This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page-turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

What a very heart rendering book. Imagine losing your child, and then trying to move on with your life, but someone doesn't want to let you try and forget the past. Good solid read.

Enjoyed this book and really got into it after a slow start. I did expect a bit of a twist but it was still a great read. Full of tension and twists and turns, and quite a few characters you don't know whether to trust.

I think I just need to stay away from thrillers that are premised on the idea of the tragic backstory, the dark secret, the shit husband because, let me be honest, none of them work! And, as is always the case, the writing was bad, wooden, clunky and the dialogue was filled with so much exposition that I don't even think you could programme a robot to speak with the lack of realism that these characters did.

This is a fantastic debut, and a great sign of what’s to come from Ella. The opening prologue and chapters really draw you into the story, and it’s such a tragic beginning to the tale that you can’t help but keep going. This kept me hooked well into the night.

I love to guess what might happen at the end, and I was quite far out from the actual ending. It’s such a great way to keep you wanting more.

I love a character driven novel, and this certainly delivered. I felt so sorely for Pilar, still wrapped in her grief, and for Theo who felt he was losing his wife as well as their son.

I did feel there were a few too many characters at times and it slightly made my head spin trying to keep up with who was who.

I can’t wait to see where Ella goes next, but I will surely be following her.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC, which I have enjoyed reading.
This was an interesting psychological thriller with an unexpected twist at the end. It was an easy book to sit and read and wonder who was the one causing the problems.
Recommended.

A slow start but this turned into a great book. The characters are well described and there are lots of twists. Read and enjoy

I was immediately taken with the blurb of My Last Lie. I was intrigued by the exotic sounding Pilar and her husband, Theo, and what had happened to them to require this new life in Cornwall.

That something was the loss of their unborn baby in a car accident. Devastated by their loss, they need a new start and move to an enormous and beautiful, minimalist art deco house. Pilar is uncomfortable though at certain things that are happening there. They're unsettling things and she doesn't quite know who to trust. She's making new friends but are they all they seem? Is Theo to be trusted or is he not the wonderful husband she thought he was?

Well, I'm not going to tell you, of course. You'll have to read the book for yourself and I would certainly recommend that you do so if you enjoy the psychological thriller genre. All the way through I was changing my mind about who to trust. Pilar is the narrator of the story and again, I didn't know if she was all that she seemed or not. Right up to the end I was kept guessing. There are certainly some sinister goings on.

The very end of the book was a very slight disappointment for me but apart from that this is an engrossing read. It's also a very easy read so I raced through it. The story itself is quite a slow burner in that the tension builds as it progresses but that is by no means a criticism as I found it kept my interest all the way through.

Ella Drummond's book is tense and has a sense of foreboding about it. I found it very enjoyable and look forward to seeing what this author does next.

An addictive intriguing read which will draw you in and you won’t be able to put it down.
An amazing debut novel from this author. The book kept me captivated from the first page to the last

The story is mainly set in Cornwall and the reader is faced with oh-so-many-secrets, blame, guilt, the past, starting over, loss, jealousy, revenge, survival- both mental and physical and a search for the truth.
Told from first person POV, this novel has a refreshingly sinister feel as the suspense builds. The opening had me hooked from the get go and I absolutely LOVED the unreliable nature of the characters- who or what to believe – OMG it really gets you! I was absolutely intrigued by the mystery of it all. This is one of those books that you just totally immerse yourself in – the story had my brain going a million miles a minute – I just couldn’t put it down until I knew what the hell was happening and why! I did figure a few things out but the ending is a whirlwind of revelations – BOOM! BOOM! OMG BOOM!
There are so many characters I want to talk about – but I won’t because I would bore you to tears as I try an analyse them – but I will mention a few because they really got under my skin. Pilar (love that name) is the main character – she has a secret (OH MY!) and early on she faces a devastating loss and wants to start over somewhere fresh. But like life – you can’t escape your problems, can you!? At times I found her to be very strong, and other times, I just wanted to shake the hell out of her. But I love when a character grabs you like that!
Theo is Pilar’s husband and I have to admit, I didn’t quite get him a lot of the time. One minute I think he is so kind, caring and making a big effort to start over, and then other times I thought he was a major arsehole.
Anna just freaked me out from the get go. I just got some bad vibes off of her but then other times I thought she was a good friend, helping Pilar and Theo out. I’d love to know what others made of her – so if you’ve read the book, let me know!
Finally there was Natalie – what the actual F? She just didnt make a lot of sense to me (not in a bad way- I just mean, I thought what kind of person is this? ha ha ha).
I loved that this novel had me guessing every step of the way, pulling on my emotions – ALL THE EMOTIONS – and really had my mind buzzing! Would I recommend this read? In a friggin heartbeat, I would! Compelling, engaging, dark and bloody twisted – this psychological thriller will give you an adrenaline rush! Grab your copy today!

4-5 stars. A book that chilled, thrilled, and broke my heart! I thought that it was very suspenseful, but also a tough read, because of the loss of a child. It’s very hard to read about it, as mother, but it was a fast paced read that while my heart broke, I continued reading.
Will be using in a challenge, as well as recommending to the members of chapter chatter pub!

Really liked this book. Wasn't what I expected it would be but still really good and found it hard to put down. I liked the characters and was hard not to feel sad for them that their baby died

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were easy to follow and the story wasn't overly predictable. Great thriller

My Last Lie is a novel about Theo and Pilar, told from Pilar’s perspective. They’ve been through a terrible tragedy that led to Pilar having a breakdown and now they’ve moved to a new house in a new area and are trying to re-build their lives. There’s something unsettling about the house though, and Pilar begins to feel rattled by the situation.

My Last Lie opens with a car accident that leads to Pilar’s baby being stillborn. The novel then moves forward a year with Theo and Pilar moving in to their new home in Cornwall. They’re both clearly still trying to find a way through their grief, and Theo is protective over Pilar. I did find him a bit contradictory at times and couldn’t quite weigh him up – he seems a devoted husband but then he buys a house for his wife that she has never seen before and immediately tells her he has to be away over night once a week while his business gets sorted out and fully moved more locally. This is at a time when she’s still finding her feet and feeling vulnerable and alone so it seemed a bit unfair of him.

Pilar is clearly still very affected by the loss of their baby, and the time she spent in hospital recovering from the initial grief and trauma that she’s been through. I felt like I was right there with her in this big new house, it sounds like such a stunning house and yet it felt a bit unsettling. When odd little things begin to happen I wasn’t sure whether Pilar was an unreliable narrator due to everything she’s been through, whether Theo somehow secretly blamed her for losing their baby and was trying to gaslight her and make her think she was losing her mind, or whether someone had taken against this couple and wanted to scare them off. This made for a great, thrilling read as I could never quite make my mind up. The unease is there from the beginning but it slowly creeps up until the point when you feel like you’re holding your breath wondering how it’s all going to turn out!

My Last Lie is a novel that keeps you on your toes. The people in the village all have their own secrets and dramas, which made me wonder if any of them has a connection to Pilar and Theo and could wish them ill. There are also a few red herrings thrown in throughout the novel which keeps you guessing about what’s going on and I loved that.

I very much enjoyed this book, it kept me hooked all the way through. It’s a gripping, intriguing and thrilling read – I recommend it! I’m really looking forward to seeing what Ella Drummond writes next, I’ll definitely be first in the queue to buy it.

You know when you read a story and months later you still remember everything about it. Well you won't want to miss this creepy domestic noir!

I first read this story in October 2018 but it's just one of those stories that has stayed with me. I was drawn into Pilar's story right from the beginning, where after a night out, her life is torn apart when she’s involved in an accident that kills her unborn son. True to its genre, the story has a first-person narrative that lets the reader know the protagonist is harbouring a secret that riddles her with guilt.

There’s some serious juxtaposition going on here. One minute Pilar is living an idyllic life in her gorgeous new home in Cornwall, making new friends and building her dream career: the next she’s creeped out with a feeling of being watched. Her home, the place where she should feel the safest is the place that threatens her safety. Is her guilty past about to catch up with her?

Nobody is above suspicion: just how well does she know those who live in the village around her? And what about Theo? Pilar knows he’s been unfaithful in the past. Has he learned from his mistakes? Can she trust him now? And just how reliable is this first-person narrator? Is it all in her mind? There’s definitely some weird and creepy stuff going in. I don’t want to give any spoilers but just for a little teaser, there’s a great twist at the end involving the relationship between two of the characters. But you’re just going to have to read this book for yourself to find out who. You won’t see this coming!

This was a great read which I devoured over two sittings. I recommend this book for anybody who likes Shalini Boland or Louise Jensen.

What a tragic beginning to a story, a death of a new life in a random car accident. So Theo and Pilar just want to get away from everything that reminded them of their loss. They wouldn’t forget, ever, but the constant reminders had just been too much. They left everything and everyone behind them and headed to new beginnings where no-one knew them.
A beautiful house and the perfect place for Pilar to take up painting again and even start teaching her skills a little. The perfect couple, so everyone thought, beautiful, successful and a chance to privately mend the gap that their loss had put between them. But when little things begin to happen Pilar doesn’t know if she is losing her mind.
This is a story that makes you feel a little uneasy to begin with working to whoa what is cracking off is pretty serious stuff. There are quite a few characters who all have problems, so I easily got quite paranoid about who could be playing round with their lives and why?
The more that the story unfolds, the more cracks are discovered in all the relationships in the story, be it husband and wife, mother and daughter or friends. That is what I liked a lot about this story, no-one was perfect, with an accumulation of everything in their lives that made them who they were.
I loved how the story came together in the last few chapters, super ending. A brilliant debut, very much looking forward to more.

My Last Lie begins quite darkly with a shocking incident that has long lasting repercussions throughout the rest of the book.

But these repercussions are worn more lightly than the first chapter, and the focus now is on Theo and Pilar, a young couple who have everything material they could wish for. In a bid to consolidate their marriage, the pair has moved to Cornwall and Theo has bought the most idyllic sounding art deco house complete with art studio for Pilar’s work.

But despite their fabulous surroundings, not everything is as they would wish it. There’s trust to be repaired on both sides and as if that were not enough, it soon becomes clear that not everything in the house is as tranquil as Pilar would like. Recovering from a breakdown, needing to be able to trust her husband, but plagued by doubts, Pilar has to contend with living in an area where she knows no-one, make new friends and yet shield her past from new inquisitive acquaintances.

Little by little, Pilar becomes aware that there are things in the house that aren’t quite right. Small things go missing or change. Never anything really significant, just enough to unsettle Pilar. Fresh from a breakdown, is this Pilar imagining things, or are darker forces at work?

Ella Drummond builds in enough doubt for the reader to be unsure quite what is going on. Is Pilar having another breakdown or is Theo playing the doting husband while harbouring another agenda?

Drummond strews her Cornwall path with red herrings, bringing neighbours and new friends into the mix until you are questioning everyone’s motives.

Soon this quiet country existence will be overcome by dark overtones which threaten everything the couple have been trying to build. Then, as readers, we are left with the ultimate question. Is there anything Pilar will not do to rescue her marriage?

Verdict: In a beautiful setting, Drummond brings in dark clouds and doubtful characters to create a tense and suspicious environment in which the past is never far away.

Ella Drummond’s debut thriller My Last Lie is domestic noir at its most fiendish and gripping. A phenomenally compelling tale of secrets, lies and deception that kept me on the edge of my seat and had me chewing my nails to my elbows, My Last Lie is a must-read for fans of B A Paris and Jane Corry.

To the outside world, Pilar and Theo lead an enviable life their peers and friends are desperate to emulate. Good-looking, successful and with plenty of money in the bank, Pilar and Theo’s relationship is rock solid and they are very much in love. Theirs is a relationship that seems able to withstand any obstacle standing in their way – until their love is touched by tragedy when their baby dies. Their baby’s death almost tears them apart and destroys their relationship. Realizing that they need a fresh start far away from their old life where they can rebuild the shattered fragments of their relationship, Pilar and Theo decide to start afresh and so they move to a stunning house in rural Cornwall. However, little do Pilar and Theo realise that the past will always catch up with you and find you- regardless of how far you go to hide…

The picturesque location hides a dark and gritty underbelly and on arrival, Pilar and Theo’s life is shaken by secrets that refuse to stay buried. With danger stalking their every move, their fragile peace is about to be disrupted and with a dangerous enemy intent on causing maximum damage, does Pilar and Theo’s marriage stand any chance of surviving? With their lives in constant danger, there is nobody Pilar and Theo can trust…not even one other!

Can their shattered relationship ever be repaired? Or will a sinister force destroy their lives forever?

Cancel all social engagements and switch your phone off because Ella Drummond’s twisted and addictive thriller My Last Lie grips like a vice and will keep you turning the pages until three in the morning desperate to find out what is going to happen next. My Last Lie will send plenty of chills down your spine and have you cowering behind the sofa with its beguiling blend of heart-pounding suspense, nail-biting tension and jaw-dropping twists and turns.

A book that has got winner written all over it, My Last Lie is a fabulous debut novel from a stunning new voice in grip-lit: Ella Drummond!

Theo and Pilar are the envy of all their friends. Happy, in love, they appear perfect for each other.

There was a tragedy a year ago that almost ripped apart their marriage. The tragedy was the loss of their precious baby.

Now they are working to rebuild their marriage, and they buy an exquisite house in Cornwall.

But the truth is, they have secrets, and someone knows them… and that person will not let go until the truth comes out. Pilar and Theo also have secrets from each other.

My Last Lie is an original and shocking page-turner. I found it easy to read, and I had to know who the untrustworthy player or players was/were. Pilar’s mother was so toxic I loved to hate her. Captivating characters and a nicely-paced plot made My Last Lie a wonderful read overall.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.