This was a rather odd story, but also rather compelling. The book alternates between the seemingly unrelated POVs of Skyla, Linelle, and Jeremy, eventually tying all the storylines together.

The book starts off rather slowly, and I wasn’t initially invested in Skyla’s story. Jeremy’s story seemed most interesting but I couldn’t figure out what it had to do with the others. About halfway through the book, the pace picked up and I finished the rest of it quickly.

There were some confusing pieces but I thought the author did a good job at tying everything together as the book ended. The ending contained a great twist that made me like the whole book better than I had until that point.

All in all, I don’t know that this was a hugely memorable story for me but the surprise ending made it likable. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was full of OMG and WHAT? moments. It's a twisted story of love, lust, revenge and sadness, and keeps you reading. I will read more of John Sealed.

Bravo, John Searles! This was one heck of a novel! Talk about originality? Nailed it.

This was my first novel by John Searles, but will not be my last. Her Last Affair, is a deceptive psychological thriller that will keep you on your toes the entire time!

I read this book cover to cover and was left with that OH MY GOD feeling.

Skyla and Hollis were married and running a drive in movie theater for almost 50 years. Last year a freak accident took Hollis' life. Skyla has since led a very quiet life in the shadows of the drive in theater she once ran with her husband. Skyla is not coping well and reflects back on all the would have beens/ could have beens, nightly.

Enter, Teddy Cornwell.

Skyla decides to rent a small little college on Teddy Cornwell's property.

Linelle, bored with her marriage and recently unemployed sees a picture pop up on social media from her childhood. Engaging in an online affair with Teddy Cornwell, a man she has not seen in quite some time.

This is a thrilling story of the power of lost, once had, once lost, and once found again...

Tune in March 1, 2022 to find out what happens with Teddy Skyla and Linelle .

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of Her Last Affair by John Searles! I really enjoyed it.
Her Last Affair follows 3 stories throughout the book: Linelle, Skyla and Jeremy. I knew somehow they’d all come together!

Skyla is widowed and alone, she puts an ad out for a tenant and bam- meets teddy.

Linelle is growing tired of her husband and recently fired from her job. Her newest spark of excitement is from her online, promiscuous affair (gets a little juicy) - with teddy, an old love.

Jeremy is a writer. He accepted a new job to review a restaurant in a place where he had his first big heartbreak that still sits with him. Will he look to find the woman who broke his heart ?

This is a story of love and lust. It was definitely suspenseful! I wouldn’t call it a “thriller”, though. The descriptive writing was amazing. It was one of those books you begin really intertwine with the characters themselves.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book!
Definitely looking forward to more by John Searles !

I would’ve given 5 stars, but unfortunately I felt like the beginning just was off. After getting through that, I really started enjoying the book! Felt it was fast paced, intense, unique, and well written. Unputdownable at times, even with the beginning lacking! I would definitely recommend, but would tell readers, don’t give up, as I promise it gets better! The author definitely knows how to weave a twisted tale!

Book got a bit confusing, but an enjoyable read.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it ad no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Searles' HER LAST AFFAIR is both bizarre and intriguing. The novel follows three characters, Skyla, Linelle and "Teddy" as they are consumed by their own loneliness and their desire to connect with others. Each of them are desperate to reconnect with people or feelings from their past. this desire leads to unanticipated and remarkable events. Fascinating characters and Searles' usual excellent writing made this an excellent read.

Honestly, I was confused for the better half of this book. There was no immediate connections between the vastly different stories of a few main characters and it felt very disconnected. That being said, about the last third of the book things started coming together and there were a few good twists here and there. Overall, not my favorite 🤷🏼‍♀️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

4.5 stars. What a great book! This is more character driven then a thriller. You have Sklya, recently widowed who leases out her second home to Teddy who is pining over his long lost love Linelle and Jeremy who is trying to write the American Novel. You couldn't have asked for a better set of characters. So well developed that you can't help but fall into their lives seamlessly.

I wouldn't classify this as a thriller but more of a character driven novel. The author has a great way of making you feel the same way the characters are feeling and also gives a great dose of wit and sarcasm. I read his previous book, Help for the Haunted, and absolutely loved it. This falls into that same realm, just super good.

It is a little mix match of genres: lost love, little bit of thriller and just the exploration of how people navigate life.

Loved it!

Thanks to Netgalley and William and Morrow/Custom House for my advanced copy.

I’ve read the author before. It didn’t make an especially positive impression, but guess it wasn’t terrible either, so I figured I’d try again. Just now I’ve gone and revisited my old review of his other book and I remember nothing about it, at all. Then again, it’s been years. Thing is, I probably won’t remember much about this book either after a while. Which isn’t an outright condemnation of it, it’s simply to say it isn’t the kind of thing that etches itself on one’s memory and certainly not at the rates I read.
Actually, it took me quite a long time to get into this book for the sheer fact of not liking any of the characters. And then I realized that what the author was doing was that Ruth Rendellian thing where you have unlikeable characters doing unpleasant things to each other but in a strangely compelling fashion. Everyone’s guilty of something, everyone’s got secrets, everyone’s desperate and lonely and tragic. It’s the darker side of dark psychological fiction. Going by the afterword, it sounds like the author was in a really dark place writing it and it shows. And the thing is…I quite like that sort of thing to read now and again. It’s a confirmation bias read, playing in oh so nicely into a misanthropic worldview.
And so this is essentially a book about two people of the desperate, lonely, tragic variety who, along with their dark terrible secrets, get brought together by fate and circumstance. One needs a tenant i.e. company, one needs a safe shelter i.e. a chance to reinvent himself. There’s ugliness they both hide from, physical and otherwise, lots of it. A toxic brew, for sure, and it simmers and simmers first on two individual burners (spilling over and splashing others) and then in a combined pot and then boils over in an appropriately tragical manner.
That’s the book, essentially. Vague as the description may be. Vague is probably best anyway, make for more surprising plot twists, of which there were few. A very dark, very bleak read, but a well executed atmospheric one. Oodles of drama. Some suspense too. Read if you’re in the mood. Thanks Netgalley.

Thank you William Morrow and Custom House, NetGalley and Author for this advance ebook copy in return for an honest review!

Her Last Affair by John has got to be one of the best books I've read in some time!
At first I'm not going to lie I was a bit confused. But as I kept pushing it all came rolling together.
The characters are beyond interesting and very intriguing. Like they just blew me away!
Searles writing is freaking fabulous and one of the best I've read in a long time!
I see this book being a hit next Spring! It has to be!
I can't thank y'all enough for the opportunity to read this outstanding novel! 😘

Thanks again NetGalley, Publisher and Author for the chance to read and review this amazing book!
I'll post to my Social media platforms closer to pub date!

I went into this novel thinking it might be another run of the mill thriller, but it was so much more than that! Not only is the mystery part of the story absolutely riveting, but there is a great sense of opportunities and lives missed by the characters, and the way it shaped their present lives. A deep and insightful novel!

#HerLastAffair #NetGalley
One of the best books you've ever read in your lifetime.
Skyla lives alone in the shadow of the defunct drive-in movie theater that she and her husband ran for nearly fifty years. Ever since Hollis’s death in a freak accident the year before, Linelle is about to turn fifty. Bored by her spouse and fired from her job when a questionable photo from her youth surfaces on social media, her only source of joy is an on-line affair with her very first love, a man she’s not seen in nearly thirty years, Teddy Cornwell. Jeremy, a failed and bitter writer, accepts an assignment to review a new restaurant in Providence. Years ago, Providence was the site of his first great love and first great heartbreak—and maybe, just maybe, he’ll look her up when he’s back in town.
When these lives intersect with each other then something sinister happenes and that makes this book one of the best you've ever read in your lifetime. Highly recommended.
I love Jeremy's character. Other two were very good but Jeremy was excellent.
Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for giving me an advanced copy.

What’s the line from the old song, “you love her and she loves him, he loves somebody else, love stinks, Skyla has finally left the drive-in theater she operated for decades with her late husband. She settles into a small cottage where she meets debonair Teddy Cornwell. Meanwhile, Linelle is turning 50, she’s unhappy in her marriage and embarrassed by a public reminder of a youthful indiscretion, her only source of happiness is an online flirtation with her first love, Teddy Cornwell. Add in failing New York city writer, Jeremy, who decides to make a trip to the town where he met the only woman he ever really loved. Less a thriller and more a study into the complex and often confusing workings of the human heart