I wish I could say that I loved this, but unfortunately I found it mediocre at best. I keep hoping to relive the magic of All the Missing girls, but each book I read by this author leaves me wishing for something better. It's not a terrible story, but I just struggled to gain any interest in the plot or characters.

I received a free e-copy of The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda from NetGalley for my honest review.

As summer comes to an end, the last of the vacationers are left behind in Littleport. A local, Avery Greer, soon finds her life spiraling out of control when her best friend, Sadie, is found dead. They have ruled her death a suicide. Avery, is not convinced her friend committed suicide so she is in search of the truth in a town full of secrets.

This book was a bit of a slow burn for me and I struggled connecting with the characters.

The Last Guest House is a entertaining thriller than has several twists. Some slow areas, a couple of unlikable characters,different timelines, but I still liked it. Megan Miranda is a good author that doesn't write typical books for the masses to love.

I read The Perfect Stranger in one sitting and really enjoyed All the Missing Girls as well, so I was excited to read Miranda's newest novel. Unfortunately I found it dull, lifeless, and difficult to get through. There's barely a mystery; the characters are uninteresting; the setting isn't used to its full effect; and the "twist" at the climax is a serious letdown after hoping for a saving grace hundreds of pages into the book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

Hello, I am a forever fan of Megan Miranda. She is just SO good. Her writing, her character depth and development, her story lines. This book did not disappoint. I was riveted from the beginning and I couldn’t figure out which way it wasn’t going to twist or turn. I fell hard for Avery and her driven narrative, her spunk and her whit. I couldn’t have imagined a more just ending for her. I highly recommend this book!

I always love a good book about people from different walks of life that come together - that was the basis of this book, with a death/murder added in. I tried to get really into the book, and while I finished it and it was fine, not one of the best of this genre that I’ve read.

I loved this book! The author did a great job developing the characters and weaving them into the story. Just when I thought I had things figured out, another twist would be thrown in, all the way throughout the book. WOW!! Every time I had to step away from reading this, all I could think about was getting back to it so I could find out whodunit.

I enjoyed this book. It kept my interest and I was definitely curious to find out what happened at the end. It had an alternating timeline, which I like, going to the past and the present giving the reader more information each chapter. Some of the characters were a cliche and they seemed more like teenagers than young adults in their 20's. I did guess the ending about midway through the book and it was a little obvious. I also thought there were some storylines/characters that did not get a resolution or an ending. I have read several books by this author and would recommend this one to anyone who likes thriller/mystery type of books.

The Last House Guest is a decent read. Avery is a property manager for a wealthy family in Maine. Sadie, her best friend and member of the family died the previous summer. Strange things keep,happening and Avery questions everything about Sadie's death and what the clues she discovers are trying to tell,her.

Release date June 18, 2019
Simon & Schuster
Advance e-copy vía NetGalley

Characters:
Avery Greer lives in the guest house - manages properties for the Loman’s
Sadie Loman - victim and her best friend
Connor Harlow - friend
Parker Loman - Sadie’s brother
Luce Suárez- Parker’s girlfriend
Detective Collins
Grant & Bianca Loman- wealthy parents of Sadie & Parker

A strange cast of characters- none very likable and hard to relate to.

Sadie is found dead at a cliff by the seaside. Suicide? Accident? Murder? Avery sets out to find the truth and uncovers more than she bargained for.

Personally, I didn’t get connected to any of the characters as well as I thought I might. I’ve read Miranda’s other two books which I liked, but this didn’t make par for me. For one thing, too many characters and too much jumping around in timelines. It also took too long to get going.

I did like the twist at the end, and it brought everything to a satisfactory conclusion. A 3-star rating that I think most of Miranda’s fans may like better than I did. My thanks for the advance e-galley and the opportunity to voice my opinion.

Since All The Missing Girls, I have been a huge fan of Megan Miranda. Her style of weaving together a tale is a style I enjoy. Puzzles. Her stories are puzzles.

In this tale, the author has taken us to Littleport, Maine. One of those East Coast towns that is full to the brim with tourists in the summer and deserted the rest of the year except for the townies.

You don't make friends with the outsiders. Ever. But somehow Sadie Loman met Avery Greer and instantly they were friends. For 10 summers. Until the final summer when Sadie is found dead on the beach below the cliffs. 

The next year is a blur of Avery avoiding everyone, working on the Loman estate and living in the guest house. But with the upcoming memorial dedication for Sadie, Avery is getting some very strange vibes and she needs to prove the death was not a suicide and that she is innocent. 

This was a twisty, puzzling tale of the haves and the have nots. What money can do for you and what it can not.

That said, this was not even close to the other books. It was more rambling and unclear until the last page or so.  I liked the idea of the story more than the story itself.

NetGalley Reviews/ June 18th 2019 by Simon & Schuster

This book was dark and twisty and suspenseful, exactly what I hoped for and expected after reading All the Missing Girls. I love it when I can't see the end coming, and I certainly didn't in this book. A fun quick read when you're in the mood for suspense.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. In a small town in Maine, Avery and Sadie became best friends. The problem was that one of them was a local and the other a visitor who was there every summer which was not very common. When Sadie dies not show up at the big end of the year party, Avery is very worried. It is believed later that Sadie committed suicide as a note was supposedly written by her. But strange things are happening to Avery and she feels like everyone is pointing fingers at her.

Megan Miranda: The Last House Guest. Video review done on instagram blog: www.instagram.com/jonesingforagoodbook. 3 stars

Megan Miranda never disappoints with a great psychological thriller & an ending the reader will not see coming!

Always an entertaining thriller from Ms. Miranda--and this is no exception. Avery made a convincing detective/suspect, and the twists and turns kept me engaged. The end is a satisfying twist, and should make the latest another best-seller. Thanks for sharing, and I shall push it as a great summer beach read.

Miranda turns out another polished thriller with an always intriguing premise - what happens between the townies of a resort beach town and the summer people who blow in every year to permanently change the social and physical landscape, no matter what wreckage is left behind? Avery Greer is a survivor, of her parents' tragic deaths in an auto accident long ago, of her own reckless decisions, unaddressed grief and limited prospects in Littleport. Her consolation is her friendship with Sadie Loman, the wild child daughter of a family who is buying up the town and influencing everything that happens there. Avery has picked up her living from the Lomans for years, managing their rental properties, learning how to handle the ambiguity between a resentful, dependent population of year rounders and the often cavalier, sometimes generous, always opaque wealthy families who seems behind everyhing significant that happens in Littleport, with Sadie as her guiding star. But when Sadis is found dead, an apparent suicide, Avery must find out what happened to her friend no matter the consequences, A perfect beach read to devour in an afternoon, leaving a slightly sour after taste as the characters are quite unpleasant, the heroine troubled enough to unsettle the reader without much resolution, and anyone who rents in a hot summer market will never feel totally at ease around the locals again!

I did not enjoy this one as much as I liked All the Missing Girls. It was only OK for me. I didn't really love the characters/story and felt like the writing could have been better.

The best summers always involve getaways in small Maine harbor towns right? Every year Sadie and Avery are inseparable until one year one of them is dead... The Last House Guest is a summer treat that you wont want to let melt...

3.25 Stars* (rounded down).

Twisty and Turny!

Sadie Loman and Avery Greer had been best friends for years when Sadie’s body was found the night after a party. Police suspected that she took her own life, though Avery never believed it.

Now, a year later, Avery has decided to search for clues to prove that someone murdered her best friend.

Told in two timelines, the night of the party, and the summer after, the suspects are those who attended the party. Everyone who went had something to hide and you know what they say about secrets!

“The Last House Guest” is full of mystery, a web of lies and twists and turns galore. Unfortunately for me, this is a novel in which there was simply way too much going on and sometimes, less is more. That being said, this was a quick easy read which kept my interest from the get go. Having read all of Megan Miranda’s novels to date, “All the Missing Girls” is still my favorite. I am however a huge fan and can’t wait to see what Ms. Miranda comes up with next!

This was another fabulous buddy read with Ms. Kaceey!

Thank you to Edelweiss and NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and Megan Miranda for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on Edelweiss, NetGalley and Goodreads on 4.24.19.
Will be published on Amazon on 6.18.19