I honestly don’t think I would have finished this book if it hadn’t been on audio because it was just a little too slow for me.

This was a great read and hooked me from the jump! Amy Sheppard does a great job of setting the scene and bringing it all together and wrapping it all up! These friends were all kinds of fucked up! I can't wait for the next book she puts out, she is on my always-read list!

#TheLastHoliday
#NetGalley

Sinister in every way and a psychologically disturbing in many ways. Do you really know your friends? This will leave you asking so many questions about the roles' people play in your life.

A group of friends re-convening for a holiday down on the Cornish coast to celebrate an 18th birthday. Throw in a bundle of secrets and you have a recipe for disaster and that is pretty much how it ends up.

This essentially is a murder on the Orient Express who done it when Annie is found dead. I found it a tad slow, however, in places the story was one that kept you gripped, but then it would slow down again.

The story is told from varying voices and also different timelines so you have to concentrate to ensure you know where you are and who it is talking.

The last 20% of the book is speeds up and has a few twists, some you can see and maybe some you can’t. The ending was like one of the tv dramas where you are left going, oh really?

I can’t say I warmed to any of the characters particularly, in fact, they were all pretty annoying.

Despite the slow parts and the characters you’d love to through a dog poo at, I did still think this was a decent enough read. I have given this 3.5/5 rounded up to 4, which maybe me being slightly generous.

When Uni friends decide to get together for their traditional getaway it's clear things have changed. Everyone is trying to put their best foot forward, but something dark is lurking under the surface of this generally quaint camping trip. When one of their party is murdered, everyone starts to reassess their take on one another and figure out what happened. Until now, I had not read other titles by Amy Sheppard, but now plan to check out her other book as well. A huge thank you to Bookouture Audio for granting me access to this title via NetGalley. I will say that I think this may be easier for readers to read in print versus audio. A good thriller makes you want to flip by and re-read a section and with an audiobook that's much harder. I also recognize this is my personal preference.

Now this is the first book I’ve listened/read by Amy - and I feel like experiencing Amy’s books may be better in the written format.

It centres around a group of old university friends who go on a camping trip - mainly in celebration of a characters 18th birthday. Yet there are secrets within the group that are at risk of being revealed.

I love audiobooks for thrillers as they tend to remind me of the true crime podcasts I listen to - and I can really lose myself in listening to a book. However, the fact that each chapter tended to be a different character talking was quite confusing over audio. The narrator did a wonderful job, just there was a lot of characters to keep note of.

I did dislike a few of the characters and felt they got what they deserved at times, but the twists and turns relatively kept me on my toes till the very end.

RATING : ★★★/5

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with the audio-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. ✨

This is the edge of your seat, psychological thriller. Someone in the group is murdered in the rest of the story is too suspenseful to spoil on here. I must say it’s one of the best psychological thrillers. I’ve read in a long time. I will look for more by this author. The narrator was also wonderful. I stayed up most of night listening. I just couldn’t stop. This is amazing. Thank you netgallery. and publisher for providing this advanced copy to

The idea behind this book grabbed my attention and I did enjoy it. However I found it very slow and it dragged quite a bit. I also got confused between all the female characters and struggled to work out who was who.

The Last Holiday - Amy Sheppard.
A group of old friends, a camping holiday in Cornwall, alcohol, secrets, betrayal and a murder. This book has it all going on.

I really did enjoy this book. I was drawn in from the start and fully invested in the story.
The plot moved along at a good pace, with many twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes.

The characters are an eclectic and vibrant mix of individuals. All with their own secrets lurking just below the surface.

#TheLastHoliday kept me guessing. The story was gripping and unpredictable.
This book is a real page turner and will leave you with that wow feeling.
A brilliant read!

Audio narrated skilfully by Naomi Frederick.
With thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for an audio arc of this title.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A really good read/listen. I had the audio version and loved the narration. Friends from university get together for a camping trip. As the days go by secrets emerge and friendships get more toxic. A murder happens leaving Rose just 18 years old without her mother. So many motives to guess who did this. A really good twisty ending.

My thanks to Netgalley for my audio copy of The Last Holiday, I'm not sure if I'd have kept going with a hard copy as this seemed a very long drawn out psychological thriller. It got quite confusing at times as the narrative came from the point of view of a large number of people. This wasn't helped by the fact the narrator only gave Jack and the police officer who informed Annie of Charlotte's incident and the lady camp owner a voice of their own! So maybe by that fact alone I would actually have been better off with a hard copy to read myself, who knows? And what a bunch of unpleasant people they all were.
Another point that jarred was the use of 'Rose and me' 'Stella and me' and '1a.m in the morning'
On the plus side this is my favourite genre and I've usually managed to pinpoint the perpetrator by at least half way in but this story kept me guessing right up until the very end and even then there was another surprise in store, so very clever.

Annie, Stella, Jack, Charlotte and Tristan have been friends since university. Now, 25 years later, the group goes on holiday to a caravan park in Cornwall. Although they have remained friends through the years, none of them is particularly excited about the trip, but they all feel obligated to go for old time’s sake. Over time, many dark secrets have festered in the group. When they come together in Cornwall, Stella brings her fiancé Nate, Annie brings her daughter Rose, Jack and his new wife Kelly bring his son Oliver, and Charlotte and Tristan bring their child Theo. The book opens with a dead body found at the park and then goes back and forth between past and present. Tensions run high from the very first day they all meet up again. Each character harbors their own secrets and Annie seems to be privy to all of them. She does not hesitate to make this fact known to the others, leading to her ultimate murder. All have a motive and it is up to DCI detectives to find the killer. This was a great read and I particularly enjoyed listening to it on audio. The climax and ultimate ending had me completely shocked! Such a great twist!!!! I highly recommend this novel!

The Last Holiday
Amy Sheppard
In this tale a group of old college friends, Stella and her fiancé Nate, Charlotte, Tristan and their young son Theo, Jack and Kelly along with his rude fifteen-year-old son, and Annie and her daughter Rose, gather for a camping holiday in Cornwall. As the years moved on the group grew farther and farther apart. None of them wanted to be there but neither did they want to disappoint Rose on her eighteenth birthday.
Saturday evening begins with a game and lots of alcohol. The game was “Have You Ever.” Annie was asking the questions and they seemed rather pointed. The secrets range from affairs, bankruptcy, and blackmail. Wednesday morning brought death. Someone in the group committed murder.
I found much of this tale confusing, but I believe it was because I was listening to the audio book, and it was difficult to distinguish between the different female characters. I didn’t like any of the characters. There was a female detective investigating the murder; she seemed to be acquainted with the suspects. There were a lot of characters to keep up with. None of the characters were likable. The plot is filled with twists and turns. I usually manage to figure out who dunit by the middle of a book but not this time.

This book is about a group of friends who are camping together with their family. Each of them has secrets and no one really wanted to go on the trip. I liked that the book was from different perspectives. It made it more interesting. I was curious about what really happend. There is a big twist at the end. Some of it I had guessed but not all. I didn;t like the ending. Overall a good book though.

I listened to the audiobook. It was a shame the narrator didn;t do different voices for the different characters.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in return for a honest review

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Bookouture for the read and review of #TheLastHoliday by #AmySheppard. I thoroughly enjoyed the secrets and lies revealed among friends. Highly recommend.

Long-time friends meet for a camping holiday, and on the last day, one of them is found dead. The story unfolds in several timelines as we find out what happened in the days leading up to the death as well as how their friendships grew and changed over the years.

I read so many psychological thrillers that I can usually see the twists coming, but there were a few unexpected ones that caught me by surprise.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

I guess we all have done it at least once: going to a gathering or party when in fact you really do not want to go. You do it anyway for old times sake and because it will be fun or that's what some say it will be.

This is what happens here too. A group of people who were friends during their college days decide on going on a trip. Some of them are their with their partners, new or old, and some even brought their children. 

What should have been a pleasant week turns into a nightmare. Some secrets that were kept for years suddenly surface and for one of the once tight group, this holiday is the last one they will ever go on.

It's up to DCI Price and her colleague DI Green to solve the murder case. 

Normally all is well that ends well. The book ends well because the killer is caught and the author saved a few shockers to treat the readers too as well.

The author has decided to give a few of the characters to tell the story from their point of view, taking us back to the past as well to give more background information.

I have 'read' the audiobook  and I want to thank to narrator to bring the story to life. A very enjoyable book with me trying to guess who the culprit was and failing again, of course. :) 5 stars

Thank you

Looooved this book! It kept you guessing all the way through and had such a good ending! Can’t wait to read more from this author!

This is the first book I've read/listened to by Amy Sheppard and I really enjoyed it. A group of old college friends get together for a camping weekend but old resentments and secrets means one of them won't come back alive. The story was fast paced and gripping and I really was compelled to find out 'who did it' at the end. Not a particularly likeable bunch of characters but they did feel authentic. Would definitely recommend and I thought the narrator did a great job with it.

I liked The Last Holiday. It’s one of those books you really have to pay attention to all the details because there are many main characters that are involved within this story. Once I figured out who was who, I really got sucked into the story and didn’t want to put it down until I ultimately found out who the murderer was. There were many hidden secrets within the friend group involved and many reasons why any one of them could have been the killer.

Great read, would definitely recommend to any thriller lover!