The Last Holiday is a reunion of college friends. None of them really wanted to attend the getaway but did for Rose, who is the oldest of their children and is turning 18.

A bunch of questionable characters, with Annie being the worst of the bunch. She is down right mean, in fact. It is somewhat of a mystery to me as to why they are even friends. Maybe that is why no one really wanted to go. A few days into the camping trip, one of them ends up dead.

Hard to find any of the them actually likeable. Between the many secrets, affairs and past baggage there is a lot of animosity between them all.

The story itself was good, although I had little sympathy for the victim. It was more about who did it and why for me. As more secrets come out it just gets better and better.

Thanks to netgalley and Bookouture for the arc

A group of friends come together to celebrate the 18th birthday of one of their daughters, Simmering under the surface of the so called happy event are secrets and tensions. And affairs!!
An evening around the campfire leads to a game. As things get out of hand tensions rise.
Annie who is the main keeper of secrets is found dead the next morning. Could one of the group be responsible for her death?
The story is told from differing points of view. It is a fast paced and interesting read as we follow the police investigation. The case led by an officer who knew and was at school with the group.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to see an ARC

I'm not sure what I think about this book. The positive was that there were a lot of twists to the story that I didn't see coming. The negative for me was that I didn't really like any of the characters. It felt like the story was taking a long time to get to the end.



Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

The Last Holiday
by Amy Sheppard

A decent, summer holiday themed whodunnit, loaded with suspense. With reveals occurring throughout the pace is fast and plenty of twists to keep the pages turning.

There are quite a few well used tropes, but happily for me I can read about college friend reunions all day, and camping holidays in Cornwall are my catnip. Throw in some baggage; ex drama, secrets and cover ups, resentments and jealousies and we have the ingredients for a hotbed of disharmony. When the body of one of them turns up dead, police realise that the murderer could only have been one of this group, and it looks like everyone has a motive. There are reasons to suspect any one of these unlikeable characters and it is fun to try and work out who the murderer is. I fell for all the red herrings and didn't see the final twist coming.

The setting is done very well. Although all the place names are fictional, they have enough descriptive elements to represent the authentic Cornwall experience. I flew through this in no time, setting all other reading aside, which is unusual for me. I highly recommend this for summer reading.

Publication date: 30th May 2023
With thanks to #netgalley and #bookouture for the ARC

3.5★s

None of them really wanted to go on this holiday. A week at a caravan park in Cornwall, in their tents and a yurt, alcohol flowing, secrets that had been hidden for years threatening to come out. The group had been friends for twenty five years, all except Nate who was Stella's fiance. Charlotte and Tristan with their little boy, Theo, four years old; Annie and her daughter Rose, to turn eighteen this week - the reason most of them hadn't said no. Jack and Kelly, recently married with Jack's surly fifteen year old son Oliver. Over the years their friendships had dwindled and lives diverted and took them to different places. As the days moved forward, with lovely weather as well as rain and freezing cold, tensions rose and more than one person felt the need to go home.

The Last Holiday is my first read by Amy Sheppard and it was told in the voices of Annie, Charlotte and Stella, moving back and forth between the recent past and long ago past, to the current day. The police had their work cut out after the death was ruled murder, with the majority of the group all having motives. Annie wasn't a very nice person - done well by the author. But I feel it was overly long and the conclusion was slow in coming. Recommended for fans of thrillers.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Someone's killed Annie at what was meant to be a celebration of her daughter Rose's 18th birthday. Annie was the queen bee of her group of friends (but are they really friends?) and she could be, well not so nice, but murder? This is told by two of the friends and by Annie herself as they work out who did it. It's a familiar sort of plot but I liked the setting and the addition of Rose made it a little different. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Plenty of tension and atmosphere in this gripping read about a group of old friends and their darkest secrets. Really enjoyed! 5 stars

This is, I don't know, a little bit silly. We have a group of immature adults celebrating their oldest child's 18th birthday.
There were a lot of affairs and secrets and everyone's a little bit awful to everyone else.
And then someone gets murdered and the DCI is investigating.
You don't really feel bad for the victim. She is literally the worst of the bunch. But honestly if they were all murdered I wouldn't have had the sympathy I usually have for complex characters who are murdered.
Oh and the cop went to school with all of these selfish adults.
However, I did enjoy the ride.

A group of old friends gets together for a camping holiday in Cornwall, ostensibly to celebrate the 18th birthday of Rose, the daughter of one of the friends, Annie. But while they remain apparently close, this warmth is mostly at a superficial level, since the group dynamics heave with internal tensions and badly-kept secrets.

To make matters worse, there has been some degree of erosion and addition within the group, as - over the years - divorce, infidelity, remarriage and child-rearing have inevitably forced a number of changes to take place.

Annie, the mother of Rose, is as always at the centre of things. Intelligent and fearless, she is also brash and abrasive. And this time her position in the limelight backfires.

After a game of Never Have I Ever (and really what sane adult would risk playing such a revealing game?!) lays bare some of the existing tensions among the friends, things start going badly wrong.

And when Annie's dead body is found nearby, the police determine - to everyone's shock - that her killer must be one of the members of their own party, as the families and groups on the campsite stay in designated, separate fields and CCTV shows clearly that no intruder was involved.

The story is told in three voices - from the points of view of three of the women in the group, including Annie. I guessed quite early on who the killer was, but this was an engaging story. Not all the characters were likeable, but the portrayals felt realistic. The book would be a good choice for people who enjoy the " reunion of old friends" trope, and stories with multiple POV and dual timelines.

After 20+ years of friendship, this group has a lot of history and even more secrets. The story itself was chuck full of twists which kept me reading until the final page but I hated the author’s choice to write in the first person and use colloquial speech. Instead of using X and I ….. she wrote Me and X…… I cringed every time I came across examples of poor grammar.
Thank You to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A group of old college friends all get to celebrate Annie’s daughter 18th birthday.
When things suddenly take a deadly turn and one of them is found dead.
The past slowly starts to rise to surface. As the tension rises and questions are asked.
Could one of them be capable of murder?

I enjoyed this authors debut The Beach Party, her second title was no different.
The Last Holiday by Amy Sheppard is a quick read and an interesting story.
It’s a book that will pull you in and keeps you hooked till devoured it in a couple sittings.
Told in multiple POVs and dual timeframes with well written characters.
Great plot & great storytelling Amy Sheppard did a great job here keeping the suspense alive and tense.
Full of twists, turns, shocks, chills, thrills and much more!
Well written, original, and sure to keep you hooked.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Bookouture for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for an early copy of The Last Holiday. Wow, I did NOT want this book to end, I felt like I was right in the plot with the characters. Sooooooo many twists, the ending was like whoaaaaaaaa slow down, WHAT did I just read? So, so so good, Great read!!!!! You will NEVER figure out the ending. The characters were real, I could see this whole trip the way it panned out.

Annie’s always been the keeper of secrets. She knows about the stolen kisses, the infidelities, and all the indiscretions. Now Saturday night on the camping trip, the innocent game we’re playing around the campfire is getting out of hand and I’m worried it isn’t so innocent.

Now it’s Wednesday and more and more little things are coming up. Things aren’t adding up and Annie is dead.

With everyone on the camping trip a suspect, the detectives must figure it out before its too late.

This was such a fun book and an amazing read! At first, I was worried that there would be too many points of view and I would lose track, but that was not the case. I really enjoyed reading the story from each of the women’s perspectives. I also enjoyed how the story went from the past to the present and many years ago. It really kept me on the edge of my seat and waiting for more. I also enjoyed the pacing; it was nice and fast. The twist at the end was entertaining and I didn’t see it coming.

Thank you so much to Bookouture, @bookouture, and Netgalley, @netgalley, for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Additional links will be added once posted.

Loved it. This book is soooo well written. When you think that you all have it worked out. Bam those twists and turns will have you scrambling to try and figure it all out. But you will not be able to until Amy is ready to reveal it all to you in all its glory. A very well written physiological thriller.

Really well written from different POV’s which weave together to tell the story. Didn’t guess the ending!… I'll definitely be recommending The Last Holiday to anyone who is looking for an exciting thriller, and I’ll for sure be reading more books by Amy Sheppard. Loved this book.

A group of friends from college go on a camping holiday together. One of them will not come back. Read this fast paced thriller to see what secrets everyone is hiding. How far will someone go?

A bit of a slow start but The Last Holiday soon got into its stride. it follows a group of friends who reunite for a holiday on the Cornish coast. They used to be close but now it feels like they’re all just keeping up appearances. Trying to pass themselves off as having the perfect life when they all seem to be keeping secrets. When one of the group is murdered, the gobbler of suspicion could be pointed at any one of them. A great thriller with some intriguing twists. Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

This was a great book. I couldn’t put it down. I would definitely recommend this book! Looking forward to reading more books by Amy! Thank you Amy, Bookouture and Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-book ARC. I really enjoyed this book and liked the writing from the view of different people. Lots of twists that keep you guessing. Great psychological thriller. Can't wait to read more by this author.

The Last Holiday
Amy Sheppard
Pub Date: May 30, 2023
Bookouture
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This is one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve read this year.
This book is about friends with secrets going camping. Very good start to finish.
4 stars