ister bestselling authors, Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush have released a well-written thriller, Last Girl Standing which takes readers back to high school. The Five Firsts are the elite clique at West Knoll high school, and just before graduation at a pre-graduation party, one of them drowns under suspicious circumstances. As the years go on and the girls go on with their own lives, reunions and other happenings bring them together again.

The authors do a good job of developing the characters. However, the characters are typical of the generation today – entitled, spoiled, and very unlikeable. It may be that readers from this generation care about characters who are like them, but those of us who are disgusted with the behavior of the entitled, will not care about what happens to these characters. Although the protagonist, Delta, is the least spoiled of her group of five frenemies, she marries a despicable jerk, Tanner, who was the hottest jock in the school and the one everyone wanted (and the probably the main reason one of the First Five girls drowned). He is a class A jerk, and has cheated on Delta through the high school years and afterward. When he is stabbed, most readers won’t care if he lives or dies.

Although the authors fill the novel with building suspense, and ups and downs, some readers will not want to finish because they don’t care who did it and will just be happy karma was there to take Tanner down. I am one of those readers, and find that being surrounded with people just like these characters is not pleasant, and it is something that is avoided.

These authors are both excellent storytellers, and the novel is well-written. The subject matter will not grab some readers, and they should avoid the novel. Otherwise, fans of Lisa Jackson and her sister Nancy Bush will want to pick up this book.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N on May 26, 2020

Last Girl Standing is written by one of my favorite authors, I love a good suspense thriller but for me this book just didn't grab me in the way I would like for a book to do. I really found it almost impossible to like any of the characters, although she did work to redeem one or two before the ending of the book. The book did improve the longer you read it, and I wasn't really able to figure out the main culprit until it was revealed. Overall I would suggest those that enjoy suspense thrillers read the book for themselves, what one person really likes others may not.

I received a Advanced Readers Copy from NetGalley and the publisher, and this is my fair and honest review.

Last Girl Standing (3.5 stars) by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush is a modern-day thriller filled with teenaged angst. The thriller part works well, with many viable suspects and intricate clues, while the earlier events of the high-school age characters serves as an impetus for the latter-day happenings. Overall, it is an enjoyable book that gets better and better as the story progresses.

The story begins in the senior year of high school for the Five Firsts – a group of popular, but sometimes mean, girls – and Ellie, a former member of the group who has fallen out of favor. The first part of the book is the sketchiest, and by this, I mean that you have to like a high level of teen drama to get past it. While I tend to veer away from these kind of YA books, I read it with an open mind, and really got a flavor for the characters.

Of course, the book wouldn’t be a thriller without a death, so by the end of senior year, one of the girls dies under mysterious circumstances. Was it an accident? Murder? Suicide? These questions continue to haunt the girls throughout the book. A second death following the high school reunion ups the stakes, and the remaining girls are on notice that something bad is definitely afoot.

Fast forward to the current day, and another suspicious death, and that is where the mystery and suspense truly begin. From that point forward, Last Girl Standing propels the reader on a high-octane race to find a killer. And with such a vast array of suspects and motives, guessing the solution is quite a hefty task.

While I do believe the authors would have been better served by eliminating much of the teenage angst from the first part (by showing bits and pieces in flashback), the intrigue developed in the current-day mystery makes Last Girl Standing a book worth reading.

Note: I received an ARC of Last Girl Standing from NetGalley and Kensington Books. The above is my honest review.

I don’t know if it’s just me or not but lately it’s been very difficult to get into mystery stories and this one was no exception. I honestly could not get into the spot at all. I found the characters dry and dull and the story line to be subpar at best. This is definitely not a book that I would recommend which is unfortunate because I normally like Lisa Jackson books.

This is a good read, but not the best of these two authors. The plot was a bit predictable. I felt like I had read this story before because I've read several like it. That being said, I loved the characters! Some I rooted for, while others I loved to hate. The way the past interweaves with the present made me want to know who the villain was. The reveal of the who and why came as a shock. I also was satisfied by the ending. So while not my favorite, still worth the read.

Things happen at a high school graduation bbq that bring terror to them years later. Delta was in the popular girls group. She married the most popular guy, Tanner. They have a child together, Owen.
One of their classmates died that night of the graduation bbq. It was called an accident, a drowning. Now, years later that may not be what happened. The clock has turned, time has progressed forward. Someone is killing all of the girls that were part of the elite. There had been five.
Delta is now being looked at as a suspect in her husband's murder.
The past is catching up to the future.
The police must hurry before more lives are lost.
This is an exciting and mind boggling read! Keeps you guessing right up to the very end. Recommended!

I’ve read most of Lisa Jackson’s novels and enjoyed them. Unfortunately this did not grip me and took far too long to end.
It starts with a man badly injured in hospital with three glamorous women surrounding his bed. It then goes back fifteen years when these women were part of the most popular clique in high school and a tragedy that links them. The book then goes to the high school ten year reunion and then back to the present where a criminal investigation is underway. None of the female characters were likeable or strong positive women. The male characters were also very stereotyped. I finished hoping a sudden twist would save the novel but it didn’t. Yep f this had been my first Lisa Jackson I would not be interested in reading any more.
Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#LastGirlStanding #NetGalley

Thankyou to NetGalley, Kensington Books and the authors, Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Last Girl Standing in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
Another fantastic collaboration between two wonderful writers.
The narrative is compelling with well drawn characters and an imaginative storyline. I was hooked from the start. Impossible to put down, I finished this book in one sitting.
Well worth a read.

Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush are both favorites of mine. I did enjoy this book, as I found it a bit refreshing.

Getting through the high school years served to show how the "First Five" gathered and their developing personalities. This helped as the read enters Part Two with the present time. Although the "girls" still were essentially the same, the story really begins to develop.

Twisty throughout the rest of this story - I enjoyed the quick pick up in pace and found this read to be quite enjoyable!

Many Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Not the best storyline from these authors. if you like YA and drama this might be for you :) 5 High School friends that just start out a bit annoying and really stay that way. there was little to redeem them and make them likable.

This book had some great twist and turns! You start with these girls that are "friends" in high school. the night of the graduation party one of them dies. Is it an accident? or murder? Then at the 10 year reunion another is killed? I will admit that one made me mad, she was the one I liked best. Go forward a few years and things really start to fall apart. I will say I didn't guess who the killer was, it did take me by surprise. Pretty good mystery.

4.5 Stars

I noticed that a lot of reviewers of this book are giving it a bad star rating. I think I know why. They apparently didn’t read the story all the way till the end.

This book is broken up in three distinct sections. Section one features the time when they were in high school. And most significantly, the party they had near the river that caused the death of their friend, Carmen.

This section was not my favorite part of the book. I wish the authors had made certain scenes more like a flashback instead of a huge hunk of the book. The writing voice of this section was very young adult and it did give me a headache while reading it. It was kinda repetitive and annoying. I mean, isn’t that how we all were back then?

Then we jumped for a hot minute to the present day. Then before we could acclimate, we jumped to their ten year class reunion which was five years earlier. This sort of confused me but I understand why the authors did it. The Reunion section was much shorter than the high school section and we are basically learning about who is who and who they are at that point in their lives. But we also get another murder in this section, the police chief’s daughter who is also on the force, plus another man.

Then we jump back to present day. Thank goodness. I think this book would have been fine if they had started at the ten year reunion, flashed back to their youth and then hashed it all out in present time. Having all that high school drama in the front of the book is just asking for people to DNF the book. I did get a little tired of it. I mean, come on, there is like a hundred and one people playing a part here and I needed a score card to keep up with everyone. Too many characters for my taste. But when I finally got to the more modern sections, I was breathing a sigh of relief. It was more what I would expect from Jackson and Bush.

This book definitely has its issues but it turned out really well. Great mystery whodunit plot line. I would totally read another book with Detective Chris in it.

If you are looking for a good mystery/thriller, definitely check this one out.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

An entertaining and well written romantic suspense. Well crafted plot and characters. This will keep you guessing. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

I fell in love with Lisa Jackson’s Bentz and Montoya books so I couldn’t way to get ahold of this one from NetGalley and even though I was looking forward to reading it, I could not really get into it. It read like a really bad Soap Opera. I skimmed through but could not finish it. I hate it because I really do like Lisa Jackson. I haven’t really read anything by Nancy Bush.

The beginning reads much like a YA drama with a clique of popular girls lives leading up to a school party before graduation, a lot of it centered around the popular bad boy Tanner. One of their owns drowns that night. An accident? Maybe, but one girl doesn't think so. Fast forward to their 10 year HS reunion. The same jealousy and pettiness that consumed their teenage years returns, with one of them married to the philandering Tanner. This time one of the clique is murdered.
Five years later Tanner is stabbed to death. As Detective McCrae, a former classmate, investigates he must look to the past to find the killer.
The storyline meanders and most of the characters are despicable. They never left their teenage attitudes and feelings behind. The ending though was a surprise.
I'm a fan of both authors but this book was disappointing.
Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.

I am a huge fan of Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush, with that said I really enjoyed the storyline of Last Girl Standing but it took me until the very end of the book to like any of the characters which makes it difficult to completely enjoy the story. In fact, most of the characters throughout the book annoyed me. I also felt there was a large portion of the book that focused on this group of characters in their teenage years and that portion read like YA book. Not their best work in my opinion but a pretty good thriller storyline. Thank you for the opportunity to read early and review.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

there are a confusing amount of people but then again we are based at an academy and its the final year before they graduate

and before they leave one of their group will be dead....

once i got my head around the array of characters i started to get to grips with the storyline...and boy were there some characters that i didnt like...which is always good....

so as the years go by and our main group have class reunions and budding gripes still hold true...another murder occurs but its ruled as a suicide....

but what grips you is the apparent attack on tanner the golden boy the one who was most to succeed...who get stabbed numerous times and his wife delta who was in the clique is suspected...

not a bad storyline once you get your head around all the characters and was surprised who it was...would read another book by these two authors

While this book depicts high school and all the nonsense that truly goes on, I really enjoyed it.

One hot guy (Tanner) who has a problem keeping it in his pants is truly the cause of most of the issues with the First Five (Amanda, Bailey, Carmen, Delta, Zora) with poor Emily on the sidelines.

Tanner is Delta's boyfriend and she knows that he is a cheater/liar, but still she marries him. Fast forward 15 years and numerous murders, accidents, marriages, divorces, and Delta is being accused of killing Tanner.

Once there was a friendship than there was a few accidents or were they murders? This is an edge of your seat, page turning, action packed, who dun it and I really enjoyed it.

#Delta #Tanner #Owen #Murder #Cheater #IFiguredItOut #NetGalley

There were five from high school calling themselves The First Five they ruled and mocked others and it seemed like they were stilling doing it, as adults. By chapters you meet them. Then there was four, etc. Then there ten year reunion, and was like a television soap story of who slept with who. Not her usual good mystery. Given arc for my voluntary review and my honest opinion by Net Galley and Kensington.

There was a lot going on in this book. It’s about five best friends called The First Five. It jumps around between th present, their senior year of high school and their tenth reunion. One man is in the center of everything then he is murdered. There is a lot of suspects. The book is cleverly written. The character development is well thought out. I was constantly trying to figure out who the killer was. It kept me guessing until the very end. I enjoyed this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.