One second ago, the grey-haired man had his right hand wrapped around a pole for balance and his left hand hanging loosely at his side. Now, that same left hand is gently stroking the bottom of the woman in front of him.

Jenna is the sweet sister who attended the retreat where so many strange and unexplainable things started to occur incessantly as like she’s been trapped into a classic claustrophobic Christie story!

Books Multibuys

I’ve read and enjoyed quite a lot of mysteries this year about people going missing or being killed while trapped on a secluded island, but they’re starting to get a bit samey now. This one features a particularly unlikeable cast of characters, (not necessarily a bad thing but you do actually need one protagonist to care about) and confuses the reader further by having many of them change names. This is told from the present tense (ugh) POV of Jenna is the past and Kate & Fran now, and the first half was quite good, as we learn about poor emotionally stunted Fran infiltrating the group and gradually piecing together what happened, but after her first brush with death I couldn’t believe that she wouldn’t get out of there and call the police. Then the revelations keep coming as each character comes under suspicion, but their motives don’t make sense either. Clever twists and turns leave you guessing who’s genuine and who has something to hide.’ WOMAN & HOME

Queen Latifah is a natural actress with a lot of charm. She is the basic reason for watching "Last Holiday" because she dominates it with her charming presence. LL Cool J is seen as Sean, her love interest, who doesn't have much to do in the movie. Timothy Hutton plays the mean spirited American millionaire who feels upstaged by a woman who he learns was his employee. Gerard Depardieu plays Didier, a chef that sees in Georgia a kindred spirit. Alicia Witt, Giancarlo Esposito, and Michael Nouri, appear in supporting roles. When Fran arrives, she learns that several other guests who had attended the retreat that Jenna was on, are in attendance as well. I enjoyed this book and found it to be very engaging. It centers primarily on Fran, who joins a wellness retreat to try to figure out what happened to her sister Jenna, who disappeared on a similar trip over 2 years prior. You also get chapters from Jenna's perspective before her disappearance, and from Kate, the wife and business partner of Tom, who runs the retreats. I am a fan of alternating perspectives throughout a book and thought that it was interesting to see how various situations were seen from the different POVs.How nice it is to read a thriller from the POV of three women with their own distinctive voices, good character arcs, and not running around being overly emotional and silly.

I saw this film with my mom, and we both loved every minute of it. In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone loved it, because it was one of the only movies that everyone clapped at the end. Although it was often silly and predictable, it was absolutely hysterical and had a lot of heart. Queen Latifah is a natural actress who radiates warmth and honesty in her portrayal of Georgia Byrd. Borrowing from "Nothing Sacred" and "Living it Up," the script emphasizes living life for all its worth and not being afraid to take chances. The characters develop nicely through the book. Not all the characters are likeable. Fran grew on me, she is frosty, brittle and socially awkward. She is 12 years older than her duster and didn’t have a close relationship. Her relationship with her parents is awkward to say the least. On the first weekend in March, we took an amazing trip to Barcelona. We went by train from Atocha station and the journey lasted two and a half hours.The story begins with a great dynamic and later in the story the tone and pace changes with many red herrings and secrets. I think to enjoy this story one hundred per cent you have to realise it's fiction so it doesn’t have to be believable!!! I loved the machinations between the characters. A lot of people aren't who or what they appear to be (highly improbable, I know, but fun) and there are many hidden agendas.

That’s the question her sister Fran is desperate to answer! Jenna vanished from a retreat two years ago. Blood was found on the edge of the cliff. But her body was never discovered. Fran is determined to get answers and solve the mystery behind her sisters disappearance. A sensational novel!’ GILLIAN MCALLISTER You come to SoulShrink to be healed. You don’t expect to die. This is my second read by this author. And though I didn’t love this one as much as Strangers it was still a very solid thriller. I cannot wait to read more from this very talented author. Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah), a worker at a supermarket, is a normal, shy and reserved person. She's afraid to talk to the guy she loves (Sean, played by LL Cool J), and she never does anything exciting. Within the first 15 minutes, you see her cook a wonderful looking meal which she cooked along with the show "Emeril", in which she takes a picture of and gives to her neighbor. She in turn eats a Lean Cuisine. These greatly affect the establishment of her character, so I give props to the writers. The detailed description of the mutilated bird on the patio and the ensuing throwing of stones at a passing cat was awful.Once at the hotel, she sees the senator of Louisianna (who was supposed to attend her church service) and Congressman Kragen, the owner of the chain of shops that she works at. She also meets the hotel staff, ranging from a mean housekeeper to a kind chef she had wanted to meet. That is where the humor really starts. The author has an easy writing style. The story is told in the third person, mainly from the perspectives of three ladies; Fran, Jenna and Kate, with the action switching from Jenna’s retreat and Fran’s retreat about three years later. Each chapter is clearly headed so that we are in no doubt which time period we are in and whose view we are seeing. C. L. Taylor uses a reflective technique so that key events are repeated from the different viewpoints, which is always useful. Fran Fitzgerald's sister Jenna disappeared during the retreat on Gozo and was thought to have committed suicide there. Now Fran's mother has pushed Fran into going to the retreat in Wales to find out what really happened in Gozo. Registering under a false name, she discovers three of the other participants were also at the Gozo retreat, but understandably no one wants to talk about it. Now the blurb for Her Last Holiday is somewhat misleading. 'Determined to find out the truth, Fran books herself onto his upcoming retreat...' Fran did not book herself onto this retreat. Geraldine, her mother, was booked to go but had an accident and couldn't. She bullied Fran into going in her place.