A couple are found brutally murdered and theres a possible racial motive for the killing. The first person on the scene had experienced a similar loss many years ago but could it be connected. Can FBI agents Zander and Ava figure it all out before the killer goes after anyone else.

This was an interesting story dealing with the heavy issue of racially motivated crime. The mystery is interesting and the killers identity was cleverly hidden. The plot is quite slow at times but builds to a dramatic climax. The ending itself was good and finished the story well. I found myself liking Zander a lot but Emily and her sisters just didn't quite win me over enough. A solid mystery.

This isn't my first book by Kendra though I am missing some background in this, but it is easy to breeze right through. This is a solid thriller which pulled me in from page one with a violent crime to start us off. I have sworn off series books for awhile but I will be keeping up with this new series for sure.

Zander and Ava are in a small Oregon town that has just had a murder that was so unexpected. A couple was slain in their home and it looks like it could be racially motivated. But it also looks like maybe there is a connection to a long ago murder that this small town has buried. It is too similar and brings back too many memories of the remaining family members from that long ago crime.

We are taken along with the two agents as they set out to solve the most recent murder while the murder of the past calls to them.

I was hooked from the start of this book. It’s got mystery, murder, historical murder, family dynamics and a surprising killer which I didn’t see coming. I’ll look forward to more in this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

As a fan of Kendra Elliot series I couldn't wait to see Zander story as well as is back story. Kendra Elliot is a gifted story teller bringing readers into the heart of her story that will cling to every word that is written wondering if the story will have the ending readers have comes to know from the author of if she will change her style and bring readers a unexpected surprise.

No matter what the author does she is the master of Romantic suspense with a balance of back story, romance, mystery and heart pounding moments.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for a copy of Kendra Elliot Last Sister. Thighs is a can't miss series!

Small town in Oregon gets a shock when a man is found hung and his wife killed. For Emily Mills, who found the couple, it brings back the death of her father who also died by being hung.
Are the two linked?
I liked this book and Kendra has researched the themes in the book well. Worth a read

This was a fast paced story with many twists and turns. It starts off quickly with the murder of a young couple in a small Oregon town. Turns out the woman who was first on the scene, Emily, found her own father murdered in a similar fashion 20 years ago. The book breaks into both the story of Emily and her family (which includes her sister Madison, her 3 elderly aunts, and a mystery around what happened to her other sister Tara), in parallel with the recent story line of solving these current murders. It was part mystery and part domestic thriller, as the reader joins Emily and Madison in their quest to figure out what really happened to their father, and to bridge the gap between them. Zander, the FBI agent, is also a key player in the story, having been called in to help the local police with the case. Seems like a whole lot of characters, but they were done really well, and even minor characters like Sheriff Greer were built out as the story continued, and grew on me by the end.

The story itself was action packed and I wasn't sure who the villain was until it was uncovered by the characters- the author did a great job of keeping that mystery going and throwing in enough info to make it hard for you to figure it out. I also liked the relationships between the characters, even though some of the story lines were tied off a little too neatly to feel realistic. Some of the subject matter around racism was uncomfortable for me to read, but this theme did help to make the story compelling and further endeared me to the characters who were trying to solve the mystery along with me. I felt for those who were affected by the actions that happened, both in the past and recently, in realizing that people important to them were not actually what they seemed to be.

Overall, I would recommend this story for those who like domestic thrillers, mysteries, and police procedurals because you get a piece of all of those in this book. I am excited to read more by this author!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have read several of Kendra's books and couldn't put them down, being up until the small hours, but this one didn't grab me as much as usual.
I found the story, whilst being very topical and flagging up awful atrocities, to be lacking the usual pace.
I stuck with it and towards the end it did get a lot better.
Looking forward to reading the next book, hoping it's found the usual excitement.

Thanks to NetGalley, Kendra Elliott and Montlake Romance.

This story of Madison, Emily, Tara, their aunts and their family's history was absolutely riveting. I so wanted all the loose threads to tie up into a nice neat package that I found myself reading quicker and quicker.

I was pulled in immediately by these great characters and the tragic family history as well as the current crime. The small town setting was one that I enjoyed. Who doesn't love a small town? I even really liked the evolution of the sheriff. At first I really thought he was sloppy, hiding things and kind of a jerk, but I grew to like him.

It's hard to say much about this book because it would be so easy to post a spoiler. Suffice it to say that this is a hard-hitting, well written story and if you like mysteries and suspense, this is definitely a book you should pick up.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for approving my request for an ARC. All thoughts in this review are my own and happily posted.

A full onboard story with crime scenes, deceits, betrayal, suspense and twists and turns that all together will keep you on the edge of your seat. That being said, I still have mixed feelings about it and not sure if I missed something or was just my moods to be able to give full five stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Montlake Romance for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

FBI Agents Zander Wells and his partner, Ava McClane, find themselves in a small Oregon town that has just witnessed a horrific murder. A couple slain in their home and the husband hung by his neck in the backyard. Is it a murder-suicide? A racially motivated crime? Or is it connected to a long-ago murder? Although the local police resent their presence, the agents cannot but help feel that someone is watching their every move and isn't quite finished.

A solid suspense thriller that reeled me in the instant I began page one. Great characters, fast-moving plot, but the romance between Wells and a witness was so-so. At least it didn't distract from the storyline. Not that my shelf needs it, but it looks like I probably have another series to add to the list.


Goodreads review published 18/01/20
Publication Date 14/01/20

This book is #1 in the Columbia River series, and it starts off with a really good hook: a couple has been brutally murdered and found by Emily who also had found her father, Lincoln Mills, hanging 20 years previously. Who wouldn't ask what happened after reading that? Plus, Emily has 2 sisters, and one of those sisters took off forever. The girls suffered again after the suicide of their mother.

FBI agents Zander Wells and Ava McLane investigate the murder of Sean and Lindsay Fitch, both brutally murdered. Because the area is discovered to have racists and KKK members, the question becomes whether or not the murders might have been due to racism or another reason. Sean was black and his wife was white, so that raised questions as to whether this was a hate crime.

Then there are 3 other sisters, the aunts of Emily, Madison, and Tara. The older sisters give the story a small town, family feel. I loved the aunts. All of the characters were believable to me and none seemed forced. The conversations were also realistic and I felt like I was reading about a real history of a family.

I thought the book's suspense was genuine, nothing far-fetched, and the investigation by the FBI also seemed very realistic. I loved the book and the characters, even after getting to the end and discovering why they all did what the chose, it didn't seem contrived.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake Romance Publishing for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty years ago Emily found her father hanging in their back yard. A couple of days later, her older sister Tess left and they never heard from her again and their mother committed suicide. Leaving Emily and her sister Madison with three great aunts. Now a similar murder has happened and Emily found the bodies. Zander is a FBI agent and he and his partner have been sent to investigate the murders. The closer Zander gets to finding the killer, the more trouble finds Emily. As they hunt for answers, secrets are revealed that could shake up their little town.
Suspense, action, and secrets make up this spellbinding story. I like a little romance and sexy times in my stories but I absolutely could not out this down. Be prepared to read long into the night.
* Voluntarily and reviewed this for Netgalley*

I am one of the few readers, I think, not to have devoured this book! I read only one chapter before giving up. Maybe I am missing a great story - the other reviews suggest that I am. But the writing style was the problem for me - it was like watching a film rather than reading a book. There was an oddly superficial feel, with none of the depth of character and sense of 'being there' that I look for in a good book.

But I am definitely in the minority!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

This book is a tale of more than one
The main characters are three sisters Emily, Madison and the lost sister Tara Mills. These girls lost their parents when they were young their dad was hung and it resulted it their mother committing suicide
Then years later Madison favourite friends are found dead the husband has been hung is it connected, Emily is sure that she saw her older sister Tara at her dads hanging but hasn't seen her since to ask
Emily has rang the FBI to look into this new case and Zandra Wells and his FBI partner Ava arrive to look into the murders and within 48 hrs a local police officer has also been murdered
Can Zander solve these murders?
A fabulous read from beginning to end

Two people are horribly murdered and one hung from a tree. Zander Wells a special FBI agents is sent to investigate and links are found to a hanging 20 years earlier. How can these be connected and who else is in danger from what they saw?
Great storyline, characters and well paced book. I really enjoyed it. Not saying too much as don’t want any spoilers but will say it is so well written you care about the people involved. enjoy for yourself.

This is a spinoff novel from Elliot’s popular Callahan and McLane series, featuring as the principal protagonist Zander Wells, Ava McLane’s partner. The pair are called into a small northern Oregon town to investigate a possible hate crime when a black man is found stabbed and hanged, his white wife stabbed to death in their bed. When Zander discovers the first witness on the scene, Emily Mills, found her father’s hanged body more than two decades earlier, the coincidence is a little too much to believe. In a town where barely 1% of the population are people of color, white supremacist roots run deep… and someone doesn’t want Zander asking questions.

I was a little bit bemused when the point of view character switched to Emily’s younger sister Madison for several sections in the middle of the book. It seemed to be solely done to make us doubt Emily and wonder what she was hiding, but since she was obviously set up as Zander’s romantic interest by that point it fell a bit flat for me. I have to admit I was also kind of bothered that all the people of color who appeared in the book (very few, but that was the demographics of the area and part of the plot) wound up dead by the end of it. Not having any PoC alive and thriving at the end gave the supremacists a win of sorts, even if they didn’t get away with their crimes, and left something of a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall a good story, with the past and the present colliding as secrets are revealed and old secrets bringing new danger, but there were too many things which bothered me for me to give this a full five stars.

This police procedural kept me interested and.entertained from start to finish. The small town setting, with the main characters living in a dilapidated mansion adds to its appeal. The storyline includes small town gossip and racism. I would read more books by this author.

“Please. Not again.” The Last Sister by Kendra Elliot

I missed starting her Mercy Kirkpatrick books so I’m glad to start this one.

Bartonville is rocked by a double murder. And the crime was discovered by the daughter of a man who was murdered decades ago.

Emily can’t believe that she stumbled upon the murders. But because of what happened to her dad, she was gutsy enough to call the FBI when it showed that her small town’s police force aren’t ready for something like that. So enter Zander and Ava (both who are apparently come from another series). And then more stuff happens.

I think this is the first book I’ve read by this author. And I enjoyed it! There’s just a right amount of spark between Emily and Zander but it doesn’t take away the mystery of it all. I got a little confused about the title, but then I figured out who the author meant as the last sister.

Thank you Montlake Romance for the arc of this book! I enjoyed it.

I had to sleep before I gave this review because I didn't know what to think about the book. I still don't know what I think.

Did I enjoy it? Yes
Was it memorable? Not really

This is the kind of book that has a good storyline but no significant impact to make it memorable.

I gave it 3.5 Stars because I thought it was a good book. Engaging, decent characters and readers connection.
My problem with this book was it wasn't extravagant. No twists just things that made sense. It didn't really leave you guessing that much.
That's where my thoughts ended so I don't know if I would recommend this book or if I would continue the series.
It didn't end like it was meant to be a series. It ended like a standalone to me.
If I had never read some reviews and see the proof on Goodreads I wouldn't have thought.
The mystery wasn't that much of a mystery and that's all I have to say.

Thanks to Netgalley for this arc.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of The Last Sister by Kendra Elliot that I read and reviewed.
This book was just okay for me. From the start I felt like I was starting in the middle of a book that I had already missed part of. I know that Zander and his partner had a past in a previous book that I had already read but frankly I don’t remember much about it because I read over 100 book a year and without a bit of a back story to refresh my memory it is hard to set things apart and this was one of them and the author seemed to think we would all know about everything that took place in the past and jump right in and that just took away from the book for me.
I also felt the book had way to much going on and some things got lost and other things were just thrown in there are really did not stick. I guess there were too many lose ends and too many characters hanging around that by the end of the book where just there.
I can only give The Last Sister three out of five stars.