When Fran’s younger sister, Jenna, disappeared on a retreat it broke an already fractured family even further apart. The retreat leader, Tom, and his wife Kate are trying to rebuild their life after his jail sentence for the death of two other people on the retreat and when they start a new business Fran is posing as a widow to find out what happened to her sister. Told by Fran, Jenna and Kate this is one gripping book!
I really enjoyed this and found myself really hooked by it, thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for this honest review.

How nice it is to read a thriller from the POV of three women with their own distinctive voices, good character arcs, and not running around being overly emotional and silly.
They're not all likeable characters but I found them to be good characters and that was my favourite thing about this book 🙂

𝙁𝙍𝘼𝙉 - two years ago, during a wellness retreat, her sister Jenna died under suspicious circumstances. It was labeled suicide but Fran needs answers so she's attending the latest retreat by the same self-help guru as Jenna did.

𝙆𝘼𝙏𝙀 - manages and organizes the retreats. Her husband Tom is the guru but she's the woman behind the man and she knows how to pull the strings.

𝙅𝙀𝙉𝙉𝘼 (2 years ago) - heartbroken by some recent developments in her life she hopes Tom and Kate's retreat will fix her.

Her Last Holiday takes its time to pick up speed. First it builds it's base and makes sure the reader is cozy but it often drops little hints at what's to come and then the pace starts moving faster.

Also, lots of characters in this book!
There's the group that attended Jenna's retreat PLUS the group in Fran's retreat.
Some overlap but I still had one or two '𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵.... 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?' moments. Making notes would have helped ✒📒🙈

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺. 𝘋𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 29 /2021

This was the first adult C.L. Taylor book I have read and I am going to read the back catalogue now. A great suspense thriller.

Her Last Holiday follows Fran as she books herself onto a self help retreat run by the man responsible for the dissapearance of her sister 18 months previously. It's filled with great characters and some fab twists. Took a little while to get in to but I'm glad I kept going as the story unravelled faster in the second half and before I knew it I was finished.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Avon for the opportunity to read and review.

This was a book I was looking forward to reading, and leading up to the last quarter of Her Last Holiday, I was not disappointed. The characters are rounded and grow as the plot unfolds, the dialogue works well and the setting gives a good sense of place.. Unfortunately the ending is too rushed in the effort to tie up all the ends.and this, for me, was unsatisfactory - a shame; a story spoiled, I think.

CL Taylor's books are always deliciously readable. I seem to fly through them, and this one was no exception. The mystery kept me guessing, and even when I thought I *had* guessed something, well, I wasn't quite right! So that's always enjoyable. I also really grew to like the character of Fran too, and the slow untangling of the story kept me hooked.

I didn't love it quite as much as her last book, Strangers, but I think that may have been down to my own mental state whilst reading more than anything as it's still very cleverly plotted and written.

I was so excited to receive an early read copy of CL Taylor’s newest book. I have several of her books on my TBR shelf waiting for me. I am a huge fan and I was not disappointed. This was a twisty story about a past disappearance. I loved the time line switching back and forth between the past and present day. Without giving too much away, I highly recommend this book and this author. Can’t wait to read the next one. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the early release copy.

A slow burning thriller which centres on two sisters . Their upbringing has been strange and the relationship with their parents is strained. The younger sister disappears during a retreat abroad. The investigation concludes that she committed suicide, but the grieving family have doubts about this. The retreat is run by a couple, he is attractive and appealing , she does the running around and lots of social media. The group on the retreat when Jenna disappears is diverse .. Some of the activities are extreme and all in all you get the impression that it is a bit like a cult . The death of a couple during an activity adds to this feeling and the male half of the couple ends up in prison for what happened.
Fran, the older sister is summoned ny her parents and told to find out more about what happened to her sister. They have booked her on to a retreat in Wales, the first one for 3 years (after Tom is released from prison) , under another name. Not ideal, she is not a talker and although she becomes aware that some of the group members were at the same retreat as her sister , no one will discuss it . This retreat involves mountain activities, canoing etc. Something is off though and she (and another group member who is a journalist in disguise) get the impression that some one wants them dead. I liked Fran and Caroline's cynical attitude to what happened at the retreat.
A couple of twists in the story as it reaches it's conclusion . Suspense is built up and towards the end I could not put the book down. In the earlier parts of the book I found it slow going.
Thank you to Net galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Frans sister Jenna disappeared two years ago from a wellness retreat in Malta. The police ruled it a suicide. Tom Wade the face of Soul Shrink retreat was convicted of gross negligence, two other people died that day under his care. After serving two years he is released from prison. Tom has never revealed what happened to Jenna his third victim.

Frans’ not convinced. Jenna didn’t kill herself. When she learns Tom is back to hosting wellness retreats. (I mean what? How is this guy not banned?)She knows she needs to go, confront Tom, get the truth of what happened to her sister.

Registering under a false name, Fran goes to the retreat the more secrets and lies she uncovers she unknowingly puts herself as risk of never returning home.

The book switches between the past and present – Jenna’s time at the retreat and the present with Fran. There are a lot of unlikable characters in this book, its laced with dysfunctional families, obsession, domineering personalities and creepy creepertons a plenty. The narrative is pretty twisted. This is a slow burn; the ending was a little underwhelming for me. I was so invested in the book and was looking for something more sinister.

Still very enjoyable read, Cally is an auto-buy author for me, I will pick up anything she writes.

Thanks to NetGalley publisher and author for this free copy in exchange for my review. I'm always so happy when I can read a new book from C. L. Taylor. Soon after I started the book though, I was not too happy. I could not get into this story at all. I did not like any of the characters. I did like the description of the beautiful scenery. I respect this author so much, I've loved what I've read from her so far. I did not like this one unfortunately. I still look forward to new work from this author.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Finally a heroin who's older! That alone breaks the mold of most thrillers I read, the heroine is usually the younger sister, and if older, they'd be 30s, top. Finally a mature heroine who may or may not know what she's doing.

This is my first time reader this author's book, and the book is at a slower pace than most thrillers. It switches between present and the past, and written from the perspectives of the younger sister, the older sister, and the wife.

It was a decent book, with numerous of twists.

Firstly I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This book was an incredible way to start off the new year, Her last holiday had a steady pace throughout with some exceptionally written characters.

The three main characters – Fran, Jenna and Kate were all vibrant and lifelike, some likeable and others not. For me Jenna was 100% likeable, she had been dealt a really rough hand but still remained a good person. Fran in the beginning seemed cold and uninterested in everything and everyone but by the end her demeanour had completely changed and she became a lot more likeable, but Kate however was vile and vindictive throughout.

I loved the authors writing style, how the book was separated by the then and now chapters, I thought it really broke up the story, which progressed perfectly. It had me gripped by the end of the first chapter, remained at a steady pace throughout until the end part which left me with my head spinning.

This was another fantastic book written by C.L Taylor which I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend you to go and pre-order now. 😊

"Her Last Holiday" is the story of Fran, whose younger sister Jenna is missing, presumed dead, after attending a spiritual retreat in which two other people died. The handsome and charismatic retreat leader, Tom, was sent to prison for his role in the deaths, but now he's out, and Fran - or more accurately, Fran's mother Geraldine - wants answers about what happened to Jenna.

When Tom and his wife Kate advertise another retreat, Geraldine books a place for Fran to attend so that she can do some digging and try to find out once and for all what happened to her sister. Using Geraldine's identity, Fran is soon ensconced in a Snowdonian farmhouse with several other attendees, some of whom were at the ill-fated retreat where her sister went missing. Can Fran found out what happened to her sister? Or is someone intent on keeping that secret for good, no matter what it takes?

I really enjoyed this twisty, well-written thriller. It's well-paced, and I liked that it was told from two perspectives - Fran's in the present and Jenna's in the past - so that we got to see the whole story unravel. I also didn't guess the final twist, so bonus points for that! Would recommend this one - I loved the spiritual retreat aspect which gave it an original angle, and I liked that the characters were well developed and believable.

Thank you to NetGalley, and to the publisher, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

C L Taylor is a go to author for me, I've enjoyed every book she's written. Whilst not my favourite, Her Last Holiday is a thrilling read with a great plot which keeps you hooked and a satisfying twist at the end.
4 stars

Her Last Holiday by C.L. Taylor was my first by this author but won't likely be the last.

I found this novel engaging and gripping but the downside was that I couldn't quite get into Jenna's mindset since I'm a bit dubious about self-help kind of things. I think those that are deep into it may get more from this book.

I feel it drug a bit during the story building but the awesome character of Fran made up for it. She's not your likely heroine (older single woman, no romantic storyline here) but is a badass none the less!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Sisters who have disappeared are a trend for certain. This follows Fran whose sister Jenna disappeared from a retreat 2 years prior. There’s a lot of back and forth from then to now, which gives us a good slow burn. I love the characters and the suspense but the best part of all is the ending. What a twist! You won’t see it coming!

This book was brilliant! I’ve always loved CL Taylor books so I was thrilled to get this ARC from NetGalley. She has outdone herself with this new book - It was such a great suspense thriller / murder mystery.

Two years ago, Fran’s sister Jenna disappeared from a SoulShrink wellness retreat that went wrong. Now she’s set to go on her own retreat to try and uncover what really happened to Jenna and why there are still so many secrets around her disappearance.

Lots of suspense, great characters that you can get invested in and a really psychologically twisted ending. I liked the flashbacks as they really let you get to know Jenna rather than the whole story being from Fran’s point of view. It was interesting to see how the two sisters approached the SoulShrink retreats with different opinions about how it could help them both.

There are some really great chapters full of retreat style activities (water rafting, trust activities, late night games and swims). I loved Joy’s character the most - no spoilers but I’d love to read a book where she was the main character! (With all of her crazy jumpers).

I would definitely recommend this to my criminology students who love a good suspense thriller book.

When Jenna disappeared it was ruled a suicide, but some think it may be a little more than that.

Frans mum co'erces her onto a soul shrink retreat, run by the same people that were running the retreat where her sister went missing. They just want the truth. Fran feels bad she didnt take more time with her sister and is working through that regret and her own upbringing, and the wife of the retreat lead is worried that Fran is an under cover reported.

Like all of Taylors book I couldnt wait to read this, couldnt put it down, and was annoyed with myself for how quickly I read it. The characters were interesting, and some clues to who poeple were became obvious with hindsight. I was suprised by some things the characters did, and where and they impacted Jenna or Frans lives.

I have recently read two upcoming CL Taylor books quite close to one another. One of them being The Island - Taylor's YA thriller, and then Her Last Holiday - which is her newest adult thriller offering. To say they are completely different would be an understatement. They both have Taylor's fantastic plotting and inevitable twists, and they are both written exceptionally well. But that is where the similarities end.

In HLH we meet Fran, who is still grieving the loss of her sister, Jenna. Jenna disappeared two years ago while on a retreat in Gozo. Fran finds herself at the retreat with the man who may or may not have had something to do with her sisters disappearance.

What follows is a rollercoaster ride of high energy, action packed thrills and you won't be disappointed if you pick this one up.

Fran's character is developed really well throughout the book. It feels like she really grows as a person the more she 'investigates' Jenna's disappearance. I wasn't keen on a lot of the secondary characters to begin with, they aren't all that likeable. But this is something I love in a book. It keeps you grounded - who likes everyone in real life?!

A life long fan of Taylor's work, this one will be coming home with me as soon as it is released. Congratulations Cally on another fantastic book.

Her Last Holiday by C.L. Taylor is another gripping novel that does not disappoint! Fran’s younger sister, Jenna, disappeared 2 years ago while on a wellness retreat. The wellness host was sent to prison for 2 deaths that happened that weekend. Now that the retreat host has been released from prison, Fran wants to see if she can get more details on her sisters suicide by attending the retreat. Great read with many twists.

Thank you NetGalley, C.L. Taylor, & Avon Books for the ARC.

This was my first time reading C.L. Taylor’s work, and I was impressed and will definitely be reading more.

The books tells the story of a woman and her search for her sister’s murder. There are countless twists and turns and it’ll definitely keep you on your toes.

You’ll be shocked by the end of the book! :)