This was so cute. I loved it. The characters, world building and story telling were great. It kept me interested and involved.

The Last Girl Left is by far my favorite final girl story.

Five years after becoming a final girl, Tessa returns to the scene of the devastating crime that took the lives of three of her friends. She has no job, no friends, no significant other. Can facing her demons head on help her get her life back?

Taking place off the coast of Maine in November, it was the perfect eerie setting. The story was so suspenseful and I was in edge throughout, scared of all the bumps and noises in the night. It ended with an intense edge of your seat nail biting conclusion that had me like 🤯

The audio was superb, so well done and made it EVEN BETTER!

4,5 stars

Wow! Absolutely loved this one!
Thanks to #Netgalley and #amazonpublishing for my early copy.

This book is written by what appears to be a husband and wife duo and I will certainly be looking out for more by these two!

I listened and read the book at the same time and i thought the narrator did a brilliant job with bringing the story alive.

The reader is promptly introduced to Tessa, the sole survivor of a beach house massacre five years ago in which three of her girlfriends were brutally murdered. She is clearly stuck in the past and can’t seem to move on, although the killer was appraised soon after and then shot by the sheriff.

Now Tessa wants to regain control of her life, and the only way is to return to that beach house in Maine and conquer her fears.

Big mistake!

I loved the claustrophobic feeling the setting lent to the story. A small island in Maine in the off-season, with only a handful of bars and shops open, was the perfect setting for this spine-chilling thriller.

This is one of those books where you can’t really trust anyone.

When inexplicable things start to happen like her neighbour going missing, a person only she had seen and spoken to, I began to doubt her sanity.

Add to this a cast of unreliable characters and you get the perfect mix for a psychological thriller with things that go bump in the night!😱

Loved the spooky moments at the end and the big reveal, which I didn’t see coming!

I loved this book! I devoured this book as it hooks you immediately and never lets go. I am a sucker for the last alive vibe and man is the tension high! This is full of PTSD, drama, fear, and lies.

I went between reading and listening to the audiobook and both options are great. Hallie Ricardo, the narrator, was new to me but she did an amazing job and I can’t wait for more narrations by her!

****Many thanks to AM Strong and Sonya Sargent for the gifted copy and Brilliance Audio for the ALC.

Rating 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 stars.

Um, what?!?! My friends over @thrillerbookloversthepulse were completely right about this one! Fantastic!! And addicting! Completely devoured this one, especially the last quarter of the book. My husband said the faces I was making while reading said it all lol 😆 Full of suspense!! Great read!

*Thank you so much @sonyasargentstrong @thrillerbookloversthepulse @amazonpublishing and @brillancepublishing for the #gifted finished copy, e-galley and audiobook!!!!*

Tessa Chamberlain was the sole survivor in a beach house massacre five years ago. She decides to return to the scene of the crime and rent the beach house for a month to get over her fears. Once there, strange things start happening, and Tessa begins to wonder if she made a terrible mistake.

I love the final girl trope so I was super excited to read this book. The setting of an isolated island off the coast of Maine was perfect, and it was so smart to have Tessa go back during off season so there wouldn’t be an easy way off the island. The short chapters kept the story moving quickly and made this an audiobook I didn’t want to stop listening to!

Hallie Ricardo narrated the audiobook, and I thought she did a great job of creating a sense of suspense throughout the story. I actually found myself scared at times! She was able to create tension for the reader and transported me to Cassadaga Island.

Tessa read really young and naive to me. I get that she was isolated after surviving the summer all of her friends were murdered, but she was very immature at times and didn’t always make the best decisions. Pair that with the fact that the narrator gave her a younger almost childlike voice, and it made it hard to believe that she would be able to be on her own at all let alone survive a slasher.

This story was so atmospheric, and there was a surprising twist that I didn’t see coming! I found this a fast paced and chilling thriller with a unique concept and perfect setting. I really liked it and look forward to reading more from this writing duo!

Thank you Brilliance Audio and NetGalley for a gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Girl Left is a mystery about a woman in her mid-twenties who is still struggling with the trauma of being the one who survived a mass murder. When she was in college, Theresa (now Tessa), was left for dead by a man she and her friends had met earlier that day while on vacation on a Maine island. Five years later, she is out of options. She is constantly afraid and has never been able to hold down a job. Her generous sister is now giving her tough love and asking her to get her life in order. Tessa impulsively decides to rent the home her friends were murdered in to heal. Realizing she can't pay for the rental, she reaches out to a publisher to get a book deal about her experience going back to the house.

The story moves quickly and we see things through Tessa's eyes. The constant fear and suspicion of everyone she meets. You have to suspend disbelief to get into the novel, but it moves quickly and was a tense ride. The novel is perfectly narrated by Hallie Ricardo, who really brought Tessa/Theresa to life. Being from Massachusetts, I especially like that she nailed the New England town pronunciations like "Gloucester." Too often the names are mispronounced by narrators.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ebook and audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

I am thrilled to be a part of The Pulse which works with some of the most talented thriller writers currently working right now. We were lucky enough to get a peek at The Last Girl Left and I’m excited to share it with you all!

Tessa survived a heinous attack on her and a group of friends at an isolated beach house off the Maine coast five years ago and her life has been a wreck since. She’s unable to hold down a job, maintain relationships, or function wholly in her life. Her sister is at her limit, unsure of what to do next and gives her an ultimatum to move forward or move out of her house (where she’s been living for free). Then, an opportunity falls into Tessa’s lap. After reaching out to a publisher who expressed interest in a true crime story right after it happened and being shot down, Tessa desperately pitched another angle - return to the house and face her demons head on while writing about the experience.

Now she’s back in the off-season, the snowbirds have fled for the season and most places are shuttered until the following spring. A few seasoned locals remain and Tessa tries to put together pieces of that night while deciding who she can and cannot trust. But when she starts to hear noises around the property and gets some less than warm welcomes she starts to wonder if she made a dangerous mistake coming back.

I mean…we love a final girl story. I’ll never not be interested in picking a book up when I see that as a main theme. Tessa was a good final girl too, she wasn’t over the top stupid OR over the top survivalist. She was just a normal girl who survived something awful, trying her best to find ways to move past it. I do question her sanity at times, because what the heck who in their right mind would stay in the house they were almost butchered in…especially after weird things start happening!!

The setting was great, very atmospheric and creepy. The authors did a great job setting the scene, I could picture this deserted northeastern beach town perfectly. The authors did a great job at telling the story almost in a documentary type way that made me feel like I was listening to a true crime podcast and not a fictitious story, which also really added to the creepy factor and puts this thriller into borderline horror territory.

We met a handful of characters, all of whom were memorable and easy to distinguish and in the story with a purpose (no fluffy side characters to take up plot space). The plot moved at a great pace, I was never bored and always wanting to know what was going to happen next. And I did also enjoy the twists.

I would absolutely pick up another book by these authors.

Quick Take:
This was a fun, fast paced thriller about the sole survivor of a killing where three girls were brutally murdered going back to the scene of the crime years later to deal with what happened.

I love a final girl trope in a thriller so this was definitely right up my alley. First of all, I didn't really understand her reasoning for going to stay at the house in which this massacre took place, but I got past that and just enjoyed the experience. This was fun, fast paced, twisty and definitely entertaining. Because I read so many thrillers, I have a feeling the details of this one may become cloudy over time as there wasn't anything specific that stood out about this one, but overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it!

Format: Audiobook
Thanks to Netgalley & Brilliance Audio for this advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

To say that Tessa chose an interesting way to move past her trauma would be an understatement but man was she brave to do it! I enjoyed seeing her character try to accept what happened and move forward with her life. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending - I had some things figured out but certainly not all of them! I enjoyed the audiobook and the narration. There were some really frightening parts of this that will keep you up at night so be careful what time of day you read this!

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝑯𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅."

Special thanks to @thrillerbookloversthepulse @sonyasargentstrong @amazonpublishing and @brilliancepublishing for the #gifted copy, PR box, and eALC.

➡️ swipe to synopsis 👉🏼

MY REVIEW:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫[4.5 rounded up to 5]

THIS 👏🏼AUDIO 👏🏼IS 👏🏼AMAZING👏🏼!

I was entranced from the first chapter. The chapters are short, which makes it feel like you're flying through the story. The story itself is unique in the viewpoint of the survivor and her pent-up anxiety. The off the wall idea to go back to "cure" herself is great writing material for her book in general, but of course SOMETHING is going to happen.

I had so many theories floating around in my head as I listened. Maybe it was every character on that island at one point, 🤔 [or maybe is the killer really dead?!] .

The ending threw me for a loop cause I swear I pegged someone completely different for all of it.

Do yourself a favor, and order this one asap, you won't be sorry!

PUB DATE:
April 23, 2024

QOTD ❓️⁉️❓️ Have you ever visited a murder house?
Where and what murder?

AOTD - I have not and I'm not sure I'd make it through the night, I'm a scardy cat.

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#mysteryandthrills #thrillerbooklovers #thepulse #pulsepoint #tbrpile #bookbuzz #thrilleraddict #bookaddict #thrillerlover #booklover
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I love a good final girl's story! In this one Tessa is the sole survivor of a serial killer while vacationing with girl friends. Years later and she has yet to recover. So why not return to the scene of the crime to write her story and take back her life. Little does she know this is the next act in her story! Nonstop action makes this one a great listen! Thank you to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for the book to listen and review!

The Last Girl Left 4 stars

A heavy trigger warning for rape. There is one scene in the story where Tessa (Theresa) has a flashback where she relives the events that had happened that night in the house where her friends were murdered and she was assaulted.

When Tessa is faced with an ultimatum she decides that the only way to reclaim her life is to visit the place where everything changed and her reoccurring nightmares began. She contacts a publishing company and gets into a contract where she promises to write her healing experiences of visiting the house where she survived and her friends didn't. But while she's there she begins to question sounds, left open doors, and a photo she was sure she had removed. Are these the result of her mind playing tricks on her or is someone actually in the house with her?

Although there were some difficult moments throughout the book, I truly did enjoy listening to the story and rooting for Tessa in her efforts to heal and take control of her life. When she was meant with skeptical comments or felt her hair standing up, I felt like a mama bear wanting to protect her or shake the people doubting her to trust her.

An issue I had was the therapy session at the beginning. As someone who has had multiple therapists, the therapist calling the main character by her dead name instead of honoring her new name threw me off. Although the reasoning for such was explained during their session, it still rubbed me wrong and didn't give the sense of a professional or good therapist. A good therapist has the goal of helping you, but not doing something that would cause a trigger especially if that trigger reminds the client of a traumatic situation.

Ultimately, this story was a 4 star read for me and I found that I hadn't had the ending figured out after all.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me listen to this audio ARC.

Thank you Net Galley and publisher for this audio

This was my first book by this author. I wasn’t sure what to expect but wow!! That plot twist was not what I was expecting lol it was so good!! Very well written. It was such an easy read that kept me on my toes.

I found myself drawn into the captivating mystery of the story, unable to put it down until the very end. The intricate plot kept me guessing, weaving through twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. However, as the story unfolded, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment with the resolution.

Despite this, the main character stole my heart from the very beginning. Their depth and complexity made them incredibly relatable, and I found myself rooting for them every step of the way. Their journey was filled with challenges and revelations that left me breathless, and I couldn't help but admire their resilience and courage.

Overall, while the ending may not have been entirely satisfying, the journey was undeniably worth it. The strength of the main character and the allure of the mystery made it a compelling read that will stay with me long after I've turned the final page.

Phew! This was so intense!

Who do you trust? Who can you trust?

5 years ago Tessa’s friends were brutally murdered and she was left for dead. Now she’s back where it all started to try to find closure and move on with her life.

I was creeped out and could definitely feel the panic Tessa must have felt.

This was a surprising sleeper for me. I stumbled on this book on Instagram and I’m so happy I did!

This was solidly entertaining and interesting!

I finished this quickly and felt satisfied when this one was over. Teresa/Tessa is an incredibly sympathetic character that I believed but couldn’t quite put my finger on why I believed her unease. By the end of the book, of course, it made sense.

Honestly? No huge surprises as the bread crumbs were big enough to pick up. However. The story itself and the emotional angle kept the book flowing and evolving in such a way that I needed to find out how this one ended. The relationships were realistic and authentic which also gave this book more to enjoy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for the copy. All opinions are my own.

There's been so much hype at The Pulse @thrillerbookloversthepulse surrounding this book, and for good reason- this was a really great read! Thank you to @brillianceaudio for the ALC and thank you SO MUCH to A.M. Strong and @sonyasargentstrong @amazonpublishing for this amazing book box with a physical copy!

Tessa is a Final Girl- the only living survivor of a massacre that ended the lives of all of her friends. On Cassadega Island, a small summer vacation town in Maine, she made it through the night of the attacks, but has been left physically and emotionally scarred. After 5 years of living with that trauma and failing to make and semblance of a life for herself, she has had enough and wants to dig herself out and try to get better. She decides to reach back out to a publisher who tried to secure a book deal from her years ago, and proposes something he can't refuse: Tessa will go back to Cassadega Island and stay in the house where she survived that terrible night. She'll stay there for a month and write the first draft of her book detailing what happened that night and what has happened since. The advance check hits her account and next thing, she's on the ferry heading to the island. In off-season, Cassadega is completely different from the bustling summer town she once visited, and Tessa gets to know some of the locals of the island. Then some eerie things happen that leave Tessa unsettled and unsure of who to trust and believe. Is it just the house that's freaking her out, or is there someone out to get Tessa?

This book had me hooked from the very beginning. Within the first few chapters, I knew this was going to be a book that I really liked. I found the writing clear, concise, and easy to follow without added fluff. I liked Tessa as a main character and found her raw and real - although I didn't agree with all of the decisions she made (girlfriend, WHY are you going back to that house?!?) Although I understood her feeling that she needed to do everything within her power to not only move forward from the trauma she experienced, but to also make some money to get back on her feet and pay her sister back for all the help she'd given her. This story did have me guessing about the intentions of all of the characters throughout, then gave me twists I did not seem coming! This book was absolutely bingeable on audio, the audio narrator, Hallie Ricardo, was awesome! I haven't listened to any books narrated by her yet, but found her narration to be really enjoyable to listen to and it helped bring the story to life.

Prepare to be swept away on a rollercoaster ride of suspense and thrills with 'The Last Girl Left,' a gripping novel that will leave you reeling from start to finish.
The story follows Tessa, a survivor of a horrifying mass murder, as she grapples with the trauma of her past. As the sole survivor, Tessa is haunted by memories that refuse to fade, and her journey toward healing is filled with danger and suspense. From the very first chapter, 'The Last Girl Left' grabs hold of the listener and refuses to let go. I went in blind and found myself completely absorbed in the story, devouring it in just a few days. The fast-paced story was so gripping that I could have easily read it in one sitting.

The audiobook narration is excellent, drawing listeners in. The narrator's ability to capture the tension and emotion of the story keeps you invested from start to finish, adding to the overall reading experience. What truly sets 'The Last Girl Left' apart is its relentless suspense and jaw-dropping twists. SO MANY TWISTS! I tried to work out the twists, but this book kept me guessing at every turn.

'The Last Girl Left' is a must-read for fans of thrillers and suspenseful storytelling. Read this book if you enjoy final girl stories, isolated settings, suspense, twists, jump scares, and edge of your seat thrilling perfection! Add this one to your TBR list immediately – you won't regret it. 5 STARS!

Thank you to NetGalley, Brilliance Publishing/Brilliance Audio, A.M. Strong & Sonya Sargent for an audio galley of The Last Girl Left in exchange for an honest review.

Oy Vey – this one was not great. Basically, Tessa is the sole survivor of a massacre she and her friends were renting. Five years later, she has been unable to cope with life, so she decides to face her demons & rent out the same house & stay there for a month to write a book regarding her demons.

The pacing was quick & the story was just so-so, but what killed it completely was absolute predictability. The “bad guy” or rather 2nd “bad guy” is EXACTLY who you think it is. The red herring of trying to make it look like the friend was not believable AT ALL.

This was just an average book at best, but with the complete predictability, I wouldn’t rate it anything above 2-stars.