So this is going to sound weird, but you have a bunch of old friends get together for a holiday reunion and they all seem to be sleeping around on their partners and spouses, but it doesn’t read like a housewives book. None of the characters are likable, but that isn’t a deal breaker for me in a thriller/mystery. As long as the story makes me want more. In this one I wanted to know who killed Annie. As the detective, who happens to know this group of friends from school, tries to solve the case in the present, it’s really the time in the past that gives us insight to the characters and their personalities.

There is no shortage of suspects as the group of friends isn’t small. They have been through a lot together over the years giving many of them a motive for murder. I’m always a little leery of spoiling things by telling too much. This is multi layered and complex. It is not fast paced, but you are rewarded when finished with an ending you won’t see coming. At least I did not.

I both read and listened to this one and enjoyed both versions. I am a huge audiobook fan because it allows me to continue a story when conventional reading isn’t possible. While this doesn’t have multiple narrators to go along with the large cast of characters, Naomi Fredrick does a good job of trying to differentiate the characters. I did find I could get a little confused if I did not pay attention as the chapters changed, so if you find audiobooks a little challenging, then you might want to stick with an eBook/book copy. But for audiobook veterans, this is a great way to keep “reading” this one when things get in the way of reading time.

If you’re a fan of character driven mysteries with a lot of drama, you should pick this one up.

This was an interesting mystery. It was told in a couple of different timelines all released to the murder that is trying to be solved and from a variety of the cast of characters (the three female friends and the female police investigator). I almost wish we could have had a little from some of the other characters, but over all I thought this was an excellent cast of characters. I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator did an excellent job bringing the characters and the story to life in a great way. I definitely will be listening to more books she narrates. It was a bit like a locked room mystery in that the murder was committed on a campground and cameras show it had to be someone on the campground who committed it. A group of old friends decide to get together for a camping trip to celebrate one of the friends, Annie’s, daughter Rose’s 18th birthday. But Annie ends up dead and this group of friends has more secrets than they knew.

On a Saturday night old friends are telling secrets around a campfire, but soon lives will be changed forever and one will end up dead.

This is a novel that any reader will not put down, told in the first person through multiple points of view, I found myself captivated by this narrative, constantly questioning what happens next.

This was a fast-paced and unique narrative, full of suspense and tension throughout.

This is definitely an author I will be looking out for and picking up again.

Five star read that will keep you guessing until the very end! A group of old friends plan a camping trip to catch up and celebrates Rose’s 18th birthday. Old friends are great, but they also know your secrets. As they reminisce around the campfire lots of old memories and feelings surface. What happened to Charlotte all those years ago? Who killed one of their own tonight? The story bounces from before and after the incident. I really enjoyed the different POVs but there were points where it was difficult to keep the characters straight. The revelations throughout the book keep you thinking you know the true story, but it will keep you on your toes until the end. Sometimes the present holds more secrets than the past…

This is my second Amy Sheppard book, and I must say I enjoyed it as much as I did her debut, The Beach Party.

It just goes to show, secrets really do have a way of coming out. Told from the perspective of different characters, it builds up to a rather unexpected twist (I definitely did not see that coming)! The final twist was also a bit of a shock, and not a nice one, but there you go, I guess that's just life. The characters are interesting, and not always very nice, although they do have redeeming factors that soften the edges a bit.

The narrator was bril, perfectly suited to the story.

Thanks so much for my ARC!

A group of friends since 25 years plan to go on a holiday, a week long stay at caravan park in their tents.
As the days advance, there seems to be a lot of tension bubbling up and then Annie is found dead, her daughter who turns 18 just that week is devastated.
None of them wanted this trip to happen because they were all afraid that every last secret of their past will come out!
The Last Holiday by Amy Sheppard has twists and turns once you settle down and remember all the multiple names, which was hard for me to follow. This book has suspense, secrets, betrayal – everything a true suspense/ murder thriller fan yearn for.
Thanks to Bookouture Audio, Netgalley, Amy Sheppard for approving the audiobook ARC in exchange for honest review.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW



Review for 'The Last Holiday' by Amy Sheppard.



Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Amy Sheppard, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous



Publication Date 30th May 2023.



This is the second book I have read by this author. I have previously read 'The Beach Party' which I would also highly recommend.



I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching beautiful cover and intriguing as well as intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'A totally gripping psychological thriller that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and have you gasping at the twists. Fans of The Housemaid, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will be turning pages all night long!' I am a huge fan of Gone Girl and The Housemaid so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I also loved Amy's 'The Beach Party' and if this is half as good as that was it is guaranteed to be a page turner!!! I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).



This novel consists of a prologue and 54 chapters. The chapters are short in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!


This book is based in Cornwall, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, UK 🇬🇧. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makes it easier to picture. I have actually been on holiday to and visited Cornwall many times and am going back next year so will definitely be intrigued to see if I recognise anywhere or get ideas where to visit or avoid!!!



This book is written in first person perspective with the main protagonists being Charlotte, Annie, Stella, DCI Melanie Price. The benefits of books written in first person perspective with multiple protagonists are, as long as they are well written, it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. If there are several protagonists you also get to see more of what is going on.



WOW!! IF YOU WANT A BOOK WITH AN ENDING THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND MAKE SURE YOU PICK THIS ONE UP!!


This book was very fast paced, unique and addictive. I devoured it in one sitting and was completely absorbed throughout!! The storyline is rammed with suspense, jealousy, twists, secrets, betrayal, adultery, shocks, tension and mystery and everything you could ask for in a page turning thriller!!! Amy's fantastic evocative writing skills whisks the reader away to Cornwall leaving you feeling the breeze on your face, smelling the ocean air and tasting the sea salt. It genuinely felt like I'd dropped back into Cornwall again and made me want to jump straight back!! I was gutted when I came to the end and 'unpack my suitcase' as it felt like a holiday had come to end, even though it was one filled with murder and secrets!!!! We meet Annie, Stella, Charlotte, Jack and Tristan who have been friends for 25 years when the majority of them met in college. They all decide to go on a holiday to Cornwall together. Charlotte and Tristan are married with a son called Theo who also comes along. Annie is a single mother to Rose who turns 18 on their holiday. Stella is in a relationship with Nate and Jack is in a relationship with Kirsty who both also join them on the holiday. Tensions run high as the alcohol intake increases and it only gets worse when a body is found. Who won't be returning from the holiday? Will it stop at one murder or will there be more? Amy takes us from the present to the past and weaves the characters history and present together perfectly slowly giving the reader just the right amount of information to get to know the characters without giving too much away. What happened to lead to a killing in the campsite? This is one of those books where I kept telling myself just one more chapter but then something happened meaning I had to read another and then another until I devoured it in one sitting. I enjoyed 'The Beach Party ' but I absolutely loved this book and I could definitely see that Amy's writing skills and storytelling has improved and I really cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!!! I kept on trying to work out who the killer was and thought I had worked it out so many times but Amy proved me wrong time and time again and I never did work out what was going on. A HUGE congratulations to Amy for this!!! I have read hundreds of psychological thrillers and crime books so it is getting harder and harder to shock me yet that ending completely blew me away!!! There was no way I had any idea that was coming!!!! I will add that I actually shed a few tears which shocked me as very rare I cry when it comes to psychological thrillers, unless an animal dies 😂, but I was absolutely gutted about a certain event so it may be worth getting the tissues ready in case!!!


It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture

This is one of the few books that I have listened 100% on Audiobook. If I listen to a book on audiobook I usually also read the physical book between but I listened to the whole book and I was impressed! I must say a HUGE congratulations to the narrator Naomi Frederick who did a great job bringing this story to life. I would listen to it in the car and while walking at any opportunity and Naomi did a fantastic job on both male and female characters voices!!! I'm not only looking forward to reading more books by Amy but also to listening to more books narrated by Naomi!


I was completely invested in the storyline and the characters throughout. The characters were all strong and realistic making them easy to picture. However, I can't honestly say I particularly liked many of the characters which given that I was hooked on the storyline surprises me. Normally if I can't relate to or don't like the majority of the characters I struggle to get into the storyline but this was not a problem here, not only because there were a couple of likeable characters but because of the addictive and explosive storyline. I found Annie to be quite self obsessed at times and the more I found out about her the less I liked her. I really liked Rose and my heart went out to her for everything that was going on around her and for what happened on her 18th birthday. I hated kirsty, annoying in itself as my name is Kirsty lol, and found her to be stuck up and just a nasty person in general. I liked Charlotte and found her to be a good friend but she wasn't truly innocent. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the majority of them Amy ensures the characters are realistic with different flaws which is more important to me (a realistic storyline ) than likeable characters. They all came to life with the storyline and they all played their parts perfectly. My favourite characters had to be Rose and DCI Melanie Price although I won't say anything else as I don't want to spoil it for future readers but I will say regardless of whether you love or hate them each character played their part perfectly and made this book as addictive as it is!!!

Congratulations Amy on an explosive success!!! Absolutely mind-blowing ending and cannot wait for your next addictive page turner!!!!

Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the prologue and the first three chapters of Amy's page turning 'The Beach Party' which is another explosive page turner and one I have read myself and would highly recommend!!

Overall a page turning, addictive psychological thriller filled with twists, emotions and an explosive ending!!

Genres covered in this novel include Women's Psychological Fiction, Crime, Thriller And Mystery Adventures, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Literary Fiction, Suspense Thriller, Psychological Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Noir Fiction, Womens Psychological, Domestic Thriller, Mystery ,Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction, Crime Thriller, Suspense Thriller, Psychological Suspense, Murder Thriller, Domestic Fiction, Domestic Thriller and Thriller amongst others.


I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, The Housemaid and The Wife Between Us and just anyone looking for an epic read with a twist. What are you waiting for?? Go grab your copy now!!!

345 pages/ 10 hours 46 minutes


This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle, free on kindle unlimited, £8.99 in paperback and £20.03 for the audiobook via Amazon at time of review, which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!


Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.


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This book was fast paced and kept me guessing the entire time BUT the ending was the BEST part! The ending was twist after twist that you never saw coming! The narrator was fantastic. I really enjoyed this book!

Overall this thriller was interesting, the ending and plot twists were very entertaining. I did feel like it was too slow and some parts dragged a lot, for my liking. But these are just my opinions and I can see why others gave it 5 stars. Thank you Netgalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

First of thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to enjoy this book! The Last Holiday is a psychological thriller with split time lines. A group of long time friends go on holiday together and one of them won’t be coming back. This book will have you on the edge of your seat and unable to put it down. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic!

When a group of friends reunite for a weekend what can go wrong? Apparently a great deal. Secrets burst to the surface and lives are changed forever.

This was my first read by Amy Sheppard and I really enjoyed her writing style. She did a wonderful job of creating these characters and helping you truly feel their depth or shallowness as the case may be. She also did a bang up job of creating people that I didn't particularly like but it didn't keep me from needing to know how this book played out. It just made me sad that people could treat each other this way and still call themselves friends. It was pretty revolting and kind of depressing.

The story is told from alternating viewpoints and timelines. This helps you to gather a variety of information without just seeing it from one person's vantage point. Also, you deal with present day, the days leading up to the murder and years ago when another major event impacting the friend group took place. The intricacy of the web that the author weaves is really pretty brilliant and yet makes so much sense at the same time.

As with most stories like this, I hate to say much for fear of giving up some clue - - so I'll just say to read it.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I loved the audio for this book. It was done well and felt very performance-like. I was entranced by the storyline from start to finish and found this a great way to enjoy the book. 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for both the ebook and audiobook early copies. I voluntarily chose to review them both and the opinions contained within are my own.

Stella, Annie, Charlotte, Tristan and Jack have been friends since college over 20 years ago. A lot has happened over the years. Charlotte and Tristan are married with a little boy they tried very hard to have. Jack is no longer with his first wife, who had been part of the group. He’s now with Kelly, a much younger woman who desperately wants to belong. Annie is a single mom to 18 year old Rose.
This book jumps back and forth between different days before the murder and after, and also from different viewpoints. It can be a challenge to keep up. There is so much going on with this group that multiple people had a motive. Even the DCI investigating had trouble keeping up and she knew them from college. The killer, though, had a motive that didn’t reveal itself until the end. I did not see that coming. It was an interesting twist. I wasn’t a fan of all the flashbacks but they were a necessary part of the story. I would be interested in reading more from this author.
I received this book free from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.

A bunch of college friends who are now in their 40s go camping in an attempt to recapture their past. Add booze and 25 years of slights, secrets, and indiscretions begin to bubble their way to the surface As I am also in my 40s and have gone to both planned and impromptu reunions, I could have told them at the beginning that this was a stupid idea, if for no other reason than 40-year-old me cannot drink like 20-year-old-me without expecting days worth of a hangover. But I digress. Annie & her daughter Rose; Charlotte & Tristan with their son Theo; Stella and her new-to-the-group boyfriend, Nate; and Jack & Kelly, with Jack's son, Oliver. With the exception of Nate and the kids, the groups' lives have been entwined with each other's for years - as friends, as colleagues, and as business partners. As we go on, we find out that every damn one of them is just an awful person and Annie, keeper of many of the group's secrets, is the worst of all. So who had motive to kill her? Pretty much everybody.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Beach Party, I was excited to get my hands on this book and it did not disappoint. There are motives abound including money issues, affairs, loads of guilt, and a ton of animosity. The identity of the killer crossed my mind, but I didn't give it any real credence. Apparently, I was wrong. There was one thing at the end that I really wish the author had left out (I'm not going to be a book witch and spoil it), but otherwise this was really great. Listened to the entire book today. Looking forward to the author's next title!

This book was so good. It really kept your attention and it was really hard to put down. The writer did a wonderful job with the characters and the plot. I would highly recommend this to everyone.

Downloaded this audioARC from NetGalley just ahead of its publication day.

I’ve heard / read a few novels recently in which the plot revolves around people who met at school or university and have stuck together since, even though they don’t like or respect each other.

Amy Sheppard gives us another such grouping and an investigating officer who remembers them from their shared youth.

The most unlikeable of the clique is murdered and the question becomes which of the many motives has been the one that led to her demise.

I particularly liked Melanie Price, the detective put in charge of the case, and the final twist was really a surprise.

If you like domestic noir and you enjoy seeing horrible people get their comeuppance, you’ll love this novel.

Good but not memorable. Definitely has intrigue and I couldn't wait to get to the end to find out what happened, and although the twist at the end was dramatic and interesting, there was something about it that wasn't as wow as I expected. Maybe it was a little too much? I felt like there were a couple revelations and acts that happened all at once and it felt a little like the author maybe couldn't decide which ending was best and threw everything in.
Not my first Amy Sheppard novel, I do enjoy the different POVs she writes with and the personal drama that unfolds between characters. However, in this one, I felt there were too many "main" characters and in the end some of them and their storylines just didn't feel as important as they were made to seem throughout the book. Like at least half of the characters and their lead up to the end didn't actually matter at all and if they were never there I feel like it wouldn't matter. This left me very unsatisfied. One of my biggest character disappointments was with the detective who knows the group from the past and it seems has a mysterious connection to them. I didn't think there was anything to her story in the end.

The audio version read by Naomi Frederick was good. I liked Naomi's narration in general. I did find it a little hard to follow though as there was no voice change between the characters. Took me a second each time to realize who was now "speaking," and therefore pulled me out of the story. This is probably one of those audiobooks that would definitely benefit from several narrators.

Great quick read that will keep you interested; although probably forgettable right after.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

This is the story about a group of oldfriends getting on a camping trip to celebrate the 18th birthday of Rose, Annie’s daughter. It has been a while since they were all together. They just had some lose
contact over the years.
And there are more than one good reasons for this. They soon find, that they aren't that comfortable in each other's company.
It starts with a drinking game that gets out of hand and brings up some unpleasant facts.
When one of the group is found dead becomes a suspect and the dedectives asigned to the case have plenty of secrets to discover.
I really enjoyed this story although I can't particularly say why. On the one hand it was fascinating to learn about the different characters and on the other hand I liked how the police handles this case.
Thanks a lot #NetGalley #Bookouture Audio for this advanced audiobook beautifully Narrated by Naomi Frederick

3.5 Stars

The story was intriguing and I like the twist at the end. But I wish the pacing was a tad bit faster and the characters a little more developed. Other than that, it was a entertaining read.


***Thank you to NetGalley, Amy Sheppard, and Bookouture Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

The Last Holiday follows a group of old friends through a holiday in Cornwall. These people have been friends since college and are all now married with kids. Because they have been friends for so long there are many threads of intrigues, cheating, and hidden gossip between them.

I really liked this book and all it’s twists and turns - except maybe the last one that I felt unnecessary, broke my heart, but well read it so you can draw your own conclusions about it. At some point everyone has motive to be the killer, so it is interesting to see how the story unravels. It is even more interesting to see the subplots develop and people confront each other.

If you are looking for a page turner mystery this is it! My main criticism about this one is that it has way too many characters and sometimes it’s hard to follow who is married to whom etc, but nothing that a pen and paper wouldn’t help 😂


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy is exchange for my honest review.

2.5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

They have been a close knit group of friends since their school days having survived college, marriages, kids and divorces together. They decide to take an extended camping trip together to celebrate the birthday of one of the kids that they all are close to. As the trip begins the secrets of their muddy history quickly come to the forefront putting everyone on edge. Lies, blackmail, affairs and new relationships will test these friends like never before but one will not make it out of the trip alive... this may be everyone's last holiday.

There are a lot of characters and a mass amount of drama to unpack in this slow moving thriller that is told from the perspectives of three of the female friends and the lead detective on the murder investigation. It also jumps between present day and years past. I really struggled with this book because the action was not that thrilling, the twists were okay at best and the ending was long and unsatisfying. Cheaters, liars, vain, pretentious, conniving, blackmailers; normally could make for an interesting cast of characters but these all came across as flat and unlikable. I had the audio version which made it harder to keep track of who was who. The lead detective happened to know them from school and had a whole side story of her own that didn't sync with the main story and didn't really need to be there. This was at best a poolside/beach read but not the first one I would recommend.

I had the audio version read by Naomi Frederick who's narration in general was good but did not have much change in characterization which made it hard to follow who was speaking or which character was which. I would have enjoyed her more as a one POV narrator.