Charles Martin is one of my favourite authors and this book didn’t disappoint. Probably one of the best books I have read. This story is so well written it captivated me and kept me reading well into the night to see what would happen next.

The main characters, Joe and Pockets were well developed and likeable. Joe becomes a major Hollywood star and Pockets is hired as her bodyguard. The book deals with real life problems like adversity, unconditional love, loyalty, drug abuse, infertility and so much more. What lengths will a person go to, to save another’s life?

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. Great story!

Thanks to NetGalley, Thomas Nelson Publishers andCharles Martin for an advance copy.

I have mixed feelings on this book. I liked it. It was a read that kept me interested and made me fall in love with so many of the characters.
My problem with it? I have higher expectations from Charles Martin. I didn't appreciate his Keeper series and I thought this would be his first book back to more his old style, which I LOVE. While it was closer, it's still not there.
Overall it's a good story and will keep you entertained but if you are expecting Martin's old style greatness, this isn't it.
Thank you to Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest opinion.

Maybe Joe Sue starts our story as a sweet waitress, who soon becomes a famous actress, beloved by everyone and too sweet for her own good, a product of many foster homes and always looking for love. MacThomas Pockets is a previous Scottish special forces officer who becomes her body guard and needs to protect Maybe Sue from her public, her husband and herself. Triggers abound for drug abuse and miscarriages and violence, but I found the story very compelling and the main characters are written so that I really cared about them despite their issues. A strong sense of place adds to the enjoyment of this story that is really an exploration of how far you would go to protect someone you love.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson Fiction and net galley for this e copy. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I enjoy Charles Martin’s writing, but this book started a little slow. It was almost the half-way mark before I felt engaged with the book and eager to find out what happened next. As always with this author, the settings are well painted, the characters are believable, and the plot is intriguing (after the slow start, that is).

Wow! This is such a great read. It sucks you in from the first page to the last. This book has it all, hardships, wrongs righted, undying love, compassion, evil. Must read! I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review of this very well written book.

While I seem to be the only one with this problem, once again Charles Martin has written a book that is slow to get into, makes me feel like I’ve lost interest in the middle but the characters won’t leave my mind, then packs an amazing punch at the end that leaves me emotionally wrecked. At times I struggled with the time line hopping from the present to various points of the past, but every story from the past has an effect on the ending, so it all becomes clear. The Last Exchange is a beautiful story of the lengths we are willing to go to for someone we love.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own." This story is full of action, mystery, and suspense. An allegory is revealed in the last chapters. I loved the detailed, engaging roller coaster ride!

Charles Martin is one of my favorite authors and The Last Exchange did not disappoint! The book challenges one to ask themselves how far you would go for someone you love, putting your own desires to the side. This book kept me wrapped from the first page with great character development throughout. Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC! I highly recommend this one!

Wow—this book was not my normal easy fluffy romance read, but I blew through it in less than a day. The setting and the main characters were all so rich it almost felt like it was based on a. true story. I feel like we will be seeing this book on a lot of top book lists.

After reading the Charles Martin "keeper" trilogy, I was ready for more from this author and the ARC from NetGalley was a great opportunity to connect with more.

This book did not disappoint. I loved the characters and their development. It was great to see how Martin clearly, but without being preachy, creates characters that show redemptive engagement and care for others in a broken world.

Charles Martin has outdone himself yet again with this rousing saga. Once again he'll blow your mind with his ingenius work. The poignant awareness of a person going through de-tox for substance abuse, their struggles and the triggers that pushed the protagonist beyond her limits coupled with IVF hopes gives depth but keeps the reader on the roller-coaster along with Maybe Joe Sue, Pockets and Syd with bings and zings zapping among them. And just who is that mystery man? I could be wrong, but I get a vibe that this book has an allegorical feel to it in showing how muchg God loves and cares.

I highly recomment this highly acclaimed author and I'm giving him a 5-Star rating for this fabulous story. It is a book I'd love to possess so I could read and re-read it multiple times over!

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

July 2023

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Charles Martin is such an incredible story teller. This books is so well written and the story kept me turning the pages. Thanks for the advanced copy. I look forward to his next writing.

Charles Martin is such an amazing storyteller! I can’t begin to describe this book because so much happens. Just trust me and read it as well as all his others.

The Last Exchange is a fast-paced story of a Hollywood actress, her scoundrel of a husband, and the bodyguard she hires as her star climbs. Martin creates interesting and well-fleshed-out characters who kept my interest throughout the novel. A couple of plot twists were easily guessed, but a few surprised me. I'm not a reader of romance, and although it had some elements of that in the novel, I appreciated the suspense that led to the conclusion. A good brain-candy read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The Last Exchange by Charles Martin was recommended to me by a friend. The story begins with a broken actress trying desperately to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a mother but something goes wrong. Though she throws money at the problem, she can’t seem to fix it and loses trust in herself during process. The only one who understands her struggles is her bodyguard Pockets who will do anything and everything in his power to protect her from the dangers around her and inside her. I found the story very difficult to get into given the jumping from before to after the incident. However, I understood when reading the last chapter of the book how important the flashbacks were to creating an understanding of the characters and their views. I, as usual, anticipated how it would end and I was floored by how far off I was. The twist at the end had me shaking my head partly because I didn’t see it coming and partly because I couldn’t understand how the bodyguard was able to justify his actions. In a society governed by laws, we can’t just act on things we think and feel are wrong but must use legal ways to try and fix them even if this means it won’t bring justice to the harm caused. Overall a good read!

Charles Martin is such a masterful storyteller and never disappoints. This story covers a lot of stuff it is hard to write a good description. Definitely worth a read!

I don’t think it’s ever taken me so long to formulate my rating and thoughts on a book, but here we are.

The story was well-written and fairly easy to read in style. The Montana setting & the promise of a Scottish character were what originally drew me to the story. Martin paints a painfully realistic view of the “behind the scenes” of life, particularly the Hollywood life. The life we display is often different than the life we truly live.

There’s more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, but in the end, the burning question is this: how far are you willing to go to save the one you love? And how far is too far? The sticky moral implications & conundrums are some of the most difficult I’ve come across in literature. And with the ambiguous ending, there’s no clear-cut answer. So all I’ll say is that it left me to ponder in ways I’d never quite considered before. And maybe that’s the whole point. I didn’t know what to do with all of the content, and this is most definitely a mature ADULT read.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a positive review. These are my honest thoughts and opinions.

4.5⭐️s rounded up. This was very hard to put down and sucked me in. Loved the mystery, the action/thriller, and the love story. Win all the way around.

By the time I was done, I honestly had to pause and take a little bit to process this one before writing my review as, and after, I finished the book. There were so many things to unpack and contemplate, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about pieces of it, which doesn’t happen often for me. If a book can do that, that’s a really great book in my view. I love to think and consider and mull things over; to be challenged. And this book, as is typical of Charles Martin’s books, did that for me.

The characters of Joe and Pockets were fantastic and relatable. I loved them both. The character development was excellent with both of them, although I would have loved more of Pockets in the story but I get that Joe was supposed to be the more forefront character, and Pockets, a mystery.

The concept of brokenness and sacrifice were beautifully described and lived out in Joe’s and Pockets’ relationship. It was a well laid out portrayal of what that can look like in a very unconventional, but compelling way. And the drug addiction piece of that was also done well, I felt. It’s not an easy subject, nor is it a simple one, in both who it affects and how much of a grip it has on the addicted. Joe’s miscarriages were also heartbreaking and realistic, from my perspective as someone who’s been thru it.

The only part in this that was a little bit of a hesitation for me on the story was the court scene at the end. I get there needed to be a come-to-Jesus point of answers and explanation by then, but felt a little unrealistic to happen that way to me.

Really well written and will probably still be chewing on it for awhile. Well done.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

With “The Last Exchange,” author Charles Martin has given us a very good novel about Hollywood and what being a movie star can mean.

Maybe Joe Sue (“Joe”) is one of those actresses who comes along once in a generation. As a movie star, she has the Midas touch: everything she touches turns to gold. But her personal life? Well, let’s just say she’s struggling—and has been for a while, despite a fairy tale marriage to the most perfect of leading men. Like all A-list stars, one of the things she struggles with is her personal security.

Enter Scotsman MacThomas Pockets, ex-British SAS, who has served and is currently available to serve as personal protection. Joe hires him and comes to rely on him not only for security but for his strength, wisdom, and judgment. Might a romance be brewing? Not if you ask Pockets. He knows his job and his place and he refuses to in any way cross the invisible line between protector and protectee, no matter what his heart might crave. His one and only job is Joe’s safety. Until the day he completely loses it and puts Joe’s husband in the hospital, earning himself a hefty prison sentence and the hatred of the entire nation. Why did he do it? That’s just one of the questions that keeps us reading.

Years pass. Pockets remains in prison. Joe’s movie career never loses its luster. But the fairy tale marriage ends because of her husband’s injuries and because she has not been able to have a baby. Injured while filming, she becomes addicted to Oxycodone and, try as she might, can never seem to shake it. A once-close associate who agreed to act as Joe’s child-bearing surrogate is now holding the unborn child hostage, hoping to extort millions from Joe. And then, on the night she wins her third Oscar, Joe herself is kidnapped and locked away in a small concrete room.

Who has taken her? Why? And how is she ever going to get out, especially since there now is no husband or personal security to ride to the rescue? What will happen to the baby if Joe isn’t free to pay the ransom?

It’s a novel that kept me turning the pages. The characters are well-drawn and compelling--people readers can believe in and care about. The settings are well-described and add to the story. And there’s lots of conflict and suspense. I did find a courtroom scene towards the end not as believable as it might have been and I thought the ending itself a little too pat and predictable. But that could be just me. Others may find that scene and the ending highly satisfying.

My thanks to NetGalley, author Charles Martin, and publisher Thomas Nelson for providing me with an electronic ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

WOW! This is the first book that I have ever read by this author and it was captivating. I have never read anything quite like it. A true hero and heroine who epitomized selfless love and generosity. Fraught with challenges, sadness, deceit, greed, and naivety. Did it have a happy ending? Let's just say that it left room for hope, but wasn't fairytale "happily ever after." I hope to read more of Mr. Martin's writings. This did not contain foul language or explicit sex scenes. Yes, I recommend.