It’s an easy ready if not considering the dull parts that I skipped and the writing style is pleasant. But the writer took more than she can chew. Psychological dramas of several generations are very hard to write and one must have immense understanding of a human’s mind and go deeply into each character. Here we get two lives of the mother and the daughter (including the brief reference to the grandmother’s youth as well), the characters become almost identical, repetitive that it can get confusing of whose lives we are reading about. The padding of unnecessary characters, Flinn, Wlif, etc hard to believe and the unnecessary twists of the plot and eco references added nothing to the story. The ending is rushed and glossed over and instead of leaving the readers to come to their own conclusions, we are told who is what and that no one is perfect and here comes a happy ending.

The excuse why she couldn’t go back to her children for 20 years was unreasonable. The father’s behaviour didn’t match to his presented character.

What did the characters learn? What as a reader I learned? Very little. I wish the author chose one woman, preferably the mother, and just sticked with her life, her pain, anguish and her growth as a person. The writer has lots of potential but unfortunately missed the opportunity.

📚: The Last Time I Saw You by Jo Leevers
⭐️: 3.5/5 (rounding down on #goodreads)

The gist: A story about mothers, children, abandonment, and forgiveness. Nancy disappeared 20 years ago, leaving her two kids Dan & Georgie with so many questions that fester for decades. Now, Nancy has been spotted by chance, giving her kids an opportunity to find her and the answers they crave.

The good: This was a pretty quick read (single day, in two sittings) with the plot moving along at a quick clip. The dual narratives work incredibly well with a then-and-now approach, and the couple twists that come are timed well and unexpected.

The eh: I really wanted this book to make me feel something - for such an emotional plot line, it oddly fell flat and one-dimensional.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Last Time I Saw You is available now.

I hope readers enjoy this book about mothers, daughters and the search for answers. Thank you for reading and reviewing if you did.

"The Last Time I Saw You" introduces Georgie, who is over eight months pregnant and alone at home while her husband is on a business trip. While scrolling through social media, she discovers a viral story about her estranged mother, Nancy, who has recently rescued a lost child on a Scottish island. The narrative unfolds through alternating chapters from Georgie’s and Nancy’s perspectives, navigating between past and present. This novel dives into the themes of family dynamics, relationships, loss, and abandonment. The alternating viewpoints really allow for character development and understanding of the characters by the reader. At times however, I felt that the plot was slow to build and tedious. However, due to details provided, I was drawn to the characters and was hoping for the “happy ending.” I did enjoy this book and will look for others by this author. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was well written but it takes a while to get going, in a frustrating get-to-the-mystery-already kind of way. The big reveals aren't all that shocking or interesting.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Time I Saw You by Jo Leevers was a captivating and entertaining story.
Beautifully written with well-crafted characters.

Thank You NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I was intrigued by the description of this book--a domestic thriller where I was sure the hero would be Georgie and the villain, Georgie's mother Nancy. When we find out that expectant mother Georgie discovers that her missing mother is actually alive and well (and part of the rescue of another missing child!), she goes about trying to track down her mother in the last known spot Nancy was seen. In order to do this, Georgie reaches out to her estranged brother for help (another reason to not have very much compassion for Nancy because no expectant mother needs this kind of stress in her life!) and off they go on a journey to a Scottish island to search for their mother. Although I can't say I become a fan of Nancy's by the end of the book, I can say that the author gives enough detail about Nancy's upbringing that I was willing to cut her a little slack. I loved that the chapters bounced around to different perspectives in order to tell the story and found the characters to have enough layers that I was equally compelled to hear each of them continue the story as the book went on.

This was a quick read that I will recommend to others!

The Last Time I Saw You by Jo Leevers

Nancy left her children, Georgie and Dan, when they were young and they have been estranged ever since. When Georgie is 38 weeks pregnant she sees a news story about a woman who rescued a young girl and, convinced it's Nancy, her and Dan set out on a road trip to find her. Along the way secrets are uncovered and we find out the true backstories of both Nancy and Georgie.

What a fabulous book, I couldn't put it down! The author deals with some very sensitive subjects in such a skilled and compassionate way, I loved both Nancy and Georgie and raced through the book to find out what really happened and whether there would be a happy ending. Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I wasn't super impressed with this one. It took me a while to get into, and the writing was slow. I felt like it was taking forever to get to the point. And maybe I just can't sympathize with a woman who leaves her children with zero explanation, regardless of the situation or reasoning behind it.

Really enjoyable read. Interesting twist. Interesting examination of the things that bind us that others can't see, even those we live with. The writing conveyed a suffocating, anxious pressures of motherhood, womanhood and just trying not to make a scene. A great book and one I would recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

It took me a while to get into this book, and I would have definitely preferred a bit more pace, but overall it's a moving and enjoyable story.

Told in alternating chapters by Georgie, who is 8 months pregnant, and her estranged mother, Nancy. Now that she is about to become a mother, Georgie feels that she needs to find her own mother, in order to understand why she left her and her brother, all those years ago.

The characters are well developed and I found Georgie very relatable, especially her anxieties about her impending motherhood, the most life changing event for anyone - would Georgie abandon her child, like Nancy did?

In order to find Nancy, Georgie needs to heal the rift between her and her troubled brother, and on their journey, they discover a lot about themselves, their family, the past and ultimately, the heartbreaking truth.

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Jo Leevers and Lake Union for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This book was a good read, I was hooked throughout and loved the storyline. I think I expected the story to be a bit more of a thriller for some reason but I preferred it the way it is, more of a family drama.

A beautifully emotional yet captivating read! I genuinely enjoyed this story and how it hit me right in the feels. overall this is a book I would definitely recommend to others

This was my first time reading a book by this author, and it was interesting.
I did enjoy the main characters, Georgie and Nancy, and I tend to love dual timelines and multiple POVs, so this book appealed to me right away.
Family drama (especially between parents and siblings) and hidden secrets always drawn me in, so it was quite easy for me to feel invested in the story.
I also found Jo Leevers's writing style comfortable and easy to read, which was a plus.
The ending was satisfactory enough for me, but at the same it fell a little flat to me.

Not my usual genre but I was captivated by the synopsis for this book. Georgie who is expecting her first child one day reads a story where a woman has rescued a child. Looking at the picture, she realises that it is her mother, Nancy, who deserted her and her brother Dan many years ago. She and Dan set off to find her, she being heavily pregnant and Dan going through a breakup from his wife.
Good storytelling, very emotional with all different feelings coming to the core. Told in flashbacks and POV's from Nancy and Georgie. A warm and wonderful read.

An absolutely fantastic book. It kept me interested from the beginning. It also had me guessing. Jo Leevers is a great story teller.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Jo Leevers for the opportunity to read this ARC.

While I'm not the best at reviews, or with words, I can safely say that this one hit me right in the feels. I think I'll likely be still thinking about this one in several weeks, perhaps even months, time. The writing itself wasn't too difficult to follow, and really did draw me in a lot. I'd be delighted to read any other books this author has written/will write in future.

The Last Time I Saw You tells the story of and estranged mother and daughter from both their points of view. When Georgie finds out her missing mother isn't really missing, she sets out to find answers. Along the way, as the story unfolds, we find the circumstances are not what they seem. I really enjoyed this novel, as I was pleasantly surprised by how the story played out. It was not at all what I expected, based on my first impressions of the description. The dual perspectives and back and forth in time made for a rich experience. I feel that the author really told so much through this story, even though it was a quick/easy read. The only thing keeping this from being a perfect book is that I didn't find any of the characters (main or side) to be likable. I think the author may have intended for the reader to "forgive" or to better understand and appreciate either mother or daughter or both, but even at the end of the book, I felt pretty much the same about each of them. While there's certainly a chance for any of the characters to have a redemption arc, it doesn't quite happen here.

This is beautiful story about a mother who leaves her 2 young children and their search for her years later. I especially liked that the story was told from the mother's and daughter's point of views.

This is one of those books that really make you ponder life circumstances and wonder how you would contend with them.

When Georgie and Dan’s mother walks out of their lives, they are never told the true reason why and had to surmise things on their own. As they grew into adults, and still hadn’t heard from their mother, their need for answers became too weighty to ignore. So when a picture pops up in the news with their mother’s face in it, they set off on a very long car ride to track her down. With Georgie weeks from giving birth and Dan going through a divorce, this was quite an eventful journey.

This book brings out all the feelings - sadness, joy, confusion, anger, triumph and finally contentment. It is written beautifully and has the perfect ending.

Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC.