Lowri is at a low point in her life after the death of her husband. Then she finds out that her beloved aunt has died. She heads to the remote island of Anglesey, Wales to attend the funeral. Weird things begin to happen when Lowri and her daughter Ruby arrive at her aunt's house. Music from behind locked doors, hooded figures in the garden and other odd things. Then on the day of the funeral Ruby disappears. Edge of your seat mystery.

Lowri spent most of her holidays as a child in a remote cottage on Anglesey, which belonged to her Aunt Gwyn. The cottage also doubled as a funeral parlour! At the age of about 12 all of that changes when her dad has a heated argument with Gwyn and all contact us severed. Skip years, Lowri's grown up, her first love die (Rubys dad), she's divorced (thinking he would be good for Ruby), her parents are dead and she has her own little girl Ruby.
She gets a letter from a solicitor asking her to go to Anglesey as her Aunt Gwyn has died and she needs to be there for the reading of the will. Suddenly she remembers all the love she had for Gwyn (who she hasn't even spoken to for many years not even sent letters!) Who was more like a mum to her. Off she goes,with Ruby and finds the brother and sister Awel and Elis are still living in the cottage carrying the business on.
Lowri always found Awel creepy and it seems she still is! Elis is deaf and uses sign language. On the day of Gwyns funeral Ruby goes missing, last time she was seen she was helping Elis with the cups of tea. Poor Lowri is distraught and the police are brought in.
The problem is so many people are keeping secrets that it's hard to know who's telling the truth! Just who should Lowri trust and will the police find her? After all there was a girl who went missing when Lowri was a little girl and they've never found her!
Many thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book. It's very slow and feels like two different books one that could be supernatural and one that could be a thriller and unfortunately the two don't seem to knit together seamlessly. Although Lowri and Ruby are likeable you dont feel for the other characters in the same way. The ending seems far fetched how does Rubys disappearance and sudden reappearance get explained away to the police? Surely they will want to dig more into that! And why does everyone seen to be getting away with the things they've done? Was really looking forward to reading this but feel let down, so won't be recommending.

This book started really strongly and held strong supernatural elements that had me gripped until about half way through. Then it seemed to change into a different book. Loads of possible plot lines were left unexplained or unresolved (Heathers relation, explanation of Ruby’s disappearance to the police, Darren’s letters amongst them) and the last few chapters and ending left me irritated to be honest. What a shame as I thought from the first half it was going to develop into a brilliant thriller. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early review copy.

I read reviews and think, wow, looks like a great scary page turner, only to find the reviews are wrong, does this ever happen to you? The first part of the book is repetitive, depressing, and slow. The last part of this book are confusing, make no sense, and are too unbelievable for me. Lowri is from Wales, so you have characters speaking Welsh without the translation at the bottom of my screen, or in the book. Then Ruby, the little girl goes missing, it was obvious who was guilty, the worse part is that the guilty are not charged, after all they had good reasons to put a neurotic mother through heck, much less the sweet little girl, I mean really? The book falls short of those page turner reviews. I firmly believe this book could have been better with a decent editor and proofreader, I realize that writing opinions to the editors get nowhere, that is why I put them here.
Thank you, #Netgalley #TheLastHouseOnTheCliff

This is an excellent mystery. What could go wrong when you stay at an old, large house that houses a funeral home? The reader will find the story entrancing and interesting. It is complicated but not to such a degree that it can’t be followed. There is a missing child, a still missing child from decades ago, and all the fright one might conjure up while walking through a cemetery at night. The author immediately brings the reader to like and care about Lowri and Ruby. Awel and Elis are just creepy enough not to be trusted. Throw in a slightly bumbling cop, a couple side deaths, and place it all in a castle near the cliffs that fall directly into the sea, and you have this engaging story. I enjoyed the narrator but am unable to identify her. It may well be the author. Highly recommended.


I received an ARC from Avon Books, UK through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review. Oh my word, what an atmospheric, twisted plot, I stopped up later than I should have to finish this one.

Lowri spent all her holidays up to the age of twelve at her Aunt Gwen’s house on Anglesey. The house was also the local funeral home.
On Gwen’s death, Lowri was asked to return for the reading of the Will by Gwen’s solicitor. Suddenly Lowri had love for the aunt she hadn’t bothered with for years!

The writing at the start of this book was very strange. It was written like a report, without any flow. The writing did get better and for the first half of the book the plot was interesting, though predictable. Sadly, it soon became obvious that all belief should be suspended and the story was getting very outrageous. There were so many loose ends that were never tied up, Darren’s letter, Hannah and her sister, the cousin who suddenly started talking after years of signing, how did they explain Ruby’s return? The house must have been magic how rooms and corridors suddenly appeared! The ending was outrageous, extra characters thrown into the mix, and the doctor plot line, well!

Despite this it was an ok read but needs a thorough editing with all the superfluous padding taken out and some serious tweaks to the plot.
2.3* upped to 3*
Thank you NetGalley.

Started well but then dragged somewhat. Far too much descriptive padding and repetition. Towards the end, suddenly there were more characters added to the mix. Ending was rather weak.
Not a bad read overall, a good poolside book

Family secrets, a missing daughter and this is only the beginning. The house in question is a family home that is also a funeral home. Lori spent most of her school holidays as a child in this home with her beloved Auntie Gwen until she was whisked away at the age of twelve with no explanation. Now Lowri is back with her own daughter Ruby for the funeral of Aunt Gwen. Ruby goes missing from the house on the day of the funeral. A gothic tale which at first had me intrigued but the more I read the more Immersed in the story. A real twisty tale with plenty of shocks and surprises and a thoroughly well deserved four stars.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I really enjoyed this atmospheric, psychological thriller.A dark story of family loyalty and long kept secrets.Set in Anglesey with great descriptions a real page tirner .I especially liked the unexpeced ending .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

3,5* upped to 4
This is an entertaining and gripping story full of twists. I liked the atmosphere and the characters.
The suspence kept on the edge and reading.
Even though I liked it I found it very slow and some parts of the plot requires an high suspension of belief.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The plot line for "The Last House on the Cliff" by Anne Wyn Clark appealed to me but unfortunately it didn't really play out in the reading for me. I found it too complicated with which "evil" male had fathered which child. It could have been a great mystery, but it wasn't for me.

The descriptions in this book were quite vivid and a huge reason why I was completely sucked in.
While I liked this book, I think it could have been better. The book was quite slow and very repetitive at times.

This was everything you need for a thriller and crime story. It is not as black and white as you first think and like most typical thrillers, is full of twists. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.


3.5/5.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lowri returns home to the remote island of Anglesey with her daughter, Ruby, when her aunt Gwyn passed away. Lowri hadn’t been home to visit her aunt or talk to her in many years, but she is hoping that going home to visit with the rest of her family will be a new start for her. However, odd things start happening when they arrive and then suddenly her daughter, Ruby is missing. Lowri feels like she is the only one worried about her missing daughter and trying to find her and she starts to look for past clues within her own family to help her find her daughter.
*
I have to start by saying that this book had a lot of potential. It started off strong and had a great element of suspense to it. It caught my attention and I was definitely drawn into the various characters. However, about two thirds of the way through the book it started to slow and it never really picked back up. I feel like there were a lot of parts that were repetitive and not necessarily needed for the story. I also feel like towards the end, there were a lot of characters that were being added to the mix and I feel like it just started to muddle the story line. I did really enjoy Clark’s writing style and I would definitely try another book by her in the future. This one just wasn’t for me but I do think there are some people out there that might enjoy the story!

The descriptions of the family business, the morgue, and that old house are what really drew me into this book. Such wonderful writing! And such mystery as well when she returns as an adult with her own child and starts seeing the house and her aunt in a whole new way. A great suspense read!

This story is so full of mystery and suspense that I just couldn’t put it down. There seemed to be more than a few secrets being hidden from Lowri and some of these spanned the decades. For me, the author did a great job of not making it easy to work out what was going on and how all these threads would come together. In fact, the ending was a complete surprise!
This is most definitely one of those books you’re sorry has ended. Totally engrossing.

3.5/5

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this book.

Yes, I did enjoy it. Yes, it was a page turner. Yes, it was entertaining. No, I didn’t think this could have happened in reality. I did think that Carys was still alive and that Lowri was adopted,quite early on. There were so many clues. The ending was wrapped up too conveniently and wasn’t very believable ..(a) pretending for years that Cary’s was dead and keeping her hidden (b) agreeing to continue with this deception…what would they do when she eventually died (Ruby’s attachment to Carys (C) The quite easy forgiveness of Eli’s, Awen and Lewis (d) Elis suddenly speaking again when he had always signed) (e) the decision to put blame onto the ex, however obnoxious he was (f) the very ending regarding both doctors, senior and the son.

However, it’s still a good read!

This book offers everything you want from a creepy thriller.
Family secrets, children going missing, deaths unexplained and a mansion that is super creepy. It kept me turning the pages from start to finish. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a compelling mystery with three-dimensional characters and some good twists and turns. Most of these occurred very near the end of the novel and came thick and fast at that point. I loved the sections of the book that were told in the first person from Lowri's POV. When the story shifted to "the girl's story" sections, I'm not sure the omniscient narrator POV worked as well.
The writer evokes the atmosphere in which the novel unfolds beautifully; the setting was very effective. There's a lot to like about this book, and I enjoyed it for the most part, but I thought the first half of the novel worked better than the last half--the ending seemed a bit rushed, with so much happening all of a sudden. I thought the revelations could have been a bit more gradual and built the suspense a bit more slowly. The hints of supernatural elements at work were well-handled.
All in all, though, I enjoyed the story and would recommend it to lovers of mystery and romantic suspense.