Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale

Brief Summary: Ella is a journalist with a great memory, until she is in a car accident in which her unborn child dies; and she can’t remember being pregnant. She enters a journey to discover her past full of love, deception, and betrayal. I am a huge Kerry Lonsdale fan and loved her Everything series. Also of note, I am a clinical psychologist who has worked with people experiencing all types of amnesia including both dissociative and post-traumatic.

First of all, I wished from the beginning that we had more information on her amnesia. To discharge her from the hospital before seeing a mental health professional made me cringe. I also think that this could have made it even more interesting. Ella is the type of patient and Damien the family I love to work with clinically. This was a bit surprising as Lonsdale has nailed her portrayal of frequently misunderstood mental health diagnoses like Dissociative Identity Disorder in her previous novels. I did love how she compared how Damien and Nathan grieved the loss of their children differently and how this impacted their loved ones. She also did a nice job highlighting Nathan’s anxiety of crowds and how that impacted him. The concept of purposeful repressed memories is certainly interesting; but she does a good job of illustrating the consequences of memory loss. I will stand by current research that cites the best way to cope with traumatic memories is through exposure. I always thought that Lonsdale writes to entertain us; but she can also educate us.

I know from other reviews that I am in the minority here, but I struggled with the pace and wasn’t fully engrossed. I have never put a Lonsdale book down so easily. I also struggled to put the pieces together at times; for example I didn’t appreciate Nathan’s popularity and why the exclusive was such a big deal until the scene in the camping store. On a positive note, the pace picked up towards the end.

Explanation of Rating: 3/5; I got a glimpse of the Lonsdale brilliance I have come to love; but had a hard time getting passed the critiques I mentioned above.

Despite this, I was disappointed to learn this is a stand alone novel and wanted to know what happened after the last page. ☺ I am already looking forward to her next book!

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

For two days I couldn't literally put this book down, it was such a ride full of suspense and intrigue all wrapped up in a unique highly engaging plot.

Ella had a successful career and marriage until she got into an accident.
She can recall everything about her life except the fact that she was pregnant when she had that accident.
For the rest of the novel we share Ella's journey to put the pieces together and find out what really happened and why she can't remember anything about her pregnancy, and what a journey this was!

Thanks Netgalley, Lake Union Publishing, and author Kerry Lonsdale for a chance to review this book.

Whew! What a ride! Kerry Lonsdale is becoming the queen of twistyness! The Last Summer does not disappoint. Imagine you were in an accident and woke up remembering everything except the fact you were five months pregnant. That is the situation Ella Skye finds herself in. Why can't she remember her baby? This book is a page turner. I was racking my brain for the majority of the story trying to figure the whole thing out. The Last Summer will keep you begging for more. Thank you NetGalley and LakeUnion for gifting me a copy of this book!

This novel gets my recommendation o the originality of plot. You might think that a woman losing her memory in some type of accident and putting the puzzle pieces together has been done again and again, but I assure you this one is different. It’s unique in how she loses her memory and how she can get access to those memories back again. I won’t say more as I don’t want to give anything away. I will say that you have to suspend your disbelief. I believed I had it all figured out. While I had a large portion correct, there was a good twist.

My main problem with it was that I didn’t really care for any of the main characters especially by the end. It was still an entertaining, quick read. It was steamy, suspenseful, and twisty. I’m adding more from this author to my TBR list.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

I accepted Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale for review because I find amnesia stories absolutely fascinating. This one was no different. In fact, it put a new spin on the amnesia storyline. It kept me hooked from beginning to end.

Ella Skye a journalist who is in a terrible accident and she loses a lot in that accident, including her memory. Ella’s amnesia is selective though. She can specifically remember parts of the summer before her accident but when she is asked to complete an interview that she had done last summer she has no memory whatsoever of having completed it the first time around. Even stranger is that she has nothing in her personal files on it either.

What follows is a topsy turvy mystery where the reader doesn’t really trust any of the characters but there is definitely something below the surface. Just like Ella, the reader also wants to know what the heck is going on. I had my suspicions but ended up being completely wrong because I’m not a psychopath. The story left me feeling a lot like Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn did. If you liked Gone Girl, I’d recommend Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale.

Overall, I enjoyed Last Summer but endings are pretty major for me. It took me completely by surprise which is always a good thing! However, it also left me on shaky ground as far as how I felt with the resolution. That very well might be intended but not something I look for personally in a book. The ending is the only thing that dropped it a star for me. It was a great read and I had a hard time putting it down!

Ella Skye, a lifestyle journalist finds herself amidst crisis when she wakes up in a hospital and has forgotten all about her pregnancy. She has selectively forgotten everything about her 5-month long pregnancy and along with it, the memories of one other person- Nathan Donovan.

As she adjusts with this new normal, she gets another opportunity to interview Nathan, a celebrity and an adrenaline junkie with a painful story and a solitary existence. Ella is also nursing an almost broken marriage and a husband who knows more about this past of hers than he is letting her know.

‘Last Summer’ is one of those thrillers you might predict but will want to continue reading. The writing is engaging and Ella (the journalist who would do anything to get her story including getting between the sheets with her client), Nathan (who is trying to find hope and love), and Damian (who just wants to protect his family and raise kids with his beautiful and ambitious wife) are characters you’ll come to either love or hate. Their individual journey as a character develops along with the plot, turning it into an intense and nail-biting read. The mystery unfolds slowly and then all at once, giving us very little time to collect our thoughts. The ending was equally satisfactory, leaving behind an air of dread and mystery. It is also extremely atmospheric, and according to me, perfect for your weekend binge.

This is a twisting story of love, passion, loss, hurt, betrayal and deception.

Just as you think you know where the story is going and start to form your opinions of Ella, Damien & Nathan, Kerry Lonsdale takes it in an unexpected direction right until the very end.

A great book to kick back & relax on a sun lounger with, you will struggle to put it down.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley and the Publishers in return for my honest review.

DECEPTION!

In her latest novel, Kerry Lonsdale writes about a wealthy, power couple who live in San Francisco but also have a flat in London. Each comes from a dysfunctional family. They married quickly after meeting and really didn’t spend much time getting to know one another. Their marriage seems to be based mainly around their sexual relationship. They only discussed having children after they were married. She wants them; he doesn’t. He’s harboring a secret that cost him his first marriage. Deception takes place in their careers so of course it takes place in their marriage. Difficult to tell which came deception came first. Before long marriage/work deception lines have tightly intertwined. Lonsdale adds an element of deeper deception that will surprise you and make you question everything you thought you knew about the couple ... until the conclusion and then you will be STUNNED!

I have read all of Lonsdale’s other novels. This one did not appeal to me as much as it deals more with the absolute depravity of the human heart. I was provided an ARC of this novel by Lake Union Publishers and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.

**THIS BOOK CON TAINS ADULT LANGUAGE & ADULT SITUATIONS!**

It’s been a while since I read a psych thriller like Last Summer and I enjoyed it. It was devious, a bit steamy and I couldn’t put it down as I was eager to find out what happened to the main characters! A definite pool/beach read!

Thank you so much to Amazon Publishing and Little Bird Publicity for the free copy of this book for my review.

This book held so much potential for me and I was honestly excited to read it. I was a little confused by the cover as I did not read the synopsis before diving in and assumed it was a summer read full of fluff and romance judging by the cover (I know you’re not supposed to do that) but boy was I wrong.

The story follows Ella who wakes up in the hospital after a car accident and discovers that she lost the baby. The only problem is Ella doesn’t remember being pregnant or carrying a child for 21 weeks. Desperate to return to her normal life she takes on a cover story that never went to print the year prior and discovers she doesn’t remember anything about the guy she’s interviewing, Nathan Donovan. She doesn’t understand why she can’t remember her pregnancy or him and starts to try and figure out how the two are connected.

I was having a great time reading this book until about 75% of the way through, even though I really despised Ella’s husband Damien and how he treated her. Reading about how Ella was trying to recover her memories intrigued me and I felt that I really connected to her character and what she was going through. But then I got to the ending of the book and it all was ruined for me.

*SPOILER WARNING*

When it was finally revealed at the ending that Damien was sterile and the baby was actually Nathans I was not really surprised but I had a feeling that was the case since she had an affair with Nathan. The thing that really surprised me was that Damien was perfectly fine with it because he loved Ella so much and it killed him not being able to give Ella a baby.

Then he revealed to Ella that it was planned all along. She had agreed to sleep with Nathan who looked like Damien and they would just pass the baby off as Damien’s. So she purposely took the exclusive story and slept with Nathan only to get pregnant. When she lost the baby, they agreed she would use what she had learned from a neurological doctor that taught her how to repress memories that she didn’t want. Which meant forgetting that she was pregnant, forgetting about the affair with Nathan, and forgetting that Damien was sterile. I assumed, wow, this is the big plot twist and I really didn’t see it coming, I was honestly a little blown away. But I also thought in my head, there are still quite a few pages left so what could really be happening next?

Lo and behold, another plot twist, and this is where the book went south for me. Now all of a sudden it’s revealed that Damien lied to Ella. When Ella slept with Nathan to get pregnant she fell in love with him and after hearing about his dead son, she didn’t think she could deceive him like that. So Damien, not wanting to lose the kid, decides to take matters into his own hands and uses Ella’s “code” to help her forget that she had already cheated on him once with Nathan. But what Damien doesn’t know is that Ella has been in touch with the neurological doctor to help her remember all the memories that she lost, including the ones Damien wants her to forget.

And that is how the book is now getting a sequel that I will probably not be reading.

I hate to admit this, but I almost gave up on this one. It was feeling predictable and cliche, but I am so happy that I stuck with it! I have enjoyed Kerry Lonsdale's previous novels, so I was really excited to receive a copy to read and review. The author does a great job of writing characters you can cheer for and be frustrated with all at the same time. It's not a perfect book, but it's a great story that I would recommend you pick up this summer. If you enjoy it, I'd explore the authors backlist titles as well!

LAST SUMMER by Kerry Lonsdale

I love this author. Her books always blow me away. They take my breathe away and leave me wanting more. Her writing is flawless in my opinion. The stories always pull me in and won’t let go. Even after I finish the book I want more. The edge of my seat feeling. The what is going to happen next. The trust. Honesty and even the lies. It pulls me in totally and it will you also.

Ella and Damien are so in love that it’s almost sickening. Not in a gross or bad way but in the way of complete and true love. Or is it? Are there secrets in there that they are keeping. The met and fell in love rather quickly so do they truly know each other as well as they think?

What would you do to have a baby? What would yo do if you lost said baby? Would you be angry at your spouse for possibly causing you to lose this child. What if you can’t remember it at all. Not anything about being pregnant or what happened to make you lose your baby. You can’t grieve because you have no memories of it at all.

What if you thought you was in love with someone else? What if that person was not who you thought they were? What if your whole life was based on guilt? From losing your parents to losing your best friend. What if you felt that king of guilt. What would you do to forget about it. To make it all go away? Almost anything I would suspect. But then what if your life was based on things that were not honestly true? Then what would you do?

This is one of the best books you will read. It will keep you turning the pages until every question is answered. Until that very last page when you scratch your head and say.... What??? Did I read that right? It’s a great book. I truly loved it from cover to cover. It held my interest all the way. I kept wanting more and more.

The characters are likable. They are well developed and you won’t know who to root for in some areas. It’s one that makes you doubt things you always believed in. Or it did me. The what if’s will come after all the truths are out there for you. When you find out why things happened and who made them happen. You’ll be floored. I sure was. Kerry Lonsdale has another winner here and I can’t wait for her next one.

A 5+ stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Lake Union Publishers for the ARC of this wonderful book.

We all have authors we go to for a good story with great characters, that we can count on regardless of what kind of life we are living that day. Kerry Lonsdale is one of mine and she delivers again with LAST SUMMER. This story of Ella, Damien, and Nathan is awesome and shows off Lonsdale’s skills with creating characters you both love and hate. The plot has the twists a suspense should have while never having them seem forced. Just when you say “wow” to yourself, you realize she isn’t done telling the story. I loved every sentence and it was worth my productivity taking a hit since I read it one day!

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel and to Kerry for writing it. All opinions are my own.

It was extremely difficult for me to decide upon a rating for Kerry Lonsdale’s Last Summer. It was a book that had me hooked, one I powered through in no time at all, but it was a bit too predictable for my liking. As much as I enjoyed watching everything come together, I worked out almost every detail very early in the story.

I can easily see Last Summer becoming a favourite of fans of suspenseful drama, the kind of books I refer to as domestic thrillers, as it’s a story built upon lies and deceit that slowly come to light. It’s a story filled with uncertainly, we watch as the main character slowly puts the pieces together, which works to explain the drama at the start of the book. It’s a story that plays out the exact way domestic thrillers should, ensuring you’ll be hooked throughout.

The fact I was hooked and enjoying things had me wanting to give this one a four-star rating. I could not put the book down and powered through it in a single sitting. Things happened rapidly and there was plenty of aspects to enjoy, and I adored this fact. As I mentioned at the start of my review, however, I worked everything out far too easily. There was one little surprise at the very end of the story, one thing that took it a step beyond what I’d expected, but otherwise I’d worked it out. It was fun, I enjoyed seeing the way everything came together, but I’d been hoping for more that just the one surprise. This is why I rounded my three-point-five-star rating down.

Despite the predictability, I did have a lot of fun with this one and would recommend it to fans of the genre. It’s certainly a story that hooks you, one that is a lot of fun.

Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale is a mystery wrapped in a love story. From the start you are drawn in.
Ella and Damien mean everything to each other until a tragic accident turns their world upside down. Can two people be so much in love that the past doesn’t matter? Can you love someone so much that you will manipulate them? Is honesty in a relationship important? The are the questions that ran through my mind as I read.
There are many twists and turns throughout the story. I thought I knew what was going on - but I was wrong. I was very surprised by the ending.
The story is so well written you don’t see what’s coming next. The characters and their relationships are so complex that the action of the characters colored the way I reacted.
I highly recommend this book. It has everything, love, mystery and suspense.
Thank you to #Netgalley and #LakeUnionPublishing for approving my request. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

I must admit that I am still a bit uncertain regarding my feelings for this story.
It started off with a heartbreaking chapters and I felt sad for both Elle and Damien. I did read it in one sitting because the writing is good and the story was interesting enough to make me keep reading and finding what's happening next, what happened when everything started. Along with Ella, we found out that some truths are better kept secrets and I understand better why Damien refuses to talk about what happened and why is she blocking her memories.
There are things that I don't agree with like her time spent with Nathan but I think it was necessary for the whole story to add that present moment and angst and twists and turns that once again proved that nobody it's perfect and we all make mistakes and take decisions,not so good on the long run but good for us in the moment or so we think of it.
Both Nathan and Damien are interesting male characters, different in their own as a person and also in their beliefs and what's more important for them in life.
I'll be looking for more books by the author for sure.

Ella wakes up in the hospital after a car accident, 5 days later she remembers nothing about being pregnant and nothing about the accident. The husband, Damien, wouldn’t answer her questions. Her work assignment, Nathan, has his own story to tell about them. There is so much going on, yet it comes together perfectly.

I read this book in a state of shock. There are so many things that made my jaw drop, made me wonder what the characters were thinking, and how the heck would this story end. I’m not sure any of the characters had an idea of how their actions would affect each other. If they did it didn’t seem that they cared. I’m not even sure they knew how their actions would affect themselves. It is scary that all three of the main characters had the potential to become parents and they would be responsible for another person.
Last Summer is a book that I enjoyed, I was intrigued by the suspense of how it would all come together. The characters were tough to relate to, the storyline was easy to read although it was sometimes a little confusing, and the ending left me shaking my head.

Loved it!!!! I have read all of Kerry Lonsdale's books and this is my new favorite. This book had so many twists and turns that I didn't expect. Loved the story, characters and writing style. I have mixed feelings about Ella. While Ella was in Alaska, I realized I pretty much hated her. Then I felt sorry for her. I have no words for Damien, actually I do, but they aren't nice. There were so many secrets. When I finally thought the truth was revealed-- more secrets. Loved every minute of this book. I loved being along for the ride as Ella tried to recovering her missing memories. I feel bad for Nathan. he definitely ended up being one of my favorites along with Andrew.

Definitely recommend the book. Was not expecting the ending but it was brilliant!!! None of the characters were what they seemed. It definitely caught me off guard. Can't wait to read more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Happy Publication Day to Kerry Lonsdale for Last Summer! I’ve read and loved all of Lonsdale’s novels and her latest definitely follows suit. The stories Lonsdale writes always have a good mix of love, intimacy, the intricacies of domestic relationships and a good dose of mystery. Women’s fiction with a bang! There’s always a little excitement. Last Summer does not disappoint! The main character, Ella, wakes up in the hospital after a car accident and suffers from selective memory loss. She doesn’t remember the accident itself, her pregnancy or anything that happened in her life the previous summer. The reader follows Ella on her journey from Nevada to Alaska as she tries to put all of the pieces together and get her memories back. It’s a wild and twisty ride filled with tons of secrets and lies. Highly entertaining! Thank you to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing and Lake Union Publishing for sending a complimentary copy of this wonderful summer read my way. Grab your copy today!

Wow. I flew through this book. I picked it up, read the first couple chapters and was intrigued by this story of relationships and memory loss. I almost immediately had slight Dark Matter vibes, in that Ella was missing memories and I was sure something sinister had happened to her. I was right along with Ella wanting to know why her memories were missing and what happened.

My favorite surprise in this book was all the nature. The celebrity Ella is tasked with interviewing is Nathan Donovan, an outdoor enthusiast who is basically Bear Grills. I loved seeing them on hikes, shopping for gear, and planning a trip while working on the interview. The settings for Nathan’s house and work were picture perfect and I welcomed this part of the story. I also really enjoyed how his character was developed, he was easily my favorite part of the whole story.

I appreciated the balance of romance and something like light sci-fi mystery with a hint of suspense. I tore through the pages wanting to know what happened next, and welcomed the twists in the end. I knew something was up from the beginning, but the medium pace kept me interested, looking for clues, and hoping my hunch was right. I’m a fan of romance novels, both rom-com and romantic thrillers, so this was a fun read for me. I definitely need more romantic thrillers in my life after enjoying this one so much.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romantic thrillers that have relatable lead characters. This is an easy, fast paced read that’s perfect for any summer TBR. I think readers would enjoy having this on deck for a beach read, relaxing by the pool, or during vacation travel.