Book Review: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

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.

An Agreement We Made review by BookTrib

I’m very excited to share a review of An Agreement We Made by BookTrib. This review helped calm my nerves on a crazy publication day!

Stay-at-Home Dad Navigates Minefield of Family Secrets in “An Agreement We Made” Read the full review.

Book review: Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy

Goodnight Beautiful is a superb domestic thriller that will smack you in the face if you’re not paying close enough attention. And you’ll deserve it, too.

There were more “what the heck?” moments in Aimee Molloy’s Goodnight Beautiful that I can possibly recall. More than once I found myself stopping and re-reading a section to make sure that the twist Molloy just nailed me with was deserved or just a shady sleight of hand. It turns out each time was well deserved.

I’ve said it before—I love to be fooled and Molloy got me with this one. No spoilers here because you should experience it too.

Psychotherapist Sam Statler goes missing after recently returning to his hometown of Chestnut Hill, New York. Sam is recently married, something he and his wife of 13 or so weeks celebrate every single week. Newlyweds, right?

Sam is back in town to help care for his ailing mother and sets up a practice in town in the basement of a beautiful old home with some special quirks.

The journey to find Sam and who we as the reader are trusting, are the driving elements of this exceptionally crafted work of art. There are moments where some of the narration may seem needlessly tedious, but it’s certainly all done for effect and often with a sarcastic wit. One of our unreliable narrators is a real gem.

Some reviewers have (wrongly) compared this novel to one of Stephen King’s most famous works. Again, no spoilers, so figure it out yourself. I will say, King doesn’t own this idea any more than Molloy, who has definitely staked a claim for queen of this genre.

4/5 stars, recommended

Release day is around the corner; I'm pumped

I’m super excited to introduce you to my buddy, James Bell, next week in my new novel An Agreement We Made. James is a stay-at-home dad just trying to keep his three kids on the straight and narrow. Life isn’t so bad, if you don’t count his workaholic wife Tina, who earns a bundle, but physically and emotionally absent. When Tina suddenly dies, my guy’s life is turned upside down. Money – gone. Security – gone. But why? James sets off to figure out why his wife left him and the kids with nothing. The more he digs about his wife, the further he gets from answers.

This is a story about a modern marriage, the lies we tell ourselves to get through the day and the secrets we keep from everyone.

New novel coming June 2, 2021

I’m very excited to announce that on June 2, 2021, I will release my fifth novel, An Agreement We Made. This family life fiction novel has been in the works for nearly three years, and I’m overjoyed to release it on paperback and ebook this summer. Kindle pre-orders are up now on Amazon.

An Agreement We Made
James is a stay-at-home dad, with a comfortable life of dance recitals and school volunteer work, despite his complicated marriage to workaholic Tina. When Tina suddenly dies, James struggles as a single parent to his three children, without the safety net and sizable income his wife once provided. For the sake of his family, he’s forced to return to a past he’d much rather leave alone.

As James’ world crumbles, he begins to question if he ever really knew his wife. Why did she want him to be the primary parent, while she stayed on the fringe of their marriage? And now that she’s gone, will he ever learn why she drained their bank accounts before her death? 

An Agreement We Made is an examination of a modern marriage, the lies we tell ourselves to get through the day, and the secrets we keep from everyone.

Pre-order An Agreement We Made for your Kindle now.

If you could redo one random day of your life, would you?

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of “redoing” some part of my life. What would life be like if I hadn’t met that key person in my life? What if I’d taken this job, or decided against that one? What if I ended a relationship early, or avoided it entirely? What if I could go back, knowing everything I know now, and fix it all? Would that be better?

These questions led me to write my short story, The Day After You Die. In this story we meet 74-year-old Harold Emery, who unfortunately for him, is dead. He gets a chance to go back, but there are limits to this wonderful gift from the afterlife. He can relive one day of his life, but he doesn’t get to choose it. It could be a bad day. It could be a good day. Here’s the catch—it’s random, and anything he changes may forever alter the life he thought he knew.  

Buy this novella today on Amazon Kindle.

From the book description: Harold wakes up in 1965 in his childhood bedroom. He’s ready to enjoy one final carefree day on Earth, but today is not that day. Today is the day his nine-year-old sister Gail is killed, and Harold knows how to stop it. As Harold races against time to save Gail, his decisions will have dire consequences to the life he once knew and the people he loved. Harold chose to live again, but will everything he knows be destroyed in the process?

Screwing up the life you knew is the real trouble with time travel. Just ask Marty McFly. Consider it on a more personal level, though. What if you had complete autonomy over your old life and decide not to marry your spouse, because you know that 20 years later you will get into a horrible, messy divorce? Why would you want to put yourself through all the pain and angst of that relationship if you’re destined to be hurt anyway? One reason could be your children, right?! No relationship, no kids. That’s a big one. Or could you go back and be a better spouse and prevent the horribleness? What would that change? You could read between the lines a little more and roll with the punches when that relationship gets rocky. Maybe, but dang, that seems like a tough road.

Thankfully Harold only has only one day to fix or mess up his life. One day of changes couldn’t do much, right? You should read the story and find out!

Story details and an upcoming novel
I decided to sell this story cheap to showcase my work, so when my upcoming novel debuts later in 2021, you might be interested in checking it out. I haven’t released a novel since 2015, so it’s a bit of a re-introduction to the world. While this story is my first considering time travel, it fits with my writing style, so you know what you’re getting if you read my other works. My characters are generally good people, who want to do the right thing, fall in love and be happy. Isn’t that all of us?

I hope you enjoy The Day After You Die.

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Big Sky Lake
If you’re looking for something to occupy your time after you finish The Day After You Die, I’d be honored if you would check out my latest book series, Big Sky Lake. My latest novel Fire Canyon releases Jan. 20, 2025 on Amazon. In Big Sky Lake you’ll find clean small town romance stories, a bit of drama and a happy romantic ending you can count on. Buy it now on Amazon.

What I’m Reading in 2020 - updated

I was recently asked about the books I've read during the pandemic. I typically read on my Kindle or the Libby app from my local library. When the weather is nice, I'll grab an audiobook to listen to when I exercise. I don't read as much when I'm writing, so my list is a bit thin, but here's what I've read and enjoyed in 2020. 

Reply to this post and share your list!

The Loop, Jeremy Robert Johnson

All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai

Leave The World Behind, Rumaan Alam :(
-This one is not recommended, sorry-

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Hank Green

The Last Flight, Julie Clark

Trust, Pete Buttigieg (non-fiction)

Oona Out of Order, Margarita Montimore

The Hunting Party, Lucy Foley

The Reckoning, John Grisham

Pretty Things, Janelle Brown

Camino Winds, John Grisham

Summer of '69, Elin Hilderbrand

Chronicles of The One (1-3), Nora Roberts

The River, Peter Heller

Fractured State, Steven Konkoly

Shelter in Place, Nora Roberts

The Dog Stars, Peter Heller

The Wall, John Lanchester

Replay, Ken Grimwood (re-read)

My favorite 2020 read: Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

Mr. Z's Toy Store Romance Series now available

Finally! It only took eight years, but my collection of stories focused on Mr. Z’s Toy store is now categorized as a series on Amazon.  If you haven’t had a chance to read these stories yet, here’s a description of what this clean romance series is all about: 

Mr. Z’s Toys is a local institution, serving generations of children and adults with wholesome games and toys for all to enjoy. Every Christmas, people flock to the store to see its traditional holiday displays and hopefully come inside to buy a gift. 

Don’t Wait For Me (book #1) is set during Christmas and tells the origin story of Mr. Z’s, including the tragic love story of Edwin and Mary Klein. Better Not Love Me(book #2) follows Amelia Cook, as the series concludes over a summer. An Easel For Avery (#book 3) is a prequel novella that returns us to Edwin and Mary’s love story. 

I originally wrote Don’t Wait For Me in 2012, intending it to be a short story given away for free on my website. The story grew into a full novel, and I was overwhelmed by its success and readers' enthusiastic reactions. I found that writing clean love stories was a genre I enjoyed. The story was special to me because I set it in my hometown of Spokane, Washington. I could invite the audience into my world, even if some of it were make-believe. 

I followed up Don’t Wait For Me with Better Not Love Me in 2015. Back then, I was dead set against the book looking like a series. I wanted the stories to stand alone, but what I’ve discovered, painfully so, is that I made a mistake. The sequel didn’t find a substantial audience because I didn’t engage my best resource – my readers. It’s also true that three years to wait for a follow up is a pretty significant gap for a reader to remember your original story. Again, my mistake.

Recently Amazon allowed indie authors to market their works as a series. Of course, many have done this for years, but now it’s simple and easy for a reader to see all books in chronological order or related books in a larger series. Coupled with my 2014 novella, An Easel For Avery, the Mr. Z’s Toy Store Romance Series is now a complete collection, which I hope will help it continue to find an audience.

Revisiting my older stories has me wondering what other Christmas stories I should tell. I have a few ideas. You never know. You might just see some additional holiday tales in the future.