This is my first book by C.L. Taylor and I was drawn in by the premise; a triad-narrative thriller told through the voices of three females all involved with wellness retreats ran by SoulShrink.

We hear from Fran whose sister Jenna died under suspicious circumstances on a wellness retreat. Whilst marked as a suicide Fran seeks closure so decides to attend the latest retreat hosted by the company. Next is Kate, who manages and organises the retreats. Whilst she is the brains of the operation, her husband Tom is the self-help guru leading the session. Lastly, we hear from Jenna, 2 years prior, about her experience on the retreat.

There are a lot of characters to get your head around in the book, and as some of them change their names it is a little hard to follow. With themes of suspicious deaths, hidden agendas, secrets and dysfunctional family circumstances, I expected to be enraptured, but I was a little underwhelmed. Despite the intriguing premise, the story was such a slow-burn that I found myself getting bored and agitated, and the latter half of the book was a little repetitive and anti-climatic. The final twist is a little lacklustre with an unconvincing motive. Despite this, it is an interesting delve into the relationships between people and the human psyche.


*Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for the review copy

I usually love any book by this author. In this particular book I just did not like the main character. I do think this was a well written mystery/thriller book.

Be prepared for a brilliant, clever, crime thriller/suspense you will not want to put down. This latest book from CL Taylor is brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The suspense grabs you and trust me you won't want to stop reading until the final page. The characters are awesome and the plot is unexpected, the twist are mind blowing. CL Taylor has truly written a masterpiece, it will shock and end with a killer twist. The main character Fran is certainly determined to find out what happened to her sister at the wellness retreat and that's where the twists and shocks come in. The book just absorbs you and it's one of those where you say "just one more chapter" well that chapter just doesn't happen and before you know it you have finished the whole book. I really loved it and it deserves more stars than five. I would highly recommend because you won't be disappointed.

C.L. Taylor has done it again...A gripping story full of suspense. 5 stars!
I first came across C.L. Taylor's books a few years ago when someone donated 'The Accident' to a book swap shelf. Ever since then I have been addicted to her books. So I was over the moon to say the least when I got accepted to review her new book!
'Her Last Holiday,' is full of twists and turns from the beginning right until the end. Just when you think you've got it there's another twist!
When you think of a wellness or health retreat you think of spa days, motivational speakers, delicious food, relaxation and happiness. However, this book completely flips this view and turns 'paradise' into a nightmare!
I loved the variety and mystery of the characters and how their different personalities played a role in the story. They are described in so much detail and I could imagine each of them clearly in my head.
I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put this book down.
If you love mystery, a gripping story with plenty of twists and turns I would 100% recommend this book.
Thank you to C.L. Taylor, Avon and HarperCollins and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I always love Cally’s books, she has a way with words that manage to drum up excitement and anticipation about what’s going to happen next. I thought I had this story figured out - I was wrong! The ending!!!

I give this book 4 stars because it felt a little samey and similar to other reads, it really did remind me of Sleep in a way (people who don’t know each other staying away in a house together on a retreat) I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m so pleased I’m getting back into fiction again, I found that so hard in 2020! Thanks Cally!

I went into this book thinking, “who would let that man host another retreat?” I ended up loving the book though.

I loved the mystery in it, which I cant talk a lot about because of *spoilers*, but I really enjoyed it.

The characters were also great—and some of them also mysterious—and i really enjoyed learning about them as well.

'Learn how to heal your trauma, free yourself from anxiety and fact the future with optimism rather than fear’

Packed with mystery, wonderfully twisted characters and told in two timelines Her Last Holiday by C.L. Taylor is set in a wellness retreat in Snowdonia, Wales and another in Malta. The face for the SoulShrink Retreat is Tom Wade a motivational speaker and anxiety survivor and he’s just been released from jail!

Fran Fitzgerald is a teacher with attitude and Tom Wade from SoulShrink was the last person to see her much younger sister Jenna alive! Jenna went missing at a SoulShrink retreat that took place in Gozo, Malta.

On his release from jail Tom had decided he wasn’t going to run another retreat but his mind has been changed, it’s back to business and one will be held.

Seeing online that Tom has been released and within three days he's begun tweeting again, Fran’s mother Geraldine is bloody angry! Geraldine decides Fran should try and find out what happened to her daughter Jenna as she doesn’t believe it could of been a suicide. So Fran books herself on the next retreat to confront Tom and look for answers. Will Fran get her answers and will she get out alive?

There are many characters in this story (keep a notebook!) as the story is told from both Jenna’s and Fran’s point of view at each different retreat.

And we have our third narrator, Kate. Kate is the organiser, business partner and the drive behind the retreats. She has held everything together and pushed on after the murder accusations ruined them financially.

The story begins with a great dynamic and later in the story the tone and pace changes with many red herrings and secrets. I think to enjoy this story one hundred per cent you have to realise it's fiction so it doesn’t have to be believable!!!

The story is tantalisingly character driven. An entertaining psychological thriller!
Release date is 29 April 2021!

I have read all the books this author has written and this book did not disappoint. Great storyline and relatable characters. Highly recommended.

A twisty thriller that had some clever plot devices to keep you reading on. I did enjoy the book but felt it fell a little short in some of the more in-depth character descriptions and consequently some of the behaviours of the main protagonists, in particular Kate and Fran, felt a bit exaggerated.

Fran’s sister Jenna visited Gozo on a self-help retreat with a group of people. A tragic accident happens resulting in two people from the group dying and Jenna going missing. Her disappearance is later ruled as a suicide. Tom the leader of the self-help group is sent to prison. Fran and her family are left struggling to come to terms with Jenna committing suicide.
Almost three years later when Tom is released from prison and begins to get his life back on track, Jenna’s family are shocked to see Tom has organised another self-help retreat. Fran is booked onto the retreat under a pseudonym to investigate her sisters death. Will Fran get the answers she desperately craves?

For me, this book was full of excitement, so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, half the time I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I loved the mysterious backgrounds to all the characters and I really became invested in the hunt to find out what happened to Jenna. I was absolutely gripped from start to finish.

If you have read Taylor's previous books and liked them you will definitely like this. Everything about this book was great, I mean everything. Highly Recommend

Two tears ago something happened in Gozo. We know two people died. And we know Jenna, Fran's sister hasnt been seen since.

Tom Wade has spent two years in jail for his 'crime'

Kate, his wife has been planning Tom's comeback. Now that hes out will SoulShrink rise from the ground again?

Fran has decided (well been pushed by her mother Geraldine) to go on the first SoulShrink retreat since Tom the leader has been released from prison. Will Fran find the answers she's looking for? Or is she putting herself in the line of danger?

C L Taylor has done it again, I love her writing style. She doesn't divulge too much information too soon. We barely know the background of what happened in the SoulShrink retreat in Gozo, but we know enough to want to find out more.

The reinvented retreat is being held in Snowdonia. Now being a North Walian girl 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 the locations mentioned in the book aren't very far from me. I kind of squealed when the A497 got a mention even 🙈

Her Last Holiday is full of mystery and intrigue. Prepare to play detective as you try to unravel the secrets, plus keep your wits about you on who's who?



Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for my gifted digital copy.

Good suspenseful book. A new author for me. I will definitely read more from this author. Love the story. Couldn’t put the book down.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Her Last Holiday by C.L. Taylor offers an intriguing premise that, for me, fell a little flat in its execution. I suspect that I may be the outlier here, but I felt myself becoming frustrated at my inability to really connect or empathize with any of the characters, which was unexpected as there is a cast of many. That being said, perhaps my expectations were set too high by the tantalizing promise of a sun-drenched holiday in Malta.

Fran, a woman whose sister disappeared two years earlier at a wellness retreat in Gozo, has decided to go looking for answers to the unsolved mystery. Booking herself into the Soul Shrink retreat, Fran hopes that by infiltrating the group from the inside, she will discover what really happened to her sister Jenna once and for all. Upon her arrival, Fran meets Tom Wade, the founder of Soul Shrink, and perhaps the only man who can provide answers to her many queries. But having recently been released after serving time in prison for his involvement in the deaths of two people, can Tom be trusted to explain what really happened to Jenna? And is Fran herself safe at the Gozo retreat, where those with secrets will stop at nothing to keep them hidden?

This is a novel that cunningly and admirably unravels its many secrets, and I was certainly intrigued enough to follow it through. I am anxious to read much more from this author but, unfortunately, this one didn't quite hit the spot for me. 3.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an ARC of this title.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have read a few books by this author and have enjoyed them all. This had great storyline and great characters and kept me hooked from the beginning to the end. Enjoyed it.

This was a pretty good book overall. I'd definitely recommend to anyone that's a fan of this genre.

I did have a bit of a hard time keeping up with names as there were a lot of characters with more than one name!

I quite like the ending and the overall pace was good. I read it in a few days so I was definitely invested!

I absolutely loved this. The story was so well written and each of the three characters had such distinct and individual voices, i was completely engaged by them. While not all of them were what you would call likeable, they were very good characters and i find unlikable characters to be (sometimes) far more interesting. I never imagined the ending or the twists, i thought i had it all figured out but once again Cally threw me for a loop with an epic game changer.

This was a fascinating story based around a self help group holiday. The descriptions in the story were excellent and I felt as though I was there. I managed well with the time changes in the story as they were clearly defined and the interactions between the participants was very good. I loved the conclusion..

It took me a while to get into this book but once I did I couldn't put it down. I just wanted to know what happened. While I found the book entertaining, I had a hard time keeping up with all of the different characters. I also found things to be a little too far-fetched. Overall, I'd say it was an entertaining book with some suspense. It's a quick, easy read which I find are needed every now and then.