Monday, May 3, 2021

Book Review: Her Last Holiday

Happy Monday, lambs! I hope your week goes smoothly... considering people are morons out there. Honestly, I don't know what it is but warmer weather makes everyone drive like an idiot. It's so stressful.  

I have to watch murder shows and read thrillers to get myself off the ledge, but that probably says something about me, doesn't it? 

Her Last Holiday - C.L. Taylor

You come to the retreat to be healed. You don’t expect to die.

Two years ago, Fran’s sister Jenna disappeared on a wellness retreat in Gozo that went terribly wrong.

Tom Wade, the now infamous man behind Soul Shrink Retreats, has just been released from prison after serving his sentence for the deaths of two people. But he has never let on what happened to the third victim: Jenna.

Determined to find out the truth, Fran books herself onto his upcoming retreat – the first since his release – and finds herself face to face with the man who might hold the key to her sister’s disappearance. The only question is, will she escape the retreat alive? Or does someone out there want Jenna’s secrets to stay hidden?
I'll be honest, the sound of this made me think of a Dateline show and it got me thinking maybe Keith Morrison should be narrating thriller novels. 

I'm just saying, it would be amazing. 

Alright, so in this one we have a woman who is missing/presumably dead, her sister who feels guilty because of a bad last interaction with her, and a guy fresh out of prison for the deaths of two other retreat guests (he runs the retreat). The sister decides to figure out the fate of her sister because it's eating their mother alive, the not knowing, so she enrolls and embarks on the newly revived retreat. The retreat was heavily suggested by Tom's wife, Kate, who wants Tom to basically restart his career as someone who "helps people". Right off the bat she comes off kind of loony and I didn't like her. I almost felt bad for Tom because I can only imagine being right out of prison involves a serious readjustment to life and here she is, forcing him to get back into it all. She seems grossly oblivious to his current issues so you know this is going to end badly. 

The story obviously covers two storylines, the past (where Jenna is at the retreat) and now (where Fran is now at the retreat, resolved to solve this damn thing). I felt like the author did a good job going back and forth, I wasn't confused or lost, so that was good. 

There were quite a few characters in this one, and truly- nobody really is as they seem. I had everyone pegged and kind of started piecing this story together and yeah.... I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong. It actually was comical because I missed a few things through the story, so just pay attention because maybe you'll do a better job than I did. The best part? I flew through this story because I just really wanted to know what was going on, and as things really start moving and I realized some of my theories were totally wrong, I had to keep going. 

I will say there was a few things that make the story a little unbelievable (the rafting scene- I'll tell you what- you will NEVER see my butt in a raft on any kind.. ever... just saying), but honestly? I know people take points off for that but it's a fictional story, so that kind of thing doesn't bother me. 

Overall? I'd give this one 4 stars. I really liked this and felt like it was an entertaining read. If you're going on a vacation, this might be a fun read to throw in your bag. It was my first C.L. Taylor book but I would definitely read another. Thank you to TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins for having me on this tour and sending me an ARC for review! 
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1 comment:

Shooting Stars Mag said...

I'm usually pretty lenient with "unbelievable" things in books. I mean, like you said, it's fiction! This sounds like the perfect summer read. And you cracked me up with needing to calm down with thrillers and true crime docs. Same, girl, same. Also? I'd force myself to make audiobooks work for me if Keith Morrison narrated them.

-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net