The Last Thing She Remembers has a great premise and sounded like a really promising novel. A girl shows up in a small English village unable to remember anything about herself, including her name. She is inextricably drawn to a particular house and seems to know it inside and out, if only she knew why. The couple currently living there invite her in with the idea of helping her, and she’s grateful, but also uneasy and unsure why. Alongside this story we have Luke, a local and friend to the couple, who is searching for his long lost love and is somehow tied into the overall plot without us understanding his connection. From here, the story carries on repeating these same two themes.
“Jemma” as she has tentatively been named, who doesn’t remember anything from day to day, and has some uncertain, disconcerting feelings about the house and Tony, the man living there, who doesn’t seem like the most honorable guy around. And Luke, who is still searching for Fleur, his lost love, and the discovery that the two scenarios are indeed linked.
Unfortunately for me, the story stalled out pretty quickly. It got bogged down with repetition and the choppy, stilted writing made it difficult to follow.
There were also some elements of the story that I personally found unappealing.
The Last Thing She Remembers did receive many positive reviews, so perhaps it was just me. Again, a great concept, it just lacked the execution I needed from the novel.

The Last Thing She Remembers begins with a woman getting off of a train. She is repeating to herself, “I can’t remember my name.”

She walks through a city that she seems to know and heads to a house. She looks inside and sees a man and a woman, they are in the kitchen cooking. She is apprehensive, but knocks on the door.

She steps inside and tells them that she lives in the house, that she has been away on a business trip. She then tells them that she lost her purse and her passport at the train station, but that she was able to make her way to her house.

Tony and Laura (the couple who live in the house) are obviously confused. She knows the layout of the house and seems familiar with it, but she can’t remember her name. She is suffering from amnesia.

Tony and Laura decide to help her, Tony says that they have to call her something, and suggests Jemma.

The only problem with that name is that there was a woman who used to live in the village named Jemma Huish that killed her friend, while suffering from amnesia.

Could this girl be jemma Huish?

From there the story takes many twists and turns. Leading you down one path and then another. Is Tony really helping her? Does he have an ulterior motive? Is she Jemma Huish?

I really enjoyed this book. I kept changing my mind about what I thought was going on. It definitely keeps you guessing!

I received an ARC of the book.

I wasn't sure about this story throughout the entire book, but in the end I did end up liking it. I felt like it was all over the place at times and it took me a while to really get into it. I normally really enjoy these types of books but I didn't really like any of the characters so that didn't help. The ending was probably the best part for me.

In exchange for an honest review, I was provided a free eARC of The Last Thing She Remembers by J.S. Monroe.

Official Description (Courtesy of NetGalley)
Who can you trust if you don’t know who you are?
She arrives at the train station only to realize her bag had been stolen—her passport, credit cards, laptop, house key now all gone. And even more disturbing, when she goes to report the incident, she can’t recall her own name. All she has on her is a train ticket home.
Suffering from stress-induced amnesia, the woman without a name is a source of mystery when she appears at the sleepy Wiltshire village where she thought she lived. She quickly becomes a source of conspiracy and fear among the townspeople. Why does one think he recognizes her from years earlier? And why do the local police take such a strong interest in her arrival?
From the critically acclaimed author of Find Me comes a shocking new tale of dark pasts and deception, leaving us breathlessly analyzing the role memory plays in defining who we are—and who others think we might be
My Thoughts
Wow! This book definitely kept my guessing for a bit on who's who and what is going on.
First we have our mystery main character, who is later told she looks like a "Jemma" with a "J". So, naturally, everyone including the main character start referring to her as "Jemma". The problem with being called "Jemma" makes people think she is a missing mental health patient who used to live in the town and killed her flatmate 12 years ago.
We then have Tony, one half of the couple that lives in the house that "Jemma" swears she used to live. Tony seems immediately drawn to her and defends her even to his wife, Laura. Out of fear that "Jemma" is a murderer, Laura leaves town to visit family. Throughout the story, I thought something about Tony was off, but the story and the author kept redirecting the reader's attention to "Jemma's" identity.
The we have Luke, whose wife passed away and now he is trying to reconnect with a school sweetheart. Once he gets a glance at "Jemma", he believes that somehow she's related to his sweetheart, Freya. Luke becomes even more determined to find out and gets caught up in the mystery.
Then, we have Detective Hart, the person who worked the crime that Jemma, the murderer, committed. He is investigating if this mystery woman really is Jemma, where she's been since being released, and what her intentions are for being in her hometown.
There are many twists and turns in this story and it definitely makes you think, okay, that was explained, but what's next?
In Conclusion
This was probably one of the top 10 books I've read in the last 3 months. I loved the mystery. I loved the fact it kept me guessing. The character perspectives were separated clearly. I look forward to discovering more books by this author!
I give The Last Thing She Remembers four stars!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2.5 stars This book started off strong. A young woman with amnesia shows up at a young couple's house out of the blue. She reports having memories of this house and has come because she can't recall anything else including her name. As the couple befriends her and tries to help her, things start to get strange and creepy.

This story is about memories and how the loss of them is a frightening experience. How vulnerable one becomes when they can't remember. If the story had continued in the direction it started and maintained its momentum, I would've been captivated. However, the plot seemed muddled, jumping from one direction to another. The reveals felt implausible and predictable. The storyline was a little too disjointed and repetitive for my tastes.

Thank you to Park Row Books for an ARC on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman takes a train home to an English village and finds her house inhabited by the current owners. She cannot remember who she is, relying on their kindness to help her determine what happened, her only memory of the mysterious Fleur. A murderer lived in the house over a decade ago; timing of the murderer’s release and the young woman’s resemblance cast suspicion on her, dividing the owners. The wife leaves town and the husband obsesses over the unknown woman, possibly a murderer. Deception and revenge collide with coincidence and subterfuge, moving toward tragedy, and taking the story to Berlin and a horrific crime. Monroe builds an intriguing world of characters with hidden agendas and convincing personas. Dear reader may not know with whom to empathize as the secrets spill. Layers of the story build with new insights through flashbacks and revelations. This is an excellent look into the psychology of one criminal act and the resulting vigilante justice. I received this provocative novel from Park Row Books through NetGalley.

Thank you so much to Park Row Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I was very excited to read this book after reading the synopsis but it definitely missed its mark for me. A mystery woman shows up at the door of a couples house, Tom and Laura, and she has no idea who she is or where she came from. AND THE COUPLE TAKES HER IN, WHAT?! I understand that this woman Jemma apparently thinks she used to live there and knows the whole layout of the house but I think that’s where I really lost my interest in this book. Everything was pretty unbelievable to me and I was honestly rolling my eyes with some of Jemma’s decisions that she made.

I also found myself super confused more than I care to admit while reading this book. There was so much going on in this book at once and I kept getting confused about where I was in it.

Amnesia style plots seem to be the “in thing” right now and I honestly feel like they’re just being overused. It’s getting to the point where a new book about someone suffering from amnesia comes out and I immediately feel like I’ve read it before, it’s so repetitive.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing a copy of this with me - all opinions are my own.

This book is a ROLLERCOASTER of surprise and mystery - I can honestly say that I am rarely this surprised by where a plot goes, and this book had me (pleasantly) guessing from start to finish. I LOVE that this plot was so wildly unpredictable, without veering into unbelievable territory.

There is something fascinating about a character with amnesia, and how that lends itself to the uncertainty of the story itself. I love (LOVE) unreliable narrators, and what is more unreliable than someone who cannot even recall who they are? I don't want to say much about this one, because you truly don't want to have ideas about the plot going in, but I will say that I fully appreciate how the author exploited the mental instability in the lead character to make this an absolutely riveting read.

A must for your summer TBR - this will have you fully invested from the first chapters until you set this down with a "wow"

Imagine you are at a train station and have lost your bag with your passport, wallet, money, etc. You aren't even sure why you are where you are, except you think you used to live in a house in the village. This is what happens to the narrator of The Last Thing She Remembers by JS Monroe. She goes to the house she is sure she grew up in only to find a young couple, Tony and Laura, living there. They don't know her and are a little disturbed by her showing up. They try to help her by taking her to the village doctor. From here the plot takes off like a rocket! Who is she? Who has secrets? Who is good and who is bad? This was an enjoyable mystery with plenty of red herrings thrown in for fun. Fans of unreliable narrators will be happy. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. (3.5 stars)

After reading The Last Thing She Remembers, I am unfortunately still on the hunt for a really good thriller. The premise of this book had a lot of potential. It just didn't deliver in the end. The book opens with a woman trying to get into a house that she thinks is hers. She seems to have amnesia and had lost her identification and phone. All she had on her was a train ticket in her pocket.

What I didn't like about the book was the pacing. It was really slow, not like a slow burn. But like I kept looking to see how much time I had left in the audio book. I found a lot of the book confusing. There were multiple perspectives with no smooth transitions between them. Except when the main character was speaking. Hers was the only one in first person. There was one surprise in the end that I didn't see coming. However, it wasn't enough to save the book for me. I'm not sure I would recommend this one.

I normally like psychological thrillers about amnesiacs but this one did not quite hit the mark. It rambled a bit with unnecessary details of every day and had a lot of characters woven in. The premise was interesting and the details about memory were good to a point. It had a surprising twist and everything was tied up in the end. It just wasn't suspenseful enough for me. The main character is the epitome of the unreliable narrator. She shows up at a house that she claims to have lived in and indeed she knows its complete layout, but she has no idea what her name is or any other detail from her past. Tony, the owner of the house, is obsessed with memory, having lost his father to early Alzheimer's. He tells her she looks like a Jemma, with a J. How does he arrive at that name? Does he recognize her? From here we examine her every move for the next several days though it felt like much more time was passing. The detail here and the different characters' story lines cause the book to bog down a little here. With the twist in the book it becomes a book about revenge and moves a little faster. I did enjoy this book. I just didn't quite love it. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for review.

The Last Thing She Remembers is an exciting suspense thriller that rockets from character to character, taking the unreliable narrator trope up a notch or two. A woman takes a train to Wiltshire, an English village, and goes to a house, knocking on the door, claiming she lives there and that she does not remember her name. She does not remember anything about her life. Worse, each new day is a clean slate requiring her to keep notes from day to day so she can remind herself what happened. The homeowners are Tony and Laura and have owned the house a while. At first, Laura is welcoming, but when Tony suggests the stranger looks like a Jemma and the local doctor wonders if she could be Jemma Huish who used to live in that house, Jemma killed her best friend and lived in a hospital and half way house. She is famous for calling the police before committing the crime. What I loved about this book was that the unstable narrative made you unsure of where the story was going. You were hoping that it was Jemma on one page and confused at what is going on in the next. The local’s anxiety makes Jemma doubting herself and her memory.
Irresponsible police and dire public warnings put the newly minted Jemma on the run, seeking help from Tony whose own fears of hereditary Alzheimer’s makes him fascinated by memory and memory loss, thus fascinated by Jemma. Half the book is where Jemma spends time with the town and the other half is Jemma running away with Tony and the police and a local reporter chase the two of them. There is plenty of misdirection in The Last Thing She Remembers and all of it is perfectly fair. Because it is so fair, we perhaps begin to discern the outlines of a scheme at play. Or more accurately, more than one scheme. The plot never stops adding to the tension, propelling the reader forward and compelling us to keep reading without stop. No sleep for you! I finished it in one day. There is plenty of misdirection in The Last Thing She Remembers and all of it is perfectly fair. Because it is so fair, we perhaps begin to discern the outlines of a scheme at play. Or more accurately, more than one scheme. The plot never stops adding to the tension, propelling the reader forward and compelling us to keep reading without stop. I think the only place that it falls short is the epilogue after epilogue. One longer chapter tying everything together would have been perfect. Thank you to Netgalley and all parties involved for my arc of this thriller. I will be reading more of this author for sure.

A woman suffering from amnesia winds up at the front door of a couple in a sleepy English village. Speculation from the villagers soon abounds as she is accused of being a killer. As the story progresses, we learn that more than one character is not who they appear to be and the consequences are dire.

I felt that this was good but had a few too many different things going on all at once so that it was hard to discern what the main focus was at times. I thought that the author successfully built up the suspense and the outcome was satisfying, although certain details were a little far-fetched.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Park Row and J. S. Monro for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The book blurb may make you think that this is your usual story about a woman who wakes up and doesn't know who she is, but the author plays with this trope, taking the reader down an unpredictable path. The creepiness grabs onto you slowly. A very good read.

The Last Thing She Remembers – J.S. Monroe

I was fortunate to receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

It’s an idyllic evening in a small English village when a young woman knocks upon the door of a home she believes is hers. A gentleman answers, his wife in the background, as she announces that she’s been away on a business trip, and that this is her house, before she faints. The couple, Tony & Laura, assist her indoors, and offer her some tea. And that’s when she explains that she has lost her handbag, and that she cannot remember her name. All she had to lead her ‘home’ was a bus ticket in her pocket. As the couple consoles her, she stuns them by describing the home in significant detail. Tony tells her she looks like a ‘Jemma’ and offers her their spare bedroom for a few days until things can sort themselves out. A quick visit with a local physician determines that she likely has amnesia, triggered by some catastrophic event she is unable to recall. And a local reporter, Luke, seemingly recognizes her, or thinks he does, but he can’t remember where As Jemma herself continually searches her memory for clues, she reflects on a friend, Fleur, who is deceased, but is unable to picture her face.

That is the start of a story that takes off like a runaway train and will keep you spellbound with all of its twists and turns and the speed at which they happen. A search of old home records and memories have the townspeople convinced that she may be Jemma Huish, a known murderer. And Luke is diving deep, trying to learn her identity…. But all is not as it seems, and what seems like a book that jumps from place to place and from random character to character, is actually a very well crafted, and horrifying suspenseful read, all coming together seamlessly at the end….and you’ll never look at a seahorse again quite the same…

This was a bit of a depart from my typical genre, but it caught me up in the first few pages, and Jemma’s struggles to remember the events of the past, and the steps she took to do so, had me racing to the thrilling, yet macabre finish. A great read! I look forward to more from J.S, Monroe!!

I was curious about this book the minute I read the description! It starts out with a mystery women who doesn't know her name, shows up at a house claiming she lives there... what!?!?!? Quickly it unfolds into multiple story lines & becomes a twisty thriller that draws you in. I couldn't even figure out how it was going to end... you'll just have to read it to find out!!! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was quite an interesting read that kept my attention until the end. Could you imagine waking up every day and not remembering what you did the previous day? On a normal day that would be frustrating, but for the the woman with no name, it is even harder as she returns to the town she thinks she grew up in, and the locals think she looks a lot like someone that committed a horrible crime. She enlists the help of a couple that lives in her childhood home (or was it?) but something is off with them too, she just can't put her finger on it.

As the woman starts to piece together her life and why she came to the small town, other secrets unravel with her. This was a mess that I could not figure out until the end, and it was really good. It got a little off track for me with the details on the brain / how memory works, I didn't care too much about that but understand why it was relevant to include. It also got a little complicated with the story line towards the end, but I liked that it didn't end clean or with a bow on it the way most stories do. Overall this was well done, different, and kept me guessing.

A young woman has flown in from attending a conference and she has forgotten her name. In addition, her handbag and computer have been lost. She only remembers where she lives. Walking to her home, she finds it occupied by a couple named Laura and Tony, and the furnishings are different. When she explains her dilemma, they kindly invite her inside. They take her to see a doctor who thinks she may have some type of amnesia. Laura and Tony invite her to stay the night at their home. However, Laura learns that the woman might be Jenna Huish who used to live in the house and supposedly murdered someone. Frightened, Laura and Tony tell her she must leave so she finds some place else to stay.

After the first part of this book, I became more and more confused. Way too many characters and boring events. I kept on through the book and with each chapter, I asked myself why I was reading it. Oh, dear. I do hate to give a book a DNF which is why I carried on. All I can say is, don’t waste your time. There’s nothing to see here, Folks, so just carry on.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is an engrossing read that once you start you have to keep reading until you are finished! Except for taking care of the necessities of life, I didn’t put this book down and devoured it in record time. This book is full of suspense and mystery...it keeps you guessing until the end (literally!). The storyline is very unique and with the addition of all the many unexpected twists and turns, this book excels as a top-notch novel of suspense. I can't recommend this more highly as a really great read. Even though I was given a copy for my honest review, I would have gladly purchased this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy!

I recommend checking out this thriller if you enjoy the genre, it was well-written and thrilling all the way through.