My Thoughts

Abby and Eszter are 2 sides of a coin, both deeply passionate driven young women but while 1 is an exuberant extrovert the other is a thoughtful introvert.

Classic case of opposites attracted to one another.

What happens to Eszter is only a small part of what Abby slowly uncovers as the story goes backwards and forwards in time using each woman’s point of view.

Twist at the end was a different one than I had expected but at the same time it was also part of what I suspected early on.
[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

I really enjoyed this book and stayed up later than I should’ve to see what was going to happen! The story centers on Abby, whose fiancée Eszter dies while vacationing alone on a remote Mexican island. Abby shows up there a few months later and meets the group of ex-pats that Eszter had befriended to try ti get some closure. Once she starts talking to people, it seems there is more to the story and Abby isn’t sure who she can trust.

While the story is primarily told in the current timeline, there were flashbacks to previous times during Abby’s and Eszter’s relationship. I wasn’t sure those were necessary because the characters were well developed, but I ended up enjoying the brief glimpses in their relationship that highlighted how much Abby grew through the course of the book. I really enjoyed the red herrings and thought there were a lot of options as to what secrets the islanders were keeping. When the truth came out, I appreciated how it came together in a way that made total sense. The pacing of the book was a little funny at times, with major events happening quickly while often more time was spent on Abby’s inner dialogue. There was also a weird chapter where Abby is exploring the ruins of the old hotel and it is riddled with unnecessary metaphors- I am all about atmospheric abandoned places but that chapter was overdone. I liked the way the story ended and was surprised by the twist in the epilogue.

Overall, I thought this was an engaging and suspenseful read and I had trouble putting it down. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oophh what head twist this book was...in a good way! The characters were well hashed out, the location sounded divine and the thriller aspects were believable. I think vacation or destination thrillers are my favorite subgenre and this one was top of the game:)

I liked the premise of this book. It started off strong, however the ending was disappointing. I gave it 2 stars, but other people might really enjoy this book.

The last ferry out was a very atmospheric book, it’s set on an eerie island. We have our main character Abby who comes to this island to find out what happened to her fiancée Eszter and how did he pass away.
Here she meets few group of people and one them tells helper he knows what happened to her fiancé but when he goes missing too Abby decided to find out what happened.
It was very cold, eerie and twisted story and I really liked it.

A huge thank you to Ballantine Books, NetGalley, and Andrea Bartz for this advance copy.

Bartz paints an eerily beautiful scene in Isla Colel, and it felt like the setting really carried a lot of this book. The book is both a mystery/thriller and a bit of romance in the form of flashbacks. Abby, grieving the loss of her fiance Eszter, comes to the remote Mexican island where her fiance died to feel closer to her and hopefully find closure. As she's there, life as she knew it begins to unravel as she tries to figure out what really happened to Eszter and why was she there. Overall, I thought this was a solid thriller--I didn't want to put it down after I reached the halfway point. But a number of the characters felt flat - I wish we were able to dive a bit deeper into each one, as a number of them felt surface level but then had a ton of baggage and background history that was kind of thrown in your face.

Still grieving the sudden loss of her fiancée, one woman decides to retrace her final days on the island where she died, which reveals far more than she anticipated in The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz.
Traveling to Isla Colel, a beautiful tropical island, Abby, hoping to make sense of the loss that has utterly unmoored her, is retracing the last days and steps that her fiancée, Eszter, took before she suddenly and surprisingly died of an allergic reaction shortly before the couple were meant to meet up on the island where Eszter had something tell Abby. Quickly after arrival, Abby is befriended by the group of expats on the island who were also close with Eszter and she uses the opportunity to try to gather more information about her last days. When one of the expats texts Abby saying that she deserves to know the truth, her mind goes into overdrive, but when he doesn’t show up for their meeting and the other expats are overly casual about his sudden disappearance and lack of response, Abby can’t help but draw sinister conclusions from the circumstantial evidence, or lack thereof. As she tries to dig deeper around the island and its inhabitants to uncover the truth, Abby suspects that at least one of the expats might be Eszter’s killer and is willing to do whatever they need to in order to maintain that secret, which places her in a direct path of danger but her determination to know with certainty what befell Eszter to assuage the tempest swirling in her mind drives her forward to reveal the truth in its entirety regardless of the cost to herself.
Depicting a remote setting that is picturesque yet fragile, a unique ecosystem, both the environment and the people, which is rife with secrets and protective residents, takes shape with those who elect to reside on the island as expats seizing the opportunity to shed their pasts, obscuring things they’d rather forget, and make themselves anew. In the interactions between Abby and the expats, there is a charged atmosphere that easily lends itself to the building of suspicion as Abby sees snippets of their behavior and exchanges with one another, leaving a tension of the unknown to fester in her mind to extrapolate from as the secrets she uncovers are revealed from her persistent digging and pointed questions, lacking a fuller context or explanation that might alleviate her overactive mind. The narrative's pacing feels odd as there is a rapid succession of events over an incredibly brief window of time for everything that’s explored yet the plot and development of the related tension progresses slowly, drawing the story out minute details that seem unnecessary for the level of detail provided for the situation at hand and depth to the characters presented. A majority of the story is presented from Abby’s perspective, both in the present and as she remembers and relives her relationship with Eszter, but there are also chapters from Eszter “then” and members of the expat group that provide glimpses into their current perspectives, perhaps to more fully flesh out the dynamics of the group and explain what occurred, but it serves more to diffuse momentum and some of the tension rather than building it up further.
Overall, I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great mystery and suspense! Very well written and on of the first books in a long time I could not guess the ending or who did it. Every time I thought I had the answer it twisted and turned, right until the last page!

I really enjoyed this one! I loved her last book so much so I was hoping this one would be just as good, if not better. Andi always does such a great job with her books. I was fully invested from start to finish. But THAT EPILOGUE!!!! that ending left my head spinning. I loved Abby’s character & how she persevered through so much to get answers. I also loved that Andi had us hating certain characters because we thought they were the bad guy…we were wrong!!! I love that. Great job! Bravo!

⭐️⭐️
“I need to tell you something” are the last words Abby’s fiancé Eszter says to her before she dies from anaphylactics. Eszter takes a spontaneous trip to Isla Colel an island in the Mexican Caribbean. Isla Colel is known for amazing sunsets and wildlife until a hurricane destroyed their tourism. Abby goes to the island to investigate Eszter’s final days but the more she digs the more questions she has.
I was intrigued by the premise of this book, I love a secluded island thriller. But unfortunately this book wasn’t it for me. The story unfolds while Abby befriends some locals that knew Eszter, there are a lot of characters introduced and it is hard to keep them all straight or feel any connection to them. The first 20% of the book is filled with unnecessary descriptions of the island or backstories that aren’t all that interesting.
The book is told through multiple POVs: Abby with present day and flashback chapters, Eszter with flashback chapters following the days before her death, as well as several other POVs of the islands inhabitants. Overall the story and layout of the book are confusing and not that interesting. There is dream sequence thrown in to mislead you and the “twist” I found to be predictable.
Thanks to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
The Last Ferry Out releases May 20th 2025

Thanks NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have some mixed feelings on this book. Usually, I love this author’s work, and the book started off strong. It was really interested in what was happening and who was involved. The ending though disappointed me. I was hoping for more of a twist, and even the final one, was not as exciting as I hoped. I found the last few chapters dragged on. Still a book worth checking out, but not my favourite from this author. This book will be hitting shelves in May 2025. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 read for me. #avivaandfriendsrecos

I did not finish this book. I do not want it to count against my NetGalley percentage so I’m going to leave feedback anyway. As a F/M reader I prefer my MC’s to also be F/M. It’s just a personal preference. I don’t mind any extra characters are M/M or F/F, however I just love to know up front if the main characters are not M/F relationally.

Andi is super talented and I’m sure she will find the right people to read and love this book! Her writing style is lovely and she has such an eloquent way with words.

I try to control myself, but somehow I ended up with a bounty of ARCs coming out of the holidays that I didn't even ask for! I have some self control, I didn't say yes to all of them, but I'm like a kid in a candy shop. So thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read another new book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not a huge fan of the really popular thriller/mysteries, but every now and then I find myself with one, and it satisfies a little itch if it is done well. And this one did that well enough, at least a 3.25. A group of ex pats living in a tropical paradise got me to yes. The pace of the book is fairly slow, but hey, we are on island time! The timeline shifts back and forth from present to past and the POV shifts across several characters.

What if everything you thought was true in your life turned out to be a lie? That's what Abby comes to believe after her fiancée dies tragically and preventably on a solo working vacation to a tropical island. Nothing is as it seems - take my word for it! Everyone is hiding something, and by one their secrets are exposed, but will it be in time for Abby?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. The Last Ferry Out follows Abby to a small Mexican island with a tiny community of ex-pats living out their dreams. Abby goes to Isla Colel on a grim mission - to find out what happened to her fiancee, Eszter, a woman that she had been with for a few years before Eszter went to the island - supposedly to write. After Eszter's death, Abby starts failing at work and doesn't expect any help in finding the true story of what happened from Eszter's family. The book is a slower-paced story at the beginning but it was intriguing enough to want to finish. I liked the idea of the small island, the tension of Abby's interactions with the ex-pats and the way her suspicions kept changing.

Fabulous. This book had me hooked from the start. Loved how the author told the story through the perspective of several narrators. And no, did not expect the ending....an ending I do believe Agatha Christie would approve of.

I really enjoyed the storyline of this novel. The characters were likable and lovable. My heart broke for Abby and her journey for healing and closure. The first part of the book included a lot of information about Ezster’s past and her families history that seemed irrelevant to the plot or storyline though. It felt like filler. The fist 1/2 of the book was a slow burn, but once the twists started, they didn’t stop and I was completely engrossed and couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened with Brady and Ezster!
The ending did feel a bit predictable, but with all of the twists and turns, I was shocked at the reveal… and then the epilogue hit it home!

Very twisted and compulsive. Romances was a bit of a surprise. Never knew what was going to happen and it was very suspenseful. Felt a little slow at times and that made it drag a bit

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and of course Andrea Bartz for sharing this advance copy with me in exchange for my honest review. The Last Ferry Out will be available May 20th, 2025.

Fun cover! I really thought I was going to get into this one, but I found it to be just... fine? There were absolutely enjoyable parts (island life, right!) but I found the many characters lacking depth - or maybe I just didn't connect to any of them, especially the main character Abby, well enough. Somehow I found it slow, even though many of the chapters ending in dramatic cliff hangers. A little 'meh' I guess.

A solid if slightly slow-burn thriller about Abby, a grieving woman who’s fiancé Eszter has tragically died of a severe allergic attack. The story takes place on a scenic, atmospheric island off the coast of Cancun and centers around a number of expats living on the island who knew Eszter before she died. Abby arrives after Eszter's death, hoping to resolve what happened and move on. The timeline moves back and forth from past to present, offering both Abby and Eszter's POV. With plenty of twists and the usual unpeeling of layers, this is an intriguing, slow-burn story about two women as they explore their identities and learn about secrets they each hold.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to preview The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz in exchange for my honest review. This was my first time reading Bartz; I requested this based on the good reviews of her previous books. The story takes place on a small island off the coast of Cancun with a cast of locals and visitors from around the world (the "expats") following the death of one of the visitors. The main narrator, Abby, travels to Isla Colel to spend time where her fiance, Ezster, recently died after a severe allergic reaction.

I had a hard time connecting with Abby, which made it difficult for me to empathize with her grief. Outside of that one issue, I enjoyed the twists and turns that led Abby to discover what happened on the island and learn more about what Ezster was planning for their future. This isn't the type of thriller where you're constantly guessing what will happen next or unpeeling layers of mystery surrounding previous events. It's overall pretty straightforward events and mistakes that led to Ezster's tragic death.

The Last Ferry Out is a solid read for fans of a good mystery, especially one that takes place in a stunning island locale.