So the biggest mistake of all is that an editor or publisher or even the author themselves decided to describe this as a feminist take on The Shining.

Yeah…it’s not.

I mean, it’s in a motel and our MC is an alcoholic caretaker. And all comparisons to The Shining abruptly cease there.

The feminist part? I mean…there are some important things in the book about consent and daring to speak up for other women, but it’s late in the book and incredibly unimportant to the plot.

What you do have is a very serviceable dual timeline mystery. I was curious about what was happening, concerned for our women, and was definitely surprised by the *who* of everything. And if I weren’t set up to think I was getting some eerie Shining homage, I likely would have been much more satisfied.

Read it for what it actually is…not what it says it is.

• ARC via publisher

A woman goes to an isolated hotel for a chance to catch up on her writing and encounters a dead body! Lots of thrills in this one and an interesting ending. Good writing and an enjoyable read!

I loved this book. Kerry’s life is in shambles and she decides to be a caretaker of a hotel in the middle of nowhere. It’s quiet and peaceful until she finds a dead body outside the building. Now she’s wondering why she ended up there and was it on purpose?

I liked the different points of view in this book. You didn’t know if someone was really out to get her, if she was paranoid, or if everything was just a coincidence. The ending made me sad. About how men can feel intimidated by women and hate being let down. It’s unfair to women to have to be complacent to what they want for fear of retaliation.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the blurb I was hoping for a good spooky read wince its October when I'm reading this book and since this book has been compared to The Shining by Stephen King I hoped I would get a similar vibe, sadly I set my expectations a little too high. The book started off fine but as I continued to read I found some of the characters kind of flat and predictable especially when it came to the ending. The spice was okay looking back I should have given a little more grace when it came to certain decisions that were made while characters were under the influence of addictive substances like pills and alcohol.

Kerry takes a job as a caretaker for a resort hotel over the winter after her husband leaves her. She hopes the time alone will help wean her off alcohol and help her overcome the writer’s block that’s keeping her from finishing the book her editor is waiting for. But she’s going to be too busy coming to terms with the body she’s discovered in the snow to worry about anything else……

"A feminist take on the Shining?" Umm, no.

I think it's a mistake to have this as the first line of the blurb, but, this is certainly not my call. I actually liked this story, as it kept me entertained and had a couple twists that I didn't see coming. I didn't really have a character to root for, as they all had their issues, but, nonetheless, the story was interesting enough to overcome that. The multiple POVs and slightly different timelines did not make things to complicated, even for a simpleton like me ;0.

This was the second novel from the author I've read -- I liked 'em both and will certainly read more from her.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the copy of The Last Room On The Left by Leah Konen. The blurb saying that this was a “feminist take on The Shining” was enticing so I was waiting for malevolent spirits to cause Kerry to descend into madness but alas, I was disappointed. I’m not sure why this was categorized as “horror”, either. After I adjusted my expectations, I enjoyed the story of Kerry who becomes the temporary caretaker of a remote motel that is closed for the winter. This was a locked room mystery and not very hard to figure out, but the story was engaging. The characters were not very likable, and the drugs, drinking, and $3% was excessive. 3 stars

Kerry is in a bad place. Her husband wants a divorce, she has a severe case of writer’s block, and she may be a bit too fond of daily cocktails. When she sees an ad for a caretaker for a motel in the Catskills, she thinks this job might be just what she needs. A closed motel with few distractions will give her the opportunity to think about getting control over her messed up life. But when she arrives, the last caretaker's room is a mess. A brutal snowstorm soon knocks out the power and phone. Oh, and she finds a dead body in the yard. Or does she?
Taking too many pills and unable to resist the alcohol that was left behind, soon she is torn between doubting herself and believing everything that she has seen. The first twist was a ‘What’ moment and I am not going to say more and risk falling into snow covered spoiler territory. I changed my mind more than once about what was really going on here. I had my suspicions about whodunnit and hoped I was wrong. The killer's identity was my least favorite part of the story. But that is OK because I really did enjoy trying to figure out what was going on at this roadside motel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this highly anticipated novel.

I loved the read and can highly recommend.

It was not a fast read, but one I savored. It left me wanting more.

Recommend.

I really enjoyed this book, even if I was hoping for a few more spooky Shining vibes. I may have enjoyed it even more if I wasn't expecting supernatural descent into madness, haha. But the structure was interesting and I liked hopping between the timelines and watching the mystery unravel. The culprit was a bit predictable but I enjoyed the messy (in a good way!) journey to the conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. I read another review that stated basically exactly how I felt, so I'm going to try hard to put it into my own words. As an avid Stephen King fan - this is nothing like the Shining, and I'm not really sure how this is a feminist take on it. It is like every other thriller out there with domestic issues mixed in. It wasn't bad, it was fine, but I had a hard time picking it up when I put it down. Someone else mentioned it was a locked room mystery, but it really isn't. Lots of other characters are introduced into the story, and it could have been a number of them that were able to leave and come back at some point.

Konen does red herrings well, and the reader can assume it's a number of people, all with legitimate reasons.

Kerry’s life is spiraling out of control. Her husband has left her, and her drinking habit is a major problem. The deadline for her book deal is looming and she hasn’t written a single word. So, when Kerry sees an ad for a caretaker at a roadside motel in the Catskills, she thinks it’s a sign—a chance for a fresh start and a chance to get started on her book finally. When Kerry arrives, a blizzard hits, and she has to hunker down in her motel room. Suddenly, she spots an arm in the snow outside her window. Kerry is trapped in the mountains alone with a dead body. Will she be able to make it out before the killer comes for her too?

Leah Konen has delivered another twisty thriller. The setting of the blizzard was perfect, and the unreliability of each character really added to the story. I enjoyed the short chapters as I propelled through the book quickly. The twists and turns were amazing, and I didn’t guess the killer. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys thrillers! I give it 4/5 stars.

Finding herself nearly divorced, ostracized from her friends, and deep in the throes of alcoholism, Kerry latches on to the one good thing left in her life..... her recently inked book deal. The only problem is that she can't finish the book. Accepting a winter caretaker position for a newly remodeled, Kerry resolves to finish her book, control her drinking, and take her life back...... but between the enigmatic neighbors, a long-distance owner, and a property dispute, the isolated hotel is far from peaceful.

Everything about this pitch appealed to me. 'The Shining' is one of my top three favorite books of all time and I thoroughly enjoy a reimagining and similar settings. I absolutely loved that the story was told through alternating perspectives of Kerry and the previous caretaker, I thought that was a brilliant way to take 'The Shining' vibes and add your own twist to make it a unique story. I also enjoyed the reclusive neighbor and the small town police, it was all just really well done. The way the plots of the two caretakers come together was cool, it was definitely a good story.

The only thing that made a little me nuts about this story that there were a ton of physical descriptions that I sometimes found difficult to piece together and it become distracting. For example, initially she says that the directions to get there say 'she 'turned at the office following the long line of rooms to the last one on the left'. Later in the book she describes the motel as being an L- Shape, *specifically* saying that they start at the front office and go from rooms 1-5, then 6-13 on the long side of the L". So if she pulled in and turned at the office, there isn't "a long line of rooms", and last room on the left is room 5, not 13 where she's told to stay. If you're looking at the hotel that's L shaped as described, 13 is actually the last one on the right, no? She also talks about the dumpster being right in the parking lot, and the dumpster is the issue with the property dispute so that's presumably the end of the property in that direction, and yet she talks about continuing down "straight back" to the outbuildings. She talks about the east edge of the property, the way the parking lot is, the way she walks to get to each neighbor's house, ect. I'm all for setting a scene but there were so many physical descriptions in so many different parts of the book (as opposed to 'The Shining' where the hotel manager gives them a mostly linear tour) that I literally had a little scratch sheet of paper sketching everything out. That being said, the vibes and the general setting are so good they really didn't need such specific detailing.

For me, this book started off with a bang and lost a bit of steam as the book went on, but overall I still enjoyed it. The shining is one of my favorite stories, this was a new take on that. I liked the main characters Kerry and Siobhan despite their character flaws.

Couldn't get into it

I tried this book three times, but kept getting bored and switching to something else. I am glad others enjoyed it, but it was just too slow for me.

The last room on the left was amazing! I absolutely loved the unexpected twist of events and I felt like I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

There were so many details that had me enthralled from the very beginning.

The author mentions that they were going for a female version of the shining almost, and I feel like they completely nailed that vibe!

This book is a typical trapped-in-the-mountains-in-a-snow-storm-with-a-dead-body. However, I still had to read it - for the same reason we watch Hallmark Christmas movies. I didn't think there was a gut-punch twist to this, but I did find the writing interesting and I was hooked to the story rather quickly. I think it's perfect for thriller lovers in general!

This was a great book!!!!!! It was so eerie and creepy and kept me scared the whole time, wondering who the killer is, and what was going to happen. I think the storyline was great, the plot was good, and the writing was well done! I loved the twists and turns!!



Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

This is my first Leah Konen book & it did not disappoint! Kerry is caretaker of a secluded motel for the month to be away from any distractions to finish writing for her book deadline. She opens her window one morning to find a hand sticking out of the snow. A blizzard hits which knocks out power and any phone lines to be able to contact anyone for help. Weird things happen & she wonders who exactly she can trust. I flew through wanting to figure out “who done it”! I was interested until the end with several turns which kept the book exciting!

I read that this was supposed to be an homage to The Shining, and while there were obvious similarities, I just didn't get that vibe while reading it. I still did enjoy this, even with the two main characters tripping and falling more than a child learning to walk. I also wasn't crazy for the addiction aspect involved here, but it did work for the story at the same time. Even with its flaws, this was hard to put down and kept me guessing at every turn. This was set at a steady pace with no lulls in between, and the conclusion was satisfying. Three stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam, for this ARC.