I love how Marissa writes stories. She starts on the surface giving a sliver of description of the characters, setting and story line. With each turn of the page, a character's layers are slowly peeled back revealing a little more. As the story progresses, the plot pace quickens and keeps you engaged and vested in the characters and their individual stories.
"The Harmony Resort promises hope for struggling marriages. Run by celebrity power couple Drs. Miles and Grace Markell, the “last resort” offers a chance for partners to repair their relationships in a luxurious setting on the gorgeous Mayan Riviera."
What starts off as a simple retreat for the couples to help repair their marriages turns into so much more. They will be tested so much more than they ever thought.

I enjoyed this book! I found it to be very intriguing and just had to keep reading to find out what happens next. I would recommend it for fans of suspense books!

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book.

What a fabulously delicious book. This book has a fantastic story line, excellent characters and is just unputdownable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and I enjoyed it immensely.

A man is missing following a deadly hurricane at a luxury couples' retreat. A week earlier the couples came to the resort with very different expectations. But the resort is not exactly the paradise they anticipated, and the couples are in for more than they bargained for.

Short chapters and face-pacing make this book a quick beach read. Sure to be a summer favorite!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for a copy of The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley for review. Available now!

At a marriage resort less idyllic than the setting, we meet a few couples willing to give it all to save their marriage, but everyone has their secrets, even the retreat leaders.

I loved this book. Could not put it down. I found the characters interesting and wanted to know all their secrets. I loved the page turning drama that kept me up into the night for just one more page. And I loved the setting.

The Last Resort is about couples trying to fix their failing marriages by attending a week-long retreat led by a celebrity power couple, whose own marriage is not what it should be.

With secrets and secret agendas galore, and with husbands and wives finding all sorts of excuses NOT to work on their marriages or to disclose their personal secrets, it's not just a hurricane bearing down on the lush resort that is going to cause major damage.

Fast-paced and intriguing, Stapley has written a novel that is quite a good read and earns 4 stars from me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Graydon House for allowing me to read an ARC of The Last Resort in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book was... wow! So original and intriguing. It literally had a little bit of everything, from cults to psychotic breaks to lesbian love stories and couples counselling. I honestly couldn’t put it down because there really was no telling what was going to happen next. I truly appreciate books that keep the readers on their toes and this is one of those!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

The Last Resort is a character-driven story that focuses on the crumbling relationships of several couples who attend a two week relationship boot camp at a secluded, luxury resort in the Mayan Riviera in a last ditch attempt to save their failing marriages. The retreat is lead by powerhouse couple, Miles and Grace Markell, who appear to have the perfect relationship themselves. But as the days progress, the struggling couples end up getting much more than they bargained for when unorthodox therapy methods and an impending tropical storm unearth secrets, deceptions and manipulations leading to a tension-filled ending.
This was a well-paced story (which I read in less than a day) that engaged me throughout with a solid plot, interesting characters, a great baddie readers will love to hate and an enjoyable Big Little Lies vibe. The only issue I had was that the format took a bit of getting used to. It blends different points of view with celebrity news releases and an interview between an unidentified man and woman. Why this format was used becomes clear to readers towards the end but initially I found it a little confusing.

Overall, this was an entertaining read filled with deceit, secrets and an exciting whodunnit. With its beautiful tropical setting, The Last Resort would make an excellent holiday or summer read.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Graydon House via NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

If you look at the cover of Marissa Stapley's THE LAST RESORT, what do you see? What genre would you peg the book as? Beach read? Maybe a little romantic angst and drama? Something to read and relax with while on a beach not unlike the one on the cover?

Oh, boy, would you be wrong!

In a good way, in a good way.

There is a resort, yes. People do spend time on a beach, yes. There is much romantic angst and drama, yes. But, no, this book will not relax you. It will creep you out.

In a good way.

"The Last Resort" is the title because the Mexican resort at the center of the story is where twelve couples go for two weeks to try and save their marriages (i.e. the last resort) with the help of celebrity marriage counselors/gurus Grace and Miles Markell. They even, in the course of the story, get TMZ coverage. This particular last resort is intense. The couples give up their phones and devices. The staff searches their luggage (read the details of what you sign, people, always read what you sign!). And Miles Markell occasionally forces a husband and wife to 'separate' for the course of their stay there.

These separations are because Miles Markell is essentially a cult leader, though the cult plays a supporting role and the resort is essentially a front, who manipulates the weak and preys on them for all they are worth. Literally.

It is a really good book that makes you think, makes you question things, and makes you keep reading. That being said, if psychological thrillers/mysteries/horrors are your thing, you should give this book a try and I don't want to say too much and spoil it for you.

If you want to know more, ask me!

But I would give trigger warnings for cults, evangelical extremism, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, slightly questionable LGBT representation, spousal abuse, mind control, murder, violence, and stalking. And probably some other things. This book is... well, it's a lot.

But in a good way, I swear!

Solid 3.5 ⭐️ Read for me! I liked the premise of the book and the idea of a marriage counseling week at a resort. I figured out most of the twists but that the ending was well done and pulled together all of the Maine characters. Great book to bring along on your next vacation!

This book reminded me of the way I felt when I was reading Something in the Water. So much of it was so obviously fake, but it was a generally fun read.
With all of the terrible problems Miles had, and with how obviously nuts he was, I can't believe his problems/issues weren't brought to light sooner. That passed the point of believability for me.
There were many things that were hidden from the reader that were totally obvious and could have been revealed much sooner than they were (Shell and Colin's problems, Johanna's traumatic event, etc) I figured them out right away and it kind of wrecked the flow of the book for me.
Overall though, I did like the way things ultimately concluded and thought it was a decent read for the summer.

I always enjoy books where there are multiple characters and a mystery, especially if it takes place at a hotel, resort, cabin and there is a murder! The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley centers around a couples getaway in Mexico, a marriage retreat for couples in need of help. Miles and Grace Markell run this retreat and are picture-perfect in every way. Or are they? As the couples begin their strictly scheduled days, cracks begin to appear and it becomes obvious Miles and Grace have some secrets of their own.

The Harmony Resort promises hope for struggling marriages. Run by celebrity power couple Drs. Miles and Grace Markell, the “last resort” offers a chance for partners to repair their relationships in a luxurious setting on the gorgeous Mayan Riviera.

Johanna and Ben have a marriage that looks perfect on the surface, but in reality, they don’t know each other at all. Shell and Colin fight constantly: after all, Colin is a workaholic, and Shell always comes second to his job as an executive at a powerful mining company. But what has really torn them apart is too devastating to talk about. When both couples begin Harmony’s intensive therapy program, it becomes clear that Harmony is not all it seems—and neither are Miles and Grace themselves. What are they hiding, and what price will these couples pay for finding out?

As a deadly tropical storm descends on the coast, trapping the hosts and the guests on the resort, secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested and not one single person—or their marriage—will remain unchanged by what follows.

This book is a pretty quick read, told from multiple points of view. Remember that movie from a few years ago, Couples Retreat? This is NOTHING like that!

Get it here!

A book outside of my comfort level, but so absorbing, I couldn’t put it down. A couples retreat turns into a nightmare, not just due to the coming hurricane, but to the therapist, Miles Markell. Johanna and Ben, Shell and Colin, couples trying to find a way back to each other at a retreat run by Miles and Grace. As secrets are revealed, you will not be able to stop reading.

I don't think The Last Resort was a good fit for me. The synopsis excited me and I was very much looking forward to reading this ARC, but I stopped reading at 54%.

I had difficulty with the characters - there were just a lot of them all thrown in at the beginning without giving us a chance to know them separately. I often found myself stopping and trying to place the characters in my mind ~ who was with who and why they were there~ which caused me to be pulled out of the story each time. Maybe had they each had a chapter before the arrival at the resort, it would have been easier to remember them as couples or individuals. I don't know.

I got bored and I found I didn't really care about any of these characters or whether all their secrets came out or not....

As always, if you are considering this book, give it a try. Not every book is for every person and this just wasn't the one for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC at my request. All thoughts in this review are my own and freely given.

At a couple's therapy retreat in sunny, beautiful Mexico run by a celebrity power couple a man is missing following a deadly hurricane. Rewind to a week earlier when the couples descend on the resort and journey through the drama. Because things aren't really what they seem and the couples are in for an experience beyond what they signed up for.

I wish I could say I loved this book. Unfortunately, it was just okay for me. As a whole package, I enjoyed the content and how the story eventually came together. There were a lot of important, relevant, and timely issues presented throughout the prose which I found wonderful. But, I had some issues in the details.

First, I struggled with authenticity and believability. Some of the decisions the main characters made just didn't feel realistic. I found myself wanting to smack a few of them in the face and tell them to use their brains. It made me frustrated more than anything.

The other thing that bothered me was that the transitions were awkward at times. This may have been due to the fact that I read an ARC and the formatting wasn't yet complete. But one story line would end and the next story line would begin without a gap in paragraphs or a change in chapter. So there were times I was reading and found myself confused until I realized I was in another character's story. There were also some parts told in transcript as well as use of TMZ articles to illustrate elements of the story, and while I thought these were useful and instrumental pieces of the book, they needed to be physically differentiated from the rest of the prose (i.e. on another page) rather than running into the rest of the story. Again, perhaps in the finished, published version of the book these issues will all be addressed, but in the ARC they were extremely distracting.

I did enjoy the ending and felt like Marissa Stapley did a good job of bringing everything together and tying up loose ends. I was a bit confused about the relevance of Grace's brother, Garrett, in the story and felt like the book could have done without his presence. But otherwise, I understood the points Stapley was trying to make with the other story lines.

At the end of the day, this one was just okay for me. But I feel like I tend to always struggle a bit with domestic dramas. So if you're a fan of the genre, I would definitely give it a try and see if you like it for yourself.

-I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Marissa Stapley, and Graydon House Books for the opportunity to review.-

I enjoyed the premise of the Last Resort, thought it did remind me of other recent novels in which therapy/counseling and the secrets it exposes are the main concept. While I did find some of it to be predictable, there were a couple of reveals that did surprise me. I also thought that Marissa Stapley created some complex and flawed characters and I did enjoy reading about them and learning their secrets. This is definitely a good beach read; it's enjoyable and quick.

I love to read about people or couples in therapy so this book was right up my alley. The Last Resort is known as the Harmony Resort, and it is a place for couples who are on the verge of calling it quits to go to try to save their marriages. The resort promises two weeks of intensive marriage and individual therapy by Miles and Grace Markell, the couple who run the resort. They are both therapists and have dedicated their lives to living and working on the resort in Mexico. The book is told through multiple perspectives, of both the therapists and the patients. Miles and Grace, though they seem to be the perfect couple, have secrets of their own and are not what they seem.

While I enjoyed this book, I think it left me a little disappointed. I can't really say why without spoiling the book, so all I will say is that I found the main villain to be a little bit too evil to be believable. I enjoyed learning the different stories of each of the couples and I was definitely rooting for some couples to make it. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys domestic suspense.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review*

The Last Resort was a fun and entertaining read. I devoured it in pretty much one sitting as the plot and characters kept my attention as I needed to know what was going to happen. The premise is that married couples have come to the Harmony resort in Mexico on a couples retreat which is run by the famous Miles and Grace Markell to help save their marriages. Soon it is revealed that Grace and Miles are not who they pretend to be and the couples here start to really face the demons that have brought them here in the first place. When Miles Markell is found dead after a powerful hurricane hits everyone starts to become a suspect or was it really just the storm? A lot happens in this book which at times was hard to absorb but I just sat back and enjoyed every twist and turn. This is a great summer read! Thank you to Netgalley, Simon and Schuster and the author for a free review copy.

The Last Resort finds us in a couples counseling retreat in Mexico - from the beginning we know a hurricane hits and someone is dead. And then we go back to the beginning. It’s clear each of the couples are hiding major secrets (including maybe the retreat leaders, the famed Grace and Miles Markell) but exactly which couple’s secrets will be the unraveling of everything?

The Last Resort was an interesting premise and a quick read that held my attention from start to finish. I found the reveals to be a bit predictable which is perhaps why I was not as wowed as I hoped by this, however, it’s definitely still an enjoyable beach read (just don’t read it on the beach in Mexico with a storm coming).

Thank you to Graydon House for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

The Harmony Resort promises help for troubled marriages. Dr. Miles and his wife Grace advertise the resort as the Last Resort in marriage help. The book follows 2 couples, Shell and her husband Colin who recently lost their daughter and Johanna and her husband Ben who have completely lost their way. The secrets and lies from both the couples and Dr. Miles and Grace are abundant! Add in hurricane Christine that is hitting the island at category 4 and it all makes for a very wild ride! I was thoroughly captivated by the plot and the characters and their secrets. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.