The Last Thing He Told Me may pass the time and be enjoyable if you don’t look under the rug to find where all the reasonable plot turns were swept.

I wanted to love this book, but despite being entertained throughout, there were a few plot points that came a bit too easy for me to give a full recommendation.

Our main character is new bride Hannah, whose husband Owen splits town when his company gets into some hot water. He leaves a needlessly cryptic note for Hannah (the last thing he told her)… Get it? He also leaves a big ole bag of cash for his extremely annoying daughter Bailey.

Hannah is great (really) and despite my concerns about the weak plotting of this story, she really shines as the reluctant step-mom, who while trying to find her husband, actually finds her own motherly instincts.

OK, mild to complete spoilers ahead.

Hannah and Bailey fly off to Austin for the most paper thin reason (reasons?) imaginable to find Owen who definitely isn’t in Austin. Our author certainly wanted most of the book to take place in Austin and gave us a reason for them to go there. I needed a little more rationale to buy it, considering so much hung in this location.

The real reason Owen is missing is an info dump that was not rightfully earned. Hannah and Bailey stumble across the answer and boom—here are a couple pages that make all the previous speculation just a waste of time. I can forgive this, as it shifted the story, but again, it didn’t feel earned.

Question: If Owen was so smart, why did he only leave a one sentence note for his wife? Dude could not have planned ahead a little more? Come on.

Bailey, oh Bailey. This girl was a caricature of every surly teen on the CW whose parents just can’t understand her and geez, I need more sleep and food and… ugh. Enough Bailey, we get it, you’re difficult.

And that ending. Nope. I don’t buy it and didn’t appreciate it. Our boy Owen is still in hiding? Give me a break. If we just ended with Hannah learning that she doesn’t need to be a biological mother to be the mother that Bailey needs, I would have been satisfied. What Owen did to these two women is frankly despicable and wholly unnecessary.

3/5 stars: Read with caution or a very unquestioning mind.