The writing is quite interesting and I would say there’s not a boring moment. The chapters are short and the characters stand out. I would say the plot twist would not make your jaw drop but expect very nasty twists and scenes. The ending is good!
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Tessa is a survivor. Years ago she and some friends travelled to a beautiful rental on the beach in hopes of having the time of their lives, and they did, until they met a man who would forever change Tessa's life. One fateful night all of Tessa's friends were brutally murdered; the killer thought they killed Tessa too but she survived and identified him. She soon found out that the police chief killed this man at his home when he resisted arrest. Tessa now lives with her sister but is struggling really bad. When the tragedy first happened she was offered a book deal but declined. Now, her sister is at her wit's end with Tessa and threatens to kick her out. Tessa decides she's had enough of not living a full life and takes up the offer to write a book. The only catch? She has to return to the island and beach house where the events took place to really get a feel for the atmosphere for her book and to hopefully heal. However, soon after arriving, weird things start to happen and she fears the nightmare from five years ago isn't over just yet.

The book starts off a little slow, but I think it was to gain a full understanding of Tessa's personality and feelings. I liked Tessa a lot and found myself really hoping she heals. The atmosphere of the book was good; it was a little creepy at times and definitely thrilling. I figured out one twist (sort of) but it turned out to only be a small part of an even larger twist. The location description was really well done; I could really picture the layout of the island. The characters were likeable (some not so much, for obvious reasons) and the shorter chapters really kept me interested.

I really enjoyed this, It was a quick read with a lot of great twists. I would recommend this and would like to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read this book for free. This was my honest review.

I loved the beginning of this book. Excellent story idea, with a well liked main character.
I figured out the twists by the halfway point, if not earlier. It just wasn't believable to be anyone else.
Overall I'd rate this book as a 3.5. I'll round it up on Amazon and Netgalley.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

Great story line about a traumatic experience survivor taking back her life and fighting her demons. However, I feel like I’m more reading about her feelings and what’s happening to her rather than feeling it or being invested in the story.

The MC is hard to like because he’s remakes very dumb decisions all the time.

3 stars and glad I read it!

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for this eArc of The Last Girl Left.

Let’s start out by saying this book definitely gave me “Final Girl” vibes. Do I dare say I actually enjoyed this one a bit more?

This story was creepy, atmospheric, and thrilling. This one is definitely a slow burn, but then you get to a certain point and it moves very quickly. The chapters were short and very intense. I was absolutely creeped out most of the book and wasn’t sure which characters I could trust. There were things I wasn’t sure were real or not and I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of the book.

When I had to put this down, I definitely wanted to pick it back up. I absolutely want to check out more books by authors!

This is a quick (both well paced and short) read. I read it on a medium long flight and it’s good plane reading. I think it’s trying to make interesting points about the true crime “craze” but it misses the mark a bit. I also think it doesn’t deliver on the suspect of the first chapter. If you pick it up in the airport bookstore, so you have something for a flight, you’ll enjoy it. If you’re picking it off your shelf of other options, it might sit for a while.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher to review.

WOW WOW WOW. I loved this one. Right from the start, I was hooked with the story. Girl survives and is fearful for her life, but decides to return to the scene of the crime, what could go wrong? This had me on the edge of my seat and I could feel the claustrophobia of the house and the island. I totally thought I had the ending figured out and I was completely wrong. The ending had so much action, I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. The short chapters kept me up at night wanting to continue on. Even though this book takes place in November, I think this would make a great beach read.

🔪 Psychological Thriller
🔪 Isolated Island in Maine
🔪 Suspenseful
🔪 Haunted House
🔪 Short Chapters

**4.25 stars**

I didn’t know what to expect going into this but WOW was it good!! The writing is incredibly atmospheric and I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen next pretty much the entire book. I find that mystery elements of novels can sometimes seem either too boring/predictable or just wayyy too far fetched, but shockingly this book had a mystery that was just right. Not super predictable but not out of left field and very very well done.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers, mysteries, or horror movies (because this felt like a thriller/horror movie the entire time). I feel like so many different readers would enjoy this; those who love jump scares, those who want crazy twists, those who don’t want crazy twists…. Just read it! I’m honestly shocked this book doesn’t have more hype.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, A.M. Strong, Sonya Sargent, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel!

Thank you, NetGalley and Sonya Sargent Strong for my copy of this book. The opinions are my own and freely given.

Courtney, Shelby, Madison & Theresa all go on vacation to The Cassadaga Island in Maine. Only one comes back...

5 years later, Tessa, who has changed her name to avoid the press goes back to Cassadaga Island, to the same house where her friends were killed, in order to move on from her fear. Her sister, Melissa, thinks it is a bad idea, but Tessa is determined. Along the way she meets Cindy whose house near to the "Murder House" as it has been nicknamed, and she befriends Roxanne, a waitress at the local diner.

Tessa's paranoia starts to get to her, from windows and doors being open, footsteps in and around the house and her name being whispered. Soon she suspects people that she has come in contact with on the small island.

I really liked the characters, and I had the same feelings about Roxanne that Tessa had... At first, she's, my friend, then, can I trust her? Noah also creeped me out although I couldn't put my finger on why. I loved the writing and could see the scenes playing out as I was reading it.

I would recommend this book.

I was captivated from start to finish. The story just pulled me in. I was a little annoyed with the MC, it found her to be repetitive at times,but the ending made up for it. I would recommend you give this one a read.

The Last Girl Left is by far my favorite final girl story.

Five years after becoming a final girl, Tessa returns to the scene of the devastating crime that took the lives of three of her friends. She has no job, no friends, no significant other. Can facing her demons head on help her get her life back?

Taking place off the coast of Maine in November, it was the perfect eerie setting. The story was so suspenseful and I was in edge throughout, scared of all the bumps and noises in the night. It ended with an intense edge of your seat nail biting conclusion that had me like 🤯

Five years ago, Tessa Chamberlain was the lone survivor of a beach house massacre that left three of her friends dead—and Tessa with an inescapable, unending dread. Now she’s going back to face her fears.

Renting the same beach house where she almost died, Tessa returns to lonely Cassadaga Island off the coast of Maine long after the tourists and summer residents have departed for the winter. But as the fog rolls in and the nights grow longer, she wonders if she made a terrible mistake. There are footsteps on the porch, creaks from the second floor, and an unsettling feeling of being watched.

If only someone believed her. Because the terrors Tessa thought were long behind her are starting again. And this time, trapped and alone, she might not be lucky enough to survive them.

Wowza!!! An amazing read from start to finish. Will recommend to others.

The book is well written and the story is engaging, but how can the main character make SO MANY stupid choices??? I wanted to give her a shake to make her a little smarter. Despite this, I recommend reading it!

4,5 stars

Wow! Absolutely loved this one!
Thanks to #Netgalley and #amazonpublishing for my early copy.

This book is written by what appears to be a husband and wife duo and I will certainly be looking out for more by these two!

The reader is promptly introduced to Tessa, the sole survivor of a beach house massacre five years ago in which three of her girlfriends were brutally murdered. She is clearly stuck in the past and can’t seem to move on, although the killer was appraised soon after and then shot by the sheriff.

Now Tessa wants to regain control of her life, and the only way is to return to that beach house in Maine and conquer her fears.

Big mistake!

I loved the claustrophobic feeling the setting lent to the story. A small island in Maine in the off-season, with only a handful of bars and shops open, was the perfect setting for this spine-chilling thriller.

This is one of those books where you can’t really trust anyone.

When inexplicable things start to happen like her neighbour going missing, a person only she had seen and spoken to, I began to doubt her sanity.

Add to this a cast of unreliable characters and you get the perfect mix for a psychological thriller with things that go bump in the night!😱

Loved the spooky moments at the end and the big reveal, which I didn’t see coming!

Um, what?!?! My friends over @thrillerbookloversthepulse were completely right about this one! Fantastic!! And addicting! Completely devoured this one, especially the last quarter of the book. My husband said the faces I was making while reading said it all lol 😆 Full of suspense!! Great read!

*Thank you so much @sonyasargentstrong @thrillerbookloversthepulse @amazonpublishing and @brillancepublishing for the #gifted finished copy, e-galley and audiobook!!!!*

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of The Last Girl Left!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
🫣 love heart pounding action and suspense
👀 like books where you can’t trust the MC
🏝️ have ever rented a house on a secluded island
😈 would face your demons by revisiting a home you almost perished in

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

Five years ago, Tessa Chamberlain was the lone survivor of a beach house massacre that left three of her friends dead―and Tessa with an inescapable, unending dread. Now she’s going back to face her fears.

Renting the same beach house where she almost died, Tessa returns to lonely Cassadaga Island off the coast of Maine long after the tourists and summer residents have departed for the winter. But as the fog rolls in and the nights grow longer, she wonders if she made a terrible mistake. There are footsteps on the porch, creaks from the second floor, and an unsettling feeling of being watched.

If only someone believed her. Because the terrors Tessa thought were long behind her are starting again. And this time, trapped and alone, she might not be lucky enough to survive them.

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

This was such an incredible read! The suspense was absolutely pulse-pounding! I wasn’t sure if Tessa was even a reliable MC. She did and said a lot of questionable things and I kept wavering on her believability. I loved the atmosphere of the creepy island in November. Summer wouldn’t have been as frightening, so l loved that Tessa went back during the bleak winter months. Everything she experienced had me on edge right there with her. The ending definitely had me a bit shocked, and I enjoyed the last few chapters of fighting. Overall, a fantastic thriller that will have your heart racing! Also, side note, this book has so many characters with names of family - Melissa (me), Patrick (my dad’s name), Noah (my son’s name) and Daniel (my late brother’s name) so that was a lot of fun to see! I can’t wait to read more from this pair in the future!

Five years ago, Tessa Chamberlain was the lone survivor of a beach house massacre that left three of her friends dead-and Tessa with an inescapable, unending dread.

Now she's going back to face her fears by renting the same beach house where she almost died.

As the fog rolls in and the nights grow longer, she wonders if she made a terrible mistake.

I loved the isolated island vibe and the fun of trying to figure out what was going on!

* You may enjoy this if you like eerie settings, final girls tropes, shifty characters and noises in the night.

The Last Girl Left is a gripping and tense mystery-thriller that I really enjoyed.

The story follows Tessa as she returns to the scene of a massacre that took her friends' lives five years earlier. She’s there to write a book about her traumatic experience, but soon, strange events make her feel like she’s in danger.

I loved the isolated setting in this book. Most of the story takes place in a small beach town in Maine during the off-season. The setting really enhanced the eerie atmosphere.

I did question many of Tessa’s decisions. She seemed either incredibly brave or very foolish to return to a place by herself where she barely survived. Personally, I would have stayed far away from there!

The authors' writing was excellent, and I couldn’t tell that the book was co-written. The story flowed seamlessly, in my opinion.

I loved the mystery and thought the ending was perfect. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author duo in the future. If you’re a fan of intriguing mystery thrillers, this is a must-read.

A huge thank you to @strongsargentauthors for the amazing book box and the opportunity to read Last Girl Left. This book has definitely been one we’ve been chatting about over at @thrillerbookloversthepulse. If you want a creepy summer thriller, check out Last Girl Left

Tessa Chamberlain is the sole survivor of a beach house massacre. Derailing her life for 5 years, Tessa has made little progress through traditional therapy. Living in the master bedroom of her sister’s house, she’s given an ultimatum. Work on her recovery or find a new place to live. Tessa decides to take control of her life and reaches out to a publisher to tell her story in exchange for a hefty advance. The catch? Go back to the house where the attack took place and spend a month writing a tell all book about that night. As soon as Tessa arrives, she is haunted by the memories. Visiting the rooms where her friends were killed brings everything back for Tessa and she spends many sleepless nights awake on the couch. Then the noises begin, the window left unlatched, and the door left open. Is Tessa just imagining these events or is someone trying to scare her? She knows her attacker was killed 5 years ago, but she can’t help but wonder if someone is out to get her.

I’m not one who usually gets scared by books, but this one had me looking over my shoulder 👀. I also couldn’t help but scream, “get out of that house.” This was a fantastic, well-developed thriller and I couldn’t wait to find out, “how is this going to end?” If you want something spooky for your next beach read, check out Last Girl Left

The Last Girl Left is a mystery about a woman in her mid-twenties who is still struggling with the trauma of being the one who survived a mass murder. When she was in college, Theresa (now Tessa), was left for dead by a man she and her friends had met earlier that day while on vacation on a Maine island. Five years later, she is out of options. She is constantly afraid and has never been able to hold down a job. Her generous sister is now giving her tough love and asking her to get her life in order. Tessa impulsively decides to rent the home her friends were murdered in to heal. Realizing she can't pay for the rental, she reaches out to a publisher to get a book deal about her experience going back to the house.

The story moves quickly and we see things through Tessa's eyes. The constant fear and suspicion of everyone she meets. You have to suspend disbelief to get into the novel, but it moves quickly and was a tense ride. The novel is perfectly narrated by Hallie Ricardo, who really brought Tessa/Theresa to life. Being from Massachusetts, I especially like that she nailed the New England town pronunciations like "Gloucester." Too often the names are mispronounced by narrators.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ebook and audiobook. All thoughts are my own.