Final Echo

Echo #2

by Rebecca A. Jackson

The highly anticipated sequel to First Echo.

Madeline Hayes never planned on falling for Brooke Winters. They were supposed to be enemies, stuck in tutoring sessions neither of them wanted. But one ski trip changed everything, and now Madeline can’t forget the secret kisses, the late-night confessions, or the way Brooke makes her feel like herself for the first time.

Back at school, pretending nothing happened is impossible. Every glance feels like a spark. Every tutoring session feels like borrowed time. And every choice to look away only makes the truth harder to ignore.

Madeline is trying to hold her perfect world together. Brooke is trying not to hope for too much. Because wanting more means risking everything—their reputations, their families, their futures.

As soccer season begins and the cracks in Madeline’s carefully built life start to show, Brooke is forced to face the one question she can’t

How long can something this real survive if it has to stay hidden?

Tense, heartfelt, and impossible to put down, Final Echo is a sapphic romance about first love, secret longing, and the courage to want more—even when the world isn’t ready.

Genres: Lesbian, Queer

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 28, 2025

Reviews

[Diane Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay read!
The storyline picks right up after it ended in book #1 -- could have been so much better if Ms.Jackson had taken her time to revised plus do some editing. Lots of repetitiveness, chapter/paragraphs discombobulation and rushed ending -- otherwise, i did enjoy the first 55% of it, only because i was so invested in the outcome of their (Brooke & Madeline) relationship.

[Maddie Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to give this author the benefit of the doubt after the first book. I found the first one okay, it was very repetitive especially when the same things were being said to each other every 5 seconds and had so many mistakes in the book, especially with the paragraphing and characters being left out. Did I still find it cute? Yes.
This book was the same but a bit worse. I don’t know what was going on with the structure or punctuation in every page. I did enjoy the start of the book even though it was again repetitive. It started to drag on and on for around 65% book of the book so I did end up skimming and it only got worse. The problem which should have been handled in the first book dragged through the second and it only got resolved for about a chapter around the 50-60% mark of the book before we see the same problem come back. I can understand her in some aspects but to avoid that problem and somehow make it 100 times worse when we came back to it pissed me off. Also the big argument that happened felt so out of nowhere and so out of character for one of the fmc’s.
Some scenes that we would see like them at a party, would last about 3 minutes before an argument happened and all hell would break lose.

The ending was very rushed and felt like to me like a bandaid was applied and we would call it a day.
I do wish the author would’ve taken more time to write and go through this book because given when the first book was released, I feel it was too rushed. I would love to give this author another chance with more books she’ll hopefully write.

[J C · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up to a 3.

The second book in the series sees Brooke and Madeline really start to explore their relationship and the troubles that come with having to do it in secret.

Again there’s some inconsistencies and repetition throughout which could have been tweaked to help the flow.

I found the whole secret relationship a little hard to believe in this one, it may be the age of the characters but it just felt that they weren’t really hiding anything from anyone but that they had this big secret too?

They were too obvious for it to be nothing and the whole staying with Sam part to help their story didn’t make sense because barely any time was spent with him for the public perception to be that she’s happy with him.

There’s some really heartbreaking moments in this one that had me emotional and you could really feel the first love angst.

My favourite part of this one and I think the most believable was Sophie and how she became a real friend to both MC’s and the continued friendship she has with Brooke.

Another one that was enjoyable enough but not something I would reread.

[Luisa 🐉 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

Just like the first one was, very repetitive. The plot itself is good but the repetitiveness of the narrative gets exhausting to read, to the point where near the end I ended up skipping a whole paragraph because it was more of the same.

[Dani Kass · Rating 2 out of 5]

i appreciate that 'final echo' was formatted better than 'first echo,' but i don't have a ton else positive to say. mild spoilers below in my rantings, but anything that matters is hidden.

i hated how much madeline's family members were stereotypical villains without any depth.

i hated how madeline treated sam and the way she had the gall to pretend she wasn't hurting him, and to get mad at him for becoming possessive when she was cheating on him right under his nose.

i hated that they made sam into this monster that didn't mesh with who he was in the first book, and they didn't even reckon with the change.

i hated how brooke refused to understand why punching someone in the middle of a charity gala, no matter what prompted it, was wildly not okay.

i hated how madeline changed that night.

and it's not just that i hated them as plot points, but they didn't make sense logically or character wise.

there were still a million little things that didn't match up, like brooke's dad being emotionally distant while also being the most emotionally available parent you could imagine, brooke watching madeline struggle for the first time ice skating as if snowboarding never happened, why madeline needed to use a hidden key to get in the house when brooke's dad was there, and why brooke thinks of herself as just a dirty secret chemistry tutor when they literally hang out all the time in public and ate lunch together. there were also a million things repeated again and again. and too much use of "cost as much as/more than." and whatever happened to luca?

this always killed me: “she was real here, unguarded in a way i’d only seen glimpses of before” THE WHOLE POINT IS YOU ALWAYS GET THAT HER.

"i’d told julian about brooke during one of his visits home sophomore year, when he’d found me drunk and crying in my dorm after seeing a photo of her on social media. had confessed the whole pathetic story while he’d held my hair back and made sure i didn’t drown in my own misery." ok so is she home or in her dorm? also college!julian was laughable.

"the offer was genuine, backed by years of late-night conversations and the kind of unconditional love that didn’t come with conditions or expectations." THAT'S LITERALLY THE DEFINITION OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

the ending was too fast, too fairytale. i wanted the rediscovery of each other and the joy that made everything worth it, not a fade to black and three years later where their successes didn't match their age.

i kept reading because brooke and madeline were really special together, and sophie was such a wonderful friend. there were even a few things i highlighted. all this is what makes it worse, because there is so much good here, jackson just couldn't pull it off.

[Jas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm crying right now 😭😭. I read both of them in the span of two days. I'm not even fond of reading—I was just trying to love the concept of reading, so I tried to look for something like a romance book rather than a self-help book. I read one romance book before this, and it took me like a week only, which surprised me and gave me inspiration or motivation to read more. So, when I found this book, I just couldn't stop flipping through the pages. If it were possible to not sleep and just continue reading, I would've done it.

I just love it so much that I am crying right now because there are no more pages to flip... because I was happy that for a brief moment it felt like riding a smooth roller coaster ride with a couple of bumps. For two days I was mesmerized by how I was physically present inside the story, like I was casually watching a movie that I couldn't take my eyes off.

I will definitely read more books because of this. But right now I'm already missing Brooke Winters and Madeline Hayes. Others would say it was repetitive which I have noticed also, but I think it perfectly fit the concept of an echo— you will hear it repeatedly until you don't anymore HAHAHAHAHAHa

Thank you for the beautiful world you have created. I am looking forward to more of your creative pieces.💜

[Elouise · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first book in the series was good, albeit a little repetitive. But overall it was a nice cute read.
This book was genuinely one of the worst titles I have read in years, and has had the unfortunate effect of being bad enough to retroactively ruin the first book.
The constant repetition of the exact same dialogue is one thing, but the fact that after 80 or so pages in the characterization of the main leads changes, Brooke goes from a snowboarder to a soccer player who never once again mentions snowboarding, which was one of the main aspects of her character. Madeline becomes an irredeemable character who not only cheats but throws it in Brooke’s face in order to hurt her. So we went from a cute winter love story to now a story where I am actively rooting for the two leads to stay broken up, just for after 3 years and 100 pages for them to get back together with no real conclusion, no repercussions for the horrible things Madeline did. Brooke just takes her back on the last page because plot.
If I had purchased this physically I would have thrown it away.

[Dessy Hristova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed it but I agree with all the other readers.. a lot of the writing is very repetitive. The characters were likeable but the second half of the book after they break up it very difficult to read. They were saying and thinking the same things over and over again. Also the time skip of 3 years felt very unnecessary and rushed, just like the ending when they got together and suddenly there’s another time skip and they are engaged. It didn’t make much sense. I felt like they should’ve talked more or something at least. Also tbh Sophie and Brooke would’ve been a greaf couple, just saying. I felt a vibe between them. Madeline and Brooke were cute but definitely not right for each other. I remember finding Madeline insufferable on so many occassions and Brooke’s violent tendencies felt so dramatic. Most of the time they all kept overreacting and doing so many unnecessary things. Still, it was a nice read.

[luuli leena · Rating 4 out of 5]

really nice!!! i enjoy the first book, so i needed to read this one as well, i think i can say that i liked this one more ( probably because i was already attached to the characters), the plot was good and was really invested, though the only reason this doesn’t have a higher rating is because of the writing style, just like the last one… i like how it’s written but throughout the book i was hyper aware that there are some phrases or expressions that are really repetitive, and written the same way, some variations of the same idea would’ve been better, and wouldn’t have made the writing so repetitive 🫶🏼

[Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

don't get me wrong, i love brooke and madeline and i'm going to miss their story but i think this wasn't executed well. it's so repetitive that one might think it was written by AI and it's like the author didn't even bother to come up with names the way the side characters have the same name if you think about it at all. and some details would have you wondering like that's now how it happened ? or whatever.

last thing, the ending is so rushed like you're doing a project due in 10 minutes and just came up with anything as long as you get to pass something and robbed off the details just nothing burger fr.

overall, the story is cute.

[Majo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like there was a lot of repetitive dialogue, and the argument between Maddie and Brooke seemed very out of place. Okay, it was understood they were going to have a secret relationship, but Maddie's behavior gurrl nope. I understand that you are queen B but what a shitty behavior sis, Brooke deserved something better, it would have been incredible if the reunion had not lasted so little, I would have loved if there had been more Detailed, and not just an ending. I hope the author takes this into account for the next story.

[Cams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too inlove with this book!

I can’t even describe how I feel, I was waiting for the sequel and looked forward to this, and oh boy it did not disappoint! Yes there are parts when it became repetitive but it doesn’t matter! This book has too much feels, and I cried for some of the parts of it. I love Madeline, and Brooke story that this series is now one of my favorite books! Please please make more books Rebecca, it’s very worth it, take all my money!

[maria amélia (malia) · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading First Echo, I wasn’t expecting a mind-blowing piece of literature but I have to say I did see some improvements. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, and at times the chapters were repetitive for no reason, but it is clear the author is trying to perfect her artistry.
I still think this is worth a read if you want something light and sapphic, it’s easy to follow along and it’s a fun type of cheesy.

[Gegebo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this one way more than the first one - it has more plot, action, development. I didn't like the repetition of the same phrases and sentences all the time. I wished that Brooke and Madelije actually had more time in the last chapter because we spend so much pages reading about their pain and then everything was resolved in three pages?? Anyways, nice book, I stood up until 2 am to finish it. 😁

[Ramona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall good and worth the read

I loved the first book and couldn’t wait for this one. Overall it’s good, love the characters and the story. The only thing negative is it was quite repetitive at times. It definitely didn’t need to be as long as it was because of how repetitive it was sometimes. Still worth the read.

[alejandra jaramillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 nearing 3.0/5.0

This one picks right where the first one ended and we see that in the first like 65% of the book we draggggg on. In the remaining 35%, the author just speeds runs through the conflict AND the denouement.

It is repetitive and the stereotypes are not done tastefully, however it actually is a pretty okay read. It got me through an awful reading slump so for that I am grateful.

[Chideul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished this book! Took me a while since I stalled after seeing a spoiler on TikTok—knowing there was a breakup coming made it hard to push through, lol. But I’m so glad it ended happily. (Seriously though, hate you TikTok for spoiling me!)

[yasmim cristhal · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro segue bem direto após o final de First Echo. tirando as muitas repetição que acontecem durante o livro e o que o tornam maior do que realmente seria, ou atrapalha a história para desenvolver uma coisinha ou outra melhor, acho que é uma boa sequência !

[Birte · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5
I knew this book would break the love I felt after the first book. And guess what it did? Yes, it broke me in so many ways.
But still it was a great great winter read. Not only did we see struggles we also saw hope and real love. The story is so well brought together, I freaking love it!!

[Citlaly Campa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book was better but still entertaining.

[Silvia C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat worse than the first one. I'm kinda mad I spent money on this two part story.

[Veerle Andeweg · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was really good but there where some mistakes in the times

[bookaholic · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really really hated the last few chapters

[Sannya Rådmark · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fine I still liked the first one better tho

[Izzy Tenison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pure poetry and beautifully written. The author captured every second between the two characters. I felt like I was right there watching every moment

[Steve Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

fabulous ending to the series

Still not a fan of Madeline… parts of this book hurt to read but it was written so well and with so much great emotion that the hurt made it worth it!

[bera hidalgo · Rating 2 out of 5]

pacing was a little okay than the first book but the ending was what was rushed. like it had to end at that exact page number so a quick happy ending was given.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was okay. I enjoyed it, but I like the first one better. The two books share the same exact flaws and I found the story a bit inconsistent at times, but it was a nice read. 3,5/5 ⭐️

[Cassidy · Rating 2 out of 5]

why did the book covers style change 😭 also this felt like a draft instead of a published book I fear.

[Wissal Miftah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was written by chatgpt. I know an Ai written book when I see one. I didn’t mind it in the first book but here kinda. It an okay duet either way