed opportunity. Lucy is similarly sketched more through her tastes (what kind of weekend she’d want) than through actual “show.” They’re the emotional heart (well, if you accept this as not just a romance) but the least layered characters on the page.
Then there’s Lucy’s sister Heather and her husband Davey, who descend on the birthday weekend expecting Cassie to wait on them hand and foot. Heather functions as a disruptive force: spoiled, self-centered, very nearly derailing everything. Manning makes some attempts to humanize her, but doesn’t commit to it fully, which leaves Heather in an awkward middle ground: too cartoonish to be interesting, not developed enough to be a real character.
❗ What Didn’t Work for Me
The single point of view is Manning’s most significant structural choice and, I think, the biggest problem. Keeping us in Cassie’s head keeps her vivid, but it flattens everyone else. The other characters play out as the arrogant man and the best friends while the novel’s emotional core (the friendship between these four people) never gets the depth it deserves.
There’s also something fundamentally uncomfortable about grafting a romance onto a terminal illness story. Once you introduce a character who is dying, a happy ending has a ceiling. Cassie and Marc getting together doesn’t cancel out Russell. I kept hoping, eternally optimistically, that there would be a last-minute reprieve, a miracle treatment, Marc getting his way and Russell is saved. Something! That hope wasn’t really earned by the narrative; it came from my own reluctance to accept the loss. And that tells you something: Russell mattered enough that I wanted him saved. But it also means the ending, however satisfying on the romance front, can’t be fully happy. Not really. (Note: I just finished reading Into the Blue by Emma Brodie, a gut punch done in an entirely different manner.)
I read this in a year when I’ve lost people and that greatly altered my perception. Your mileage may vary.
⭐ Final Verdict
The Last Days of Summer is a well-crafted, emotionally affecting novel that will make you cry and root for people in equal measure. Manning’s prose is assured and her instincts for emotional beats are sharp. But the single POV flattens the supporting cast, Marc is frustrating for too long, and the combination of romance and terminal illness means the ending carries grief alongside its joy. For readers who love the classic brooding-hero enemies-to-lovers setup, this will probably be a five-star read. For the rest of us, it’s a moving, occasionally frustrating, genuinely worthwhile 3.5.
Many thanks to Harper Perennial for sending me an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read several of Sarra Manning’s YA novels years ago, probably around thirteen years ago (yikes! 😱), and then somehow lost track of her. So when I picked up The Last Days of Summer, her latest adult novel, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was walking into. Women’s fiction? Romance? The answer turns out to be both, with a generous side of heartbreak that I wasn’t fully prepared for.
❓ Is The Last Days of Summer worth reading?
If you love enemies-to-lovers romance and don’t mind your happy endings coming with a bittersweet edge, yes. Manning is a skilled writer and this is an emotionally engaging novel. But go in knowing it’s heavier than the happy, summery cover suggests, and that the romance lives or dies on your tolerance for an arrogant hero who you’ll be attempting to suss out for roughly three-quarters of the book.
📖 What Is The Last Days of Summer About?
The novel opens with a gut punch: Cassie learns that Russell, the husband of her best friend Lucy, has cancer and very little time left. What I found interesting and more than a little jarring, is that after receiving this news, Cassie goes home and her thoughts turn not to Lucy and Russell, but inward, to her own sense of a life not fully lived. No partner, no marriage, no one special. Having personally been dealing with this kind of news in the past year on several fronts, I wondered why the author chose this path rather than showing Cassie’s emotional devastation. I think most of us would be consumed with grief for our friends in that moment, so that early self-focus gave me a slight pause.
The plot kicks into gear when Russell, his energy flagging, asks Cassie to plan a spectacular 40th birthday weekend for Lucy. He then volunteers Marc to help. This is a problem for two reasons: Cassie is a professional event planner who is perfectly capable of handling it herself, thank you very much, and also because she and Marc have a history, a history that she’d really rather not reflect on.
Sixteen years ago, at Lucy and Russell’s wedding, Cassie, then just 21, and Marc slept together. Afterward, when she went into the bathroom, he left. His reasoning, we eventually learn, was that she seemed peripheral to Lucy’s life and he’d never have to see her again. She was young, she felt used, and she’s been carrying that hurt ever since. He’s been carrying something too–neither of them has quite forgotten how good it was. Throw them together for a long birthday weekend at a gorgeous country house on the Sussex coast, add a fake-relationship ruse to keep the guests entertained, and you have your enemies-to-lovers setup. The seaside setting does its job well: it feels both beautiful and a little melancholy, which suits the mood of the novel perfectly.
✨ What Worked for Me?
Manning knows how to wring emotion from a scene. I found myself genuinely teary at several points, she pushes Cassie to real breaking points that didn’t feel overly melodramatic (if you’ve read my reviews long enough, you know I shut down on melodrama!). The shadow of Russell’s illness over the whole weekend gives the romance genuine weight; this isn’t just banter and sexual tension, there’s something real and painful at its center.
The novel also reminded me of the 1992 film Peter’s Friends (if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it even just for the stellar cast alone!), a group of old friends gathering at a country house, a terminal diagnosis, the attempt to make joy in the shadow of grief. It’s a comparison that works in Manning’s favor even if most of the characters involved in this retreat don’t know of Russell’s diagnosis.
And despite how very frustrating (unlikeable, even) Marc is for much of the book, Manning does something smart: she shows his character through his actions. He steps up throughout the weekend (and even before when he finances most of it, a fact which provides financially strapped Cassie with abundant relief). He defends Cassie, helps her, shows up for her repeatedly. So when his vulnerabilities finally come out in that last quarter, when he talks about what Russell’s death will mean for him, about losing his oldest friend, the person who has been the fixed point of his life since he was seven, it lands. It reframes everything that came before without feeling like a cheat and actually gives voice to something that we, as readers, suspected.
👥 Characters & Relationships
Cassie is a vivid, fully realized protagonist. The whole novel is told from her point of view, which keeps her sharp and present on every page.
Marc is seemingly less evolved. Because we’re locked in Cassie’s perspective, he’s mystifying for most of the book; we see him through the lens of her long-held grudge, and we have to trust Lucy and Russell’s obvious affection for him as evidence that there’s more than Cassie is willing to admit. It’s an old-fashioned romance structure, the mysterious brooding hero whose inner life is withheld until the big confession scene. (I couldn’t help but think: old fashioned Harlequin romance.) If that archetype works for you, you’ll be fine. If you’ve aged out of imperious, critical male leads who have to be decoded rather than understood–and you can believe I have!–the long middle stretch requires some patience.
Lucy and Russell are warm and appealing but a little underdeveloped and I think that this is where the novel struggles with identity. We’re told that Russell has really lived; that he’s done this and been that, but we don’t get enough scenes that show it. I wanted to see more of Lucy and Russell, especially Russell since he is the focal point of Cassie and Marc’s shared sadness. For a novel where his impending death is supposed to be emotionally devastating, it’s a missed opportunity. Lucy is similarly sketched more through her tastes (what kind of weekend she’d want) than through actual “show.” They’re the emotional heart (well, if you accept this as not just a romance) but the least layered characters on the page.
Then there’s Lucy’s sister Heather and her husband Davey, who descend on the birthday weekend expecting Cassie to wait on them hand and foot. Heather functions as a disruptive force: spoiled, self-centered, very nearly derailing everything. Manning makes some attempts to humanize her, but doesn’t commit to it fully, which leaves Heather in an awkward middle ground: too cartoonish to be interesting, not developed enough to be a real character.
❗ What Didn’t Work for Me
The single point of view is Manning’s most significant structural choice and, I think, the biggest problem. Keeping us in Cassie’s head keeps her vivid, but it flattens everyone else. The other characters play out as the arrogant man and the best friends while the novel’s emotional core (the friendship between these four people) never gets the depth it deserves.
There’s also something fundamentally uncomfortable about grafting a romance onto a terminal illness story. Once you introduce a character who is dying, a happy ending has a ceiling. Cassie and Marc getting together doesn’t cancel out Russell. I kept hoping, eternally optimistically, that there would be a last-minute reprieve, a miracle treatment, Marc getting his way and Russell is saved. Something! That hope wasn’t really earned by the narrative; it came from my own reluctance to accept the loss. And that tells you something: Russell mattered enough that I wanted him saved. But it also means the ending, however satisfying on the romance front, can’t be fully happy. Not really. (Note: I just finished reading Into the Blue by Emma Brodie, a gut punch done in an entirely different manner.)
I read this in a year when I’ve lost people and that greatly altered my perception. Your mileage may vary.
⭐ Final Verdict
The Last Days of Summer is a well-crafted, emotionally affecting novel that will make you cry and root for people in equal measure. Manning’s prose is assured and her instincts for emotional beats are sharp. But the single POV flattens the supporting cast, Marc is frustrating for too long, and the combination of romance and terminal illness means the ending carries grief alongside its joy. For readers who love the classic brooding-hero enemies-to-lovers setup, this will probably be a five-star read. For the rest of us, it’s a moving, occasionally frustrating, genuinely worthwhile 3.5.
Many thanks to Harper Perennial for sending me an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 1, 2025
‘The Last Days Of Summer’ by Sarra Manning is an emotional and steamy enemies-to-lovers romance that will break and repair your heart multiple times across the pages. Cassie and Marc have been arch nemeses almost since they first met, but are forced to orbit each other due to their close friendships with spouses Lucy and Russell. When Lucy and Russell’s perfect family life is struck by an awful tragedy, Cassie and Marc are thrown together to plan them a gorgeous, nostalgic and perfect weekend trip. To create beautiful and everlasting memories, they have to put their differences aside… but is it possible to fake cordiality after sixteen years of hostility?
Sarra is one of my favourite, auto-buy authors (I felt personally seen by the part of this book’s dedication that was to “those who… still think that ‘Unsticky’ is my best novel”), and this novel absolutely met my sky-high expectations (and not just because of the Grace and Vaughn cameo). I admire how Sarra creates realistic and loveable characters, and allows them to open up throughout the chapters until they feel like your best friends. Cassie’s sunny personality was given depth by her grief and complex feelings about family, and Marc’s grumpy and controlled disposition masked so much heart. Each supporting character was vivid and full of personality, even if some of them (Heather) weren’t exactly likeable!
Of course, this book had some wonderful spicy scenes, with Cassie and Marc making good use of the walk-in pantry and the en-suite shower of the beachside Manor House setting. However, the book was as much about friendship and respect as it was about lust. I was dreading the book ending for two reasons - I didn’t want it to be over, and I also didn’t want to feel destroyed by an inevitable gut punch - but the conclusion was pitch-perfect, real and full of hope as well as grief.
This was a five star read for me, and I’d really recommend it to anyone who enjoys character-driven, open-door romance. Just remember you may need tissues, but I promise you’ll smile and swoon more than you sob!
I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Sarra is one of my favourite, auto-buy authors (I felt personally seen by the part of this book’s dedication that was to “those who… still think that ‘Unsticky’ is my best novel”), and this novel absolutely met my sky-high expectations (and not just because of the Grace and Vaughn cameo). I admire how Sarra creates realistic and loveable characters, and allows them to open up throughout the chapters until they feel like your best friends. Cassie’s sunny personality was given depth by her grief and complex feelings about family, and Marc’s grumpy and controlled disposition masked so much heart. Each supporting character was vivid and full of personality, even if some of them (Heather) weren’t exactly likeable!
Of course, this book had some wonderful spicy scenes, with Cassie and Marc making good use of the walk-in pantry and the en-suite shower of the beachside Manor House setting. However, the book was as much about friendship and respect as it was about lust. I was dreading the book ending for two reasons - I didn’t want it to be over, and I also didn’t want to feel destroyed by an inevitable gut punch - but the conclusion was pitch-perfect, real and full of hope as well as grief.
This was a five star read for me, and I’d really recommend it to anyone who enjoys character-driven, open-door romance. Just remember you may need tissues, but I promise you’ll smile and swoon more than you sob!
I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Read
May 10, 2026I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. This review is my own opinion.
Wow. I expected a lighthearted book. Well,it is. And it isn't.
No spoilers. But. I didn't intend to like it so much! I know people didn't like Marc with a C very much. But I think that was the draw to him, his tough exterior was just that, hiding because he has been hurt.
I highly recommend, but if you are like me, you might turn several shades or red and might shed a lot of tears as well!
Happy reading and thank you for the opportunity!
Wow. I expected a lighthearted book. Well,it is. And it isn't.
No spoilers. But. I didn't intend to like it so much! I know people didn't like Marc with a C very much. But I think that was the draw to him, his tough exterior was just that, hiding because he has been hurt.
I highly recommend, but if you are like me, you might turn several shades or red and might shed a lot of tears as well!
Happy reading and thank you for the opportunity!
September 8, 2025
sarra manning I love you and your writing and the skirt-verse and your heroines who aren't always likeable and don't always have their shit together but are still compelling and your sexy male leads who are usually kind of pricks but in a loveable way and I just enjoy your books SO MUCH. maybe this one hit harder because of the themes about finding love and fearing whether you're inherently unlovable and all that fun jazz, but i had a great time reading this, I find manning's (good (I don't love all of them)) books a more accessible and real version of mcfarlane's. the only thing here is I think we needed a lot more focus on both cassie and marc's families and backgrounds esp when it informed so much of the characters themselves. marc was hot like I said and I did love him but I didn't fully buy his excuses for being an arsehole lol.
January 10, 2025
I have read and enjoyed several Sarra Manning books and this latest one didn’t disappoint.
Perfectly balanced with interesting characters some of which you will love but some you will love to hate.
It follows the path of Cassie and Marc,drawn to each other despite their differences and fall out of many years ago.Cassie is tasked with planning her best friend Lucy’s big birthday weekend by Lucy’s lovely husband Russell.
Without spoiling the plot news changes the world of old standing firm friends.The novel perfectly balances romance,love,spice(def spicy )and heartache.
Loved it,highly recommended
Perfectly balanced with interesting characters some of which you will love but some you will love to hate.
It follows the path of Cassie and Marc,drawn to each other despite their differences and fall out of many years ago.Cassie is tasked with planning her best friend Lucy’s big birthday weekend by Lucy’s lovely husband Russell.
Without spoiling the plot news changes the world of old standing firm friends.The novel perfectly balances romance,love,spice(def spicy )and heartache.
Loved it,highly recommended
May 17, 2025
“They fell asleep like that, the half moon peeking in at the window the only witness to the start of something that had taken sixteen long years to begin. Something precious.”
UGH this book was just everything
It was grief and love all rolled into one, heartbreaking and charming all at the same time 🥺
ALSO MARC WITH A C PARDON MY FRENCH BUT OUI OUI
UGH this book was just everything
It was grief and love all rolled into one, heartbreaking and charming all at the same time 🥺
ALSO MARC WITH A C PARDON MY FRENCH BUT OUI OUI
July 4, 2025
Last day of the holiday and a beach day, so naturally I read the whole book in a day as it was too good to put down. I was a fan of Sarra as a teen, reading the diary of a crush series, I didn’t realise she had written adult fiction. I look forward to reading more.
August 25, 2025
It’s not the best romance i’ve read, but I loved the way these characters are a bit older than usual. The book is sensitive and emotional, but not very dramatic. I like that. I do think the development of the relationship was a bit rushed and i’d love to see more of an “in between”.
Want to Read
May 26, 2025Jane Casey recco “a writer’s writer”
July 6, 2025
4.5/5
This needed a trigger warning but I love a Sarra Manning book as a fan from a teenager
Slightly predictable but some lovely moments and sayings - first book I’ve genuinely highlighted
This needed a trigger warning but I love a Sarra Manning book as a fan from a teenager
Slightly predictable but some lovely moments and sayings - first book I’ve genuinely highlighted
Did Not Finish
July 26, 2025DNF @ 37%
Ew ew ew
Ew ew ew
Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews