An interesting, slow paced mystery with a lot of drama. I loved the premise of a sister looking into what happened to her sister. With a cast of several excellent suspects at the retreat, I was entertained, even if I did guess the twist. A light beach read.

An excellent read - as usual with this author. An intriguing plot line, which builds up throughout the story, creates tension. Would recommend.

Normally I am. a great fan of this author but I struggled with this novel. But it’s possibly a case of it’s me, not you syndrome as I have just had hip replacement surgery and am in a degree of pain.

I found the problem with this novel is that it jumped around too much and I got confused with who was who and on what timeline. The two sisters tended to blur in to one too. And none of the characters were likeable.

C.L Taylor has done it again! Yet another of her books I couldn't put down, read it in less than 24 hours and was rather sad to finish it in a way. I had great fun desperately trying to figure out what happened before I read the answers, nothing like a good mystery to engage my brain.

Following the lives of two sisters, Fran and Jenna, you slowly weave together a picture of what really happened in Gozo on the night of Jenna's disappearance.
Throughout the whole book, I found myself never quite sure who to trust. Everyone has their own secrets hidden just below the surface but you often have no idea just how damaging those secrets are behind the facade.

Right from the get-go, Tom Wade is painted as the villain, newly released from prison after serving 3 years for the accidental deaths of two of his clients at a wellness retreat. With Jenna assumed to have committed suicide, no one was held responsible for her disappearance, yet Fran and her mother were adamant to find Tom and get the truth.

The more you learn about Tom, his wife Kate and the others on the retreat, the less sure you can be about anything that's going on. Tom is not the villain he seems, Kate is no saint and no one seems to be telling the truth about their motives for being there.

C L Taylor is one of my favourite authors so I’m very happy to be reviewing her upcoming book “Her Last Holiday”.

She’s a master of twisty shocking tales and this is no exception!

Francs sister Jenna went missing / presumed dead on a retreat a few years ago, now the man in charge has been released from prison and he’s started a new retreat. Of course Fran has to go but there’s some shocks along the way...

Thrilling! Loved this. I really enjoyed how Fran was not a likeable character, she’s harsh and takes no shit but not in a likeable way...I feel like this really added to the story and really showed the differences between her and Jenna. I loved to hate Kate! What a character!

A fantastic 4/5.

Loved this! Read it in a couple of hours. A well conceived plot, I didn't guess the ending until just before it was revealed. Definitely will be recommending this!

Fran is determined to find out the truth behind her sister Jenna’s disappearance and supposed suicide. She went missing on a retreat in Gozo that went terribly wrong after two people died. It was run by the charismatic Tom Wade who went to prison for the deaths but never explained what happened to Jenna.
Fran sees that on Tom’s release he is running another retreat and books on to it hoping to find the truth and come to terms with her sister’s death. She is convinced that Tom is to blame and wants to make him pay.
Full of suspense this kept me gripped to the end, loved it!

My first CL Taylor book! This book had me hooked from the outset and deserves every good review given to it! I thoroughly enjoyed reading his and was really disappointed that it had to end!

Fran’s sister Jenna has gone missing (and presumed dead) after she attended a retreat in Gozo run by Tom Wade and his wife Kate. Never having been that close to Jenna due to the age gap and family circumstances and pressure from her overbearing mother, Fran decides to sign up for the next retreat to investigate what happened as she feels something untoward went on. The story is told from Kate, Jenna and Fran’s perspective and hovers between past and present.

Great writing and character building from the author. Also, there is a big twist at the end of this so be prepared!
Thanks to NetGalley & Avon Books UK for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I spent most of this booking thinking I had the whole thing figured out and that it was so predictable and obvious, but I was completely wrong and now I am laughing at myself. The last 20% to 30% of the book is chock-full of explosive surprises that I didn't see coming! I would describe this thriller as a slow burn. There was definitely mystery and suspense throughout the book but the end had me glued to the page.

This was my first C.L. Taylor book but it definitely won’t be my last. If you have never read any of her books my only advice would be to read the whole thing through, don’t give up on it because you think you have it all figured out. It took me a little while to get into this one but the end is so good it completely makes up for it. With my next C.L. Taylor book, I will dive into it with a fresh mind knowing that she has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve.

3.5 stars

Tom Wade, the public face of SoulShrink is about to be released from prison after serving two years following tragedies at his last retreat in Gozo. His wife Kate is waiting for him, anxious to reboot SoulShrink and get their lives back on track. Fran, an ICT teacher watches proceedings carefully as her younger sister Jenna disappeared from the Gozo retreat. When Tom and Kate offer another retreat in Wales, Fran attends to try to find out what happened to Jenna. The story is told from two years ago and now and from Kate/Fran and Jenna’s points of view.

This is a ‘game of two halves’. I like the first half of the book which looks at the dynamics of several relationships especially Tom and Kate. You can see how brittle and strained things are between them which is heightened after Tom's prison release. Fran and Jenna’s relationship is interesting as is their dynamics with their absolute harridan of a mother and you appreciate their struggles to cope. The characterisation is one of the best elements of the book as you try to work out each of them. Is Tom a fraud, a player or genuine? Is Kate controlling, manipulative, domineering and jealous or is she used? Fran struggles so much but as you grow to understand her you realise why she is so socially awkward and a boiling cauldron of anger and regrets inside and of them all, she is the one I grew to like. I appreciate her sense of humour too. It takes a while to get to understand Jenna, her confusion and reasons for her issues. The pace in the first half is good and a number of unsettling events occur, there’s a lot of suspicion in the Welsh retreat and a good puzzle to unlock.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the second half is as good. The retreat events become rather longwinded and overlong and so it gets a bit dull. There are a lot of characters to get your head around too and some of them change their names which gets confusing. It’s the end though that I have the biggest problem with as it just doesn’t work for me. As the ‘string puller’ is revealed the motivation seems spurious and it feels implausible.

Overall, it’s a pity the book tails off as I was enjoying the first half and I usually really like this authors books but I don’t think this one is up there with her best.

With thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the arc for an honest review.

I love CL Taylor - her novels never fail to grip me, and Her Last Holiday was another great read!

I must note though that it took me a good 30% of the book to learn who was who though, as several characters have two names (one in the past and one in the present), and the main character shares her false ‘current’ name with her mother, making things quite confusing at times!

However once I got into the book and learned the characters, the book drew me in properly. It’s worth persevering with the first quarter or so, as it’s an enjoyable escapist read**

Set both in modern day wet wintery Wales and 3 years earlier in Gozo in healing retreats, it was the perfect antidote to ‘retreat’ into away from the news etc (from wet wintery Wales however!) which dominates our lives so much at the moment. It has a great mix of goodies, baddies, and downright odd people - and some who will take you by surprise. I couldn’t put it down in the second half of the book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

**Read the first quarter in one go if you can for the continuity!

Jenna went missing, presumed dead after a spiritual retreat three years ago. The organiser has been in prison during this time and is released to find his wife is ready to start their retreats again, while Tom is not particularly excited to return after the horror of his last retreat they start again.

Fran is Jenna’s sister, bullied by her mother to find out the truth she is enrolled on the next retreat. Completely out of her comfort zone she is determined to find the truth.

Quite slow paced, but very good writing.

This was a good thriller, twists that I didn’t see coming but it lacked a bit of excitement.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fran's sister Jenna disappeared during a Soul Shrink wellness retreat two years ago. Two people were killed during an accident during that retreat and the man behind it, Tom Wade, was just released from prison. In order to discover what happened to her sister, Fran goes on Tom's Soul Shrink retreat. Now she is with Tom, his wife, and people that knew her sister. Will Fran find out what happened to Jenna?

I enjoyed this mystery and the characters in it! It's filled with unexpected twists and turns. Will definitely recommend it. Thank you, NetGalley.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This one was really enjoyable. A wide range of realistic, complicated characters with well-motivated actions and plot-turns. Twists are unexpected without being unbelievable. A solid thriller

When I first picked up C.L. Taylor’s Her Last Holiday, having read advance publicity material, I expected an Agatha-Christie-style ‘whodunnit’ where a group of people are cooped up together in enclosed surroundings until suspects are gradually eliminated one by one by the detective and the eagle-eyed reader. C.L. Taylor’s latest offering, however, expands this literary trope by providing a fresh, contemporary insight into the growing ‘self-help retreat’ industry and the lengths of sisterly loyalty.
School teacher Fran is desperate to find out what happened to her younger sister Jenna who disappeared during a self-help workshop on the Maltese island of Gozo run by the charismatic Tom Wade and his ruthlessly wife Kate. Although Tom has been forced to endure a prison sentence for the manslaughter of two other workshop participants, Kate is ruthlessly determined to re-launch his ‘soul shrink’ brand when he is released, and the couple organise a similar workshop in Cumbria that Fran books under an assumed name.
Initially I found the broken timeline and the many spotlights on ancillary characters difficult, as there are so many diversions from Fran’s search to take notice of. Eventually, though, Fran’s strategy crystallised, the deeply buried family secrets her parents have guarded emerged, and the motives of some of the family workshop participants became clearer, and as a result I enjoyed reading the novel more. I also liked seeing how the resourceful, determined Fran meets her match in an undercover journalist keen to discover her own narrative, and witnessing how the deeply flawed, unlikeable character of Kate was always several steps behind them with her suspicions. The ending of the novel is not only completely unexpected but also deeply satisfying, something that is rare in novels of this genre. I am sure that fans of C.L. Taylor’s previous novels will read this stand-alone tome anyway, but I hope Her Last Holiday will also garner her many new readers. Warmly recommended, and with my thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for the ARC provided in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This was an easy read and kept me wanting to read till the end. It’s also keeps you guessing up until the end you find out what happens to Jenna. Would recommend this to anyone

I always look forward to reading a book C.L Taylor. So, when I received a copy Her Last holiday, I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
Jenna goes on a Wellness retreat in Gozo, with inspirational speaker Tom Wade who own Soulshrink. When things go wrong, and Jenna disappears over a cliff, suspected suicide. They never found her body.
Two years later after Tom wade has left prison after being incarcerated for the crimes that day. His wife Kate has tried to reclaim some of Soulshrink’s business back and improves it and stages another retreat. Jenna’s mother has persuaded sister Fran to attend this retreat to find out answers about her sister death. But things don’t always go as planned and things start to go wrong there too, and she finds out more about her sister than she bargained for.
Her last holiday is professionally written story told in several points of view, past and present between Jenna and Fran and Kate. I liked the storyline but, I found none of the characters in this book were likeable and I found this book hard to get into with all the different characters, to be honest only the last third of the book really got my attention. Three stars from me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc.

I absolutely adored The Lie by CL Taylor. She writes such pacy reads that have you hooked with chapters that end on cliffhangers and leave you gasping. Her Last Holiday is not different.
This follows three women across a Now and Then timeline. Now follows:
* Fran - 51-years old, an ICT teacher. Her younger sister disappeared on a retreat in Malta three years old. Her death was ruled as suicide, even though her body was never found. Fran has a strained relationship with her mother who bullies Fran into going to a retreat in Wales held by Tom Wade, who was released from prison 9 months after. It was on Tom’s retreat Jenna, her sister, was last seen before she disappeared...And it’s there that Fran will get answers.
* Kate - Tom’s wife. She organises everything - the architect behind Tom’s success - and she’s determined that the retreat will be success after her husband’s release. No-one will get in her way...
* Then - Jenna - 37-year old Jenna is going on a retreat to Malta. She has answers she’s seeking, and it’s not long before her quest for healing turns into something more unexpectedly passionate as she falls for Tom. But someone isn’t happy...And is falling Jenna. Leaving her life-threatening warnings...
The narratives combine nicely. I was on the edge of my seat constantly. The characters are fleshed out and your impressions of the characters change constantly throughout the story. I did think, however, that the last 20% had far too many far-fetched twists and the ending wasn’t as satisfying. But on the whole this is truly, a gripping read about family regrets and secrets, creepy retreats, and the bond between sisters. 4/5.

The story has more twists and turns than a small country road.. I liked the pace of the writing as it left little time to rest. Nobody knows who to trust, including the reader. However I think it over stretched itself in places. It's a well paced read even though I wasn't in love with the ending.

I am a huge C. L. Taylor so receiving an ARC of Her Last Holiday was a so exciting.

In typical fashion Taylor writes a gripping tale with so many twists. This plot driven storyline along with fantastic characters made for an exhilarating read.