I received this book for free from Advance Reader Copy, NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Point Last Seen by Christina Dodd Series: Last Seen In Gothic #1
Published by HQN on June 21, 2022
Genres: Contemporary RS
Pages: 384
Format: eBook
Source: Advance Reader Copy, NetGalley
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Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Karin Slaughter and Sandra Brown, New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd’s all-new thriller, POINT LAST SEEN, will have readers keeping the lights on all night.
LIFE LAST SEEN
When you’ve already died, there should be nothing left to fear… When Adam Ramsdell pulls Elle’s half-frozen body from the surf on a lonely California beach, she has no memory of what her full name is and how she got those bruises ringing her throat.
GIRL LAST SEEN
Elle finds refuge in Adam’s home on the edge of Gothic, a remote village located between the steep lonely mountains and the raging Pacific Ocean. As flashes of her memory return, Elle faces a terrible truth—buried in her mind lurks a secret so dark it could get her killed.
POINT LAST SEEN
Everyone in Gothic seems to hide a dark past. Even Adam knows more than he will admit. Until Elle can unravel the truth, she doesn’t know who to trust, when to run and who else might be hurt when the killer who stalks her nightmares appears to finish what he started…
This is my first Christina Dodd book in a really long time, and my first that isn’t Historical Romance. I was originally just skimming the first couple of chapters to decide where to put it in my review line-up and next thing I knew I was hooked. The writing is descriptive and you can very easily picture the California coastline in Gothic (her small town where this story takes place). The hero, Adam, is a standoffish grump who isn’t so grumpy once you get to know him, and the heroine Elle has no memory of her life at all, save for the few moments before her death.
Adam fished Elle out of the sea, and she’s dead. He tosses her over his shoulder to haul her up to land and she vomits seawater and is back amongst the living. Minus her memory. Being dead, even for a short time, added to the traumatic was she was killed is sure to hurt her brain. Some memories slowly come back, some come back full force. One of the flashes of memory that comes to her is of the night she’s killed. Someone is strangling her, and she’s able to hurt them back. But she doesn’t know if they survived or not. She doesn’t know if they think she’s dead, or if they’re still coming for her. The whole book had me flipping pages quickly to find out what would happen next!
For Adam’s part, he has his own past that is never very far behind him. The ghosts of his own past haunt him, and he likes it that way. He doesn’t want to forget and move on. He wants to remain hyper vigilant at all times, to ensure nothing like that can ever happen again. His past was…unexpected. I loved watching him fall for Elle, his sunshiney heroine.
Gothic is a small town near Big Sur, California where people go to reinvent themselves, to hide, to start fresh. Elle may not remember her life, however she’s able to fit in with the misfits of Gothic, and make a nice home for herself. But as pieces of her memory float back to her, she’s sure of one thing. She’s single. Which helps out a lot since she’s falling for Adam, and hard. But the closer they get, the more danger they’re in. They just don’t know it.
We all know that the danger to Elle is still out there, and it’s closer than ever. But Adam’s past is ever-present, and coming in hot as well. These two fight for each other, and they fight for a future. I enjoyed watching their journey into Happily Ever After. I can’t wait for the next Gothic book!
***ARC courtesy of the publisher Harlequin via Netgalley
