Last Seen Alive

"Great book!"

"A while back, I was first introduced to one of Joanna Schaffhausen's books, which was one of the previous books in this Ellery Hathaway series, and ever since then, she's become one of my favorite authors and an auto-buy one too. This thrilling conclusion to the amazing Ellery Hathaway series did not disappoint, it was one of the best wrap-ups of the end of the series that I've read.<br/>I could not put this book down. I was already invested having read all of the previous books in this series and thrilled when I was gifted an ARC from the publisher to read and review! Once I started this book, I didn't stop reading until I was done and I devoured this last book in the series within a few hours. I still find myself thinking about it and wanting to read it again. I'm thinking it may not be long until I reread the whole series because why not - it's an awesome story and Joanna Schaffhausen is a fantastic author.<br/>Having read the whole series, I can't tell. you for sure how it would go if this was your first book, but I think it could be read and mostly understood even if it was your first Ellery Hathaway book. My opinion, though, is why only read this one when you could read and get even more out of the story with having read the entire series. Trust me, this is one series you don't want to miss out on.<br/>In this conclusion to the series, we find Ellery continuing to work on living a normal life, trying to date normally without her past causing problems and both she and Reed are still trying to move on without each other. The chemistry and romance between these two is both sweet, swoon-worthy, and a bit more steamy than I like to read at times.<br/>They come together again working a case and this time, they're both main players as the case ties into Coben, who had abducted, tortured, and tormented Ellery when she was a child. It's a rollercoaster ride reading through this book following how they try to handle and deal with things as they go through this experience with Ellery agreeing to meet and talk with Coben in hopes of discovering more information on the other girls who Coben killed and Ellery ends up finding and accepting herself and things to finally hopefully find a happily ever after. Some of the best parts of this book were of Ellery going through healing and doing work on herself to get to the place where she is willing to try to give herself a real chance at happiness and living a full life again and committed to doing her best to stop giving Coben any power or control over her anymore. Also, Reed is ever the hero, swoon-worthy, caring, patient, and kind while trying to help Ellery, give her space, and still learn from his own mistakes as well.<br/>This is one series you don't want to miss out on and this book is, I think, perhaps my favorite of the 5 in the series. Make sure to have this on your list, pre-order it, or buy it as soon as it comes out, and while you're waiting for this to come out, you could read the previous 4 books so you're ready for this one if you haven't already.<br/>Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press-Minotaur Books for letting me read and review this unputdownable and amazing book. All opinions and thoughts are my own."