Last Summer

Ella writes for Luxe Avenue magazine. She was given an exclusive assignment to interview Nathan Donovan a celebrity adventurer and star of the hit Nat Geo Wild series Off the Grid!

Overall:
The timeline alternated between the present and the past simultaneously giving snippets of information. The author holds everything back controlling the secrets until she’s ready to reveal. Not much can be deciphered on your own without the assistance of Kerry.

There were several thought provoking topics that had me swaying in either direction. Either way I viewed each topic as best as I could given the point of view from both sides. There was no right or wrong answer only choices that best suited the individual.

Impending secret awaits the reader and I mean waits…meanwhile life proceeds forward with Ella desperate for answers with minimal success.
It’s difficult to focus on the story when my mind continued to ponder the memory loss over what took place last summer.

The reader gets pushed off the big revealing secret from the past summer one too many times. Instead of revealing the secret the characters pick up where they left off last summer initially giving the reader the recounting of events thru these scenes. However, I was so hung up on this secret that I couldn’t appreciate the relationship that was developing or redeveloping.

I absolutely loved the premise of this story, yet all the excitement was placed towards the end lending a slightly slow beginning. I loved the unexpected twists and turns, yet all the fun was reserved for the end. It wasn’t a steady ride of revelations. I felt I was misled on several occasions redirecting my attention to a writing assignment which had very little relevance. I was looking in all the wrong places for answers not getting a clear picture.

Her husband is not acting like the man she met and fell in love with during their first night together. This sentence led me to believe so many different variations of the actual story. To go into my wild imagination would spoil the story. Kerry did a fantastic job concealing this secret, but I find sometimes hiding a secret can work against the author. In this case, it did hinder my interest at times. I’m disappointed I was misled in different directions, but also proud of the trickery.

Kerry Lonsdale is the author of the popular Everything series. With Last Summer she turns again to the topic of memory loss. But in this case, the memory loss is not all-encompassing and the amnesia victim has not taken on a new identity and whole new life. Rather, Ella remembers everything about her life up until dinner on the evening of the car accident that killed her unborn child. As the story opens, she awakens in the hospital with no memory of how she got there. She can recall what she cooked for dinner, but not why she left right after, why she was driving, or where she was going. Worse, she doesn’t even remember being pregnant. She has no recollection of the physical feelings of pregnancy, much less an emotional connection to the child she was carrying. Curiously, when she must convince Damian that she truly does not remember, he exclaims, “You weren’t supposed to forget him,” a comment that baffles Ella and leaves Ella wondering what would provoke him to say something like that.

Because of her memory loss, Ella doesn’t experience the psychological pain of losing her unborn child in the ways that an expectant mother normally would. But by all appearances, Damien is mourning the loss, and the grief that he is largely bearing alone is driving a wedge between them. Damien is also distracted by the loss of several clients and an ongoing investigation into the possible sabotage of his company — by his own father. The needs of his business take him away from Ella for meetings with lawyers and investigators just when she needs his support and understanding.

When Ella is assigned by her editor to interview Nathan Donovan, Ella cannot let on that she has no idea who he is. And Damian provides little insight. In this, as other areas of their life, Damian provides little information to assist Ella’s attempts to recover her memories. He does not provide answers to her questions, but promising he will sit down and talk with her detail . . . later. Surprisingly, however, Damian emphatically asks Ella not to travel to the Lake Tahoe area to interview Nathan. It seems that Ella spent ten days with Nathan last summer, but he suddenly backed out of the exclusive story he promised the magazine. What’s even more surprising is that Ella, who keeps meticulous records of her work, can’t find any evidence of her research on Nathan, or notes or recordings of their prior interview which forces her to decide behind trying to conceal her memory loss from Nathan or simply be honest about the fact that they will need to conduct the entire interview all over again.

Lonsdale gives readers a clue as to what has happened to Ella via a short prologue. But it is merely a glimpse at the possibilities. Lonsdale keeps readers guessing as Ella searches for the truth. The tragedies that Ella has survived have made her the strong but troubled woman that she is: one who quickly throws herself headlong into relationships, a character trait with which some readers will easily relate. In Ella, Lonsdale has crafted a female protagonist who is empathetic and likable, despite the professional compromises and poor choices she has made over the years and the regrets she carries. Likewise, Lonsdale has bestowed upon Damian a troubled family background and failed first marriage — as well as one explosive secret — which inform his outlook, motivations, and choices. She adds Nathan to the mix — a sexy, fit, adrenaline junky who is convinced that his lust for adventure brought unspeakable tragedy to his family.

Last Summer is an inventive take on a provocative question: Can what you don’t know hurt you? Lonsdale’s story line twists and turns, full of red herrings and jaw-dropping surprises. It’s more than just a fast-paced, tautly-constructed mystery. Last Summer is a sneakily sophisticated exploration of the power of secrets — to destroy and unite. Lonsdale examines the impact of manipulation and deceit — even lies told in the name of love — upon the lives of three highly intelligent, accomplished, but damaged individuals. She ends the book with a couple of final revelations that will take readers by complete surprise . . . and leave them clamoring for a sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.

Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale is a mystery wrapped in a love story. From the start you are drawn in.
Ella and Damien mean everything to each other until a tragic accident turns their world upside down. Can two people be so much in love that the past doesn’t matter? Can you love someone so much that you will manipulate them? Is honesty in a relationship important? The are the questions that ran through my mind as I read.
There are many twists and turns throughout the story. I thought I knew what was going on – but I was wrong. I was very surprised by the ending.
The story is so well written you don’t see what’s coming next. The characters and their relationships are so complex that the action of the characters colored the way I reacted.
I highly recommend this book. It has everything, love, mystery and suspense.
Thank you to #Netgalley and #LakeUnionPublishing for approving my request. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

This is a great psychological thriller-low key but enough to give your shivers or pause for thought. It has a killer tie up and an ending that will make you catch your breath.
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of the book and all opinions are my own.

I want to thank Author Kerry Lonsdale, Netgalley & Lake Union Publishing for the arc of this novel.

Wow, I really don’t even know where to start. Rarely does a book catch me off guard, I usually have the ending figured out before I’m done with the book. Honestly I thought I had with this one too, but boy was I wrong! This book kept me so interested I couldn’t put it down. This was one of those books that I was up until the wee hours of the morning because I had to know how it ended. It did NOT disappoint.

This book follows lifestyle journalist Ella Skye who is assigned to many high profile clients. She meets and marries Damien, the man of her dreams. Life is good until Ella wakes up in the hospital after a car accident and a miscarriage. She also wakes up with no knowledge or memory of ever being pregnant. This sets a very determined Ella on a course to recover all the previous months she can’t recall. In the process, Damien seems off and not forthcoming with all of the details.

Ella is given a follow up assignment for a second chance cover interview with celebrity Nathan Donovan. A shocked Ella, takes the assignment because she has no memory of her time with the elusive man and thinks that Nathan may hold the key the her memory loss.

Ella is swept up in a world of love, lies and deceit. Unsure of who she can trust, including her own mind. This book is full of twist, heartbreak and a desire to achieve the happily ever after, at any cost.

WOW!! loved this book, it’s definitely a winner. Well written, easy to read with well developed characters. A book you will not want to put down. Twists and turns abound in ways you would never expect. A little romance, a lot of psychological thriller and suspense, this is a book that will stay with you.

Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale is an entertaining summer read in which you are drawn into a story about the uncontrollable and rippled effect of lies and deceit.

I admit to being a bit disappointed in the over-used plot of a young woman (in this case, Ella Skye) awakening in a hospital following an accident to find herself with amnesia and a husband (Damien)who seems to be hiding something from her. However, Lonsdale keeps the reader interested with believable characters, well-written dialogues, curiosity about what’s really going on, some pretty steamy scenes and an ending that made me feel as if a bomb had just gone off – KA-BOOM!!!!!! Say WHAT!?!?!?!?!

My thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Kerry Lonsdale for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed are my own.

After a bad car accident, lifestyle journalist Ella is suffering from memory loss. She remembers her husband, Damien, but does not remember the accident itself or Simon, the baby she miscarried immediately following the accident. Once physically recovered, she sets out on a quest to retrieve her lost memories. What the heck happened “last summer,” and how did it affect her life going forward? Once she pieces together her lost memories, will she be able to put the past behind her once and for all?

After loving the Everything series by this author, I couldn’t wait to read this one! Luckily, it did not disappoint and kept me guessing until the very end. If you love suspenseful stories as much as I do, then don’t miss this deliciously deceitful thriller that’ll keep you guessing until the very last page!

Location: California (San Francisco and Truckee) and Alaska (Cordova)

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Open that beach bag back up and throw in Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale! This one caught me off guard and left my eyebrows raised! Sizzling with mystery, deception, and a whole lot of intrigue, Ms Lonsdale’s latest novel is full of secrets between Ella and Damien, a complicated power couple who are struggling to find each other again after a car accident takes the life of their unborn baby and Ella’s memories. Immediately likable, you have so much hope for these two, then the secrets unfold with the turn of each page and the lies begin to catch up with them both. Last Summer was a fast-paced, attention-grabbing novel with an engrossing storyline. There was a lot going on with Ella and Damien – almost too much which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5… but I’m wondering if that “extra” is leading us into the rest of the story.