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.

I am dealing with this whole "they are the dominant religion and I am not" emotional crisis at work, once again, and I think this book was not the right read for this moment.
I don't know about this. I like the setting and all the cats and stuff but I was just not feeling the characters.

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

This shocking and dark crime thriller follows a group of people who have settled in an old hotel in the hills of Cyprus. They look to heal themselves spiritually with the help of each other.

The group is looking for ways to survive financially, and the leader Quinn believes there will be a way to save them.

When someone from the past comes to visit and offers the group a way to keep their home, they think they will no longer need to worry.
However, this offer may come at a deadly price.

What will this offer mean? How far will the group go to save their home?

This crime thriller is dark and shocking, I must admit I was a little surprised at the offer put to the group, but I won’t reveal it in this review.

The narration of the storyline goes through several of the characters, and through different years, which to be honest I didn’t really make sense of until towards the end. It didn’t take away from the understanding of the events which occur and helped get an insight into more of the characters. There is one character I would have liked to see their side of which I’m a little surprised we didn’t get to see much of, but maybe that adds more to the mystery.

There are plenty of secrets revealed throughout as the group decide how they are going to approach and respond to the offer put before them.

Overall, a dark and shocking crime thriller where an offer to save a home could turn deadly.

Thank you to @rachelsrandomresources for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this after reading the synopsis but it fell a little flat for me. It was the perfect setting for a retreat, a group of people trying to overcome their demons and get back on track but then someone came along to make you rethink everything.

Sofia lost her mum at Pure Heart, and the group hasn’t seen her since she left with her grandparents. She’s now back, they’re excited and happy to see her as an adult - see how she’s grown. But this feeling doesn’t last long once she arrives.

The premise is good, the “will they, won’t they” had me intrigued but there were too many chapters ending with a variation of “if only we knew…”, “who knew this would be the last…” it took away from the story and just made me want to put it down. I did think the ending was clever, didn’t see it coming and think there was more to it than we were told. A few clues dotted throughout made me think someone else was involved but this wasn’t fully explained.

Overall, a good well written read, but just fell flat in a few ways.

3,5 stars rounded up

As soon as you first see the House in the Hill, an old hotel in a picturesque enclave of the Cypriot hills, you know it's the perfect home for you - with a breathtaking view, a refreshing pool, and peace and quiet, away from the rest of the world. A place to recover and grow. But paradise isn't cheap, and as the debt mounts, 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?

It did take me a while to get into this book, and the pace was slow, so I took off half a star for those reasons. A spiritual resort which is really a place where people go when they want to escape past events in their lives. Their motto is, "The past does not exist." Then someone makes an offer, to keep your home - you have to take a life.

This is a descriptively written story. A nicely twisted read with something sinister brewing.

Published 18th March

I would like to thank #NetGalley #BoldwoodBooks and the author #TJEmerson for my ARC of #TheLastResort in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting book. It took me a little while to get into the book, but when I did I really enjoyed. I was a little thrown by the book summary and how the book started off. Definitely confusing. Didn't feel like I was reading the same book. It came across sounding like the standard "holiday trip gone horrible wrong" book but that is so not the case. I did enjoy the story and the characters and I think readers will really enjoy the book once they get into the story.

The characters each had their share of secrets - some more than others. I like how the author wove the story with information on each person through a background investigation report. I feel the book did a great job of painting a vivid picture of this community (home and people) and the turmoil they faced because of a financial offer. You were able to see the individuals weigh out their options and eventually settle on their individual decisions. I would have liked to see more development of Sofia's character to help her decision make more sense to me.

Not really for me although the writing was good I didn’t really like the characters or the setting
I usually enjoy this authors books much more so look forward to the next

With a fantastic setting i really got stuck into this book!
Such a twisting read where the secrets and lies are aplenty!
I didn't know who had done what and why, the plot keep me riveted until the end

I did not enjoy this book.

I tried to get into it and conn eat to the characters I just couldn’t.

A thriller set in Cyprus centred on a spiritual commune. The pace was slow and I could not focus on the narrative and the characters.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
To keep your beautiful costly hotel all you have to do is kill Quinn and Sophia will give you a chunk of money but can anyone do it?
Memories of childhood lead to bitterness and revenge—- but— can she convince one of them to kill for money???

This is so good! A very twisty story where everyone has secrets and is telling lies . So much deceit, so many lies and so thrilling! I had no idea who had done what to who and how it was going to end -I was gripped. Really good!!

Ten years ago tragedy struck the Pure Heart community. 12 yr old Sofia lost her mother and was taken from the only home she's ever known. Now at 22, with a recent inheritance, her Pure Heart family is excited to welcome her back.

Is she the miracle of abundance they have been praying for? Whelp, her purse comes with strings. When she makes them an offer she thinks they can't refuse, loyalty is put to the ultimate test.

I will be thinking about this book for a while. Is there anything money cannot buy? TJ Emerson has written a twisted, suspenseful tale of the relationship between greed, loyalty, family, and survival. A must-add to your Spring TBR!

Thank you TJ Emerson, Boldwood Books, and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

I really enjoyed the perfect holiday so thought this would be a slam dunk winner but I really struggled to get into it, I found it very slow and didn't enjoy some of the elements in the group setting. I found myself wanting to skip sections to find out when the pace would pick back up. I like the idea of this book but also didn't think the blurb correctly tells the story. Might just be me as I loved the previous book, just couldn't get on board with this one.