🔹 My take: 3.75/5

🔸 While Jamie Larsson is an amazing guy, he just does not seem to be the best to Kiki and hence she breaks up with him. After months of avoiding, Kiki finally faces him with guilt in a party organized by their common friend. The interaction is very brief and curt and makes Kiki think about her actions if Jamie is taking the break up well or not. The party is winding up and a gunshot is heard outside. On checking, it is known that Jamie is in his car and has shot himself. Kiki is unable to gulp down that Jamie could kill himself. She wants to dig deeper to find out what really troubled Jamie and was this really a suicide. What ensues is unravelling of sinister secrets which she never knew could exist jeopardising her own life too.

💖 Wows - The writing and pacing is nice. The thriller aspect is palpable and from the time curtains are opened till the time final reveal is done, readers would be interested in knowing the suspense. I had doubts on couple of characters but what came on was totally different. The home scenes when Kiki is alone are particularly packed with thrill and look creepy. Liked reading this.

💔 Ows - The reason why this was not above 4 stars is maybe because I have been reading too many of psychological thrillers. And hence I was looking for bit more and did not find the wow factor. The character development was good and all but it’s just not that book which you will definitely definitely pick up. It’s a one time read which I would recommend to people but will not force on.

The beginning sucked me in but then sort of fell flat. I just couldnt make myself like the main character and the romance felt unnecessary. But overall a quick read with an unexpecting ending.

There was so much potential for this but the ending just left me thinking "that's it?" When it started off I was interested to see where it was going, but the further it went along it felt as though nothing was happening. It felt as though the story just kept circling around and around.

***Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Paperbacks for the E-Arc. All opinions expressed are my own.***

Oh I love a Kate White book! I know that I am embarking on a journey full of twists and turns.

A must read!

I voluntarily reviewed this book.

This was my first Kate White book, and I am open to reading more.

Strengths:
1- Engaging Premise: The storyline—Kiki Reed investigating her ex-fiancé Jamie’s death and the mystery around whether his death was suicide or murder— is definitely intriguing.
2- The pace at the ending was engaging and quick.

Weaknesses:
1- The unlikability of the main character, which some people don't mind, but this one was a tough one.
2- The beginning pacing was challenging to engage with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC. This book offers a blend of psychological thriller and romance, but I found the execution uneven. The central mystery surrounding Jamie's death, labeled as suicide despite clear evidence to the contrary, felt implausible and distracted from the intrigue. While the story's premise held promise, it often veered into romance territory, with Kiki Reed’s emotional struggles taking center stage. The pacing was inconsistent, shifting from fast to sluggish, and some plot twists felt abrupt and underdeveloped. Despite its flaws, the book kept me engaged with its quick trajectory and an intriguing subplot involving a young girl's murder. It’s a decent read for fans of slower-paced thrillers, but ultimately, it left me wanting more cohesion and depth.

Kiki is on a search to find out who killed her ex fiancé. CRAZY !! I love a good who done it book.

This was a little slow but there were surprises here and there throughout the book. I was annoyed with everything Kiki did. JUST DUMB. I kinda feel like this is as a romance too I don’t know. The ending was predictable. Solid ok read.

This was an entertaining slow burn thriller that follows Kiki who’s ex violent death is ruled a suicide. Kiki can’t believe that Jamie wouldn’t do this and begins to search for answers on her own. This one was a little slow for a thriller for my taste but it still kept my attention through out. Kiki was my biggest issue with this book I just had a really hard time connecting with her and found myself getting annoyed by her. The writing in this was overall good just a little slow but I look forward to picking up more from this author in the future. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for an arc of this book. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

In this book we are following Kiki Reed who is in Connecticut for her best friends husband’s book release and comes face to face with her ex fiancé Jamie. Kiki overhears a conversation between Jamie and someone else and believes that Jamie thought she was a freud when he was actually talking about Percy a girl that Jamie hung out with a few times and invited herself to the party when he saw her true colors. Jamie and Kiki talk for a minute before he leaves and tells her that he was thinking about going to Norway to rediscover his roots since his family came from Norway. Then Kiki hears a sound that sounds like fireworks and Vic and his agent go and check things out and discover Jamie dead in his car and it looks like a suicide. Kiki is in disbelief as well as the other guests. Jamie’s uncle and cousin who live close by are told as well. Kiki then decides to start looking for answers and discovers that he was murdered and didn’t take his own life. Kiki sets out to prove it and starts to believe that Jamie’s cousin Liam killed Jamie. Then Percy is discovered in the house by Kiki and Percy attacks Kiki with a knife because she believes that Kiki wanted Jamie back and that’s what made him ignore her at the party. Kiki and Sam (Jamie’s best friend) call the police and Percy is arrested but sadly she had an alibi for the murder and was at a pub at the time of Jamie’s death. Then Kiki goes to the carnival in town and Liam goes to the fair and tries to kill Kiki but his wife Tori stops him. Liam and Tori are then arrested. Kiki goes back to New York and Sam and her figure out that Tori and Liam were trying to help their son Taylor who killed Jess a girl from town four years ago. Jamie was killed over trying to take a DNA test that would have revealed that one of Jamie’s relatives did the crime.

Thank you to Harper Perennial for my free eARC of this book. #oliveinfluencer

I went into this one blind and I just read the synopsis after finishing the book and I think that it gives too much away and that I wouldn’t have enjoyed the book as much if I had known what was coming ahead of time. But if you want to, heres my summary:

Kiki is invited to a party at her friend’s house and is questioning whether or not to go because she knows that her ex-fiance, Jamie, will be there. She doesn’t want to make things awkward, and because she’s the one who called off the wedding, she isn’t sure how Jamie will feel seeing her again. After basically getting his approval to attend her own friend’s party, Kiki decides to go. At the end of the party, Jamie is found shot in his car and the police believe it was self-inflicted. Kiki is convinced that Jamie would never do that, so she decides to hunt down what really happened. During her amateur sleuthing, she comes across an unsolved death of a young woman from a few years ago and becomes curious about that, too.

Overall, this thriller was a quick, easy, fast-paced, enjoyable read. Just don’t overthink it too much! There are many characters introduced, but luckily white doesn’t go deep into every character. Since we know most of them at a mostly surface level, this doesn’t feel overwhelming and instead gives the reader so many options of whodunit. I had my theories about what happened to Jamie, but I was wrong in the end. Quite a few things our main character did bothered me, like she calls 911 multiple times to tell them a new person killed Jamie… this felt like the boy who cried wolf and made me think that the police for sure would be questioning her credibility. Additionally, a lot of the dialogue felt unnatural due to everyone constantly calling one another by name. This is one of my pet peeves because in real life, people don’t speak like that.

Review date: 7.3.24

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I am a HUGE Kate White fan. Heck, I still remember when Kelly Ripa picked her first book, If Looks Could Kill, as part of her book club and I immediately went to Waldenbooks (does anyone remember Waldenbooks?) to get a copy. I loved it then and still love it now.

The Last Time She Saw Him had many red herrings and rabbit holes to go down and our main character, Kiki, went down all of them. It made for some good reading at times as Kiki would think she was getting closer to figuring out the truth and your senses would be tingling and then… you would realize it was a red herring.

Now, to be truly fair to Kiki- I had just recently completed a re-read of some of the Bailey White books by Kate White (Till Death Do Us Part) and our girl Bailey is a seasoned reporter. And not as easily fooled by red herrings. So I have to remind myself that Kiki was NOT a reporter. And her emotions were running high.



What I Liked:

The cover is cool and eye-catching. Plus I love that hot pink/magenta.

How the characters were so intertwined with each other. It made for some serious thinking about potential ulterior motives.

How we heard from an unknown character from time to time. Gave the book that little something extra.



Bottom line: Fans of Kate White will enjoy this book, especially as it approaches the end. It does start off a teensy bit slow, but there is some building of relationships that need to happen so you can understand Kiki and her motivations better.

*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

One of my rare 1 stars this year, The Last Time She Saw Him wants to be a cross between a murder mystery and a thriller, but ends up being too flimsy to be either.

This is about a woman who is invited to a dinner, where her ex - with whom she broke up just months ago - will also be present. She’s apprehensive about how it’s going to go but she does attend and goes to talk to him, just to get that first shock of interaction over with.
But towards the end of the night, her ex is found dead in a car. Police rule it a suicide but she knows he would never have done that. She is determined to find out what exactly happened to him.

It’s half-baked and tries to do so many things at once and in quick succession that it ends up muddling everything. And so many plot points are so convenient, they had my eyes rolling like a wheel.
The writing too leaves much to be desired because it is choppy and full of unimpressive cliches.

Not a great experience this, and at the end of it, I was just glad that that was going to be the last time I saw it.

I ended up DNFing this book after multiple attempts to get into it. The book just didn't grip me and I found myself thinking about what I wish would have happened instead of what did.

Katherine Reed (Kiki) has just broken off her engagement with her then-fiance, Jamie five months ago. When Kiki accepts an invitation to a party at a friend's house, she knows Jamie will be there too. Luckily, their exchange is pleasant during the party and they both left on good terms. Moments later, Jamie is dead with a gunshot wound to his head. The police are ruling it out as a suicide but Kiki is determined that he is murdered and sets off to investigate. But as she peels away the layers, she uncovers something far more sinister than she had ever imagined—and it may be her life on the line next.

The book started off quite slow. The plot only picked up after around Chapter 5. It was hard to become fully immersed in the story. The premise is interesting - is it murder or suicide? However, it lacks execution as it was clearly evident that it's a murder.

What throws me off is the sudden romance in the midst of the murder mystery. The author could've thrown in that romance to probably lead us on and thus, adding another suspect to the list but I feel that the romance is unprecedented and totally unnecessary. It just came out of nowhere and almost gave me a whiplash. 😂😂

Being a thriller, there is a lack of police involvement. Instead, we get an ex who plays detective and fails miserably at it. And to add salt to the wound, the said ex (Kiki) is insufferable. I do not like her as a character and neither do I care as I am unable to engage and connect with her. There are some parts which made me roll my eyes at her.

However, I am still glad there are a few twists that are unexpected. Sadly, the twists are implausible, messy and not well explained. The major reveal is unfortunately predictable too.

Thank you to NetGalley @netgalley and Harper Perennial @harperperennial and Paperbacks for my ARC.

"The Last Time She Saw Him" by Kate White is a gripping thriller that follows the story of a woman named Bryn who is haunted by the sudden disappearance of her husband, Guy. As Bryn delves into the investigation to uncover the truth behind his vanishing, she finds herself entangled in a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal. White's writing is suspenseful and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat as the plot twists and turns, revealing shocking revelations along the way. The characters are well-developed and complex, adding layers of depth to the story. Overall, "The Last Time She Saw Him" is a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end. It is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers and mysteries.

Thanks to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for early digital access to this title in exchange for my honest opinion. I’ve previously read one of Kate White’s book, and after feeling similarly about this one, I am wondering if her writing is just not for me. I was sucked into this thriller pretty quickly, but then it felt a little too long in the middle. And when I got to the end, I felt unsatisfied - it didn’t feel like the actual end, and I felt like there was another twist that should have been revealed to bring the book to its proper conclusion.

I usually really love this author but compared to others I’ve read recently, this book feels predictable. I think it’s a great read if you’re just starting out with thrillers or you’re in a slump and you need something quick and easy to follow. Kiki is the main character of the story who has just recently become single after leaving her fiance two months prior. She runs into him at a mutual friend’s party and later that night, he’s dead. What everyone assumes is suicide, Kiki is convinced it is murder. Fast, quick read and entertaining if you want a beach read!

A great, quick read and a nice little thriller with a story that keeps you guessing. Some of the story seemed a bit redundant and I started to get annoyed with the main character at certain points (which is why I didn't give it a 5) but over all would recommend to my fellow thriller lovers.

Oof, I struggle bussed through this read. I lost interest halfway through. I wasn’t a massive fan of the main character. She felt super nosy, without having a real place to be inserting herself.

Then the twist reveals, and it’s not all that shocking at all. And the book just ended. It was so slow, then that entire scene was hyper speed and ends abruptly. I wasn’t a huge fan, but you may be. I just wanted more, it could have been that this book took me too long to read so I lost interest earlier than I normally would .🤷🏼‍♀️

The Last Time She Saw Him is a must read! I had to binge this book to find out what really happened to Jamie. I was rooting for Kiki the whole book! She was a very likeable character and I would recommend this book to all readers. Thank you to Kate White, Harper Perennial and Paperbacks and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book prior to publishing.