This. Book. This book was so frustratingly good. I wanted to hate Owen, but I also couldn’t. The ending made me insane, and if it wasn’t listening to an audio version, I probably would have thrown the book across the room.

Protect her....

This is the thing about good and evil. They aren't so far apart- and they often start from the same valiant place of wanting something to be different.

Hannah Hall comes from broken pieces. A mother who abandoned her, a grandfather who raised her and taught her a profession. When she married Owen, all she knew was that their relationship was effortless. That she didn't have to be someone else or fit in somebody else's mold. She witnessed also in Owen the father that she didn't have so when she received a note from Owen to protect her, she knew it was his daughter Bailey. A teenager trying to fit in her own shoes that didn't need a step mother to do it. Their relationship changed when Bailey's father disappeared. Hannah knew she had to answer the question protect her from what, who, and why.

Together they go on that journey which leads them from their houseboat in San Francisco to Texas. A vague memory that Bailey has which leads to a Pandora box that becomes deadly.

I loved the narration of this thriller. All on Hannah's perspective. It focused on the woman she was and how became to her loyalty to Owen and Bailey. What do you trust when the person you married is not who they say they are but you know the soul of what drives that person. How doubt and love drive to the unknown. Highly recommend.

A special thank you to Simon & Shuster and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest raview.

What would you do for the ones you love?
That’s the question asked and answered in The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave.

What an amazing book! I loved the plot, the characters, and the pacing of this book. And although I was certainly intrigued by the disappearance of Owen, it was the relationship between Hannah and Bailey that blew me away. It was so beautifully and authentically written and their connection, especially at the end, tugged at my heart strings. I loved the evolution of their relationship, the back story of Hannah and Owen, and how it all comes together at the end, it was so well done! I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Laura Dave, Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for my advanced copy.
The Last Thing He Told Me publishes 5/4/21.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This was an interesting mystery/domestic thriller. Hannah's husband has vanished and all she has left is a note from him that says, "Protect her." The "her" in question, is Hannah's new step-daughter, Bailey, with whom she has a strained relationship. Bailey is a teenager who does not want anything to do with the new woman in the family.

We follow Hannah and Bailey as they try to unravel the mystery. Is Owen really the man Hannah thought he was?

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

tho predictable, this was a fun and quick read full of twists and turns. Looking forward to more by this author.

The Last Thing He Told Me begins like any other idyllic day, until it's not anymore. Hannah's husband has disappeared, leaving her with a surly teenager to care for and more questions than answers. To get those answers, she must start investigating a past that her husband would rather keep hidden from her.

I have to wonder if Hannah had not done what she had done in the novel, would things have turned out differently? Would the ending have been different? It's hard to say.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel. It was not entirely what I expected. While I felt some parts were a little long, there was a pull that kept me reading. I enjoyed learning about these characters, their lives, and watching the changes they underwent throughout the novel. I do wish there was a little more development of the characters.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the novel. All opinions are my own.

The Last Thing He Told Me is my second Laura Dave book and it was a good one. A little unbelievable toward the end but entertaining nonetheless. I enjoyed this one alot and would recommend giving it a chance.

First chapter, protect her.. wait... why???!! I was hooked from the get go, I had sooo many questions. The suspense throughout the book was incredible. Kept me guessing and doubting everyone until the end. It made me nervous to have them go out, what where everyone’s intentions around them. The twist... something I would’ve never guessed!

Laura Dave weaves an un-put-downable thriller in The Last Thing He Told Me. When her husband vanishes and leaves a simple message, "protect her," Hannah Hall takes matters into her own hands. She knows her husband would never leave his daughter unless he absolutely had to, so it's Hannah's job to figure out why he vanished. Dave manages to keep the twists coming while also making you care about the well-being of the characters.

This is an excellent and quick-read domestic suspense. It's categorized as a mystery/thriller, but if you go in with the idea of it being a domestic suspense, you will enjoy it more! I absolutely love the way Hannah and Bailey's relationship grows throughout the book as the mystery unfolds. I honestly had no idea where this was going and loved the direction it took. The characters are fully developed and felt so real. Austin,TX is one of the key cities where this story took place, and as someone who lived there for 5 years, I was so happy with how thorough and accurate the descriptions of the city were. You can absolutely tell Laura Dave was familiar with the city and did her research! I've even been to the hotel Hannah and Bailey stay at and everything was SPOT ON. The ending of this book tugged at my heart strings and I loved the unexpected way everything wrapped.

Great fast paced page turner. Loved the strong female characters. The flashbacks dropped clues here and there but I didn’t see anything coming.

I have very mixed emotions for Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me. I loved the first half of the book. Hannah’s husband Owen disappears the day his boss, Avett, is arrested by the FBI for shady financial practices. Is Owen part of it? Owen left Hannah a note with two words, “Protect Her!” The “her” is Hannah’s teenage step-daughter who has had her father to herself until Hannah entered Owen’s life the previous year. Hannah’s mother was killed in a car accident when she was very little. I found the first half of the book to be fast paced in the present with flashbacks interspersed. The first morning after Owen disappears, she finds a U.S.Marshal, Grady on her back porch, and later FBI agents visit. Hannah decides to investigate what happened to Owen and takes Bailey to Austin to look for some answers about Owen’s past. Underneath this search, there is Hannah’s quest to gain Bailey’s trust in their relationship. I thought this part was good. I felt the book fell apart for me on the approach to the climax and the resolution. It just did not work for me. The epilogue was somewhat satisfying. I would rate the first half of the book 5 stars and the second half 3 stars, so I will settle in the middle.

I loved what a fast paced story this was and how it drew you right in from the beginning pages. A newly married woman has to unravel her new husband's past when he mysteriously disappears after leaving her with just a brief note "protect her". She assumes this means her teenaged stepdaughter. How they go about exploring the past and navigating a tricky relationship makes for a great read. The story is plausible with a very realistic ending. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed The Last Thing He told me, but i did not love it surprisingly. I really thought it had potential be a book I would adore but didn’t hit the mark and I can’t really put my finger on why.

Before Owen disappears, he gets a message to his wife, Hannah. Then poof, he's gone. Now Hannah and Owen's daughter, Bailey, are left to pick up the pieces. No one will tell them anything and they have to go on a hunt to find out what's going on. OMG the roller coaster this book takes you on is so fun. I liked learning about Owen's past and the things Bailey remembers. The ending of this book was so great. highly recommended.

Not knowing what to expect this was an enjoyable read. A huge mystery leading the reader down the path of uncovering what happened to Owen?

I can’t say that the story tied up lose ends as it felt detailed and too many characters involved, who can you trust and whether everything makes sense in the end.

The story feels more like the stepmother /stepdaughter relationship as they work toward figuring out the past life of her father. I didn’t understand why her family didn’t locate her if they were powerful people.

The writing style was easy to follow but left a lot of unanswered questions still for me.

4.5 Stars!

Your husband is missing and leaves you with these final words: "protect her". The style of this book, the writing, the settings, and the slow-burn mystery/family drama kept me engaged from start to finish. I loved the unfolding of the characters as more was revealed, and Hannah's tenacity to protect Bailey at all costs even if it means sacrificing her own wants and needs. Hannah's deep devotion to Owen's lasting words only demonstrated how deep and true her love was despite the information that she learns about him. I loved this book through the last page and felt deeply satisfied by the way it ended and the conclusion of their stories. I know this is being adapted with Julia Roberts as the star, and I can't wait to see this story come to life!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was very excited to read this novel, mainly to see if it lived up to the great recommendations I had heard for many weeks. I had also previously read Laura Dave's previous work Eight Hundred Grapes and loved that book, so the bar was set very high. Overall this novel is enjoyable, and I would definitely recommend it to family and friends, etc. but I think in the end, this novel is a bit forgettable.

The Last Thing He Told Me starts very strong and brings the reader into the fold quickly. As with the best mysteries, you are trying to put a puzzle together knowing that you don't have all of the pieces. However as the plot progresses, I feel like it loses steam and the reader's interest with it. The ending was wrapped up nicely and gave closure to all of the main characters, which I appreciated.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of this novel.

This one had me hooked. It was more suspense/domestic drama rather than a thriller, but it was edge of your seat kind of stuff. Owen, Hannah's husband and Bailey's dad, just goes missing - the only thing left behind is a note to Hannah telling her to protect Bailey, and a bag of money. Seems that Owen isn't who he says he is and Hannah and Bailey are left to figure out what happened and clean up the mess he left in his wake. Quite an impossible situation - and a rather heartbreaking one in the end.