The Last Resort is about a community called Pure Hearts they have isolated themselves from everything and live in there little bubble. When a tragedy strikes there little bubble may be about to pop. I did enjoy this book but I felt like it dragged in places particularly when describing settings. Although it did give a good sense of what it was like living in the Pure Heart community. The ending blew my mind! It was a real corker! The author did a brilliant job of explaining the past and how it affected the present. The characters are presented so that you get a feel of each individual personality. A enjoyable thriller with a cast of peculiar characters.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. You should read it!

This is my first book by this author and this is always a bit more exiting. I don't know the writing style and so I don't know if this will pull me in or push me away.

First of all I would like to say something about the cover. I don't know if it has something to do with my star sign (I am an aquarius ) but I love water. This does not mean I like to swim, but I love view or picture featuring water. A river, a waterfall, the sea or an ocean, a lake... and of course a swimming pool. So I fell in love with the cover.

The book is a bit slow paced. You constantly feel the atmosphere in the story is building up to something sinister, the author really made me wait for it.

But once it's picking up the pace, you feel dragged away by it. Loyalty is a beautiful thing, but once something else presents itself, people can be challenged to make a u-turn. The big question is will the scale tip to the right side...?

An enjoyable book taking you to sunny Cyprus where the peaceful existence of a small group of people is uprooted. 4 stars

This book is pretty outside of my usual read and I'll be honest I mostly chose it for the cover! however, I found it gripping and it kept me guessing throughout trying to piece together bits of information. I loved how the story kept a good pace and had just the right balance of description and backstory compared to action and plot points. I will definitely be sure to check out more books similar to this!

his book took a different turn to what I was expecting, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Like the authors previous books, she creates interesting characters and this with the short chapters, kept me rushing through the book.

I loved the different timelines as, alongside Sofia we learn what has happened. It amazed me how some characters were just interested in Sofia for how she could help them, like some sort of cash cow! 🙄

The ending was so good and to me, came as a complete surprise.

I picked up this book purely on the cover and the author. I briefly read the back cover but already knew I was going to read it. This story transports you to a beautiful holistic resort with a dark side. It is a fun book to read and try to guess if the resort group will follow one of the members demands. A fun read that will keep you guessing.

A creepy psychological thriller the book looks at what it means to achieve the American dream. It also looks at what it is like to stare down the barrel of economic despair. It becomes a question of morality to determine just how far a person will go to hang on to their dream.

A financially troubled spiritual community with a cult like atmosphere houses a dysfunctional group of people who are hiding away for a variety of reasons. When one of their own comes back to avenge her mother who died within their walls, she makes an incredible offer to solve their financial troubles but it comes with a death warrant attached. While it’s not a bad story, it was very, very slow going and not as entertaining as I thought it might be. I thank Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Last Resort by T. J. Emerson is a great thriller with intriguing characters.
Even though I found this to story move slowly, it was a solid read.
The twists are so masterfully plotted out and executed.
I liked the plot and the characters were a lot of fun.
Emerson’s atmospheric storytelling and nuanced character portrayals make the book a compelling read for fans of the genre.

Thank You NetGalley and Boldwood Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

The Last Resort by T.J. Emerson

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

As soon as you first see the House in the Hills, an old hotel in a picturesque enclave of the Cypriot hills, you know it's the perfect home for you – with breath-taking views, a refreshing pool, and peace and quiet, away the rest of the world. A place to recover and grow.

But paradise isn’t cheap, and as the debts mount, you could lose everything you've worked so hard for.

Until someone makes you an offer: to keep your home, you have to take a life.

But you could never do that… could you?

You’d die for a stay here. But would you kill for it?

My Opinion

The Last Resort has a stunning cover, but the paradise shown is far from the truth. With short chapters, this book was easily one of those where you could just keep reading when you should be doing something else. I didn't completely go into this book without knowing what it was about but it still managed to take me by surprise.

Each character seems to have their own secrets that they are determined to keep. T.J. Emerson has done a great job of writing about the community. In places, this was a bit of a slow read but I felt it was needed after some of the drama.

Rating 4/5

I was really looking forward to reading this book but it fell a little bit flat for me kinda half way through and was very predictable….

I really enjoyed this book! The characters were very complex and the setting was gorgeous. I loved the little details, to me they really make the story. I would definitely recommend!

Like many other reviewers, when I read the blurb to The Last Resort, I too thought it would be a friends reunion on holiday gone horribly wrong. However, instead, the book began with twelve year old Sofia talking to her mother, Eva. They both live at the Pure Heart community, a former hotel on the island of Cyprus that has been transformed into a spiritual and wellness centre. Wealthy benefactor Charles provides the funds to enable Pure Heart to run while Quinn manages the centre. Eva suffers from depression, but no one, including Sofia is aware of what she plans. An event that will see Sofia leaving Cyprus and returning to Russia.
Ten years later, Sofia is coming back to Pure Heart. The years have changed everything about the resort. Charles has died and the money Quinn thought would support them, is not there. Instead there are debts, and the former hotel has been purchased and they are now paying rent. Quinn believes Sofia’s return will mean financial rescue, but instead her return is for an entirely different reason. Yes there is money involved, but there is a catch.
It's a slow starter, but becomes gripping and twisty as secrets and lies surface. One of the great parts of the story is the way the author immerses the reader in the atmosphere and sights of Cyprus and life in this commune. It’s also an insight into human nature, with an ending full of surprises. A great read and difficult to put down.

I would like to thank Boldwood, the author and Netgalley for an ARC of The Last Resort in exchange for an honest review.

A great edge-of-your-seat thriller that will have you guessing until the end. Great prose and the character development was spot-on.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

This book didn’t go in the direction I was expecting. I went into it blind, thinking it would be about a vacation gone bad. It is nothing of the sort. Pure Hearts is a community who lives isolated from city dwellers. They lived off the land in an old resort they purchased. Money is tight. Years ago, one of the members Eva, was depressed and committed suicide. Her daughter was sent to live with her grandparents. Present day, she comes back to Pure Hearts for justice. She thinks someone killed her mom. She is willing to donate $3million dollars to the community if the members kill their “leader.”

This was a decent book, but I felt like it dragged in places. I liked learning about the past and how it was affecting the present. I really enjoyed the ending! The characters were full of secrets and the author did a fantastic job painting the scene of how the community lived.

My first TJ Emerson book but not my last. There was lots to like in this book. The setting was fantastic. Even though I thought the book went in a different direction than the blurb. Not at all a bad thing. The characters were great. Dark and gritty subject for sure.
Thank you NetGalley and TJ Emerson for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I received an ARC of this book from Boldwood Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. To start, I don't think the cover or the blurb really match with the story. I thought this was going to be about friends on vacation at a fancy resort. Instead, it is about a group of people at essentially a commune.

What worked for me - the description of the Cypriot landscape and food. The beginning chapters waiting for Sofia. And the cats! I am a cat person, so I think my favorite part of the book was all the cats running around.

What did not work for me - basically everything else. I am not sure why there were chapters from different characters' viewpoints. For the most part, they were repetitive about the day-to-day at their home, and I don't think all the points of view were really necessary to the story. I don't think the plot was very realistic, and the end did not fit at all with the lead-up. I also think there was some unfinished business/ unanswered questions.

This one really didn't thrill me unfortunately.

Despite recently losing their financing and co-leader Charlie the gang add Pure Heart are getting excited One of their youngest members Sophie is grown-up and is coming back to Pure Heart and just to make the ice cream even sweeter she is wealthy. The gang especially Leader Quinn is hoping once Sophia feels the restorative Energy at the resort she will help them with their financial woes. The problem lies in the fact that it is also the place her mother Eva hung her self.. when she first arrives with her two Russian bodyguards in tow while the gang is ready to celebrate she decides to hit the hay early in the week later for Quinn‘s 60th birthday they once again get together ready for the guru La La Land type celebration to begin Sophia brings in Champaign and stops the party in med flow to offer an ultimatum. She blames someone for the death of her mother and she will be more than happy to give €3 million so this group could continue to hide from the real world but first they must kill the one Sophia blames for Eva‘s death. The rest of the group refuses to kill this person but Sophia is staying for a month and has faith that the keep the easy life they know they will succumb to their need for the money. The rest of the book is made up of a lot of stuff that’s nothing to write home about then there’s a mysterious event that may or may not have been caused by one of the group and then there’s Sophia constantly bringing in the rest of the world to their pleasant resort until about 20% before the end. True craziness begins but nothing will prepare the reader for the truly awesome OMG ending this book provides. I would love to say I thoroughly enjoyed the book but that would be a lie I did however enjoy it for the most part but the ending really saved it I have read other books by TJ Emerson that I have loved and will continue to look forward to her books and definitely am recommending The Last Resort I love and enjoy books about cults and I guess you can call this one such a book it is a slow moving plot but not so slow you lose interest anyone who loves those type of books will probably enjoy this one. I want to thank boldwoodBooks and Net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Pure Heart is a spiritual commune with a handful of members who live their days simply and with common goals. However they are short of money and the place has started falling apart. Word has come that a young woman who left the group as a child wants to return and since she is very, very rich the group hopes she will choose to return to the fold and share her money. I appreciated hearing about a spiritual group that was not an evil cult and I liked hearing the stories about the group members all of whom share the motto "The past does not exist." Sofia, the young woman who is returning was the daughter of a wealthy Russian woman who ended her life while at the group. Sofia was taken from the group legally by her wealthy (and possible mobster} grandparents and hasn't returned for 10 years.

The pacing is on the slower side which I enjoyed in this novel because it allowed me to get to know the various characters. I especially enjoyed the leader Quinn who was a loving person but sometimes misguided on what is best for others. Other characters included the cook Joe and his wife Holly who did the gardening and former child star Zoe and her husband Carl a failed author plus Mel a former police officer who is devoted to Quinn.

When Sofia arrives she comes with numerous bags of luggage and two armed bodyguards and the group understands things will never be the same. As Sofia's visit continues, there are deaths and secrets revealed and it ended in an expected way. The blurb is a bit incorrect on the content but I enjoyed the descriptions of the beautiful scenery and the fresh food and spiritual practices the group offered. Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

It is a fantastic story, exhilarating plot, well developed characters, and a well executed shocking ending. I read in one day, unputdownable and very addictive. Recommend to every thriller reader.