I thought this book was well written but I found it hard to connect with the characters within it. Maybe it was the emotional subject of adoption that was not for me, but I found it hard to finish.

Many thanks to netgalley and Imogen Clark for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

This story was an interesting take on adoption. It is told from three perspectives, that of the mother who gave her child up for adoption, the adoptee, and the subsequent children of the mother. It was well written and emotionally stirring particularly from the mother and adoptees point of view.

At fifteen Cecile becomes pregnant. Her parents push her to give the baby up for adoption because of her age. Years later, she receives a letter from that child suggesting a meeting. Cecile and Marnie have different expectations and how they play out is the meat of the book.

Loved this! So good, so exciting, so gripping and great story. Can't wait to read more by this author - absolutely brilliant.

This book was well written, taking a difficult subject and using it sympathetically. The characters were believable and the plot interesting. Thoroughly recommended.

This was a "read in one sitting" book for me. Emotional and sweet. The setting was also good, but now I am wondering about what happened next

Sweet Cecily has a secret that no one in her family saw coming. Out of character, Cecily left the country, alone, on a journey she needed to deal with herself. As her daughters scramble to work around her not being available to fit their needs, they start to unravel a bit and their cracks begin to show. This is a wonderful tale about how a family can overcome diversity and stand strongly together. Recommend this sweet book.

Just finished reading this. Loved it! The first book I’ve read in a long time that I had trouble putting down. It was the author’s writing style that helped keep my interest The character development was very good. The story line was interesting, but not the main reason for looking forward to reading every day. Can’t really explain what it was, but loved it!

I was given the Kindle read by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well-written with an interesting viewpoint of family dynamics surrounding adoption. The past can affect everyone and nowhere is it more clear than in this book where actions reflect deep into the future. Repercussions from the past can come back and each family member has the potential to be affected differently. The strong focus of this book throughout is the strength of mother and daughter bonds. While this was a good read, it did not move quickly enough for me.

I enjoyed this book's storyline. The atmosphere and environment for this author to fortify the characters was perfect. Although I am unable to use this book in my classroom, I have recommended it to some of my students.

What a lovely read, a great family story, lovely charecters all brought together at the end with no bits left untold

A new author for me and I enjoyed her style of writing immensely. Cecily is married with three grown up daughters but when she finds herself meeting a daughter she gave up for adoption when she was just a teenager things don't go as well as she wants. The situation is not easy for any of them as it turns out but the back story was very interesting and the characters all had their own stories,thought the ending was very good different to what I was expecting. I loved it

The story starts in a most intriguing way. Normally predictable and reliable Cecily jets off to Kefalonia seemingly on the spur of the moment. It's a promising start and I was hooked, eager to find out what had drawn Cecily to behave in a way that was so out of character.
When the story flipped back to 1968, which explained Cecily's sudden flight, it was enlightening and engaging. The book started very well and had the potential to be a page-turner.
Unfortunately, the second half fizzled out somewhat. There were glimmers of hope when intriguing potential plot-twists were hinted at but they didn't materialise. There were too many discrepancies in Cecily's character for her story to be believable and the ending was disappointing and felt a bit rushed.

Not everything turns out in life as we would like.
Centered around Cecily who after receiving a letter suddenly ups and flies off to Kefalonia much to the dismay of her three grown up daughters who cannot understand what is behind the sudden "holiday". With her husband left to cope with their daughters questions and worry Cecily arrives at a spa resort where she must wait to meet the writer of the letter. It was at this point of the story that I began to guess what was coming and that Cecily would be meeting her first born daughter who was given up for adoption when Cecily was sixteen.
This is a well written book dealing with secrets, adoption, love and how life can turn out. I do not want to write any major spoilers but will say it was a really interesting read.

A story full of family drama, drawing on 'nurture vs nature debate and highlighting the things people face being part of a family.
I found the storyline intriguing, and wanted to know the outcome of the Nightingale sisters lives and difficulties.

Found it hard to connect with this book. The constant flitting between locations and then time periods made for a bit of whiplash, and the characters themselves - I wanted to like them, but it was as if the author had chosen to push all the worst of these women to the forefront and we the readers got to see that. Could hardly see how or even why I would root for them, and on the whole, the daughters' lives just seemed like they were there to be there - you could remove them from the book and it wouldn't hurt much.
Overall, very good premise, beautiful writing that flows nicely, but the characterization killed it for me

Enjoyable story line which didn't turn out as I expected. Well rounded characters with whom it is possible to relate.

My first book for the new year--2021! Ms. Clark is a new author to me--the story was at times slow for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the characters--especially Norman. Ms. Clark wasn't predictable in her story-telling, I like to be surprised and I was VERY surprised that I wasn't able to predict the ending.

I have read all of Imogen’s previous titles and am delighted that her latest release is equally engaging and secures her position as a reliable author of quality family drama. The Last Piece is another carefully constructed and well-written page turner that presents us with a good, solid and believable story that draws inspiration from the nature vs nurture debate and highlights what it means to be part of a family.

I was quickly drawn into the lives of the Nightingale sisters and found myself caring very much what happened to them and their parents. Whilst there were no particularly surprising plot twists, I found I was actually far more interested in the ‘why’. The explanation given provided a fascinating insight into an unfamiliar aspect of our recent social history. I also thought that the ending was in itself an interesting ‘twist’ and it left me thinking about the impact of adoption on both mother and child long after I had finished reading.

I am grateful to the author and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for wish I have agreed to give an honest review.

It took me a while to get into this book because there were lots of characters. I'm glad I persevered as it was a really good book with lots of storylines to follow.

I loved this book. The characters were all so very real and the story even more so. There was a sadness to this story and a wish to see what happened next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.