Incredibly slow moving plot, and I felt like it required a suspension of disbelief that was beyond what I expected for a thriller. This is also my first work by CL Taylor, but I'll give them another try!

Another great read by C.L Taylor. A gripping, mysterious thriller that kept me guessing until the end.

I loved this book! It was such a strong well written story. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A mind bending escape!

Her Last Holiday by C.L Taylor is a well written mystery thriller that follows three women, Fran, Jenna and Kate.

Fran is haunted by her sister, Jenna's disappearance. Jenna went to a Soul Shrink retreat in Gozo two years ago and never came home. Police put it down to suicide or was foul play involved?

Fran attends a Soul Shrink retreat under another name to find the answers she desperately needs - What happened to Jenna and who was involved?

I really enjoyed reading Her Last Holiday with the three different character perspectives with the two different timelines. The story had twists and turns and just when you thought you knew what happened to Jenna you get turned around again. This is my first C.L Taylor book and I am sure it won't be my last.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for the advanced copy of Her Last Holiday for an honest review.

The new book from C. L. Taylor will not disappoint.
This story tells the tale of Fran's attempt to find out what happened to her sister Jenna when she when on a holiday to a therapeutic resort in Gozo.
This story tells the story of all the characters through their viewpoint and jumps about in time, but this does not confuse and compliments the story and adds a dimension of compulsion to the story.
The characters are rich and some are just creepy.
This is a read to keep you addicted until you complete it and definitely one of the summer reads of 2021.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley in allowing me to read in return for a review.

This book has me guessing along the way. I changed my mind at who wE responsible for Jennas death at least three times. I love books by this author as they grip you and make you want to read more. Highly recommended for people who like a mystery thriller with lots of twists and turns.

Her Last Holiday - CJ Taylor

Fran and Jenna are sisters, with a twelve year age gap between them.
Three years ago Jenna went on a wellbeing retreat to Gozo, Malta and never came back, her body was never found.
The retreat ended in tragedy with two accidental deaths, and Tom the charismatic leader jailed for negligent manslaughter.
Three years later Fran goes on a retreat in North Wales (run by the Tom, who is fresh out of prison) in an attempt to find out the truth about Jenna's death. Murder or suicide?

Told using a past / present narrative, the past focussing on Jenna's Gozo retreat, and the present on Fran's attempts to find the truth.

The first thing that stuck me is the humour, this is a very funny book.

The plots rolls along at a good pace, the characters are multi-dimensional and emotionally involving with hidden depths and motivation. I thought the plotting was brilliant with both the past and present narrative being rich with depth, twists and turns.

Not many books can make me laugh and cry and keep my heart racing.

I really couldn't fault this book, characters, depth, plot, pace, suspense, humour, it does everything superbly and was a joy to read.

I've been a fan of CL Taylor's book since reading The Escape and The Fear a few years ago, books which really opened my eyes to what unconventional psychological character thrillers can do.

Her Last Holiday is up there with my favourites of her books.

Definitely 5* and this will be one I remember for a long time.

Thanks to Netgalley.

I always look out for CL Taylor releases and they do t disappoint! I found it a bit tricky to keep up at first as it does jump from past to present quite a bit - I was amazed that Fran would book on a wellness retreat her sister had gone missing from! Told by 3 POV it was a refreshing and exciting read.

Have read this authors books before, and knew this would be another page turner. A great story, full of intriguing characters. Would thoroughly recommend..

I really enjoyed this book! I liked how it was told from different people’s perspectives and how it jumped back and forth between past and present. The storyline kept me engaged and guessing all the way to the end of the book. I love how the characters interacted and linked together too, great book!

C. L. Taylor always delivers and this is no exception. Fran sets out to discover what happened to her sister who disappeared, presumed dead, on a retreat 3 years ago. It’s a fast paced read with a couple of twists you won’t see coming. For me, this is C. L. Taylor’s best to date.

It was my first book by C.L.Taylor, but what enjoyable read it was!
The story is told from several POVs, which I personally like very much in books of this genre: 1) Fran - 51 years old woman, who is haunted by the mysterious disappearance / suicide of her sister Jenna nearly 3 yeaes ago during; 2) Kate - wife and assistant of Tom, who is the shrink and is trying to recover after the terrible story that happened at Malta during retreat session, organized by them, which ruined their lives; 3) Jenna - Fran's sister, who participated in the retreat in Malta and where something strange started to happen.
The plot twists in the book were either wow and in some moments unexpected or predictable, but still quite good and entwined with whole plot.
I also cannot omit how vivid and detailed the descriptions in the book are! And some parts were honestly creepy.
In general the book is very interesting and can be read in just one evening! Now I will definitely check other books by the author.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Avon Books and C. L. Taylor for providing me with the e-copy in exchange with my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for the advanced copy of C.L Taylor's "Her Last Holiday".

Her last holiday follows Fran on her quest to find out what has happened to her younger sister Jenna when she goes missing and is presumed dead whilst at a wellness retreat in Gozo.

The Chapters switch between Fran, Jenna and Kate and follow past and present storyline.

Her last holiday was easy to get hooked on, for the parts set in Gozo, it transported me to a holiday I feel like I haven't been on in forever- what with the current pandemic. It gave me an opportunity to escape to a different country even if it wasn't all that it may seem!!!.

I didn't see some of the plot twists coming towards the end of the storyline and that definitely kept me on my toes, you get to see the characters in a whole new light and again, people may not be what they seem.... This completely threw me off course because I can usually see where the plot is going. I loved the fact that I was about to be shocked and my emotions for characters completely swayed. We all love a happy ending and that's what we get, all loose ends tied up and well thought out and not rushed like some thriller endings.

***** Solid 5 stars from me! *****

This was my first book by C.L.Taylor and I enjoyed it. It was a bit predictable in places, however it was easy to read and follow, easy to keep track of who was who. Would still recommend!

When Fran`s sister Jenna disappeared from a wellness retreat on the island of Gozo, it appeared she had committed suicide, although her body was never recovered.
The man responsible for the group, Tom Wade spent two years in jail for the death of two other group members.
Now Tom is about to be released from prison and Jenna`s parents want their daughter Fran to discover the truth of what happened to her.
When they learn he is advertising another retreat in Snowdonia, its decided Fran must go undercover.
The story is told from the point of view of Fran and Kate ,Toms wife, in present day and of Jenna at the retreat on Gozo.
Fran is subjected to joining in mountain activities, canoeing as well as in depth one to one chats with Tom himself. She is totally out of her comfort zone.
The more she ferrets for information the more she suspects someone wants to stop her discovering the truth.
I found it a little slow, maybe too many characters and sadly as I guessed the truth of what had happened to Jenna before the conclusion I was left a little disappointed.
Thanks to Netgalley and Avon books for the chance to read this as an ARC

When Fran's sister Jenna goes missing from a retreat on the island of Gozo everyone believes that she took her own life including Fran, but their mother has different ideas and believes that she was murdered by the SoulShrink owner Tom Wade.
After the death of two fellow retreat clients Tom Wade is arrested and sentenced.
After his release his wife Kate insisted that they set up another retreat this time in Wales.
Fran's mother insists that she attends and has already paid for the trip.
Will Fran be able to find out exactly what happened to Jenna in Gozo or is she putting her own life at risk?

This was a very complex and slow paced mystery. I have to admit, this wasn’t one of my favourites of CL Taylor’s books. She has become one of my go-to authors so my expectations are always fairly high! I wasn’t totally gripped by the story, the pace was maybe a bit slower than I normally like? I’m still saying it’s a good book, it was an okay read. But I have rated Taylor’s previous books 4/5 stars, so it did just fall a teeny bit flat for me.

3.5/5 stars!

This novel was certainly enjoyable and finishes off with a happy ending, but I didn’t vibe very well with Fran, one of the main characters.

<b>Her Last Holiday</b> centers on the perspectives of Jenna (past), Fran (present), and Kate (present). Jenna went on a retreat two years ago and disappeared. Her disappearance and lack of solid evidence or body, was ruled as a suicide. Fran, Jenna’s older sister, two years later goes on a similar retreat with the same company to get to the bottom of what happened to her sister.

The plot held my attention the entire way through. I was interested to get to the bottom of what happened to Jenna.

As I said previously, I didn’t connect well with Fran as I found her to be cold and selfish. She seemed generally displeased by most things and was really distant with her family, her sister especially.

As the story progressed, I really did not like Kate. I will not say more because it will reveal to much of the story.

Jenna’s perspective felt more genuine, and especially as her back story became more evident, you could really understand why she chose the decisions that she did.

The Fitzgerald family dynamic is definitely unbalanced! But I did enjoy reading about their family and their families history, as it really shone a light on why Fran and Jenna are the way they are. It was also nice to see Fran evolve throughout the novel, which by the end, made her more relatable. One thing I would have been interested in pursuing is things revealed in the last 3-5% of the book. I won’t give more information, as it will detract from the story line for those who haven’t read it!

All in all, I did enjoy reading his novel and my first experience with this author.

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are my own. Upon publishing of this novel, I will also be posting my review to Amazon Canada.</i>

4.75 stars

This book cautions us about wellness gurus and exposes some of the truths that happen when clients aren’t looking. A few years ago, Jenna went on a retreat that ended in tragedy: she has gone missing, two people died and Tom, the guru has been charged and convicted for his negligence. The book starts on the date of his release, and it is told in three point of views: We follow Fran in the present as she tries to figure out what happened to her sister 3 years ago, and signs up to the newest retreat Tom is running. We follow Jenna in the past as she takes us through her experience in the retreat up to the accident and her disappearance. We also follow Kate, Tom’s wife, through whom we learn about the behind the scenes from both the present and the disastrous retreat.

I absolutely loved this book, it was enthralling, engaging, fast paced and original. I enjoyed and partake of Taylor’s take on some self-help guru’s and beyond that I really loved how all the characters were presented and developed. All the voices were clearly their own, and Taylor brought us on the journey of each woman’s feelings and motivation. I love when you read a book and understand the character’s actions, even if you disagree with them, you see a character congruently make choices within their character. Taylor gave us this in this book.

I really loved the ambiance of this book, and how the plot was executed. It was a consistently good book and I wish it hadn’t finished! I do have to say that even though Taylor played fair on this book, I feel that she threaded a very thin line with one of the twists. Not enough to take away from my thorough enjoyment, though.

I am definitely reading more books from this author! I found her style was a perfect fit for me!
Thank you, Avon Books UK, C.L. Taylor and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of “Her Last Holiday” in exchange for an honest review.

#Netgalley #herlastholiday

I absolutely love this author’s books, and I was so excited to get the chance to read and review this book. Well, just be warned, don’t read this book until you have cleared your diary, because you won’t be able to put it down! Yet again, this author has caused me a late night, as “one more chapter” became the rest of the book.

Everything in this book lends itself perfectly to the element of suspense and the atmosphere of trepidation and fear.

There’s a feeling that Fran is entering the lion’s den by going on the wellness retreat, given what happened to her sister. I was on tenterhooks the whole time, fearing that she would be found out, and that something awful would happen to her. There certainly seem to be a lot of secrets about, and not everyone is who they seem.

We get a dual timeline, with snippets of what happened to Jenna on her retreat. Just enough to whet the appetite, and to make you need to find out what the conclusion was, but all is not revealed until near the end, in a series of shocking and heart-pounding twists and turns.

Yet another triumph from one my favourite thriller writers, this book will have you totally enthralled and riveted. Can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s out in April, available to pre-order now.